Posted on 09/01/2013 9:13:38 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A House Democrat who joined striking fast-food workers in Illinois yesterday said the American economy needs doubled wages for the restaurant workers.
“This gets to the heart of our economic problem in this country which is income inequality. And yes, those arches are made of gold for people like CEO Donald Thompson who makes over $13.7 million in his pay package last year. But I met fast food workers today at McDonald’s who have been working there for a decade and still making $8.50 an hour,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said on MSNBC.
“You cannot live on that kind of wage, and they end up turning to the government for support. So we end up subsidizing Donald Thompson and the profits that McDonald’s,” she added.
Schakowsky said the pay of private entities to workers who choose to take a job there is Congress’ business because “this is an entire industry that is paying poverty wages in this country.”
“Thousands and tens of thousands, maybe millions of people who simply can’t make it on those kinds of wages, and I think that forming a union, getting $15 an hour, which makes a modest income of about $31,000 a year, if you get to work full time, is something that is a proper demand,” she continued.
“And actually these workers are acting — are going to the employers, are going to these companies. I’m standing with them because I think we need it for our economy. If they got paid more, we’re going to see millions of jobs created because there are going to be consumers in the marketplace.”
As far as what Congress can do to compel a higher wage, Schakowsky suggested starting at the executive branch.
“The president could with an executive order do something about the low-wage workers, 2 million of them, that are contract workers for the federal government. That would be a good start,” she said.
“That would be, I think, a very good signal that we don’t think those poverty wages that are paid to millions and millions of workers across the country are good for our economy and certainly not good for those families.”
Red Jan is one of the worst. I was redistricted into her area. I think that idiots would be insulted by the comparison.
Whom do they think these "millions" of new workers in the fast-food industry are going to be feeding?
And where are those hungry customers of the "millions" going to get the money to regularly patronize these fast-food restaurants that the Obamas spent the last 5 years lambasting, in order to keep the demand to support the "millions" of workers?
And then what about all the other restaurants that will have to lay off because everyone is now flocking to the fast-food restaurants that are suddenly booming with new employment of "millions" of people?
And where are they going to get the cows, and chicken, and fish, to make the food that "millions" of new workers are going to be serving to people?
-PJ
I can remember back when we had high school kids in min wage entry level jobs pumping gasoline. Then the gas companies started installing a few self-service pumps where you got a nickle off per gallon for pumping your own gas. I laughed at the time saying that if this catches on, soon all pumps will be self-serve and the price of gas will soar higher than ever. That was no laughing matter.
Well, the gas pumping industry is gone and the kids are now flipping burgers for minimum wage. And you’re probably right. But with or without the automated flippers, the price of burgers will continue rising.
When I was a kid, I picked a lot of cotton and cut grapes. Also delivered telegrams on my bicycle. Later parked cars in a parking lot. Bused tables. Ran a dishwasher. Painted lines on parking lots. Sold tickets at a carnival.Did all kinds of odd jobs and seldom earned more than a buck eighteen per hour. Never earned more than minimum wage until after I was married and went to school to learn programming so I could support my family.
Those who wish to have a job paying enough to raise a family need to get themselves educated or learn a trade. They’re not going to make it at Mickie D’s. Well, unless they work real hard and earn a management job. Not that they pay much better.
That is exactly true...And the Chinese manufacturers will love this Congressperson for her support...
But after the 2nd day, no one is going to be buying 10 dollar Big Macs...
I get so frustrated with the stupidity of some of these elected officials, and then have to remember, its the stupid voters who elected them. Stupid is as stupid does.
Wrong. It would cost many jobs with increased automation. If you want to look to a business-savvy, compassionate approach to fast food employees — look to Chick Fil-a. Their employees are well-compensated, happy (pull them off to the side, they will tell you), and are given room for additional training and advancement. This is the sort of employee-friendly, Christian ethics business model we should see more of.
Why not pay them 100$ an hour and create a BILLION jobs...
The nice thing about Ubama’s plan to overwhelm the system is that when he finally succeeds, people like this will be the first to be devoured.
All of this hate on the minimum wage while ignoring restaurants that pay servers $2.13 an hour seems backwards to me.
By 2040, I fully expect every single McDonalds in America to be mostly automated, and to have a full-shift of three employees. You the customer will approach and enter what you want on a big-screen device, hit enter, and then pay. In three minutes, a burger bag will pop out with a couple of empty cups. The chief purpose of the three employees? Mostly to reload the burger and fry cooking devices, and the soda hook-ups.
This pig Schakowsky is an economics genius.
Hey folks. These marxists can “really be this stupid and clueless” because their ideology deprives them of rational and honest thought.
The new marxist argument for a $15.00 an hour living wage is based on the false premise that it will “create millions of new jobs” and help the “middle class”. It would actually do what the reds want, create and/or keep largely unskilled workers in the “Lower Class” where they can be made into Democrat Party voters with bribes and promises of further goodies which will never be delivered.
Marxism and all its false promises is the real “opiate” of the workers, and Schakowsky peddles it like a veteran drug dealer.
Trevor Loudon’s new book “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress”, pp. 374-384, detail Schakowsky’s marxist background and affiliations right up till today.
She is the most “hardcore” of the “hardcore” and right in league with Comrades John Conyers (d-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-Minn, moslem extremist with leftist ties), and Danny Davis (D-Ill) who has extremely close ties to the Communist Party of Illinois (as shown in a film on YouTube).
You cannot “reason” with her, show her demostrative “proof” that she is wrong, nor convince her that anything other than her brand of Marxism (Democratic Socialists of America - Ehrenreich, Cloward-Piven, Alinsky (d), Oglesby (d)and even Antonio Gramsci(d)) is working successfully.
In the world of psychology and psychiatry, she would be classified as a “denier”, a fanatic, a “true-believer” (Eric Hoffer, “The True Believer”), paranoid, psychotic, and a diehard red (pick your choice of words - Communist -usually used when a person is a member of a “PARTY” rather than a loose organization (DSA is marxist, but not yet a Party in political terms); a “socialist” - belonging to DSA really, kinda proves that; “progressive - a marxist/communist coverup term used to imply that they are really “forward looking liberals” instead of authoritarian marxists in formation.
Schakowsky is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and many other leftist organizations. It is all in Loudon’s newly released book (which is available on Amazon.com or thru the Pacific Freedom Foundation (www.pacificfreedomfoundation.org).
You can’t change the color of red to anything else. It is what it is, and she is what she is, a Red.
So its back to the future with automats?
You're right!
ANYONE with the audacity to create a job for another human being should be punished to the fullest extent of the law!
They very idea that a company that has expenses that exceed its revenues should be allowed to shut its doors is RACIST.
This obsession with profit is obscene. The purpose of businesses is to provide well-paying jobs for their employees.
Period.
Can't happen quickly enough for me.
When I go to a fast food establishment I require tasty food FAST. Should I have to wait in a queue formed because its employees can't get their act together, I will not only depart but I will likely never return to that establishment.
I would much rather go to a Robo-Burger franchise being able to immediately place and pay for my order and receiving it without human intervention.
Should McDonald's crack the code on this type of establishment it will make another fast food fortune.
As for the fast food "workers" protesting themselves out of jobs; "good luck with your welfare prospects."
The formation of a National Council of experts for labor, for industy, for transportation, for the public health, for communications, etc. Selections to be made from the collective professionals or of tradesmen with legislative powers, and elected directly to a General Commission with ministerial powers.
The quick enactment of a law of the State that sanctions an eight-hour workday for all workers.
A minimum wage.
The participation of workers' representatives in the functions of industry commissions.
To show the same confidence in the labor unions (that prove to be technically and morallyworthy) as is given to industry executives or public servants.
The rapid and complete systemization of the railways and of all the transport industries.
A necessary modification of the insurance laws to invalidate the minimum retirement age;we propose to lower it from 65 to 55 years of age.
The institution of a national militia with a short period of service for training and exclusively defensive responsibilities.
A strong progressive tax on capital that will truly expropriate a portion of all wealth.
The seizure of all the possessions of the religious congregations and the abolition of all thebishoprics, which constitute an enormous liability on the Nation and on the privileges of the poor.
The revision of all military contracts and the seizure of 85 percent of the profits therein.
Heck, you’re lucky if nowadays the person taking your order habla ingles.
I guess we should consider these as those jobs Americans just won’t do and ask some of those illegal immigrants to come out of the shadows and fill these jobs American’s are no longer willing to do at a reasonable wage equal to the task being performed.
Right?
Nothing Schakowsky says surprises me. That woman is as far left and as out there as it gets.
For those unfamiliar with Jan’s great hits, here’s one of her all-time classics: “20,000 Jobs really isn’t all that many jobs” (her reason for opposing the Keystone Pipeline).
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