Posted on 07/28/2019 7:40:32 AM PDT by Uncle Sham
Major cities run by Democrat policies for the past forty or so years all have one thing in common, a decaying inner core where buildings are rotting, property values are tanking and jobs are non-existent. President Trump has put the spotlight recently on Baltimore and it appears to be making headway out in the rest of the country that yes, there is a problem, one that has been long standing yet virtually ignored.
How do you reverse this trend? Sinking more and more government led solutions hasn't done the trick. Perhaps it's time to let private enterprise take a shot at it. If I were President Trump, I would find a way to create enterprise zones within these inner cities where the minimum wage would NOT apply but instead workers and their employers would decide how much they were paid. This would have to be a guaranteed condition for say, the next twenty five years or so to be able to attract the types of business that would want to take advantage of this opportunity. Once jobs are created in an area, many other support type jobs are not far behind. With property values being as low as they are in these depressed areas, adding a low labor cost would ignite interest and investment.
This approach would also work well if applied at the Mexican border. Imagine an enterprise zone five miles wide on each side of the border where the minimum wage did not apply and perhaps other incentives were put forth. Mexicans would not be going all the way to New Jersey or Ohio to find work. They would much rather be closer to home, among their own culture. This enterprise zone, applied at the border would be as effective as a wall in some ways as it would primarily keep immigrants near the border.
Immigration laws could be tweaked so as to allow folks to LIVE in northern Mexico and WORK anywhere within this enterprise zone. This keeps them there as well as generates economic activity that would be beneficial to the country as a whole. Another plus from this would be that it would help to create a middle class population in northern Mexico who then become a brand new market for U.S. products manufactured elsewhere. Having this zone right next to the mainland of the United States market eliminates the cost of shipping goods overseas for many companies. It has the potential of putting China out of business. Imagine that!
When the rare process of improving these areas occurs cries of racism and gentrification follows. every time.
These are all good ideas. You could also encourage people to move in with “flat 10% income tax for the next X years” or encourage people to build with “no capital gain taxes on new facilities, buildings, and housing built in the next Y years.”
The “not fair” part of these plans like these is that there are plenty of poor rural places and who could also benefit from similar policies and may be left out. The key to anything like this is objective criteria for qualification.
.……...these are all worthy ideas but few “normal” people will even drive into these neighborhoods until some semblance of law and order and instant justice is imposed. With democrats in charge, this cannot happen.
The only solution has been done many times before in the US and that is martial law in certain areas of Democratic Cities. This neutralizes the Democratic Party on the street and permits policies and programs like Uncle Sham promotes.
The reason cities are toxic waste dumps can be summed up in three words, taxes, regulations and corruption. When GD set up a facility in Tallahssee, they did a mandatory environmental study, even though they were building on a former cow pasture. It cost about $50,000. They had permission to build a huge parking lot. Because they didn’t need the parking for several years, they only built a small lot. When business improved, the city declared they needed yet another $50,000 environmental impact study.
There are several EPA’s who can shut a facility down over ridiculous stuff. There is a city EPA, a county EPA, a state EPA and the federal EPA. Complying with all of them and suffering their regular inspections cost a fortune and required a full time staff who did nothing but deal with them.
Then, there is all the labor restrictions and requirements from all the government entities, which required a full time legal staff and specially trained HR people.
The list goes on and on. On top of it, the city does not want “businesses” (because they want to keep the character of being a small university town.)
Multiply this idiocy and then realize that a small three or four man company can be put out of business in a heartbeat. A friend failed to file a form with the city saying that he had not paid anyone that week, because he had no work. The fine was equivalent to months of paying a full crew.
Cities are sh*tholes because they are run by crooks.
Trump should start a “clean up Baltimore” Gofund me account ....millions would be donated ......
Then he could troll Cummings even more.....
the left would meltdown even more.....which would be worth the donation
Just look at the 'projects' of the 60''s.
I think you could do more good by making overtime tax free.
That would let those that work for a living get ahead, and the lay-abouts would be laid-off.
What do you propose to do with those of us already living on the Mexican border?
Jack Kemp and President Reagan botrh pushed these ideas. When implemented, it is met with limited success. It works better if the area isn’t too far gone.
Actually, this is sort of what I am proposing. Eliminating the minimum wage gives them an opportunity to begin the process of crawling out of the hole they, and their progressive friends have put them in. Just create a place where the power of private enterprise can work it's magic. Yes, government red tape, regulations, etc have a role here as well but the inner cities themselves will need to make themselves attractive enough for investors to locate there. Put the cities in competition with each other and things will start to change. The beauty of it is that it won't cost money to do it, just a law making the minimum wage disappear. Once this works in one place, others will follow. It also will remove the political capital of the minimum wage argument, another plus.
A massive influx of jobs and economic activity competing for your skill sets. Isn't this good?
None of these ideas will survive the first collision with the Junior District Judge from Oakland or Miami-Dade, and the nationwide injunction it would bring...
Well then, another positive from this is to IGNORE such dictates and set an example that these type of rulings are to be seen as what they are. A joke. You just need to make this idea work in one place for others to follow the lead.
Declare the Democrat National Committee to be a Criminal Enterprise and open a RICO Investigation on the entire “party”.
Sounds like a good step.
May I propose exempting anyone under 20 from minimum wage?
That puts the bottom rungs back on the ladder to success.
Bookmark
Bingo.
“Sounds like a good step.
May I propose exempting anyone under 20 from minimum wage?
That puts the bottom rungs back on the ladder to success”
This will never work because 23 year old people trying to feed a family of four will lose their full time jobs at McD.
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.