Tuesday, January 14, 2014

We Must Raise the Minimum Wage

I don't know why there is even any argument about it. The minimum wage needs to be raised, and should have been raised years ago.  And, I don't mean it would be acceptable to raise it in increments that would take five or ten years to accomplish. That's just a sneaky way to raise it partially and then never get it to the level at which it should be.  This has happened before.

NAFTA started the erosion of decent jobs (thank you Bill Clinton) by allowing big corporations to start the wholesale betrayal of American workers by shipping jobs to other countries without offering a way to replace those jobs with other good paying jobs. The politicians kept blathering on and on about retraining, etc.

So, now those same politicians are whining about the swollen unemployment rolls, and trying to shift the blame to millions of workers.  They call them lazy, etc., without acknowledging the fact that even those workers who are employed, or are severely under-employed and have not been able to find permanent jobs, with the kinds of benefits they once had.

Then, there are all the college graduates who expect to get the "good jobs" they were promised when they went deep into debt they may never be able to pay back.

I simply don't understand how so many people in government can be so mean-spirited. But, that's Republicans for you.  And, you wonder why I detest them.

Stay tuned.

3 comments:

Olga said...

There is a definite lack of compassion. The attitude seems to be if someone has a little, that is a little less for me.

Arkansas Patti said...

I worked for minimum wage when I retired to keep busy and pad my SS. I wondered then how anyone could survive on those wages if that was the only income.

Anonymous said...

It's very much the same story here in the UK, Betty.