posted October 14, 2010 10:25 AM         

Republican Overconfidence?

One of the most potent political issues is the minimum wage. One of the major reasons Big Business wanted ACORN taken down was because of their effectiveness in organizing voters about the issues they care about the most. One of these issues is the minimum wage. ACORN effectively got the word out about candidates, Conservative candidates that do not support the minimum wage. In several instances this one issue took Democrats over the top in close races. [Missouri senator Claire McCaskill is one]

Support for the MW is extremely popular with voters. On average, and using several states, 75% of them voted to have the MW raised. Over the past few years the MW was finally increased in a majority of states.
Guess who doesn't like the MW adjusted? Guess who fights tooth and nail to not only keep the MW stagnant, but funds efforts to have it abolished?

Abolishing the Minimum Wage is making a comeback, brought to you by [surprise!!] -- Big Business-- and the candidates who feed at their trough.

Conservatives have kept an extremely low profile on this issue. In the past they have done everything they can to avoid weighing in unless hammered by an Democratic opponent who makes them come clean on their stance.

Not now, Conservatives are hoping that the climate towards the MW earner has changed. They are also betting that their constituents who also support keeping the Bush2 tax structure will also be afraid of Corporate interests in this instance. They are wrong, dead wrong, and this will cost them seats again. You see it is really hard to promise one thing to Special Interests like supporting legislation to abolish the minimum wage when 75% or more of the country supports it.

• 
  West Virginia Republican John Raese, said Tuesday he "absolutely" supports the abolition of the minimum wage.

  
  The West Virginia heir to a coal mine fortune, whose wife lives (and votes) in toney Palm Beach County … Florida … and who says he made his money the old fashioned way: he inherited it … says the federal minimum wage doesn’t do anybody any good. Well, at least he didn’t call for getting rid of child labor laws so 14 years olds could go back into the mines…

  
  “It’s an archaic system that has never worked,” Raese said, adding that the minimum wage “hasn’t solved any problems in 50 years.”

  Raese’s comments on the minimum wage come a few days after he caught flak for a commercial aired by the National Republican Senatorial Committee that included actors found via a casting call seeking a “hicky” look.

• So wealthy Alaska attorney Joe Miller (who once got Medicaid for his family even though he thinks it’s unconstitutional) plus low income farm subsidies, and whose wife took socialistic unemployment benefits) …
• wealthy pro wrestling heiress Linda McMahon,(She is currently the Republican nominee for Senator from Connecticut.)
• Rand Paul (though like his dad, he’s now ducking) among the prominent tea party candidates who think the minimum wage ought to be abolished outright, “looked at” or reduced.

posted October 14, 2010 10:15 PM         

The effectiveness of those on the FOXY pundit machine are really good at this, misdirecting the anger and the frustration, so that we are actually supporting those factions.

posted October 18, 2010 12:30 PM         

from an investment coach online...just a little reminder that the recession is NOT killing the profits of our companies. so why are they laying people off still, and wanting to eliminate the minimum wage?

it's an interesting article which points out that the market has been unhealthy for the last 10 years(obviously obama's fault!lol) and that such cycles seem to generally trend at about 20 years duration...so it may be another 10 years before the bull returns...however those with anything to invest can still make a killing.

All of this tells me that focusing your retirement assets on bonds may be exactly the wrong strategy right now. The returns are too low. The risks are rising. Bonds also aren't attractively priced compared with stocks, which are offering dividend yields that exceed the interest rates on the two-year Treasury note for the first time since the 1950s.

Company stocks, while also scary, are on sale, and you'll get paid more for owning them. And company profits are running at record highs. All that means it's time to make a move, because stocks are poised to enjoy a period of outperformance, something that hasn't been seen since Bill Clinton was in the White House.

yes i can see why they are so scared of a few cents' more tax and a few closed loopholes. wouldn't want anyone else to benefit from this climate, would we?