Posted on 01/11/2014 6:37:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
A nationwide minimum wage of $12 per hour would shrink government, aid families, curb illegal immigration, spur high-tech investment, and boost GOP support among working-class voters, says Ron Unz, the California libertarian entrepreneur who wiped out his state’s Spanish-only K-12 classes.
The $12 wage would slash the huge taxpayer subsidies now given to companies that hire low-wage immigrants, and move tens of millions of Americans into the middle class and sharply reduce the 47 percent of the population who are now completely or partly dependent on federal handouts, Unz told The Daily Caller.
“Politics would be completely different… what you’re doing is reducing the 47 percent by 10 to 15 points and giving Republicans a chance to make their case about cutting government spending and reducing taxes,” he said.....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled $12 an hour is conservative rocket fuel, says Ron Unz, enduserindy wrote:
You make it sound like the GOP is a better choice for the working man. I’m not a liberal or Democrat but I’m sure not a Republican either. Amnesty will destroy the middle class and all the fed printing will take care of inflation. I guess my point is feel good socialism is a bipartisan thing these days.
Your comment has nothing to do with the subject I offered which is on my empirical observations of government applying minimums on hourly wage rates which wind up diminishing the dollar’s purchasing power through inflation. I don’t see the word “amnesty” which by the way I’m against, anywhere in my brief but significant opus on raising the minimum wage . My tagline really applies here.
I he trying to tempt people on welfare to get of job? That’s not fair.
They should double welfare benefits, which would allow people to have freedom of choice to work or not.
Fantasy/exercise in fantasy. The “shrink government” was the first clue.
Right on Grace, His reasoning for that one makes the least sense of all.
5. Spur GOP support: Fat freaking chance there, the GOPe party is the party of freaking stupid, they would totally screw this up even if “credit” for it was handed to them on a silver platter. Plus with the boost to a new wave of outsourcing and illegal immigration the only people taking the blame would be the GOP because this would cause such a large demographic shift in the voter base that it would literally spell the end of the GOP.
The GOP doesn't care Grace, they are the Second Party of Government, whatever increases their powers and roles in our lives further they are for.
They Don't Want Conservatives or Libertarians in the Party, they want a New Base. One that will be receptive to Big Government, but on a Budget.
No a Government that shouldn't do 7/8ths of the crap it does at all!
This proves he’s a Libertarian. He has to be on serious drugs if he thinks the gummint would ever cut back on the freebies just because the minimum wage is sky high.
The only thing minimum wage accomplishes is in increasing inflation. The min wage earner will have no more purchasing power after the increase than he had before.
Oh, I forgot one more thing it’d cause. That’s the automatic trigger for renegotiating union contracts to increase their wages due to the base median earning going up.
Khelus,
Thanks for the article. I read it, hopefully it helps start a debate on our side.
I see this all the time, where workers do not make enough to live on and are subsidized in food, healthcare, housing, education and via the criminal justice system.
It’s the middle class who has to pay for all this while few gain all the benefits.
Raising the minimum wage without enforcing immigration laws will just put more Americans out of work. But we have to start the debate somewhere.
If our Economy needed more workers to grow, I would be all for more Legal immigrants.
I do know that that “Free-Trade” stance is a real losing proposition. Good luck wining elections while the standard of living collapses for the majority.
No it would not, but it surely would speed up robotics development.
crusher123,
You’re welcome.
Here’s another article where Schlafly lays out how ‘free trade’ is great among the states of the US but never works among nations.
“Absolute free trade between countries does not exist. While some pay lip service to free trade, all countries (except perhaps the United States) manage their trade to serve their own national interests”
http://www.eagleforum.org/psr/1996/mar96/psrmar96.html
The so called ‘free trade’ agreements are administered by unelected bureaucrats who are ‘citizens of the word’.
These agreements over ride our national sovereignty and our immigration laws. We are bound by treaty to bring in x number of immigrants and guest workers per year regardless of the situation of the domestic labor market and even security concerns.
The guest workers become illegal by overstaying their visas; it is not unusual for legal immigrants to arrive here and land immediately on the dole.
On the one hand I am against the minimum wage. on the other the labor market has been manipulated for the benefit of the global corporate and financial elite. Many are shocked to learn that those of us in STEM field compete with illegals.
In addition to encouraging a culture of independence, an increase in the minimum wage combined with immigration for benefit of the entire US not just a select few would dramatically shrink the entire inefficient entitlement apparatus.
That was my point, and what minimum wage tinkerers don't get. You've got 150 million people or whatever doing things that create wealth, and the right to consume that wealth gets distributed by various means among them as well as some that don't create any. You could make the minimum wage $1,000,000 an hour, and there's still the same people dividing up the same pile of goods and services. To raise the standard of living, you must create more actual wealth (good and services, ignoring the numerical price attached), either by getting more people creating it, or making those already doing so more efficient at it.
Of course, the minimum wage doest not define the value of the dollar.
It's certainly one valid definition if you legislate the minimum wage to be $12/hr. The proof that it's a relevant definition can be found when it works it way into prices. Just looking at the same point I was making, but from the other end.
khelus,
That was an even better article than the first.
“Many are shocked to learn that those of us in STEM field compete with illegals.”
I’m not, that is the whole point of the H1-B visa program. With Tele-medicine they can even do much of that work (Medical) over the internet. Some of it is already done and the rest would just require some legal changes.
As a country we really need to start looking out for our own best interest first. The Margin for error is long gone.
“.. is on my empirical observations of government applying minimums on hourly wage rates which wind up diminishing the dollar’s purchasing power through inflation..”
Yeah, I get that. My point is the fed’s printing press is a bigger problem these days and that seems to be overlooked.
NO, UNZ! ARE YOU STUPID OR JUST A LIAR?
● The amount immigrants can be paid and have a company still qualify for subsidies would simply be increased by the government!
● The income considered middle class would self-adjust upwards until the very same people were no longer in the middle class!
● The amount people can earn and still qualify for government handouts would inevitably be raised by politicians!
Politicians will do these things because taking any handout away from people gives the opposite political party a chance to accuse them of taking food out of the mouths of babies! They want little brown children to starve!" would be the cry.
ANY solution that uses the government to influence an outcome simply grows the government. The only way to fix things is to remove government from the equation! Otherwise, it's just a Möbius strip of bigger and bigger bureaucracy.
Sadly, I can totally see the GOP buying his garbage.
I’m sure it would to all those things...for those who still have jobs after the $12 rate in implemented.
The stupid....it burns!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.