Thursday, August 29, 2013

Why can't we just be honest...

Why can’t we just be honest…  I have lost any presumptions that I once may have had that GW Bush was an angel… quite the opposite, I am very disappointed in his last four years for sure and I am very skeptical about some of his motives in the first four, but for entirely different reasons than liberals condemn him.  Economically the US did very well even excluding the sub-prime or ultra-low interest times that were strewn throughout his presidency.   
Oh sure you can, and liberals do, attribute the sub-prime mortgage crash to him, which is unfortunate.  They also say the tax rate reductions were for the upper echelon as some sort of payoff or boost to rich people… whatever.  They also say “the eight failed years” of his presidency, when they weren't all a failure… especially compared to our current leader.  Of course, even the lack of performance of our current leader is blamed on Mr. Bush, and that is where I am distraught with today’s up and coming young people.  I believe they check their brains at the door and belly up to the main stream trough and lap up the swill of liberal lies deferring blame from every unsavory thing and hanging it on the Republican’s necks.
The Republican’s are doing a pretty good job of hanging themselves right now, so the libs could probably sit it out for a while and watch them implode, with little or no effort.  I believe young thinking minds must differentiate between the Republicans and Conservatism, or we will all be sunk.   The Republicans, or most of them anyway, aren’t doing a very good job of defending conservative values and free market capitalism today.  They are too busy, it seems, trying to meld with the liberals, who want only to have them on a stick.  It makes no sense to me, as they are only proving who among them has the stones to stay the course, and who should go.
 Following the pop-culture, and mainstream media should be a no brainer to the average thinking person, but I can only believe that the liberal invasion of our public institutions of higher, and intermediate learning have begun to produce fruit.  The evidence is shown in watching nearly anything in the news represented by the younger generation.  (For the record, not ALL of the younger generation, as there is still young people that have been properly inoculated by loving parents that won’t allow the pollution of their progeny’s minds by the liberal onslaught)
A case in point:  As our economy stagnates into its fifth, or sixth year, with high unemployment (much higher than the MSM reports) and the Federal Reserve printing money like there’s no tomorrow (but there will be), there are tell tail signs of distress in the masses.  One such display is the current flurry of protests of big chain employers, like McDonalds, Wal-Mart, etc. not paying high enough wages and the all too willing Federal government setting minimum wages.   The protesting youth are completely missing the point and will never ever reach an average lifestyle such as my generation has had in the past by following the tripe they are being fed.  The market ALWAYS dictates the minimum wage… always.  Nobody can legislate private sector wealth; it doesn’t work that way, it can’t.  The employers aren’t screwing the workers any more now than they did at any other time, they offer the lowest wage that their business can pay and still keep afloat.  The way we increase our wages is one of two ways:  Either get a higher paying job, i.e. get training, our get more experience, or seniority at the job you have to get a higher wage, or, if there are more job opportunities the employer in question will pay a higher rate to attract workers.
The idea that this wage business, is an emotional idea and that compassion is somehow involved is the absolute wrong way to look at the free market and is very disingenuous of the liberal media to skew it in their “reporting”.  Especially when they themselves are engaging in the very free market capitalism they so markedly disdain. (Weird?)  Back to the wage thing:  The people protesting need to look a little deeper for the root of their lack of making ends meet with their current wage. 
There is high unemployment = It’s an employer’s market, sorry, that’s just the way it is.  If we want more money, we need more jobs to make them to compete for our help.
The Fed is printing the buying power of our money away.  They don’t have to raise our taxes, they just print so much money that ours is worthless, this equals inflation.  Things don’t go up in price as much as our money doesn't buy as much as it did before.  (This is keeping the stock market flush too; watch what happens when the Fed threatens interest rate increase or no more QE)
A business is a venture by an average person taking on the risk of losing the money and work they have put into building a business.  It’s their business, and they can run it as they see fit.  If we don’t like the wages they pay, we shouldn't continue to work for them.  If there aren't any other jobs out there to make them compete for our labor it’s not the employer’s fault, so we must look elsewhere for the root of the problem. 
This is where the MSM has bamboozled the youth of today along with liberal indoctrination, and no stand up conservatives explaining how things really work:  As I said before, the real problem with low wages is that they don’t buy what we want, and they don’t get any higher when there’s no competition.  Why?  I’ll tell you.  Our government is too busy trying to do things far, far out of their job description.  Their job is to protect us and keep the infrastructure up, nothing more.  Everything else should be done at a state level.  If it we kept our money here at home, we wouldn't need the Feds for much of anything.  The private sector is much more capable at doing nearly everything the Feds do now and the free market does them exponentially better, mostly because in a business setting there is accountability, government has none.  They try to manipulate the markets by regulating, and prohibiting activities and sometimes on an experimental basis and blame capitalism when it fails.  We haven’t seen true free market capitalism for a long time and I will submit that all we have seen is crony-capitalism from our leaders.  In a true free market the market will choose the winners and cull the losers, and the consumer always wins.  But sadly nobody teaches that today.  We are stuck trying to make a business pay higher wages than the market will allow in a down time and further upset the apple cart by making prices go higher as the business will pass the cost on to the consumers in an endless downward spiral, unless we address the real problem and change leadership to real leaders, not a bunch of liberals trying to institute socialism in the one country it has never ever been allowed.  They are trying in institute a system that has a very obvious history of failure every time it is tried.  So why can’t we open our eyes? 
Oh and for you that point to some obscure little country that claims to be socialist and say its working there…  Socialism is only surviving in those countries as a benefit of the capitalism that is there too, mark my words.  In any place it’s been tried to be fully instituted it has been a disaster.
The United States future rests in the young people of today.  If they don’t use their God given understanding and reason to get past the drab deceit of liberalism, they will be ensuring their generation and the ones to follow for a long time will not be able to see the prosperity that generations of the past were able to have simply by falling prey to the Communists of today and their warped ideology.  I will say I admired the “Occupy” movement and their zeal until they aptly demonstrated they weren't going to draw the correlation between the big business they hated and the relationship the same big business enjoyed with our government, thus making them co-conspirators.

 But alas, there is always hope…

7 comments:

  1. As surprised as you might be I agree that the minimum wage should not be raised to $15 an hour for a few reasons.

    First, it will limit the ability of small business people to hire a young person for a couple hours a day after school or on Saturdays. Those jobs are almost impossible to find know unlike 40 years ago when teens and college students could find these jobs.

    I also object to raising the limit only the large corporations and letting small businesses like your own pay less. The reason I feel that way is because it will make sure that the large corporations gets the better workers and small businesses will be stuck with the bottom of the barrel if you can't pay as much as they do.

    I might agree to a higher minimum wage if there was a lower training wage that could be used for the first 6 months of employment.

    I think blaming the government is the wrong approach here though. The problem lies in young people without work ethic, drug problems, no education or job skills. Vocational programs have been wiped out. You said you graduated from HS in 1977. I suspect your high school had many vocational programs that trained students for real jobs because it wasn't expected that everyone would go to college. My high school had business programs, work programs, ag programs, auto programs and probably some I didn't even know about.

    People who work work full-time should earn a livable wage if they work someplace long term, but a minimum wage job is not where anyone wants to stay and I don't think many stay there for long in most cases. Although as you know in small communities jobs can be scarce and transportation is getting more expensive and transit routes are being cancelled.

    I don't think it is far to say the market place set the price because businesses are in the business of making money and will provide as little as possible. It sets up the potential for abuse if there isn't a minimum wage of any kind set. The only reason we have the 5 day work week is because of unions. The reasons unions came to be is because people were being abused and dying in the workplace. If someone needs to feed their family they shouldn't have to die for it and they might not have a choice if options are limited.

    Did you know Walmart buys life insurance policies on their employees? They do it to profit when a younger employee dies. They give nothing to the family. Can you imagine doing that to a family of one of your employees? Greed is powerful. Unfortunately, employers no longer have any loyalty to their employees and so employees have also stopped being loyal to employers.

    I am offended by your association of communism to liberals and progressives. There is no such connection.

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  2. I am pleased we can find some common ground! You are on the right track when you identify forces like work ethic, drugs, etc. These forces and others are what control the "market". We as consumers drive the market, just as employees control the employment market, as defined by the employers as well. I will agree that businesses are in the occupation of making as much money as possible. But where you appear from your comments to fall short is by not giving the market forces their due in controlling the fate of it's players. In the case of today, the government in many, not all cases is offering a much better deal than employers, by paying them not to work. They even advertise it. When it's easier to stay home and more lucrative to wait for the unemployment check than driving to work and expending all the costs and energy it takes to be employed, naturally humans will take the course of least resistance. So why do we condemn businesses for the same? If innovation is promoted and personal Independence is groomed by our culture than there will be more jobs and the power paradigm will shift to the employees and the employers will no longer be able to dictate the wages. To sit and complain that evil businesses are all about money and we are victims is to succumb to lethargy. We are all much better than that, and have operated in the a much more productive way in previous times. You can be as offended as you want regarding the similarities to liberalism and socialism and communism, but in practice they share many tenets and in some cases they are synonymous. Don't take my word for it, read the communist manifesto and list the similarities with the modern day liberals and our leaders.

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  3. Additionally, why does it matter if a company takes out an insurance policy on yours or my death? They paid for it. Unless they put out a hit on you, what business is it of yours? I guess I am missing the connection. Any time you hire an employee they become a liability in terms of dollars and cents and how an employer has to interact with the government, why wouldn't they be entitled to recoup some of the monies if you die? You could have purchased life insurance.
    I get the idea liberal think businesses should be some big brother type benevolent loving rock you to sleep in the cradle type of relationship with its employees. I've said it before and I'll say it again: businesses are in business to make money. If they are being unethical that's another thing altogether. Greed an making a profit are two separate things and frequently are confused. Nobody seems to care about the Federal government sticking their hands into the pockets of the dead after the money they have accumulated has been thoroughly taxed in the living portion of the owners life. But of course that's not greed, because we get such great service from them. This whole idea that the employer owes the employee anything other than wages and that the employee is somehow entitled to share in the company's profit is almost a direct quote from the Communist manifesto.

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  4. OH geez, I just wrote a ton and lost if all! I guess God didn't want you to have to read so much so I will write a more condensed version.

    Government Benefits: I don't know anyone getting rich on government benefits. I know a total of three people collecting benefits. One is an 85 year old woman on State retirement and collecting social security. Another is an 83 yr old woman collecting the minimum social security and getting food stamps. The third is a 63 yr old women who was brain damaged in a work related car accident over 20 years ago. I don't know any scammers. I am sure they are out there, but I would much rather provide for the ones that need it than worry about the few who might scam me. I don't believe there is a kid out that that says I want to grow up and live off public benefits. I believe everyone has an innate drive to contribute, however, they do sometimes get discouraged along the way and sometimes they just need a kick in the butt. Hopefully they have parents that can help them find their way. Most people find it.

    Without basic needs met it is difficult to make good moral decisions. If you need food and don't have a neighbor, friend, or relative you can ask. If you had no way to feed your family I am sure you would find a way. I am also sure you would try every legal avenue first, but I do think that everyone has their breaking point - even you. Thankfully you (I assume) and I haven't never gotten to our breaking point. We've had someone help us if we needed it. You had your church or a relative or a friend. Not everyone has that. Without making sure the poorest have their basic needs met crime would be much higher. In Grays Harbor crime is high because of drug abuse. The addiction is so strong it drives all decisions because withdrawal is powerful. Our crime problem is not poor people who need food - it is addicts that need their drugs. Of course there are scammers. They always will be. There are scammers running businesses too. God will take care of them.


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  5. Communism: I guess about every President we've had was a Communist then. Oh, the evil of public schools! Oh, the evil of wanting to eliminate class conflict. Public schools have been around since the 1600's in North American. Mandatory school laws were first established in Boston in the 1800's. The argument that someone is communist because they agree with something in the Manifesto is ridiculous.

    Taxes: The US has one of the lowest tax rates in the world. I am assuming you don't want to compare to places like Kuwait where the government owns the resources. You and your children attended public schools. I assume you use public hospitals, roads, fire departments, and police departments. Who do you think should pay? I think tax rates are misleading because actual tax rates are much less. Mitt Romney paid 9% federal income tax (and that was probably amended to a lesser amount after he lost the election). How the heck can anyone complain about 9%? I certainly pay much more than that. Certainly the tax code needs a rehaul because it has been revised so many times it is confusing and unfair. For example two families each with an income of $150K with equal deductions. One family has a stay at home mom and a dad who earns $150K. The other family has two working parents each making $75K for a total of $150k? Who has the higher tax burden? The family with the stay at home mom that doesn't require work clothes and childcare. Why? Because social security is capped at $110K. Certainly you and I can agree that the cap was set up for the rich because they are the ones making the rules. Certainly, we can also agree that capital gains should be taxed at the same rate as a working person's income. The working person is contributing much more to society than the rich person with money invested that is sitting on their yacht drinking wine instead of contributing to their society by working.

    I think small companies like yours and the one my father owned for years should have fewer regulations than the big companies to even the playing field. I don't think that is communism or even socialism. Abraham Lincoln said something like the equal treatment of unequals is the most unequal thing. You provide a step stool for the short person, but not for the tall person. This is the same. Not everyone has the same strengths or resources. My father started his business with a small check from the Veterans Administration after WWII, help from his brother, and a business loan from an individual. He had resources and he worked hard. You work hard, but you don't have the same resources as a Walmart type company. If a Walmart type company opened up across the street from you, you would not be able to compete. They pay a smaller percentage in taxes and they have the ability to pay much less for the products they buy. Back in the 60's my father had a large competitor move in a few miles down the road. They were selling an item for less than he was buying it and they both bought from the same wholesale house. He called the owner of the wholesale house and told him he wanted the same price. He got it (or at least thought he did). He had been a customer for 20 years and had had lunch with the owner. He did compete successfully with the larger business because of customer service and because our prices could be competitive. Today I don't think you have that power as a small businessman.

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  7. Walmart: Certainly they have the right to buy life insurance and I would not take that away from them, but I think it demonstrates their profit priority and does get to the level of greed. I don't have a problem with profit, but certainly there is a point where a company doesn't need more at the expense of their employee. Walmart puts the small guy like you out of business. I used to try to buy things in Aberdeen because it was convenient, but now I don't even try because I cannot find what I want most of the time because I will not go to Walmart. I end up driving to Olympia unless I can find what I want at Dennis Company. I don't go to Walmart because I like to support small business like you.

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