Friday, September 5, 2014

Let's Raise The Minimum Wage, Because That Has Worked So Well Before


We’ve been hearing all the hullaballoo about raising the minimum wage.  By show of hands, how many people think for one second that should the minimum wage be raised to $15, that these huge corporations would allow their multi-billion dollar a year profits to be cut into?  That’s a rhetorical – the answer is, not for one red hot second.  They will raise prices, and they will cut corners – AT OUR EXPENSE, do you people not get that???
As far as I know, there are no regulations on how far apart a particular franchised business can be located.  In all the cities and towns I’ve been in over the past 15 years or so, there is a Home Depot and/or a Lowe’s every three or four miles in any direction.  Same goes for WalMart, Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, and so on.  This makes it literally impossible for any true small business to exist.  Back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, when this country was at its best, true small businesses were what made our economy and our country so great, and so prosperous.  In today’s world, true small businesses are one step away from being completely and totally a thing of the past.  There are anti-trust laws in place, but they don’t cover geographical limitations of franchises.  Yes, the Conservatives and the hardcore Capitalists will scream bloody murder about such a regulation, should that ever become a gleam in a politician’s eye.  As it is, Conservatives and hardcore Capitalists think there is already too much regulation – because they think that there should be no limits on how much of a monopoly, or how much money a company, or any individual should make.  They parrot such asinine cliches as, “Well, did you ever get a job from a poor person?”.  My answer is, “Yes, you’re damn right I did, back when poor people were who would work at the local gas station or hardware store for ten years or so, scrimp and save, and then open his own small business.  He would have created a few jobs, most of the time, he treated his employees and customers fairly, and still made a profit enough to feed his family and retire on at some point.  Most often, owners of such ventures were not obsessed with profiting in the billions – he was perfectly happy to make a decent living, create a few jobs, and offer a good product or service for the folks in his neighborhood.  I’m not implying Socialism, what I’m saying is that we need regulation on geographical limits on franchises.  And that’s just for starters.  There must be some kind of fairness act to make sure that the mom & pop outfit pays the same for his supplies as the corporate giant does.  And that’s still just for starters – as there are so many unfair practices that make it impossible for true small businesses to exist.  AND, when I say “True small business”, I mean a TRUE small business – not Rush Limbaugh’s definition of “Small business”.  Rush would tell you that Home Depot is a small business – sorry Rush, but that’s crap.
Increasing the minimum wage will not do a damn thing for people, and will not help the economy one tiny bit, all it’s going to do is enrage the big corporation ownership and upper management, resulting in not only making sure they make up for us poor folks cutting into their profits, but they will punish us for daring to try to expect fair play from these ruthless parasites.
Think about this, think about your financial situation three years ago, think about your income vs. your cost of living back then.  I guarantee your income bought substantially more than it buys today.  So, let me tell ya, it’s not going to magically change, three years from now, your income is going to buy you substantially less than it does now – and so on.  You can sit on your ass, you can pretend “It’s all good”, you can parrot such crap as, “Let’s all be positive and move forward”, and you can watch things continue to swirl down the proverbial toilet.  You can watch your kids and grandkids live they way people do today in third world countries – I lived in one of them, and take my word for it, you don’t want that for your kids, or for anybody. 
If I have any sayso, any suggestions for people, it’s to get on the phone and call your Congresspersons, email them, visit them at their offices, and scream bloody murder to get them to regulate the monopoly that is firmly in place – which is enabling the rich to get richer, and poor to move so quickly into the poorhouse that our heads are all spinning into oblivion.  Greed has destroyed every empire in the history of the world, and this one is no different.  So, be a pretentious chicken shit, or speak up – your choice.

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