Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

[ Create a new account ]

SamTheButcher (574069)

SamTheButcher
  (email not shown publicly)

"The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress." - Joseph Joubert

"If you want really want to hurt your parents and don't want to be gay, go into the arts" - Kurt Vonnegut

I'm the mysterious American guest in cottage #8. And I'd like more towels, please. -artifex2004

Journal of SamTheButcher (574069)

Seems like a bad move for Republican House leadership

[ #140731 ]
Friday July 28 2006, @04:42PM
Democrats

You can only fuck the lower class for so long before they rise up. "Sure, we'll give you more money, just make sure that when my pappy dies, I don't have to pay as much in taxes."

Personally, I don't give a fuck about what they do to the inheritance tax (although I do think that if you're inheriting a multimillion dollar estate, you'll probably be able to dig up the cabbage to pay the bill...) but don't tie it to the minimum wage, you fucking assholes. Let's see you live on $5.15/hour. I can't even fill up my car with one day's work at that wage.

Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. If the Dems try to get out the votes, the Repubs will just call up their friends at Diebold and end up getting elected anyway.

NICE POLITICAL SYSTEM WE GOT HERE, AMERICA.


List all Journal entries
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Seems like a bad move for Republican House leadership 28 Comments More | Login /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More | Login
Loading... please wait.
  • Can't you folks just lose an election without it being stolen?

    Keep carping about 2000 so you people can lose another election in '08.

    Democrats == Homer Simpson
  • And this is why each bill should be about ONE thing; this is absurd, since obviously anyone who votes against it looks like a bastard (Joe Democrat voted AGAINST raising the minimum wage!!!)
    • And this is why each bill should be about ONE thing

      100% agreed. It's a huge abuse of the positions that politicians have been elected to fill.

      Anyway, my take on the issues:

      • The concept of minimum wage is flawed. Let the market sort it out.
      • Inheritance tax is (along with capital gains tax) the most unjust tax in existence. I'm not opposed in principle to a token tax to maintain some liquidity, and prevent the hugely rich from just consolidating their positions in society. But the current levels (in the
      • The point with the minimum wage is that is does something that the market cannot do for labour: it creates a cartel.

        The idea of a cartel is that is favours insiders at the cost of outsiders. Translate that to the labour market, and you find that it favours low-paid workers at the cost (primarily) of higher paid workers. Those workers still in a job are still worth hiring at higher pay. Since the poor value a dollar more than the rich, this is progress, as long as it doesn't do too much economic harm.

        Wha
  • Raising the minimum wage actively harms me for the benefit of teenagers. Less than five percent of adults over 25 have minimum wage jobs, so raising it harms a majority to benefit a tiny minority. Teenagers don't need a minimum wage increase.
    • I'd love to see the sources for your statistics. And I'd like to know how it "actively" harms you.

      I make 7.75/hour at Target. (my second job, btw) I make more than minimum wage. Starting might be 7.50/hour. Still not really a living wage. However, if they raise the minimum wage, then they'd likely have to raise the wages above it. So instead of 7.75, they might raise it to 8.75.

      Also, some of these jobs are probably the elderly, trying to make money to help bridge their costs. I know we have a lot of senior
      • Actually, the percentage is smaller than I'd remembered. From the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics [bls.gov] only about three percent of workers make minimum wage, and only about two percent of adults over 25 earned it.

        Now as to how it actively harms me:

        The economy only has a finite amount of currency with which to compensate workers for their labour. Increasing the minimum wage cuts into that 'worker budget', with no corresponding benefit of labour - it just costs more. Since the labour costs more
        • The economy only has a finite amount of currency with which to compensate workers for their labour.

          Understood. Then why do people bitch about the minimum wage and fight against rasing it, but don't complaing about massive CEO salaries and "golden parachutes"?
          • Minimum wage is an imposed force upon the market, while CEO salaries are not. CEOs negotiate their salaries, and if the Board is not willing to pay - they won't. On the other hand, the minimum wage is enforced by fiat, whether a job warrants the pay or not.
  • just don't ever seem to get it. by punishing those who risk and achieve and at the same time tie the hands of small business... you get... well? higher unemployment, higher taxes and a larger lower class.

    i hate the whole "poor us" concept, the "i'm such a little victim, i hate those rich people, they don't deserve it! i do!" bullshit that is wrapped around these arguments by so many... and the democrats love it, its their power base. a lot of power can be had in the culture of victimization. do everything t

    • Did you paste that from a Coulter rant? Your logical leap from raising minimum wage to "punishing those who risk and achieve" is staggering. Economics is not a zero-sum game, but it's obvious that cheap-labor conservatives won't be happy until we bring back the company store and child labor.

    • Let's forget the fact that I said that I don't care what they do to the inheritance tax. Let's focus on the fact that it's a chickenshit move by the house Republican leaders to force the Dems to drop it. If you read the article, you know that many Republicans are in favor of raising the minimum wage.

      If you read the article, then you *also* know that the *Republicans* are making things worse on small business as well by eliminating the possibility for small businesses to band together to purchase health care
      • And yet in the state of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell killed the ability of small employers to pool liability on self-funded plans.
        Consequently, my health insurance has gone up 10% for every year that fucker has been in office.

        The minimum wage is an artificial creation that does precious little to set the bar in terms of labor costs - it merely sets a low point at which entry level workers can be paid. If it's higher than companies just cut the number of folks who are employed.

        Think about it - you have two kids
    • I used to be happy I was making $7.25 an hour tutoring students in how to use computers. Then I found out my own state was trying to raise minumum wage to higher than I was making. That changed my whole perspective on how much I earned.

      And, yes, I know my computer knowledge could bring in much more...but you have to remember I live in Michigan, where jobs are supposedly hard to come by. Even tech jobs; job postings want a bachelor's or better, and years and years of experience...All I have is self-motiva
    • I agree. We should have publicly funded literacy classes for all Americans, including illegal immigrants, to get them up to speed.

      Then, everyone will be smart enough to get jobs that *aren't* minimum wage, and start providing for their families for real. :D

  • ...when they have to do it?

    You can only fuck the lower class for so long before they rise up. "Sure, we'll give you more money, just make sure that when my pappy dies, I don't have to pay as much in taxes."

    The inheritence tax is the most eggregious government money grab on the books. That wealth was already taxed (at a high rate, I might add) when it was earned. It is nothing short of theft to take another swipe at it when it is distributed to family members.

    Maybe the inheritance tax isn't somethi

    • Maybe the inheritance tax isn't something you think will ever affect you, or your family, but I expect it to affect me and mine.

      It might affect me, I don't know. You went on about it for a long time before you quoted my passage where I said I really don't care what they do with it.

      So why do we have a minimum wage? Why does anyone want to raise it? I'm sure that employers, always good and ready to do the right thing, would pay a living (or passable) wage anyway. And why does everyone say that if the minimum

      • Nobody says that everyone working for minimum wage will be out of work if the minimum wage is raised... But it will reduce the amount of minimum jobs available.

        It's a simple notion to wrap your head around. Most people work for a small business. Let's say that a Mom and Pop store has $1000 a week available for payroll, and that the cashiers and stock boys make minimum wage (and let's say minimum wage is $10/hr just to keep the math simple).

        That's 100 hours of labor that the store can afford on a week

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2008 SourceForge, Inc.