Now this is good timing: The hourly minimum wage in America increased this week to $7.25 from $6.55. That's an increase of seventy cents per hour ($1,456 annually) that employers must now cough up to pay to their hourly employees. This comes at a time of recession and continued job layoffs (over 9% nationally and increasing), not to mention the upcoming increase in taxes that most businesses will be paying to cover the gross spending by out-of-control Washington.
The minimum wage was originally implemented to protect workers from sweatshop tactics of overwork and underpay. But the sweatshops have long vanished from the American employment world, and we have those wonderful unions to protect today's worker bees. At least they're not driving up costs!
So many problems have derived from the minimum wage, one being the audacity of government to step into the private sector. Sure, there were abuses in the early days, but the point here is that there still were people willing to work for a lower wage. The government essentially stole away their right to work at an agreed upon price between employer and employee. The fact that they couldn't survive on that price is irrelevant here.
Because a minimum wage created a new wage floor in business operations, it necessitated elevating workers' pay in higher positions automatically. This reduced overall profits for business owners and provided workers with a false sense of self-worth. Here's an example:
At the Acme Press, an unskilled janitor who was willing to earn fifty cents an hour was paid considerably less than the semi-skilled typesetter who earned an hourly $1.00. But under the minimum wage, the janitor now must be paid $1.00. So, now the typesetter has to have a raise to reflect his worth as a semi-skilled worker to $2.00. This continues up the chain all the way up to the Editor. It's great that everyone has received a raise, but the raises were taken from company profits. When the wage expenses were too high, the company cwas faced with one of three options: 1)reduce production, 2)reduce the number of employees, or 3)close their doors. None of these are good choices, especially if expansion is your goal!
The problem is that employers today may not be able to afford the wage increases and, in these recessionary times, may find themselves firing workers or closing their doors, thereby expanding the unemployement rate, reducing the amount of tax dollars collected, and perhaps providing the blight of an empty building to a city or town near you. So the Usurpent will have at least one minimum wage increase in his cap while he remains president.
If Congress wanted to be responsible (I know, I know, you're laughing), they would have cancelled this latest increase until we're more stable. Instead, the White House is issuing a projected injection into the eocnomy of "billions" of new dollars spent by workers. Like other White House projections, this, too, is a farce. It seems to me that the workers who get to keep their jobs probably will use their new found wealth to pay off debt incurred during the past year. The others who aren't as fortunate will be applying for unemployment, thereby creating a zero sum situation and no boost to the economy will be realized.
It would be refreshing if government would simply stay out of our business.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Usurpent Finally Said Something True
During last night's sales pitch for ramming a health care bill through, the Usurpent said that "If you don't set deadlines in this town, things don't happen. The default position is inertia...". This is, to my recollection, the only thing this man has ever said that I agree with!
I don't, however, agree that the "stars are aligned" and the time is right for health care reform.
The Usurpent says that this reform is critical for boosting the economy and controlling the deficit, but that could be nothing further from the truth. Any additional expenditures that this administration would propose will further damage the economy and increase the deficit. It's really only a matter of common sense here, but still he felt the need to mildly threatened us by saying that "If we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit."
The big lie is that there is a problem with our health care in the United States. That's just not true. We have great health care; otherwise, people wouldn't be flocking to America for health care!
If health care is a right, then why isn't there a global revolution? Because it isn't, and most American have quality health care. The poor generally receive care through the emergency rooms at hospitals, and the wealthy have no lack of care, and even purchase luxury health care like cosmetic surgery. It is the middle class who must be cautious about how they recieve health care (which everyone across the board should do), and more importantly, how to pay for it.
What problems need to be solved are how to lower/control 1)pharmaeutical costs, 2)hospital charges, and 3)insurance premiums.
Hospitals charge outrageous sums because, in part, they must cover the costs of poor users who typically can't contribute toward their bills. Because hospitals have absorbed most private practices, they must also compensate doctors at a higher rate because Medicare/Medicaid have wrongly determined acceptable charges that are too low. I miss my now deceased doctor who used to give me free drug samples in prescription quanitites! Of course, he also made house calls (up until a few years ago).
Pharmaceutical companies simply charge too much for their products. This goes beyond letting the market determine the price, as most people pay the price of their cholesterol , blood-pressure, or happy pills without negotiating. House rules prohibit generics from becoming available for so many years, so we mapy the higher price. This is one area where the rules must change and regulations, unfortunately, must be imposed.
Insurance companies claim that premiums are high because of generally unhealthy American lifestyles. This is a believable claim, just look around. How many fast food chains are there where you live? How large is the prepared/processed food aisle at your favorite grocer? Still, there is no reason why premiums increase every year upwards of 30%. Sure, one can shop around for better prices, but the costs continue to rise, and that can't be solely blamed on the poor or the unhealthy lifestyle. The health insurance industry is completely without regulation. These companies need to be investigated thoroughly before any policies are enacted, but regulation may be necessary here, too.
Health care is good, health care costs are bad. Let's have someone other than Congress and the Usurpent figure out how to lower costs.
I don't, however, agree that the "stars are aligned" and the time is right for health care reform.
The Usurpent says that this reform is critical for boosting the economy and controlling the deficit, but that could be nothing further from the truth. Any additional expenditures that this administration would propose will further damage the economy and increase the deficit. It's really only a matter of common sense here, but still he felt the need to mildly threatened us by saying that "If we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit."
The big lie is that there is a problem with our health care in the United States. That's just not true. We have great health care; otherwise, people wouldn't be flocking to America for health care!
If health care is a right, then why isn't there a global revolution? Because it isn't, and most American have quality health care. The poor generally receive care through the emergency rooms at hospitals, and the wealthy have no lack of care, and even purchase luxury health care like cosmetic surgery. It is the middle class who must be cautious about how they recieve health care (which everyone across the board should do), and more importantly, how to pay for it.
What problems need to be solved are how to lower/control 1)pharmaeutical costs, 2)hospital charges, and 3)insurance premiums.
Hospitals charge outrageous sums because, in part, they must cover the costs of poor users who typically can't contribute toward their bills. Because hospitals have absorbed most private practices, they must also compensate doctors at a higher rate because Medicare/Medicaid have wrongly determined acceptable charges that are too low. I miss my now deceased doctor who used to give me free drug samples in prescription quanitites! Of course, he also made house calls (up until a few years ago).
Pharmaceutical companies simply charge too much for their products. This goes beyond letting the market determine the price, as most people pay the price of their cholesterol , blood-pressure, or happy pills without negotiating. House rules prohibit generics from becoming available for so many years, so we mapy the higher price. This is one area where the rules must change and regulations, unfortunately, must be imposed.
Insurance companies claim that premiums are high because of generally unhealthy American lifestyles. This is a believable claim, just look around. How many fast food chains are there where you live? How large is the prepared/processed food aisle at your favorite grocer? Still, there is no reason why premiums increase every year upwards of 30%. Sure, one can shop around for better prices, but the costs continue to rise, and that can't be solely blamed on the poor or the unhealthy lifestyle. The health insurance industry is completely without regulation. These companies need to be investigated thoroughly before any policies are enacted, but regulation may be necessary here, too.
Health care is good, health care costs are bad. Let's have someone other than Congress and the Usurpent figure out how to lower costs.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
My Speech to the Middle Peninsula Tea Party July 11, 2009
Good Morning, comrades! Or should I say good patriots of Mathews, Middlesex and Gloucester?!
I don’t know about you, but for months now, seven to be exact, I’ve been grumbling,
griping, and complaining about the peaceful takeover of our country by the Socialists,
some of those people being Obama, Biden, Dodd, Reid, Pelosi, Kennedy, and Frank.
Boy, what if that were a law firm? How scary would that be?
Well, you’ve heard those names before, so let me throw some new names at you: Mack, Lobiondo, Castle, Kirk, Lance, McHugh, Reichert and Smith. In case you didn’t know, these are the eight Republicans who now have risen to the rank of Junior Socialists, because they voted for Waxman and Markey’s climate change bill H.R. 2454 that we affectionately call “Cap and Tax”.
I could go on and talk about that fool’s errand, but I won’t. Well, maybe I will. A Rasmussen poll just reported that 56% of Americans oppose paying more taxes to help generate cleaner energy or to fight global warming. That sounds like a majority to me…are you a part of that 56%?! I thought so!
You know, the truth is, there isn’t enough empirical data on either side of this issue to begin writing public policy. Yet truth has become a casualty as we are blasted daily on climate change through the media. Anyway, I’m not here to talk about the weather!
I’m here to talk about tea parties.
If you haven’t heard about these events before, the tea party movement is a nationwide campaign that is mounting against the blatant anti-American position that the president and his congress have taken as they steamroll over our traditional values of life and liberty, trading our Constitution for a worthless, liberally-dog-eared paperback copy of the Communist Manifesto.
They want to eliminate any policy based upon our Judeao-Christian values and their goal is to breakdown society, including our free-market capitalist system, to the point where we are forced to rely solely on Big Brother. Is that what you want? I didn’t think so!
I mentioned that this effort on our part is a campaign. Campaign is a French word that has come to mean “a connected series of military operations forming a distinct phase of a war.” Ladies and gentlemen, we are at war with this administration’s tyranny. Let me be perfectly clear that we’re also at war with anyone, Republican or Democrat, who would work to undermine what our forefathers sacrificed so much to secure for us and what the one true God has provided us.
I’ve heard some people ask over these past months, “What will these tea parties accomplish? What good are they? How can they change anything—the media ignores them.” The answer is “plenty” if we enlist today.
Well, before you can go into battle, you need to have troops. If you don’t, boy--are you in trouble! Consider these rallies as a means for recruiting troops, one of many connected series of military operations.
This war will probably be without bloodshed, but in this day and age, it’s hard to say for certain. But because it is a war, there are certain things that require defining. Let’s start with the two sides: The two forces of this war are liberty versus oppression. This sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?
So, let’s move on to the war’s true objective. That would be to eliminate the threat of Socialism and Godlessness, and a return to adherence to the constitution of the United States of America. How do we do this? What is the strategy for our part in the war?
I believe that the first phase of our strategy is to unify all the tea party groups. There are at least a few dozen in Virginia alone, and we can start here. Unity starts with open communication, something easily done at events like these and, of course, the internet. Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Meetup.com, and emails all make it very simple to interact with each other. Strength in numbers causes others to take notice. It provides clout and people will support a solid cause. But we need to define this solid cause.
The second phase should be to vote out all incumbents who have served in the House for more than three terms, and who have served in the Senate for more than one term. We have people who have done nothing other than hold political office for their entire lives! What does that make them an expert in—red tape? Hey, there’s a term that has new meaning.
The American idea of government is summed up in nine words of Lincoln: “of the people, by the people, for the people”. Our current government caters to the political elite only—not to you and me. Make no mistake—this hasn’t just happened since January 20, the chipping away of our freedoms and the burden of debt and heavy taxation has been a process over the last 75 years or so. It just happens that the Usurpent’s administration is moving faster than we care to go. They’re taking America
skydiving, if you will, without a parachute.
Do we want to show Washington who’s in control? Then we must vote them out first and foremost. We need to send the message to our congressmen and senators that no one is safe in office. Initially, this will not be a question of party affiliation. Both the Republican as well as the Democrat needs to be paranoid about their job security. There are already enough regular folks like you and I who are, with good reason, worried about their job security.
To ensure that we weaken our opponents, we must demand term limits. Those of us who believe in this are in good company with the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Benjamin Franklin, who all favored term limits. I would suggest three terms for the House, one term for the Senate, and a former congressman or senator may run again but only after sitting out for six years. Public office is not meant as a lifetime career. And, if the newly-elected public servants won’t pass a term limits bill, a national referendum should be taken by the people of each state.
One operation that needs to take place while we’re recruiting is for each of us to pick a subject and become an expert in it. If you’re interested in the FairTax, learn all about it. If you’re into foreign affairs, study all that you can on that. If you’re pro-life, get all the facts to back up your position. Whatever your interest is, develop it so that you can take a factual stand on it. It would take several lifetimes to learn everything about every subject, so don’t try it. Pick one and run with it. Become an expert. Our side needs
to have the intellectual advantage. We need to be armed with the truth!
They say that the first casualty of war is truth. Well, haven’t we seen that?
There’s a man in the White House who almost daily lies about something. And if he’s not lying, he’s apologizing to some foreign country for American arrogance. Or if he’s saying one thing, then that icon of intellectual firepower, Joe Biden, is saying the opposite.
Even the media, whose job it used to be to report on factual events, lies to its viewers about the failures of this administration’s policies! Last week, CNN reported that Americans were feeling better now, spending less, and finding employment, while the
latest unemployment figures indicate that joblessness has risen to 9.5%! But, as ABC plainly pointed out to us recently, the networks are just a mouthpiece for Obama, as they broadcast from the White House. Does this seem right to you?
It’s all very frustrating, and there’s so much to keep track of it’s almost impossible to follow it all. There are other critical issues to follow, like campaign finance reform and an implementation of the FairTax, but there will be time for these things once we accomplish our initial goals.
But this four-fold strategy, fighting as a unified group of patriots, becoming an expert on one issue, voting out incumbents, and demanding term limits are imperatives on which we must act if we are to win the war on a system that has run amok. It’s great that we’re out here protesting, but more action is what will turn the tide.
And I can’t stand here today, having said all of this, without reminding you that, while we can act on what we believe to be right, and that is our role as good citizens, we constantly need to seek God’s wisdom and will in all of what we do. Without this action, we will find ourselves wandering in the wilderness, a people without a country.
Ladies and gentlemen, hear and remember God’s promise to His people as recorded in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Let’s take back our country! Thank you very much. America bless God.
I don’t know about you, but for months now, seven to be exact, I’ve been grumbling,
griping, and complaining about the peaceful takeover of our country by the Socialists,
some of those people being Obama, Biden, Dodd, Reid, Pelosi, Kennedy, and Frank.
Boy, what if that were a law firm? How scary would that be?
Well, you’ve heard those names before, so let me throw some new names at you: Mack, Lobiondo, Castle, Kirk, Lance, McHugh, Reichert and Smith. In case you didn’t know, these are the eight Republicans who now have risen to the rank of Junior Socialists, because they voted for Waxman and Markey’s climate change bill H.R. 2454 that we affectionately call “Cap and Tax”.
I could go on and talk about that fool’s errand, but I won’t. Well, maybe I will. A Rasmussen poll just reported that 56% of Americans oppose paying more taxes to help generate cleaner energy or to fight global warming. That sounds like a majority to me…are you a part of that 56%?! I thought so!
You know, the truth is, there isn’t enough empirical data on either side of this issue to begin writing public policy. Yet truth has become a casualty as we are blasted daily on climate change through the media. Anyway, I’m not here to talk about the weather!
I’m here to talk about tea parties.
If you haven’t heard about these events before, the tea party movement is a nationwide campaign that is mounting against the blatant anti-American position that the president and his congress have taken as they steamroll over our traditional values of life and liberty, trading our Constitution for a worthless, liberally-dog-eared paperback copy of the Communist Manifesto.
They want to eliminate any policy based upon our Judeao-Christian values and their goal is to breakdown society, including our free-market capitalist system, to the point where we are forced to rely solely on Big Brother. Is that what you want? I didn’t think so!
I mentioned that this effort on our part is a campaign. Campaign is a French word that has come to mean “a connected series of military operations forming a distinct phase of a war.” Ladies and gentlemen, we are at war with this administration’s tyranny. Let me be perfectly clear that we’re also at war with anyone, Republican or Democrat, who would work to undermine what our forefathers sacrificed so much to secure for us and what the one true God has provided us.
I’ve heard some people ask over these past months, “What will these tea parties accomplish? What good are they? How can they change anything—the media ignores them.” The answer is “plenty” if we enlist today.
Well, before you can go into battle, you need to have troops. If you don’t, boy--are you in trouble! Consider these rallies as a means for recruiting troops, one of many connected series of military operations.
This war will probably be without bloodshed, but in this day and age, it’s hard to say for certain. But because it is a war, there are certain things that require defining. Let’s start with the two sides: The two forces of this war are liberty versus oppression. This sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?
So, let’s move on to the war’s true objective. That would be to eliminate the threat of Socialism and Godlessness, and a return to adherence to the constitution of the United States of America. How do we do this? What is the strategy for our part in the war?
I believe that the first phase of our strategy is to unify all the tea party groups. There are at least a few dozen in Virginia alone, and we can start here. Unity starts with open communication, something easily done at events like these and, of course, the internet. Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Meetup.com, and emails all make it very simple to interact with each other. Strength in numbers causes others to take notice. It provides clout and people will support a solid cause. But we need to define this solid cause.
The second phase should be to vote out all incumbents who have served in the House for more than three terms, and who have served in the Senate for more than one term. We have people who have done nothing other than hold political office for their entire lives! What does that make them an expert in—red tape? Hey, there’s a term that has new meaning.
The American idea of government is summed up in nine words of Lincoln: “of the people, by the people, for the people”. Our current government caters to the political elite only—not to you and me. Make no mistake—this hasn’t just happened since January 20, the chipping away of our freedoms and the burden of debt and heavy taxation has been a process over the last 75 years or so. It just happens that the Usurpent’s administration is moving faster than we care to go. They’re taking America
skydiving, if you will, without a parachute.
Do we want to show Washington who’s in control? Then we must vote them out first and foremost. We need to send the message to our congressmen and senators that no one is safe in office. Initially, this will not be a question of party affiliation. Both the Republican as well as the Democrat needs to be paranoid about their job security. There are already enough regular folks like you and I who are, with good reason, worried about their job security.
To ensure that we weaken our opponents, we must demand term limits. Those of us who believe in this are in good company with the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Benjamin Franklin, who all favored term limits. I would suggest three terms for the House, one term for the Senate, and a former congressman or senator may run again but only after sitting out for six years. Public office is not meant as a lifetime career. And, if the newly-elected public servants won’t pass a term limits bill, a national referendum should be taken by the people of each state.
One operation that needs to take place while we’re recruiting is for each of us to pick a subject and become an expert in it. If you’re interested in the FairTax, learn all about it. If you’re into foreign affairs, study all that you can on that. If you’re pro-life, get all the facts to back up your position. Whatever your interest is, develop it so that you can take a factual stand on it. It would take several lifetimes to learn everything about every subject, so don’t try it. Pick one and run with it. Become an expert. Our side needs
to have the intellectual advantage. We need to be armed with the truth!
They say that the first casualty of war is truth. Well, haven’t we seen that?
There’s a man in the White House who almost daily lies about something. And if he’s not lying, he’s apologizing to some foreign country for American arrogance. Or if he’s saying one thing, then that icon of intellectual firepower, Joe Biden, is saying the opposite.
Even the media, whose job it used to be to report on factual events, lies to its viewers about the failures of this administration’s policies! Last week, CNN reported that Americans were feeling better now, spending less, and finding employment, while the
latest unemployment figures indicate that joblessness has risen to 9.5%! But, as ABC plainly pointed out to us recently, the networks are just a mouthpiece for Obama, as they broadcast from the White House. Does this seem right to you?
It’s all very frustrating, and there’s so much to keep track of it’s almost impossible to follow it all. There are other critical issues to follow, like campaign finance reform and an implementation of the FairTax, but there will be time for these things once we accomplish our initial goals.
But this four-fold strategy, fighting as a unified group of patriots, becoming an expert on one issue, voting out incumbents, and demanding term limits are imperatives on which we must act if we are to win the war on a system that has run amok. It’s great that we’re out here protesting, but more action is what will turn the tide.
And I can’t stand here today, having said all of this, without reminding you that, while we can act on what we believe to be right, and that is our role as good citizens, we constantly need to seek God’s wisdom and will in all of what we do. Without this action, we will find ourselves wandering in the wilderness, a people without a country.
Ladies and gentlemen, hear and remember God’s promise to His people as recorded in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Let’s take back our country! Thank you very much. America bless God.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Come and Show Your Disgust for this Administration
On Saturday, July 11, 2009, at 9:00 a.m., there will be a protest rally, a.k.a tea party, at the old Rueger's Ice Plant in Cobbs Creek, Virginia. That's on Route 198 if you're not a local.
Del. Brenda Pogge will speak on what the GOP is all about these days. That should be interesting, to say the least. I will say that Virginia politics are fairly straight forward and not too unpleasant, given that Leftists/Socialists are not as abundant in the General Assembly as they obviously are in Congress. Okay, the exception would be our terrible Governor Tim Kaine, who follows the Usurpent so close one could say that he has a brown nose.
Ken Cuccinell, candidate for Virginia's Attorney General, will speak on his campaign and related matters.Come on, now, not all lawyers are evil!
David Willman, coordinator for the presently-named-but-soon-to-be-changed Virginia Patriots (that name already has been taken by a corporation in Virginia), will speak and lead us in prayer.
Rob Thompson will speak on tea party group strategy.
If anyone would like to address the public, please leave a comment at Facebook.
Media will be there, along with gun-rights activists, and free bottled water. Actually, the water won't be free until you open it up and release it, so let's call it no cost water.
Please attend this rally if you're as fed up as we are!
Del. Brenda Pogge will speak on what the GOP is all about these days. That should be interesting, to say the least. I will say that Virginia politics are fairly straight forward and not too unpleasant, given that Leftists/Socialists are not as abundant in the General Assembly as they obviously are in Congress. Okay, the exception would be our terrible Governor Tim Kaine, who follows the Usurpent so close one could say that he has a brown nose.
Ken Cuccinell, candidate for Virginia's Attorney General, will speak on his campaign and related matters.Come on, now, not all lawyers are evil!
David Willman, coordinator for the presently-named-but-soon-to-be-changed Virginia Patriots (that name already has been taken by a corporation in Virginia), will speak and lead us in prayer.
Rob Thompson will speak on tea party group strategy.
If anyone would like to address the public, please leave a comment at Facebook.
Media will be there, along with gun-rights activists, and free bottled water. Actually, the water won't be free until you open it up and release it, so let's call it no cost water.
Please attend this rally if you're as fed up as we are!
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