Republicans are AGAINST ... the Minimum Wage. Not just against Raising the Minimum Wage -- but they are against the actual IDEA of the Minimum Wage, itself.
Simply incredible. Incredible faith they have there, in the Free Market -- being able to solve all societal issues.
GOP Rep. Joe Barton Calls For Minimum Wage Repeal
by Sabrina Siddiqui, huffingtonpost.com -- 12/05/2013
President Barack Obama's call to raise the minimum wage has long been met with resistance from congressional Republicans, but Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) took things a step further by suggesting the minimum wage be done away with entirely.
"I think it's outlived its usefulness," Barton told National Journal in a story published Thursday. "It may have been of some value back in the Great Depression. I would vote to repeal the minimum wage."
The story didn't include any specifics on why Barton felt the minimum wage had lost its value, and a request to his office for further explanation wasn't immediately returned.
[...]
"Just Because ..."
Republicans are AGAINST ... Food Stamp Assistance (aka. SNAP). Not just against keeping people from starving -- but they are against the actual IDEA of the Feeding someone without a day's worth of labor, in exchange.
Simply incredible. Incredible short-sightedness they have there -- especially considering that the majority of SNAP beneficiaries, happen to live in their own Republican "under-employed" Districts. Oops!
Interactive: Republicans More Likely to Have Constituents Who Use Food Stamps
with Infographic clickable map
by Chris Wilson and Alex Rogers, swampland.time.com -- Dec. 04, 2013
[...]
Representative Austin Scott, one of the farm-bill conferees, represents a district in southern Georgia in which approximately 1 in 4 constituents currently receives farm-bill aid, according to the data -- considerably above the national average of 15%.
When asked about the program on Tuesday, Scott suggested that abuse of the system warrants the cuts in the House bill.
“Anybody who is realistic acknowledges that there is some abuse in the system, and those abuses need to go away,” Scott said. “We’re going to protect seniors, we’re going to protect the disabled and those that can’t work, but if someone can work, then they’ve got a responsibility to work.”
[...]
Republican Representative Steve King of Iowa, the House subcommittee chairman on nutrition -- whose district has below-average SNAP enrollment -- says the four principal negotiators may have to decide to “put a number down on a piece of paper and roll the dice.”
[...]
That's just swell. Republicans' responsibility
even to their own Constituents has boiled down to a "crap shoot" -- can they continue to rage against "Society's moochers," while at the same time
NOT hurt their own re-election chances -- with the very people they are railing against.
That's some tight-rope there Steve King. Better hope you don't run into a "stiff breeze" ... There's a populist movement brewing on the working-class horizon, don't you know?
Republicans are AGAINST ... the Collecting of Corporate Taxes (aka. They are FOR inventing new "Repatriation Deals" to coax those "foreign" Corporate Windfalls back to the Homeland).
And they are just plain AGAINST the IDEA of Taxing Profits -- be it Capital Gains, CEO Pay, or the simple exploitation of foreign labor -- ANY Profit that was gotten WITHOUT a day's worth of labor, itself. That's something that Republicans are perennially FOR ...
Corporations Owe Hundreds of Billions of Taxes But GOP Goes After Federal Employees
by Dave Johnson, huffingtonpost.com -- 11/27/2013
[...]
Uncollected Taxes
You may have heard that multinational corporations are holding somewhere in the range of $2 trillion outside of the country, to avoid paying the taxes they owe when they bring the money back to the U.S. This is because of a loophole called "deferral." Profits made outside the US are not taxed if the company doesn't repatriate the money.
Because of this loophole companies move jobs, factories and profit centers outside the country, and companies that do not are left at a disadvantage. The taxes due on this money are somewhere upwards of $700 billion. The amount held outside the country grows every year -- along with the number of jobs, factories and profit centers companies move to take advantage of this.
[...]
This would bring in hundreds of billions revenue as well as more than $1 trillion toward investment and/or shareholders. Republicans refuse to address it, preferring instead to go after government employees, food stamps, etc.
[...]
How's that "invisible hand" idea been working out for you lately? ...
Its been more like an "invisible pick-pocket" if you asked me. When do we get to share in the benefits of our ever-increasing productivity? When do we get to support the "creation" of Good Jobs,
here in America, instead of constantly enabling and coddling,
the outsourcing Jobs to somewhere overseas --
Tax Free !?
Republicans are FOR ... Corporations being subsidized by America's Public Assistance programs (aka. "Corporate Welfare"). So long as those unencumbered Corporate Profits, keep rolling in. Whatever the worker-fallout. ("Workers" are always replaceable -- expendable in the Republican-Corporate-Profits worldview.)
Simply incredible. Incredible faith they have there, in the compliance of the American People -- to stand by and not notice, that someone (many someones) are getting corporately short-changed. Wage Stagnation is not just a theoretical construct. It makes those Corporate Ledgers soar ...
Strikes close some "fast food outlets, but strikers are aiming for something bigger
by Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor -- Dec 05, 2013
[...] Pushing blame off onto franchise owners is one of the most common responses from fast food chains when poor working conditions are publicized; really, though, poverty wages and bad conditions are an industry-wide strategy. If McDonald's corporate management wanted to raise wages, franchisees would no more stand in the way than they currently get to decide on the menu they serve. [...]
That's why we see McDonald's advising workers to apply for food stamps or sell their Christmas presents. It's why 52 percent of front-line fast food workers are on public assistance, to the tune of nearly $7 billion a year. The conditions these workers are fighting are the conditions the entire fast food industry is built on. [...]
Republicans are FOR ...
Corporations being empowered to continue to bilk the public -- both the low, low-wage working public ... and the low, low-price consuming public, too.
That's the sound of our Future, crashing ...
The Low-Wage Drag on Our Economy: Wal-Mart’s low wages and their effect on taxpayers and economic growth
Prepared by the Democratic staff of the U.S. House -- Committee on Education and the Workforce -- May 2013
Executive Summary
[...] As the largest private-sector employer in the U.S., Wal-Mart’s business model exerts considerable downward pressure on wages throughout the retail sector and the broader economy. This model has multiplied across the sector. While employers like Wal-Mart seek to reap significant profits through the depression of labor costs, the social costs of this low-wage strategy are externalized. Low wages not only harm workers and their families -- they cost taxpayers.
When low wages leave Wal-Mart workers unable to afford the necessities of life, taxpayers pick up the tab. Taxpayer funded public benefit programs make up the difference between Wal-Mart’s low wages and the costs of subsistence. This public subsidization of the low-wage model of companies like Wal-Mart received significant attention in the early 2000s. With wage stagnation, income inequality, and federal budget deficits of increasing concern to public policy, this issue is due for a re-examination.
[...]
That some system there Wal-mart. Just keep YOUR consumers happy with low, low-discounts -- and
maybe they won't notice that,
it's their personal Taxes, that help keep YOUR workers from starving every year.
Cha-Ching!
Republicans are FOR ... Corporations being "protected" to short-change their workers -- and AGAINST Public Assistance being able to supplement their Hunger-wage tables, too.
Simply incredible. On one hand Republicans oppose the Minimum Wage, while on the other hand, they oppose the subsistence-programs that help the very-same lowly UNDERPAID workers, who being forced to take it. Those Poverty-Wage Jobs.
What choice do they have? Since the "Good Jobs" Economy is going so "gang-busters," thanks to the GOP refusal to EVEN consider passing the American Jobs Act. Oops! Sorry about that Unemployed workers ... just "struggling to survive, at Society's on-going expense.
The Public cost of low-wage Jobs in the fast-food industry
by Sylvia Allegretto, Marc Doussard, Dave Graham-Squire, Ken Jacobs, Dan Thompson and Jeremy Thompson; laborcenter.berkeley.edu -- Oct 15, 2013
Executive Summary
Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of enrollments in America’s major public benefits programs are from working families. But many of them work in jobs that pay wages so low that their paychecks do not generate enough income to provide for life’s basic necessities. Low wages paid by employers in the fast-food industry create especially acute problems for the families of workers in this industry. Median pay for core front-line fast-food jobs is $8.69 an hour, with many jobs paying at or near the minimum wage. Benefits are also scarce for front-line fast-food workers; an estimated 87 percent do not receive health benefits through their employer. The combination of low wages and benefits, often coupled with part-time employment, means that many of the families of fast-food workers must rely on taxpayer-funded safety net programs to make ends meet.
[...]
Main Findings
[...]
-- The cost of public assistance to families of workers in the fast-food industry is nearly $7 billion per year.
[...]
-- People working in fast-food jobs are more likely to live in or near poverty. One in five families with a member holding a fast-food job has an income below the poverty line, and 43 percent have an income two times the federal poverty level or less.
-- Even full-time hours are not enough to compensate for low wages. The families of more than half of the fast-food workers employed 40 or more hours per week are enrolled in public assistance programs.
[...]
Republicans are AGAINST ...
the Collecting Corporate Taxes (aka.
Have they got a Repatriation Deals for you -- Corporate Persons!).
They realize Corporate Persons have no "natural" allegiance to this Country (fake artificial persons, can be that way) -- SOOO they must be coaxed to invest here -- with recurring low, low-tax rates -- afterall it's the American GOP Repatriation Way!
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) unveiled an international tax reform discussion draft as part of the Committee’s broader effort on comprehensive tax reform that would lower top tax rates for both individuals and employers to 25 percent. In addition to rate cuts, the plan would transition the United States from a worldwide system of taxation to a territorial system -- a move virtually every one of America’s global competitors has already made.
[...]
The Ways and Means discussion draft would:
Reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent -- bringing it in line with the average of countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Committee continues to examine base broadening measures that will replace the revenue foregone by reducing the corporate tax rate, so these measures are reserved in the discussion draft for future release.
Shift from a worldwide system of taxation to a territorial-based system. The new plan:
-- Exempts 95 percent of overseas earnings from U.S. taxation when profits are brought back to the United States from a foreign subsidiary.
[...]
-- Frees up existing overseas earnings to be reinvested in America after they are taxed at a low rate in line with current repatriation proposals.
[...]
Repatriate your Profits in America now, Corporations. No worries the GOP has got that Base Wage situation covered for you, too. And Unions,
no problem! Have you heard about what
the Republican-led state government just did to the City of Detroit? Union pension-promises?
Those have been sent packing. Along with so many priceless works of art, and the historic artifacts of a by-gone cultural heritage ...
ALL simply GONE! Poof! To be Sold-off to the highest {fire-sale} bidders. You know,
that Free Market GOP way.
Step right up Corporate Re-Patriots -- America is once again The Land of Opportunity. Just primed and ready for the taking, "at low, low, discounted-prices" (courtesy of Wal-Mart™).
The Austerity Auction continues -- SO don't miss the steals. Come back quick now, you hear?
.
.
.
In Summary:
Republicans are AGAINST ... just about ANYTHING, that average Working Americans are FOR.
Any Questions?
If so, then you can start to ASK your average Republican WHY?
Why are they against the Minimum Wage?
Why are they against the American People earning a decent living, with enough of the subsistence-benefits that "our common civilization" attempts to offer -- to actually make their minimum wage lives ... worth living?
Are Republicans also AGAINST ... just plain old Survival itself, too?
Sadly, it would seem SO. They stand for something ... It's just NOT the common good. It's just NOT Opportunity for ALL.
It's something else entirely. Republicans stand FOR ... Abolishing the Minimum Wage ...