Subj : Socialism in America
To   : All
From : Lee Lofaso
Date : Thu Jan 02 2014 07:18 pm

Hello Everybody,

The federal minimum wage in the USA is currently $7.25 per hour.
In 2013, there were 19 states in the USA that had set minimum wages
higher than the federal standard.  On New Year's Day, 2014, that
number rose to 21 states.

New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Arizona, Colorado,
Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, ...

The community of Sea Tac, Washington decided to up the ante
to $15/hour, but a judge decided to step in the way putting an
end to that.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren wanted to raise the federal minimum
wage to $22 per hour for everybody, but U.S. Senator Ted Cruz started
shouting "Remember the Alamo!" in the Senate chambers, scaring anybody
who dared to listen, including Santa Claus, forcing Sen. Warren to
table her bill.

With Washington state now having the highest miminum wage in the
country at $9.19 per hour, and California planning to raise its
minimum wage to $9.00 per hour in July, why aren't Republicans
eager to jump on the bandwagon?  President Obama's call to raise
the federal minimum wage to $9.00 per hour is beginning to sound
very conservative, given the number of states which have already
raised their own minimum wage.

Liberals like to think that raising the federal minimum wage
is a good thing.  Conservatives like to think that raising the
federal minimum wage is a bad thing.  Some conservatives even
think there should be no minimum wage at all, the whole idea
of a minimum wage being evil (socialist or communist).

Who is right?  Who is wrong?

Sweden is regarded as being the most socialistic country on earth.
And yet Sweden has no minimum wage as we do in the USA.  An employer
and employee negotiate an agreement, and that is that.  None of those
rules and regulations stipulating how much an employer must pay to
employees.

Republicans simply want to give Americans the same freedom as Swedes.
Let employers and employees negotiate their own contracts without
government interference.  Contract America will set us free as we have
never been free before!

There is no minimum wage law in the state of Louisiana.  As such,
the minimum wage defaults to the federal rate of $7.25 per hour.
Just think of the benefits we are missing due to this anachronistic
wage.  Why should taxpayers be subsidizing corporations who use it
(the federal minimum wage) as a basis to pay their workers?  I call
it wage theft.  Democrats keep it going by deceiving people into
believing they are getting a good deal by raising the federal
minimum wage by trivial amounts once a decade or so.  Republicans
are no better, going along with this scam since the days of FDR.

This is our current policy, which has been going on for decades -

Low Wages + High Profits + Escalating Government Subsidies =
Fat Profits for Corporations

Liberals will argue that raising the federal minimum wage by $2
per hour will force corporations and other employers to use part of
their profits to improve the salaries of their minimum wage workers.
This is Reaganomics (trickle down economics).

Ronald Reagan is not dead.  He came back to life as Barack Obama.
The New Coke for a New Generation.  But its the same old Coke folks
have always had before.

--Lee

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