Unemployment rate hits 5-month high
POSTED BY: FellowTraveler
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 9, 2006 21:39
VIEWED: 7321
PAGE 3 of 11
I don't see why unemployment is hitting a high
There are jobs for anyone who wants one.
Get a job in a growth industry,
just follow the link
http://www.goarmy.com/flindex.jsp
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I wouldn't go so far as to say fatally unpopular./ www.republicanmainstreet.org/news072806.htm
Look, I've been griping about the Dems not being statesman-like enough to vote honestly, and I'm not about to point to the handful who voted against Iraq as some sort of Democratic renaissance of purpose.
So if you point to a small minority of Republicans scattered through several levels of government who timidly quibble with the Party and supposedly put up a poisoned minimum-wage bill, do you really expect me to think that is significant????
I THINK I'm a realist. You... you must be a practical joker?
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Reality sucks. Especially when it contradicts our cherished ideas.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
So if you point to a small minority of Republicans scattered through several levels of government who timidly quibble with the Party and supposedly put up a poisoned minimum-wage bill, do you really expect me to think that is significant????
I THINK I'm a realist. You... you must be a practical joker?
I think if you were a realist you would realize that the bill had to have a little something for everyone. So what if estate taxes were cut, the minimum wage would go up. There were also provisions for college tuition (the future)and abandoned mine reclamation (the environment). Are rich people getting a little richer really worth not raising the minimum wage?
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/04/news/economy/minimum_wage/index.htm
De-lurking to stir stuff up.
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Quote:Not at all. Since Republicans control Congress and the Presidency the GOP passes what it wants to pass and ignores what it wants to ignore. The only "something for everybody" that happens is when pork gets written into the Transportation Bill (or some such) in which case the GOP takes care of all of its Party members (except the mutants like Olympia Snowe). Now tell me I'm not being a realist!
I think if you were a realist you would realize that the bill had to have a little something for everyone.
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Reality sucks. Especially when it contradicts our cherished ideas.
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Originally posted by BigDamnNobody:Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
So if you point to a small minority of Republicans scattered through several levels of government who timidly quibble with the Party and supposedly put up a poisoned minimum-wage bill, do you really expect me to think that is significant????
I THINK I'm a realist. You... you must be a practical joker?
I think if you were a realist you would realize that the bill had to have a little something for everyone. So what if estate taxes were cut, the minimum wage would go up. There were also provisions for college tuition (the future)and abandoned mine reclamation (the environment). Are rich people getting a little richer really worth not raising the minimum wage?
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/04/news/economy/minimum_wage/index.htm
De-lurking to stir stuff up.
I would say that the problem lies with the system if you can't do the good things everyone agrees upon without letting through something you find objectionable...
" Fighting them at their own game
Murder for freedom the stab in the back
Women and children and cowards attack
Run to the hills run for your lives "
http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/ironmaiden/liveafterdeath.html#12
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Originally posted by SignyM:
Not at all. Since Republicans control Congress and the Presidency the GOP passes what it wants to pass and ignores what it wants to ignore. ...Now tell me I'm not being a realist!
Fair enough.
I suppose if the minimum wage was increased that might affect the Democrats voting base thereby solidifying the GOP's control. Crafty Democrats.
De-lurking to stir stuff up.
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Quote:
Originally posted by BigDamnNobody:
Fair enough.
I suppose if the minimum wage was increased that might affect the Democrats voting base thereby solidifying the GOP's control. Crafty Democrats.
So why didn't the Republicans pass a minimum wage increase all by itself? That way they could take credit for doing it. After all they're in control. No sane Democrat would vote against it.
The fact that they had to load it up with other things they knew the Democrats wouldn't vote on tells you exactly how seriously they take raising the minimum wage.
When the party that controls everything has to resort to politicial gamesmanship it tells you how confident they are in the resonance of their platform with the general public. In other words, not very confident.
Remember the last time the Republicans were gearing up for a vote on repealing the estate tax? What stopped them? Hurricane Katrina. Even they realized that it would've been in bad taste to give a small number of super-rich families a tax break while poor people were dying on television.
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Originally posted by SoupCatcher:
So why didn't the Republicans pass a minimum wage increase all by itself? That way they could take credit for doing it. After all they're in control. No sane Democrat would vote against it.
The fact that they had to load it up with other things they knew the Democrats wouldn't vote on tells you exactly how seriously they take raising the minimum wage.
I guess the Republicans were also trying to appease a portion of their voting base. Crafty Republicans.
De-lurking to stir stuff up.
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Originally posted by SoupCatcher:
Why couple the two?
Why not have an up and down vote on a minimum wage increase?
Why not have an up and down vote on repealing the estate tax?
We both know the answer to that question. The Republicans want to have something they can use against the Democrats going into the midterms. And they figured they might, just might, have a shot at that estate-tax-repealing-wet-dream that has been plaguing their nights for the longest time.
Or why not couple the two? The Democrats get the minimum wage increase they've been talking about for the past several years, and the Republicans get the reduction in the estate tax that they've been pushing for the past few years. Looks like a win-win to me. The only real losers are the acountants who get rich figuring how to help their clients avoid estate taxes. I doubt the 50,000 or so families affected each year by estate taxes can provide more political clout that the two million plus folks who'd profit from the increase in the minimum wage. Why not let everyone make a few points?
"Keep the Shiny side up"
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Originally posted by SignyM:
Geezer, cutting taxes and raising minimum wages are not the equivalent items and they really don't belong together. Cutting taxes removes several billions of dollars from the budget, but raising the minimum wage doesn't replace that revenue stream and it doesn't directly transfer benefit to minimum-wage workers.
I don't see the problem with bundling them as a tit-for-tat deal benefiting both sides, as mentioned above. I'm not sure what you mean stating "...raising the minimum wage doesn't replace that revenue stream and it doesn't directly transfer benefit to minimum-wage workers." For a full-time worker increasing the minimum wage by $2.10 translates to about $4,000.00 a year in additional income, which seems like a benefit. This increased income also translates into additional income tax, additional sales tax to support schools and municipalaties, additional buying power which increases profits for merchants and wages for their employees, etc.
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As an aside, in addition to raising the minimum wage (which would increase purchasing power by about 4-6 billion over three years) the government could effectively raise ALL wages by providing single-payer health care.
True. Bt that's going to be a massively complex piece of legislation to get going, and will take quite a while, if it ever happens. The minimum wage increase for estate tax reduction is what's on the table right now, and I can't see any reason why it couldn't have been passed.
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BTW_ Geezer- How DO you get your logic to be so.... twisty??? You must work at it AWFULLY hard!!!
I don't see it as twisty. Minimum wage for estate tax seems a resonable swap to me. If politics is the art of compromise, this seems a good one.
"Keep the Shiny side up"
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