Fox Bulls & Bears Panelists Fearmonger Over Raising Minimum Wage
Another Saturday, another week for members of Fox's Saturday morning "business block" to sit around and promote a race to the bottom for American workers. This segment the topic was President Obama's new pick to lead his Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger. Their issue with Krueger? He supports increases in the minimum wage, which they naturally start fearmongering over, even though there's not a chance in hell we'd see another increase with the makeup of this current Congress.
BUTTNER: Meet Alan Krueger. He's the President's pick to lead his team to help turn around the economy. And he's also a big time believer in hiking the minimum wage. But, Gary B. you say in this bad economy, the way to get jobs back is to ditch the minimum wage altogether.
SMITH: Absolutely Brenda. Look, you know, minimum wage is nothing more than a form of price control. That's what it is, and even if you believe wholeheartedly in the goodness of the minimum wage, all you have to do is the statistics. When... the last time we bumped minimum wage in 2009, youth unemployment was 21%. It went to 30%. Black teen unemployment is now over 40% Brenda. So it's not just wrong to say minimum wage is good. I think it's irresponsible, particularly in this economy.
After the panel's one lonely liberal, Jehmu Greene called him out for just being wrong on the facts and some back forth between Greene and a couple of the other panel members on whether raising the minimum wage increases unemployment or hinders job growth or not, panelist Todd Schoenberger goes into a full rant agreeing with Gary B. Smith that the minimum wage should be eliminated or at least reduced, claiming that it's killing job growth in our economy and can lead to inflation.
You've got to love the reaction from the rest of them when Greene finishes off the segment with this statement:
GREENE: Well, forget the minimum wage. Why don't we just have the wages of the salaries keep up with where CEO's have been in the last few years. And if that was the case, you would have workers making $22 an hour, but that's clearly not the case.
Followed by all of the wingnuts on the panel's heads simultaneously exploding. Heaven forbid anyone brings up the horrible income disparity we have in the United States while they're debating whether the lowest income earners among us should be paid even less.
Media Matters posted a shorter portion of this segment and linked some research they did on the matter when Fox's John Stossel was making similar claims to those of Smith and Schoenberger -- Fox's Stossel Ignores Evidence To Rail Against Minimum Wage.
I Got Mine: SCREW YOU!
my pie!
These idiot assholes don't deserve the time on C+L. They are just too stupid.
It makes every good or service delivered by someone earning minimum wage more expensive. The amount of inflation it might cause is negligible compared to the amount of spending it would stimulate. People earning minimum wage have to spend every nickel they make to survive. That creates demand. There isn't much cause to fear inflation right now but the economy of the whole world could use stimulus in demand. Raising the minimum wage would certainly do that but I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for the Republicans to support that.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Oh no no no, give the money to the richest people in the world. Haven't you heard? Haven't you seen all the jobs they have created with their wealth that they have obtained since Bush gave them their tax cuts?
If these idiots had a brain they would understand that most of our problem is that there are not enough people making a decent wage to support the economy. And they are talking about reducing the amount of money workers have to spend to put profits into huge corporations. As I said, these people are fucking idiots.
Check this out for example.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri tax break benefiting poor disabled and elderly people who live in rental housing could be on the chopping block when lawmakers convene Tuesday in a special session.
The elimination of the tax break for renters is projected to save the state $855 million over the next 15 years. Some lawmakers hope to redirect that money for new tax breaks intended to lure Chinese cargo planes to the St. Louis airport and more businesses to Missouri.
apparently meant something other then what it meant.
There is nothing intrinsically mistaken about judging fellow citizens as being domestic enemies, and thereupon drawing fundamental conclusions regarding our Republic.
Americans have changed. Past generations would not have accepted the "Patriot Act", FDIC insurance for banks that then gamble with the money, or remotely-guided missle attacks on villages filled with sleeping women and children because there was "actionable intelligence" that a "terrorist" might be there.
Actually, is was past generations that created the FDIC, to protect the people who put their money in the bank who would otherwise lost everything if the bank gambled away the money. Banks were no more careful with other people's money before the creation of the FDIC - if they went under, they just closed up shop and bankrupted everyone that had money in them. You were lucky if you got pennies on the dollar.
mean business owners of the GOP variety might have to cut back on their trips to the Country Club to cut deals that benefit themselves from the golf cart.
Why don't these 'Thugs just come out and say it?
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
i would love to stand outside all the fox offices and
newslie caster's offices andwatch the exodus when fox tells them all, no more salaries and just a basic
wage of $1.25/hr.
these dumb fucks don't care because they are over-paid and without morals.
Not forever. The day will come when they are as poor and unprotected as the rest of us. That will be our day.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
Wouldn't the effect be a little less extreme than when our ancestors ended slavery? That must have really screwed with the cost of living, all those people having to be paid to work. I am sure some lost their "jobs" but in the long run it seemed to have worked out.
people wanted the global free market. well, here it is where we have decision makers telling people they need to compete with labor/workers in developing countries. many economists will tell you many people in this country are underpaid. wages have been stagnant for years while the cost to live has increased ie. health care insurance premiums, mortgage and automobile. these costs have increased in a big way in a short amount of time. this partially explains why people resort to using credit to make up the difference. of course, debt is big business and how money is produced.
republicans have been predicting the end of the world as we know it ever since the minimum wage was instituted. they are as consistent as the swallows of capistrano, though not nearly as pleasant to observe.
isn't that pretty much stossel by definition?
The minimum wage is what it states, it is a minimum amount of money needed to keep life and limb together. That asshole who wanted to cut it in half so that more folks can work for sub standard wages just does not pass the smell test.
We are living in "The worst of times"
Down with rethugliklans
your cardboard box home from all enemies, furrin' and domestic...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
These conservative assholes are always saying that businesses are afraid to invest because of the uncertainty of having to pay a decent wage, health insurance, or anything other excuse for obvious contempt for those who work for them. There only criteria for hiring seems to be how cheap can we get someone to work for us and that usually investing outside the country were labor is cheap.
So there will never be enough incentive for them to invest in america when they can make more money in the out sourcing of jobs.
Minimum wages are lower in real dollars than at any time, ever. If they were a problem, companies would not have been profitable, ever.
Sure, the chances of raising the minimum wage are zero. But as long as we're fantasizing about things that would be nice to have, how about a maximum wage? A salary cap of $1M/year, regardless of your business or profession. No loopholes such as bonuses, etc., and investment income counts against the cap.
Sigh...
and implement a plan where you tithe your employer for the privilege of working for them.
After all the "Job Creators" are the new gods.
Ever been given a job by a poor person?
First they ignore us..then they ridicule us..now they are feeding us chicken crap- sign my petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/fda-stop-feed...
www.ickenittlepost.com
is to pay the same wages as Haiti screw them. I think the long term fix for social security is to drive the minimum wages up to $20/hr by increasing it to $10/hr then adding $1/hr over the following 10 years. Also making OT two times and making mandatory for all employees except corporate officers.
then whay isn't cutting the wages of the rich better. Just imaging how many more people a company could hire if they cut the CEO wages from 20 million to 1 million a year.
you're going just a bit too far there! don't you realize it requires a very highly compensated CEO, to be able to make decisions like, oh, say, putting a nuclear power plant on a fault line? you don't get that kind of forward thinking cheaply.
In their defense, no one knew the fault line was there when the site was chosen for the nuclear plant.
Of course, on the other hand, the company found out about it before construction started but kinda sorta forgot to mention it to any regulatory agency with authority to shut down the project.
Hmm. That shouldn't require a very highly compensated CEO. That should required a very highly compensated defense attorney.
but we can do it next year.
Keep the faith, my peeps.
Seeing rich, smiling assholes kick the poor and struggling while they are down absolutely enrages me. How about they cut the salaries and bonuses of the god damn criminals who helped destroy the economy? Keep licking those boots, you toads.
NOBODY 2012
Very unfair and no balance. Fox doesn't even pretend anymore do they?
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