General Political Thread

[caliber66]

The original poster's remark was "trading anecdotes rather than fact."

And the other posters' anecdotes are also facts. So what?

[John Smith]

No politics at our thanksgiving, first holiday in 10-15 years without.

 

Also if nukes start erupting in the Mid East it will more likely than not be the U.S. Or Israel pulling he trigger.

[Hixter]

Also if nukes start erupting in the Mid East it will more likely than not be the U.S. Or Israel pulling he trigger.

Or Saudi Arabia. Or Kuwait. Or any of the other regional nations that will be drawn into a nuclear arms race once the Iranians get the bomb.

[KevinG]

So it appears that Healthcare.gov is working pretty good now, and a bunch of people are actually signing up and getting healthcare.  Also Iran has not used their new found lifted sanctions to build nuclear bombs and blow up us or most of the Middle East.  And since the one year anniversary of Sandy Hook is 9 days away, anyone want to turn their thoughts towards the minimum wage?  Or rather income inequality in general?  

 

FaceBook friend posted this the other day.  Really quite surprising, disturbing, and telling.  

 

http://www.utrend.tv/v/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact/

 

Just wondering what ya'll think?

[Guest Jules]

"a bunch"

 

What does Sandy Hook have to do with minimum wage?

[Hixter]

So it appears that Healthcare.gov is working pretty good now, and a bunch of people are actually signing up and getting healthcare.

The last I heard, the number was 10% of where the administration has hoped they'd be. That said, it doesn't really matter because the figures that have been released don't mean squat because they're just the people who have added a plan to their shopping cart, not actually paid for, or received, insurance.

 

CBS Washington correspondent Sharyl Attkisson doesn't seem convinced, either:

 

 

Also Iran has not used their new found lifted sanctions to build nuclear bombs and blow up us or most of the Middle East.

Have the centrifuges stopped spinning? Have any facilities been shuttered? Has work on their nuclear weapons program been halted? No, nothing has been implemented as of yet. Nothing has changed, except they've bought more time.

 

anyone want to turn their thoughts towards the minimum wage?

I  don't think that a worker flipping burgers at McDonald's deserves to make more than a soldier, sailor, airman or marine.

[Hixter]

Another indicator of how poorly healthcare.gov is doing: 741 people signed up in New Jersey during the entire month of October, while 50,000 residents signed up for newly legalized online gambling the first week it was available.

[Doug C]

The original poster's remark was "trading anecdotes rather than fact."

 

And the other posters' anecdotes are also facts. So what?

[Mr. Heartbreak]

... income inequality in general?  

 

FaceBook friend posted this the other day.  Really quite surprising, disturbing, and telling.  

 

http://www.utrend.tv/v/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact/

 

Just wondering what ya'll think?

I watched that too, and it was eye opening. I can remember back in the 1990s hearing Michael Parenti on NPR talking about how there was a greater and greater % of America's wealth being concentrated in the hands of a few obscenely rich individuals. Today, it is much, much worse. That presentation shows how much worse.

 

Nobody wants to do much of anything about it, oddly enough. Even millionaires seem strangely detached from the reality that something like 0.01% of the population controls 40% of the nation's wealth. Millionaires are middle class or even poor compared to the 1%.

[Hixter]

If you'll check what was written, the poster said "trading anecdotes rather than facts," thus insinuating that I was not being factual. I, on the other hand, never claimed that the poster wasn't being factual.

[Guest Jules]

I watched that too, and it was eye opening. I can remember back in the 1990s hearing Michael Parenti on NPR talking about how there was a greater and greater % of America's wealth being concentrated in the hands of a few obscenely rich individuals. Today, it is much, much worse. That presentation shows how much worse.

 

Nobody wants to do much of anything about it, oddly enough. Even millionaires seem strangely detached from the reality that something like 0.01% of the population controls 40% of the nation's wealth. Millionaires are middle class or even poor compared to the 1%.

 

But millionaires are in the 1%.

[KevinG]

Another indicator of how poorly healthcare.gov is doing: 741 people signed up in New Jersey during the entire month of October, while 50,000 residents signed up for newly legalized online gambling the first week it was available.

 

Wow talk about a distorted point.  I mean really, this is what you have to offer to the discussion?  We all know that Healthcare.gov was not working in October, so that number is meaningless.  

 

I  don't think that a worker flipping burgers at McDonald's deserves to make more than a soldier, sailor, airman or marine.

 

You are absolutely right.  I love the thought process on this comment, though.  Instead of either coming out against a minimum wage hike, rather you deflect and say they shouldn't be paid more than members of the armed forces.  If the hourly wage for military were lower than the minimum wage, they still receive way more in benefits then most civilian jobs out there.  Messing around with this Military to Civilian jobs calculator, a civilian salary needs to be nearly 2 times that of a military one to "match."  Which makes your comments such a throw away line.  You play the military card, but there was no thought in it.  

 

My lines about ACA, Iran, and Sandy Hook were just a veiled reference to how quite this thread has been.  Figured since no one was talking about them that everything was solved and hunky dory with them.  Thought the speech that PBO gave could kick start a different conversation.  

 

I can almost predict with 98% certainty what you will say about ACA, Iran, guns, etc. What I am really interested in what do you think about the minimum wage?  What about the economic inequality?  In this country when someone works shouldn't they be paid enough to make a living.  Right now, 15K a year is not enough to live on.    

[Guest Jules]

The minimum wage is irrelevant to me and I bet most small/medium businesses.  I don't even know who makes minimum wage.  Landscapers?  Day laborers?

[Hixter]

Wow talk about a distorted point.  I mean really, this is what you have to offer to the discussion?  We all know that Healthcare.gov was not working in October, so that number is meaningless.  

It's now December and, as the CBS correspondent noted, signup figures haven't been released and the administration is stonewalling. 

 

Instead of either coming out against a minimum wage hike, rather you deflect and say they shouldn't be paid more than members of the armed forces.

The fast food protesters are demanding $15/hr, which is more than many enlisted service members earn. Despite what you'd like to believe, I put plenty of thought into my statement, although it was a very simple one.

 

Right now, 15K a year is not enough to live on.

You're doing it wrong if you're an adult working full time and your total income is $15,000 per year. I live in a city where the cost of living is quite cheap, yet the local fast food restaurants advertise starting pay of $9.50 and up. Also, let's not forget that someone making $15k per year will qualify for food stamps, subsidized housing and some sweet Obamacare subsidies.

The minimum wage is irrelevant to me and I bet most small/medium businesses.  I don't even know who makes minimum wage.  Landscapers?  Day laborers?

Teenagers, mostly. The day laborers around here want $15 or $20 per hour.

[Guest Jules]

Yeah, teenagers in their first job usually.  Like I said, pretty much irrelevant.  Businesses will pay what they have to pay to be competitive in the local marketplace to retain employees (low turnover), optimize productivity, and remain competitive nationally or globally.  Rarely is this minimum wage.

[Winston Legthigh]

 

The fast food protesters are demanding $15/hr, which is more than many enlisted service members earn. Despite what you'd like to believe, I put plenty of thought into my statement, although it was a very simple one.

 

 

Are you including room and board in enlisted compensation? Granted, they might not be making much, but they don't have to spend a dime either. 

[Hixter]

Are you including room and board in enlisted compensation? Granted, they might not be making much, but they don't have to spend a dime either. 

No, but I haven't seen anyone reporting on the plight of minimum wage workers ask them if they live with their parents or receive housing or food benefits, either.

 

A new enlistee earns $1400 per month in base pay and receives $350 per month in meal allowances. He/she is then required to pay for his/her meals at the chow hall. I assume that $350 will just cover 3 meals a day in the chow hall, but it won't go far off post.

 

A few things to consider:

 

1) Military members are not paid hourly, so there's no overtime involved. They typically work far more than 40 hours per week; (Anecdote Alert) my friends worked 12-hour days 7 days per week in Afghanistan and Iraq. That really changes the dollars per hour equation.

 

2) Sometimes your "room and board" consists of eating cold meals out of a plastic bag while living and sleeping in a hole in the ground. (One that you dug yourself, of course.)

 

And then there's that whole getting shot at and blown up thing ...

[Doug C]

"Here's who earns the minimum wage, in 3 graphs" from NPR's Planet Money (and it's current! 25 November 2013)

 

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/11/21/246599184/who-earns-the-minimum-wage-heres-the-answer-in-3-graphs

[Hixter]

[Doug C]

To sport such ring bling, Rip Taylor clearly earned above the minimum wage, the Nelson Brothers should have made less than minimum wage (though likely could have made a fortune in gay porn) and I am not aware of a mandala ever having gainful emloyment.

[Guest Don Draper]

The fast food protesters are demanding $15/hr, which is more than many enlisted service members earn. Despite what you'd like to believe, I put plenty of thought into my statement, although it was a very simple one.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm not being snarky, but don't enlisted service members have room and board taken care of?

[Hixter]

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm not being snarky, but don't enlisted service members have room and board taken care of?

Look up a couple of posts.

[Guest Don Draper]

Ah, I apologize for that oversight.

 

No, but I haven't seen anyone reporting on the plight of minimum wage workers ask them if they live with their parents or receive housing or food benefits, either.

 

I heard a report on NPR this afternoon that the living wage for a single mother with just one child is about $20/hour in most areas, and that the majority of individuals whose sole income is a minimum wage job are on housing assistance/food stamps.  That's primarily why I asked.  

 

I'm all for public assistance, believe me.  I think it's a godsend for those who need it.  But I also think it's horseshit that the government has to pick up the slack for major corporations who would rather sink more money into executives than provide employees a livable wage.  In my opinion the government is subsidizing the corporations' staffing overhead, and I'd rather opt to foot the bill by patronizing these businesses than foot the bill as a matter of course.

[Hixter]

I heard a report on NPR this afternoon that the living wage for a single mother with just one child is about $20/hour in most areas, and that the majority of individuals whose sole income is a minimum wage job are on housing assistance/food stamps.

What about child support payments by the father? Things like that get left out of the equation.

[Hixter]

the Nelson Brothers should have made less than minimum wage

I remember reading an interview where a certain member of Wilco said that he'd cut his long, blonde hair in the early 90s after being called Nelson one too many times.