Politics and religion.

[RICHARD]

Do the people pushing for a blanket $15/hr wage for Wal-mart employees have any clue?


There are areas in the US where highly skilled workers don't earn that much.

When I worked, the company had a 'step' system of pay.

You started at a set salary, and after three months you got a raise. then the raises were given each year after.


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Along the way, the company decided to hire people in at a two-three year level.

The people who had put in the hours to get to their current wage rate were really ticked off.

Imagine being an employee that worked their way to a 15 dollar/hour wage - let's say they worked 4 years to get to that level - and then someone walks into the company and get paid just as much as you?

It makes for an interesting work place?

[Lady's Human]

I routinely see help wanted ads for skilled machinists in this area, and the advertised starting rate is anywhere from $12-20 per hour, DOE.

Now, you're a new machinist, and you walk into a machine shop getting paid $12/hr.

Someone gets Wal-mart to go with the mythical $15/hr wage. Is the machine shop owner going to give his employees more money to beat the retail starting wage? To do so he would have to raise prices to his customers, and the snowball effect begins, with inflation eventually negating the value of $15/hr.

You can't artificially inflate the value of unskilled labor without waterfall effects throughout the economy (AKA inflation) If you want to earn more, get a skill, learn a trade. There are apprenticeship programs available with want ads for apprentices. No, an apprentice tradesman doesn't make much over minimum. A Journeyman, however, earns much more than that. Why? He/she has acquired a skill with value in the marketplace.

[RICHARD]

I had a wonderful laugh today.

I was listening to the TV - Not the station that I prefer to get my news from - and the topic was the 'immigration reform' speech coming up this evening.

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Wow, this is going to turn into a real kerfluffle.

I jokingly told Doris, "what these people don't realize is that the IRS is probably going to go after people for back taxes....."

Sure enough?

One of the talking heads on the channel mentioned the IRS and back taxes - not five minutes later.....

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The latin/hispanic media is going to have tons of fun with this.

I can hardly wait to see how they are going to portray the idea of 'amnesty' and what HOW they are going to sell it to the audience.

[RICHARD]

Hokay.....

(My comments are based on nothing more than living as an american/mexican for years?)

The prez really bit off more than he can chew.

Here is my prediciton for his 'program'....

Epic Fail.

I listened to about two minutes of his speech and laughed.

BO asked illegals to 'turn themselves in', under go a background/criminal check, pay a fine and pay back taxes to become compliant?

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The 'illegals' that I have known have a general dislike/distrust of any real laws.

Most of them have come from places where the law/government cannot be trusted, sad to say, they have NO respect or trust for politicians/laws.

Many are going to balk at being photographed, finger printed and investigated?

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Pay a fine, back taxes?

Incredible.

Many immigrants live paycheck to paycheck - in the neighborhood where I grew up, garages were converted to 'apartments' - no running water, bathrooms or cooking areas. They pay some crazy rates for rent. Depending on the situation? You can pay a flat rate or pay per person....The more people you can jam into a garage, the cheaper your rent will be.

So, you are going to 'fine' them, make them pay back taxes? So what happens when you cannot pay the fine or the back taxes?

That will just push people farther into the background..when you barely have the money to pay rent for a one room and share it with a group of people, You probably don't have the means to pay a fine, pay 'back taxes', add to that the idea that you are going to be photographed, fingerprinted and have your background looked into? If people have no problem living under the radar, why are they going to conform to more rules?


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Another cottage industry that is going to spring up are the people who are going to set up shop to 'help' the immigrants become compliant.

They'll charge outrageous amounts to file the paperwork for them - for something that won't cost them anything done on their own?

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I love it when the 'guvmint' proposes some new rule/program without any thought or idea as to how to implement it.

Brilliant!!!!!!

[momoffuzzyfaces]

That's sort of what I was thinking too, Richard. I know I certainly would not volunteer to pay back taxes. Then again BO can wave his magic pen and make that requirement just go away!

I am begining to wonder why even vote any more when the elected officials just do what THEY want any way. The border has been an issue as long as I have been old enough to vote. That is a looong time!

[Karen]

Who says no thought has been put into this?

And many undocumented people have been paying taxes for years without any hope of actually reaping the benefits of things like Social Security. The system, as we all know, is broken. At least someone is trying to fix it. I have no doubt the undocumented people where you grew up are different from the ones I know, just by virtue of geography and border proximity and all that. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I know one man, several years older than me, who once only half-jokingly asked if I'd "adopt" him, so he could get a driver's license and not worry about getting arrested driving to work every day with a license from another country.

Do I think this is a magic bullet, and all the immigration problems will vanish overnight? Of course not! It will be messy, difficult and just plain hard, but do you not agree something needs to be done?

Likewise the talking heads still trying to "repeal" the Affordable Care Act, by calling it "Obamacare" so often people are not even aware they are the same thing! This helps how?

Fish or cut bait, folks.

[Lady's Human]

The system is broken.

The border is an open wound, and those here illegally are preyed on by politicians of both sides:

Votes for legalizing them from the Democrats, and cheap labor for businesses in the pockets of Republicans.

1) Close the border. It can be done, and has been done in the past.

2) Send 'em home. It's been done before, and can be done, it just takes the political will to do so.

3) ICE checks at all employers. Need help with that? Use the National Guard. If the company is employing illegal immigrants fine them or close them. No deals.Prosecute the business owners just as aggressively as you prosecute street corner drug dealers.

Control first. Fix what's broken, which isn't the laws, it's the enforcement. The President has taken what is a Congressional responsibility and put it in his own hands. This is a representative republic not a tin-pot dictatorship where laws get enforced based on how much graft you provide.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Maybe my old memory is faulty but didn't we approved a huge amount of money several years ago to close the boarders? I seem to remember them starting a fence and even got some done on it. What the heck happened to that AND the money we alloted to do it?

[Lady's Human]

Maybe my old memory is faulty but didn't we approved a huge amount of money several years ago to close the boarders? I seem to remember them starting a fence and even got some done on it. What the heck happened to that AND the money we alloted to do it?

IIRC, one part of the money was appropriated the rest was cut from subsequent budgets.'

[lizbud]

Who says no thought has been put into this?

And many undocumented people have been paying taxes for years without any hope of actually reaping the benefits of things like Social Security. The system, as we all know, is broken. At least someone is trying to fix it. I have no doubt the undocumented people where you grew up are different from the ones I know, just by virtue of geography and border proximity and all that. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I know one man, several years older than me, who once only half-jokingly asked if I'd "adopt" him, so he could get a driver's license and not worry about getting arrested driving to work every day with a license from another country.

Do I think this is a magic bullet, and all the immigration problems will vanish overnight? Of course not! It will be messy, difficult and just plain hard, but do you not agree something needs to be done?

Likewise the talking heads still trying to "repeal" the Affordable Care Act, by calling it "Obamacare" so often people are not even aware they are the same thing! This helps how?

Fish or cut bait, folks.

Bravo Karen.

[lizbud]

An Indianapolis paper decided to remove a political cartoon by their own Gary Varvel (cartoonist) after they
received a lot of harsh blowback from the public. It was, at the least, very poor taste.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/l...ishing-cartoon

[Lady's Human]

An Indianapolis paper decided to remove a political cartoon by their own Gary Varvel (cartoonist) after they
received a lot of harsh blowback from the public. It was, at the least, very poor taste.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/l...ishing-cartoon

It wasn't offensive at all. Sometimes the truth hurts.

With the drain on local budgets which will caused by this mess it is what will effectively happen. Local taxes will go higher while the feds save money by not enforcing the law and the labor market gets more pressure to lower wages with illegal aliens working under the table for low wages. (spare me the tripe about illegals paying into SS, they only do that if their employer is trying to put a veneer of legality on illegal employees, which only REALLY comes into play with state or federal contract work)

[Karen]

It will be interesting to see how it plays out in the near and the long term. I remember vaguely when Reagan did something similar ... but don't remember the details.

So much of the government has been in virtual gridlock - every time I hear a report on the status of bridges and roads it is scary, but Congress cannot seem to do anything much productive, just spending their time sniping and harping on each other in the media, social media, etc., complaining about whoever is in charge (Obama right now of course) but not offering any serious alternatives. Hate the Affordable Care Act? Don't just ***** about it, make a specific plan how to fix it. Just "repealliing" it will not help, the health care system is a mess, was a mess before it, and a massive bureaucracy, and something needed to be done!

[Lady's Human]

Pres. Reagan didn't create amnesty executive by fiat, he signed legislation sent to him by Congress (you know, how the Constitution states it's supposed to work?). In addition when that amnesty was passed, there were actual shooting wars going on which people were fleeing.

As to gridlock, ACA, etc, the House has passed several hundred bills which the Senate has refused to even bring to the floor for discussion. The greatest deliberative body in the world has refused to debate much of anything for several years.

People were either elated or angered by the results of the last national election, and I'm still scratching my head wondering why, as we have yet another two years of the same stale poltroons in charge in the halls of power in D.C.. Until the leadership of both parties change, or they lose an election to third parties, nothing substantive is going to happen. We still returned more than 90% of incumbents running for re-election to Congress.

Until THAT statistic changes, there will be no change.

[Lady's Human]

BTW, NYC is getting ready to add 2500 additional students to classes as a result of the surge of illegal immigration over the summer. Are their parents' property taxes going to pay for the 100 additional teachers, roughly 10 additional administrative support positions, and other costs to the schools?

No, and as NY level funds schools through property taxes and state taxes, MY taxes are going to be impacted by the required additions to the schools.