They Seem To Never Learn!

To pass another step increase in the minimum wage is just plain stupid!

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

“Minimum wage increases help none; increases actually hurt those the increases are pretending to be assisting.”

I heard some brainwashed liberal woman on television this weekend speaking on behalf of the just enacted step increase in the Federal minimum wage to $7.18 per hour. She made the familiar justification, “It cost an individual $7.00 just to buy a gallon of milk and some cereal for breakfast, how can someone live on less than $7.25 per hour?

I remember hearing similarly misguided people arguing back in the early 1960’s when I first entered industry…only then they would have said, “It costs an individual a dollar to buy a gallon of milk and a box of cereal for breakfast, how can someone live on less than $1.00 per hour?” The truth is, even though we have repeatedly artificially pushed wages up by a long stream of minimum wage increases, that individual who is trying to eat breakfast is still no better off. It was all a sham designed to get that poor fellow to vote for those who were enacting these “beneficial” increases.

This “smoke and mirrors” charade has long been used by labor unions and politicians to fool these low wage earners into thinking they are looking out for their needs. In actuality, this deceptive practice has been one of the major contributing factors to the out-migration and destruction of the American Industrial complex. As we can see today, ultimately the results have been disastrous for our national economy, and the group which is suffering the most is those at the bottom of the wage scale.

HISTORY OF MINIMUM WAGES
Year Wage Year Wage
1939 30 cents 1976 $2.20
1945 40 cents 1977 $2.30
1950 75 cents 1978 $2.65
1956 $1.00 1979 $2.90
1965 $1.25 1980 $3.10
1967 $1.00 1981 $3.35
1968 $1.15 1990 $3.80
1969 $1.30 1991 $4.25
1970 $1.45 1996 $4.75
1971 $1.60 1997 $5.15
1974 $1.90 2007 $5.85
1975 $2.00 2008 $6.55
- - 2009 $7.25

From 1967 when the minimum was $1.00 until today, with the minimum of $7.25, almost everything we buy has undergone a simultaneous increase in cost, increasing by a multiple of seven or eight. Thus nothing changes, and the breakfast for that poor fellow in the example is still as difficult to buy. The unions and politicians actually did nothing for him. A comparison of some of these items is shown below:

Item 1967 Cost 2009 Cost
Hamburger $.20 $ 1.50
Gallon of Milk $.30 $ 3.00
Basic Chevrolet $3,000.00 $20,000.00
Gasoline $.35/gal $ 2.50/gal
Small Plant - Manager Salary $6,000.00/yr $50,000.00/yr
Executive Salary $20,000.00 $160,000.00
Wooden Frame Home $7,000.00 $60,000.00
Brick, Ranch Home 2,000 sq. ft. $25,000.00 $200,000.00

As you can see, all we have done since 1967 is to increase the cost of everything by a multiple of seven or eight, and thus reduce and thus diminished the purchasing value of our money by the same factor, so that nothing changed. We are just printing, handling, and shuffling more money, but bringing home the same amount of groceries.

However, this deceptive political practice did result in serious damage to our nation’s economy. As long as our industries were protected by protective tariffs, quotas, and the lack of the international communications, banking, and transportation networks needed for controlling international commerce, things at home were insulated since the American public was in effect, a captive market to domestic manufacturing. The producers of manufactured goods could just pass on the extra costs to the consumer as their labor costs escalated and minimum wages rose and pushed up all wages. The domestic manufacturers could still realize their same level of sales and profit margins, regardless of costs.

Then in the 1980’s things began to change. Satellite communications technology, international banking systems, and efficient international shipping networks began to form. Soon it was as easy to manage and produce products from New York offices, in plants on the other side of the world instead of in the Carolinas or Georgia, or anywhere else in the U.S. The American industrial manufacturers suffered some losses from competition during this period, but protective quotas and tariffs still restricted inflow of products from abroad, and created a level competitive playing field. During this era the Department of State frequently used manipulation of these quotas and tariffs for international relationships and favors at the expense of U.S. industries.

Then in the late 1990’s at the urging of international functions such as the G-8 conference, the United Nations, and the international banking and transportation lobbies, the concept of creating a “world order” with “free trade” and “global marketing”, more and more US politicians were enticed to endorse these concepts. This influence led to the passage of trade treaties such as NAFTA, GATT, increased arrangements with most Caribbean nations, and eventually “Most Favored Trade Status” for China…..These arrangements sounded the death knell for American manufacturing.

You see, while we had been deceptively and unnecessarily multiplying our costs by a factor of eight to buy votes, the same game had not been occurring in the rest of the world. During the era from 1967 to 1990 their currencies had remained at the same original, low level. When we suddenly opened our doors to “free trade”, we found ourselves priced out of the marketplace. American producers were faced with an over-regulated, over-taxed, high-cost, over-priced cost structure that was doomed.

Within eight years after these ideas were enacted by our astute political establishment, millions of American jobs were lost, thousands of thriving factories became empty buildings, the foundations of our economy were weakened with the absence of manufacturing jobs, millions of workers were forced to retire, retrain into a lower paying job, or to go on welfare.

This weakening of our basic economic structure was then combined with the evils which led to the rise and fall of the housing markets, crazy unregulated banking practices, and over speculation in the stock markets,…. and suddenly the house of cards fell apart. We are struggling to restart this faltering; weakened economic systems, with its manufacturing engine removed, and are finding the presence of an absence of job opportunities makes the task almost impossible. And I believe one of the root causes of this dilemma was the foolish political games we allowed to be played, using the minimum wage as an instrument of vote buying.

And some politicians in their condition of blind stupidity are still promoting and playing this deadly game as is evidenced by this recent increase to $7.25. They just can’t “Get It Right”.

Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-

● In arguing for the socialized health plan promoters state that the existing system has extra costs because of extra, unnecessary tests performed by doctors, and due to referral doctors retesting and not using information from tests already performed. Well, the real reason for these actions is fear of a lawyer in a suit using the lack of testing or use of prior tests as a negative that might cause loss of a liability claim. The real reason for these extra costs is the blood sucking lawyers and the crying need for Medical Tort Reforms. The new plan is conveniently skirting this issue.

● This week the FHP and the Alabama Highway Patrol combined in a “wolf pack” at the state line on Highway 231 in a road block traffic check. In my opinion these Gestapo type road blocks where they stop cars for no cause, demand to see your “documents”, question you about where you are going, and inspect the car is all a violation of our rights and is of questionable constitutional validity. All they need is a manacle for one eye, high leather boots they can click together, and one of those counterweighted rail roadblocks to swing up and down…and they would have a German roadblock as seen in the old Bogart movies. If this is for safety as they pretend, and significant removal of unsafe drivers and vehicles are the result, then the practice might be justified…It is not justified if the underlying reason is to help make up the State budget shortfall. This week’s roadblock netted 14 tickets for Florida and over 20 for Alabama. This means we only gain about $2500 in revenue while they gained over $4000. Come on FHP…We can’t let Alabama out-ticket us!

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

“Admit It….Are You An Addict?”

If you haven’t become addicted yet, you probably soon will be.

This column presents a non-partisan, conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

“Our government is intentionally converting the American public into a nation of addicts.”

The U. S. Government has been encouraging a crippling, destructive, addiction within our American society for many years. It is now intensifying that effort. This malady has already struck one in every six citizens, and government programs are in the process of being implemented which will grow the number of addicts to at least three in six (50% of our population). Their ultimate goal is to have 100% of the American public addicted to this condition.

Once addicted, the individual loses all interest in productivity, self improvement, and self reliance. All initiatives for self development, improvements, and professional growth is soon lost as the person becomes totally dependent on getting a regular “fix” from the suppliers. Getting as much as possible from the supplier becomes the primary focus of the citizen.

Once the government has almost everyone “hooked” into this terrible addiction, the government can very easily manipulate and control the American public. All they have to do is threaten to reduce or eliminate the public’s supply of what they must have to satisfy their all consuming addiction…and they will eagerly follow any direction the government wants them to follow. They will vote for the candidates they are supposed to vote for, and they will accept any program the government wishes to enact. They are hopeless addicts.

♦ The addiction is not to Nicotine.
♦ The addiction is not to Marijuana.
♦ The addiction is not to Crack Cocaine.
♦ The addiction is not to Chrystal Meth.
♦ The addiction is not to Alcohol.

The Addiction Is To……….regular, monthly government “hand outs” of money!

Once a family or individual begins to receive regular, monthly government checks and free government services through one of the many social programs which are already in existence, they quickly become fully dependent on the presence of these “freebees” for survival. They must forever “feed at the government trough”. They will blindly do the government’s bidding in order to have their habit of spending government money fulfilled each month.

Add to these unfortunate addicts the millions of others who work for a government agency at some level, and the thousands of companies who exist to serve government, and you have a nation totally dependent on GOVERNMENT. That was not the way our nation was built. We did not achieve the greatness we have enjoyed because of “government”. We became great due to our personal initiatives, our willingness to take risks and work hard, our desires to develop our skills and intelligence as much as possible in order to enhance our opportunities for advancement. We became great because of our inventiveness and the freedoms to fully take risks and reap the rewards for success.

This new system of social order discourages these positives and replaces them with total dependence on a “Big Brother” government to make every decision for us. This approach strives to take away all rewards for success through taxation and income redistribution, to destroy personal incentives, and to create a huge, monster bureaucracy which doles out funds and services to the masses. I don’t want to go there!!

If you are already surviving because you receive a “government check” each month, and if you already find your attitudes and decisions greatly influenced by avoiding doing anything which might result in Big Brother taking away the benefits you are now “hooked” on…then it may be too late for you.

However, if you are still an independent worker, surviving from the results of your own labor, abilities, intelligence, and good fortune…then you had better immediately become proactive and begin to work with the organizations which have been formed to work against this growing plague within our society. If you remain idle, you will become such a minority that eventually the day will come when the dependent majority comes and takes all you have for redistribution. Believe it! You will be “Getting It Right”.

Rudiments -
Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning:
♦ As you probably know by now, Marianna officials have been notified of the award of over $300,000 in grants and low interest loans from the stimulus funds which are to be used for purchase of two new fire trucks. Now I am glad we are getting new trucks (I guess), but please realize this same type of thing is happening all over the nation, and involves billions of future tax dollars. How many jobs will this create? How does buying new fire trucks, solve our nations terrible economic problems? The only thing it really does is give your representatives, Congressman Boyd and Senator Nelson an opportunity to brag about “bringing home the pork”. When I drive by and look at these trucks in the future, I will just see two big slabs of wasteful “Pork” parked there.
♦ You might have lost another little bit of your property rights when Congressman Boyd and the rest of the current administration passed the “Cap and Trade” bill through the House of Representatives last week. Within that bill is the provision that when you next decide to sell a home, “inspectorcrats” from one of Big Brothers many agencies must first inspect your home. They will then require that before the home can obtain the government permit which allows it to be sold it must have energy efficient lighting, must be insulated up to their standards, and must have certain construction characteristics, including double paned windows. They are going crazy over this “green” bull crap and we are all going to have to pay for it all! Big Brother socialism….enjoy! Since Al Franken is now a Senator, they can probably push this piece of crap legislation through the system. Oh yes, this same bill will place taxes on the utility companies which will cause your power bill to go up another huge jump.
Predictions:
♦ Unemployment nearing 20% by 2011.
♦ Failure of all American auto companies by 2015.
♦ Inflation of 20% or greater by 2015.
♦ Soaring crime rates and prison populations.
♦ Failure of most airlines due to reduced customers.
♦ Failure of numerous state governments. Massive bureaucratic layoffs result.
♦ Socialization of banking system.
♦ Socialization of oil industry.
♦ Socialization of the medical industries.
♦ Socialization of insurance industry.
♦ Socialization of transportation industry.
♦ World conversion to Euro instead of dollar.
♦ Decline in U.S. standard of living to 1940’s level.
♦ Exchange Rate with Chinese Yuan changing from existing 6.77 to 1 to 3.0 to 1 by 2012, and 1 to 1 or worse by 2020. These exchange rate differences will make our debt to China much larger and more difficult to repay.
(Perhaps the U.S. should go ahead and adopt the Chinese Yuan as its currency….that way we wouldn’t have to worry about the exchange rate!)
♦ Former Saturday Night Live comedian Al Franken is now the esteemed Senator from Minnesota …it seems sadistically appropriate that a comedian would become a Senator.
♦ July 8 is the birthday of former County Commissioner Milton Pittman, and JCDC Director, Bill Stanton. Pittman is a weather worn 70 year old, and Stanton is a hastily deteriorating 65 year old. If you see either of them hobbling around, you might want to offer your condolences.

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.

Our Bucket is Being Drained

Everything Out and Nothing In Demonstrates Bad Management

This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:

“The USA has become a poor credit risk.”

The ordinary citizen has to constantly be aware of his/her credit rating on the various systems the bankers and credit card companies have designed to measure the risk involved when monies are loaned. If any citizen had the credit score which our U.S. Government has at this time, they wouldn’t be able to borrow a dime. In fact, they would be forced into immediate bankruptcy.

It appears to me that the combined impact of making very bad international trade decisions over the past twenty years, a stupid energy policy, and the wild spending of a corrupt, inept, self serving congress has finally emptied the bucket of available funding for our stumbling nation.

Stupid Trade Policies- When China and the other Far East countries convinced the campus cloistered economic advisors and our inept politicians that it was a good idea for the United States to embrace the philosophy of the “global marketplace” and “free trade”, they must have had a hard time holding back their laughter at our nation’s stupidity. Remember the era during Clinton’s reign when Washington diverted our attention by making a big deal out of the NAFTA trade deal with Mexico, while at the same time they were sneaking the passage of giving China “Most Favored Nation Trade Status”.

Well it was the old bait and switch scam, the deal with Mexico was trivial, while the deal with China actually traded away a huge, huge chunk of our nation’s industrial resources. As a result thousands of factories across a broad band of industries were closed, and millions of jobs left the USA and were transferred to new factories being built in China.

That evolution began to make an already bad balance of trade for the US into a horrible, negative cash draining hole in our bucket of wealth.

Stupid Energy Policies – Every politician who has held a national office over the past thirty years was aware of our nation’s growing dependence and vulnerability which was being created by our declining oil reserves at home. Even today our politicians are willing to court the “green” environmental voting block by prohibiting new Alaska and off shore drilling, by prohibiting construction of nuclear plants, by prohibiting construction of new refineries, by prohibiting mining of oil shale in the Rockies, and now by working to eliminate the use of coal as a source of energy when we have some of the largest coal reserves in the world. All of these things work to enable the Oil Barons of the Mideast to rape our economy.

These policies have created another huge money hole in our bucket. Billions and billions of US dollars have flowed from the pockets of our struggling American citizens into the open pocketbooks of the Sheiks. This morning I heard Donald Trump make the statement that the actual cost of a barrel of oil on the international market should be only $20.00. Our weak bargaining position is forcing Americans to pay for gasoline based on a cost of three or more times that amount. And it will undoubtedly get worse.

Our politicians have allowed the “Green” movement to assist in the destruction of our nation.

Stupid Spending Policies - We hear over and over – “You can’t spend yourself our of debt!” – AND YOU CAN’T! But our corrupt, inept, uncaring, self serving political leaders (of both denominations) seem to believe that by printing, borrowing, and stealing more money and spending the money on unnecessary short term projects will somehow return our economy to its former glory.
The sad part is the ten year lag effect for most actions taken by politicians. They can enact some inane, terrible policy or program today, and it is usually ten years before the real results of that action can be measured. By then they are off in a corner somewhere counting their money and avoiding responsibility…i.e. Bill Clinton.

Stupid Immigration Policies - Both political parties allowed our immigration laws to be made into the laughing stock of the world as millions of illegal immigrants poured over our borders. In their corrupt, distorted vision of how things should function, many of our politicians see these illegal’s as a potential new constituency which can be wooed to vote for them if they help them gain the full benefits of citizenship.

The social burden created by this new underclass of citizens is tremendous. The medical costs, welfare costs, and the cost of the crimes and subsequent imprisonment of the illegal criminal element of this group combines into billions in added social cost burden for our nation to support. Again, political gain at the cost of our nations well being.

Rudiments – Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning:
♦ It is reported that officials within the EPA received a ninety eight page report two weeks before the vote on Cap and Trade. This internal EPA report demonstrated errors in the data supporting global warming claims, especially those correlating the warming to carbon dioxide emissions. The officials tried to hide the report, and kept it from becoming public prior to the upcoming vote on the issue.
♦ Woe be to us all! That comic idiot Al Franken was declared the winner in the Senate race in Minnesota. That gives the dems full control of the U.S. Senate. After the election, ballots were found in the trunk of an Elections Supervisor’s car which were counted, and of course ACORN was very busy in that state. Glory to the USA!
♦ By the time this issue hits the streets the Florida Highway Patrol and most local police agencies will be busy sneaking around through traffic to be sure you didn’t forget to fasten your seat belt. Now, when they smack you with that hundred dollar fine for being forgetful, remember it is all for your own good. Big brother is worried about your safety and the matter has nothing to do with their desperate need for more money……HA!
♦ The story on the front page about the city trying to get $165,000 in order to “Go Green” (ugh) and buy new lighting for the city shows the difference in the way industry works and the government works. In industry in order to justify a purchase of new equipment, the savings had to generate a three to five year return on investment. These new lights will save $9,000 per year, thus giving a 18.3 year return on investment. Oh Well, it’s only tax money!
♦ In the article issued by the County Health Department concerning the county’s new mosquito eradication program, they provide a list of things that we should do to help prevent the hatching of mosquitoes. They tell us to keep our roof gutters clean, not allow cans, jars and tires to collect water, and to drain our boat bilge areas. How can they overlook the real cause of most of our downtown residential mosquitoes…..those damned FDEP required water retention mosquito hatcheries. In my opinion they are the real cause in the increasing incidence of West Nile Virus.
♦ Our school board is going to vote this afternoon on a proposal to increase our property taxes for next year by another .25 mil. That will be another $25 per $100,000 on your property assessment. The system just keeps on squeezing the middle and lower classes. There isn’t much left in our veins at this point….I am sure they will pass the increase since there is absolutely no waste in their budgets and programs where they could pick up any shortfalls in funding.
♦ I think all conservative readers of this column should be aware that our local representative, Congressman Boyd, followed the instructions of his party leaders and voted for the “Cap and Trade” legislation last week. This bill will result in further increases in your electric bills, because of the unverified, unproven supposition that CO2 emissions are the cause of global warming. Boyd might have made Nancy Pelosi happy….but he made a lot of Jackson County people very mad. The bill still has to pass the Senate, let us hope that group has a little more intelligence. If it passes, turn out the lights and hide your wallet…because they didn’t “Get It right!”

Quote:
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
~Abraham Lincoln

Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.