Maybe we should suggest to Jon that he argue they not be rewarded? It isn’t as if either site will give Bush a better or worse hearing because they are cut off, or at least made to promise not to and publicly acknowledge that they made a misjudgment.
It isn’t as if any particular site is all that important anymore anyway. |
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Written By:
Lance
URL:
http://asecondhandconjecture.com
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Did you catch this comment from ThinkProgress?Unemployment is low, inflation is low, and wages are rising.
No thanks to all the Republicans who voted AGAINST raising the minimum wage. The minimum wage hasn’t been raised, and yet wages are rising (as if by magic!) and unemployment is low. What’s the problem here?
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Written By:
steverino
URL:
http://steverino.journalspace.com/
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What’s the problem here? A severe case of disconnect.... |
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Written By:
shark
URL:
http://
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If truth telling was the criterea, he’d never post anything.
And I doubt he’ll be limited as you suggest; he pulled the same stuff last year and didn’t get repremanded then, either. |
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Written By:
Bithead
URL:
http://
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The minimum wage hasn’t been raised, and yet wages are rising (as if by magic!) and unemployment is low. What’s the problem here?
Written By: steverino
The main problem is the widening gap between the middle class becoming smaller and the upper class becoming larger. Of course wages will rise due to market forces or lots of other variables - but that is not what it most important. What is most important is the fact that wages are not keeping up with things which are vital to a strong middle class: Healthcare costs, education costs, and housing costs come to mind. These fundamental products and services create a strong fabric within a society and makes the society more stable. |
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Written By:
Tom
URL:
http://
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The main problem is the widening gap between the middle class becoming smaller and the upper class becoming larger.
In part because more of the middle class have become UPPER Class, by income definition.Of course wages will rise due to market forces or lots of other variables - but that is not what it most important. What is most important is the fact that wages are not keeping up with things which are vital to a strong middle class:
Why are they VITAL. Tom, or are they things that concern you?Healthcare costs, education costs, and housing costs come to mind. These fundamental products and services create a strong fabric within a society and makes the society more stable. Note Tom a number of these are areas in which the state intrudes excessively. YOU don’t pay your healthcare, someone else does, do you buy prudentially? The Federal GOvernment every year pumps 7-10% into Medicare and other programs, whether there is a need or no. IF someone keeps putting money out there, rest assured someone will pocket it. So too, with education. IF you paid for college you might not go, for a while AND colleges would hold down costs, but as a third party is subsidizing your college neither you nor the college has to worry about costs as much.
Bottom-line here: Less government better middle class. Widening gap isn’ta problem, the government is...
As to housing, you mean that more people are shopping for bigger houses and in turn driving up the costs? And this is bad, how? I mean does your employer see it as a gloomy thing that more people want your goods or services and therefore you can increase the price? Plus government thru policy CAN, though not always, does drive up the cost of housing, e.g., growth boundaries or "affordable housing" requirements or rent control or Planning and Zoning. |
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Written By:
Joe
URL:
http://
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The main problem is the widening gap between the middle class becoming smaller and the upper class becoming larger. Which has absolutely nothing to do with the minimum wage.What is most important is the fact that wages are not keeping up with things which are vital to a strong middle class: Healthcare costs, education costs, and housing costs come to mind. When you consider total compensation, not just wages, the middle class is keeping up. Housing costs have risen...but mortgages not so much. People have used equity as down payments. Again, this has nothing to do with the minimum wage, so why would the commentor vilify Republicans?
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Written By:
steverino
URL:
http://steverino.journalspace.com/
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so why would the commentor vilify Republicans? You like to leave’em hanging by the Net don’t you....so why would the commentor vilify Republicans? Because they are VILLAINS! Man, this is easy....Rethuglicans are evil, tools of the Da man, Veritable Ring-Wraiths of the Capitalist Ruling Classes, Lap Dogs of the Bloated Plutocrats, the Jack-Booted Thugs that Slavishly Follow Their God Mammon’s EVERY Whim and Place their Jack-Booted Heels on the Throats of the Poor, People of Colour, Womyn, Lesbians, Gays and the Transgendered. And don’t EVEN get me started on war and environmental degradation.... |
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Written By:
Joe
URL:
http://
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The main problem is the widening gap between the middle class becoming smaller and the upper class becoming larger Again, go down to your local Best Buy this weekend and look around, check out who’s walking out of there with those flat-screen TVs and PS3s
Hint: It ain’t only plutocrats.
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Written By:
shark
URL:
http://
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The main problem is the widening gap between the middle class becoming smaller and the upper class becoming larger. Of course wages will rise due to market forces or lots of other variables - but that is not what it most important. What is most important is the fact that wages are not keeping up with things which are vital to a strong middle class: Healthcare costs, education costs, and housing costs come to mind. These fundamental products and services create a strong fabric within a society and makes the society more stable. And if we elect the Democrats into power in all branches of the government with sufficient majorities, no doubt we will enjoy the economic power and success of, say, France or Germany. |
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Written By:
Don
URL:
http://
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Tom,
"Since 2000, average compensation growth as measured by the Employment Cost Index (ECI) has hovered around 4%, a solid growth rate that has easily outpaced inflation."
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_08042004
"With the exception of the usual laggards in recent months—manufacturing and construction—most industries expanded, with strong gains in business services, health care, and restaurants. Wage growth was particularly strong, up 0.5% over the month, and 4.2% over the past year, well ahead of recent inflation readings."
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_econindicators_jobspict_20070105
Average weekly earnings rose by 4.5 percent, seasonally adjusted, from
December 2005 to December 2006. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly
earnings increased by 2.1 percent. Before adjustment for seasonal change and
inflation, average weekly earnings were $578.00 in December 2006, compared with
$551.67 a year earlier.
http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/realer.nr0.htm
for even more detail;
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.ceseeb2.txt
To summarize, you are wrong. |
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Written By:
timactual
URL:
http://
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It should also be pointed out that official inflation statistics overstate the increase in the cost of living by at least 1% a year as Bernanke reiterated again in the last week. So yeah, Tom is wrong. |
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Written By:
Lance
URL:
http://asecondhandconjecture.com
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