Conservatives Continue To Complain And Bash Minimum Wage
Posted by Michelle Moquin on October 24th, 2014
Good morning!
Christie Is Complaining Again
Chris Christie Joins Other Wealthy Conservatives In Bashing Minimum Wage
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie opened up yesterday about his feelings on the progressive efforts to raise the minimum wage and lift millions of hard-working Americans out of poverty: “I’m tired of hearing about the minimum wage,” he said. “I really am.”
Christie is the 4th-highest paid governor in America, earning $175,000 per year. And as the Chairman of the Republican Governors Association, these comments channel the views of a number of his colleagues or would-be colleagues: there is a growing list of other Republicans governors or candidates who oppose raising the minimum wage and sometimes even deny whether we need a minimum wage at all. Here are a few:
- Florida Governor Rick Scott (Net Worth: $133 million): In a gubernatorial debate Tuesday night, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) was asked whether he supports the concept of a minimum wage. “Sure,” he replied. But when asked what it should be, he responded, “How would I know — I mean, the private sector decides wages.” He may not have an answer for where the minimum wage should be, but he’s ensured that Floridians can’t decide for themselves. In 2013, he signed a bill that bans local cities and counties from passing their own higher wages or other benefits like paid sick days.
- Illinois candidate for Governor Bruce Rauner (Net Worth: Nearly $1 Billion): In a newly released radio interview, Rauner, who spends more on wine than most Illinois households spend on everything, admitted that he once favored eliminating the minimum wage entirely. His campaign asserts that “his past statements about the minimum wage were a mistake.”
- Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (Net Worth: Unknown): When asked whether there should or should not be a minimum wage, Walker responded that he “doesn’t think it serves a purpose.” A few weeks ago, Walker’s administration determined that the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour was a living wage, ignoring the workers who told him that it wasn’t.
In Kansas, a top economic adviser to Governor Sam Brownback went even farther, calling the federal minimum wage the “black teenage unemployment act” while speaking to Fox News.
BOTTOM LINE: So, Chris Christie, you are “tired of hearing about the minimum wage”? Try living on it. Hard-working women and men are trying to raise families on the minimum wage, and it is only getting harder and harder for them to make ends meet. A federal minimum wage of $10.10 could lift nearly 5 million Americans out of poverty and boost the economy by billions of dollars.
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October 24th, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Another case of white boys being racists. A native american, Jaylen Fryberg sophomore got tired of it and brought a gun to school. He was bullied by a bunch of racists. So he shot a few.
October 24th, 2014 at 2:38 pm
Yeah Juno, and he is still being treated racially. Notice they haven’t taken down his website
Jaylen Fryberg Named as Marysville-Pilchuck High School Shooter
http://www.everyjoe.com/2014/10/24/news/jaylen-fryberg-pictures-marysville-pilchuck-high-school-shooter/#ixzz3H6Ik4RwR.
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I wish he hadn’t shot himself. He needed to speak for what happened to him.
October 24th, 2014 at 2:54 pm
Henri and of course he is pictured posing with a gun. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1040301-jaylen-fryberg-named-as-pilchuck-hs-shooting-suspect-jaylen-ray-on-cnn/
According to local residents on Twitter and Facebook, Fryberg was Native American and part of the Tulalip Tribe, played football, and wrestled. Many students at Pilchuck High School were confirming on social media that Fryberg is the suspect in the shooting.
October 24th, 2014 at 4:46 pm
I agree Christie was wrong to cancel the tunnel, but there should have been more federal dollars allocated to the project. This brings me to a larger problem here that a lot of people miss. In order to really get the country out of this recession, the federal government should be spending billions on public works projects to pump up the economy, but the GOP deficit hawks in congress would scream bloody murder. The funny thing is that back in 1980s under Reagan the Republicans said deficits don’t matter as long as we control inflation. Remember that?
October 24th, 2014 at 4:54 pm
Oh, I could just pinch those two little cheeks!!!
Jimmy is really growing!
October 24th, 2014 at 4:58 pm
Christie tried to walk back his comment on minimum wage.
F off, A-hole. Your comments were perfectly understood to mean that you’re a callous dick.
You just can’t handle the pushback.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:00 pm
“My comments are never almost universally interpreted the way I mean them.”
Well I sure don’t know what the fuck that was supposed to mean.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:00 pm
Christi, You, sir, accepted a job, one of whose primary tasks is communicating clearly with the public. The obligation to say what you mean in a clear and cogent fashion is yours, sir, not the press’ or the public’s, but yours.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:00 pm
Christie’s tryout for job as a walmart pr hack could have gone better. He can’t even make a strawman argument without screwing it up.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:01 pm
Republicans seem to think the minimum wage is about rich white parents, who’re making their teenagers work for something so as not to raise entitled, whiny douches. Well obviously, those parents don’t fret around the table about the dollar value of minimum wage.
Minimum wage is about single mothers dreaming how nice it’d be to only have to work 2 jobs instead of 3, so they might have a little time to even sit at their table once and a while.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:01 pm
So, instead he blames President Obama for the honest political value that would be gained by providing minimum wage economic solutions to help families and the economy of the entire nation…because that makes it more difficult for phonies like him to suck up to the 1% and the mutual-protection offer he can’t refuse.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:03 pm
“My comments are never almost universally interpreted the way I mean them,” Christie said
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Incoherence is a bit of problem for someone who wants to stand for national election.
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“The President wants to focus (on minimum wage) because he’s a class warrior,” he added.
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Or possibly because he believes that anyone who works full time should get a fair wage, and that the State – ie taxpayers – should not be in the business of boosting the profits of employers too mean to pay a minimum wage, by topping up poverty wages with all sorts of Government programmes.
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Oh, and for the record? The middle class needs a class warrior against tyrants like you and your ilk.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:03 pm
Ah, the old “I was misunderstood” dodge! Take responsibility, Christie! And, FYI, the minimum wage is not the President’s sole focus, it is only one of many. Don’t misrepresent everything that he is trying to do.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:04 pm
Of course, it’s OUR fault you’re a filthy lying mob figure working solely for the wealthy, you fucking whale turd.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:04 pm
Someone should tell Christie that the average age of a minimum-wage worker is 35.
And that most are women, and many of those women are raising children on that meager pay.
And someone should also tell Christie what a cold, calculating, hateful jackass he shows himself to be.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:05 pm
He can’t even make a strawman argument without screwing it up.
And in his explanation he both doubles down and repeats an outrageous, absurd lie about class war. It’s like James Fallows says, we really are doing the Gilded Age over again, with the robber barons writing the rules and the people who do the work just trying to survive by working around the clock.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:05 pm
There will ALWAYS be a large chunk of the working population making the absolute minimum. That’s how capitalism works. You don’t help that group as a whole by creating a handful of good paying jobs, you help that group as a whole by ensuring that they’re able to make a wage that allows them to not live in abject poverty. That, oddly enough, also helps the economy.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:06 pm
You ass – pire to be the Governor of New Jersey? Can’t you do better?
October 24th, 2014 at 5:06 pm
What was misinterpreted about it? Seems like his explanation is EXACTLY what we thought he said.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:06 pm
This punk should have another doughnut and take a seat. He has as much chance of being elected President as Bristol Plain does. In fact, Palin has more of a chance of being nominated by the right-wing zealots of the Republican Party then this load of manure has.
They’re all grifters.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:07 pm
This is the exact point where Christie makes loud fart noises, mugs for the camera and does anything else he can to change the subject.
Has he mentioned recently what a no nonsense straightshooter he is?
October 24th, 2014 at 5:07 pm
Christie: Wait a minute. I didn’t mean to sound like a smug, well-fed, privileged asshole. Let me completely revise my statement and, for bonus points, turn it into an Obama bash.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:07 pm
“I don’t think there’s a mother or father sitting around a kitchen table tonight in America who are saying, ‘You know honey, if my son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, my God, all our dreams would be realized,” he told the audience. “Is that what parents aspire to for their children?”
No, Chris, you made yourself perfectly clear. There’s no need to elaborate. You have no idea what the discussion of the minimum wage is about. You’re clueless. And you’re a gigantic a-hole about it. We’re all pretty goddam tired of hearing what you have to say about anything.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:08 pm
You are toast assh^le.
And you’ve hit the floor butter-side-down.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:08 pm
It’s tough being Chris Christie? “What he wants to focus on is the minimum wage. I don’t believe that that’s what our focus should be. Our focus should be on creating better paying jobs for everyone in our country.” For September 2014, the national unemployment rate was 5.9%, New Jersey’s was 6.5%.
It’s tough being Chris Christie? New Jersey’s rank in energy efficiency efforts plunged from 12 to 19 in the latest annual Energy Efficiency Scorecard by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) on 10/21/2014.
It’s tough being Chris Christie? A state bill to make New Jersey the first state to ban the import, purchase, and sale of elephant ivory tusks and rhino horns? Make haste with my signing pen. A state bill to ban keeping pregnant pigs in crates? I’ll be in Iowa ruminating about it.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:09 pm
It’s tough being Chris Christie? “What he wants to focus on is the minimum wage. I don’t believe that that’s what our focus should be. Our focus should be on creating better paying jobs for everyone in our country.” For September 2014, the national unemployment rate was 5.9%, New Jersey’s was 6.5%.
It’s tough being Chris Christie? New Jersey’s rank in energy efficiency efforts plunged from 12 to 19 in the latest annual Energy Efficiency Scorecard by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) on 10/21/2014.
It’s tough being Chris Christie? A state bill to make New Jersey the first state to ban the import, purchase, and sale of elephant ivory tusks and rhino horns? Make haste with my signing pen. A state bill to ban keeping pregnant pigs in crates? I’ll be in Iowa ruminating about it.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:09 pm
Pulling orange traffic cones outta’ his ass as we speak.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:10 pm
“It’s not my wrong minded inarticulate mouth. It’s your inarticulate ears. You’re just not bright enough to grasp how two diametrically opposing ideas can exist simultaneously.” –translation of Christie speak
Prepare for the verbal jiu-jitsu exhibition of a lifetime. Christie will teach you how black is grey and up is actually sideways. And if you don’t like it, you can SHUT UP and go fuck yourself. Always with the personal charm and diplomacy, this guy.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:10 pm
“Our focus should be on creating better paying jobs for everyone in our country.”
You know, if all the “minimum wage” jobs become “better paying” jobs, than better paying will become the new minimum.
And isn’t raising the minimum wage making “better paying” jobs?
October 24th, 2014 at 5:11 pm
By ‘misunderstood’ he meant completely understood but by the wrong people.
… he then added “How dare you moochers question your betters!!!!”.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:11 pm
But if he, and his ilk, can continue to demonize the lowest paid folks.. keep them from voting, we can continue to subsidize the walmart wages with programs that the pol’s continue to cut. Ain’t life grand for a min wage worker? This load needs to go. They all do.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:13 pm
Not in Kansas (City) Anymore
October 24, 2014
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Welcome back to your City by the Bay, Giants. In what is becoming a familiar and welcome even-year tradition, buildings across San Francisco – from City Hall to Coit Tower – are glowing in bright orange light to celebrate our National League Champions. Earlier this week I was pleased to announce the details of a friendly wager with Kansas City Congressman Emanuel Cleaver over the World Series between our San Francisco Giants and his Kansas City Royals. As passionate fans and competitive colleagues, Congressman Cleaver and I agreed to a battle for bragging rights and local delicacies.
If the Royals win, I will provide the Kansas City Congressman with a basket of the finest chocolates from San Francisco. If the Giants win, Congressman Cleaver will provide my office with some of Kansas City’s delicious BBQ.
There are many savory delights that Kansas City has to offer and I can’t wait to enjoy them, but nothing would be sweeter than a Giants victory. The Royals are a fine team, but they are no match for the talent, toughness, and heart of our never-say-die Giants. I look forward to enjoying the Giants’ latest championship with some fine Kansas City BBQ, and I wish the Giants luck as they bring the World Series home to San Francisco tonight for what is promising to be an exciting Game 3.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:16 pm
I live in Aurora County, SD. It is a haven for rednecks, tea partiers and conservative conniving.
Many see their Native population as less than desirable and treat them like 2nd class citizens.
October 24th, 2014 at 5:18 pm
Eric you are a fool, the democrats who only pay attention to them at election time? Get real. 50 years they vote democratic 50 years they are still poor. communist core can twist math all it wants the results are the same…Democrats + bad economy, plenty of free stuff . the end
October 25th, 2014 at 2:22 am
8 Money Wiring Fraud Prevention Tips
Money wiring services and reloadable debit cards are still criminals’ payment method of choice when it comes to raking in their ill-gotten gains from scam victims.
So much so, in fact, that a couple of the big money wiring companies themselves have agreed to pay compensation of $200 million to reimburse victims, and one of the leading debit card firms has announced that it will abandon its main reloadable card in 2015.
The attraction to the crooks is simple: Both payment methods are untraceable. Law enforcement is usually unable to track down where the money went.
Wiring and reloadable cards are, of course, perfectly legal and play a very useful role in legitimate money transfers and payments.
But they’re also perfect for scams, like:
Advance payment (where victims get a dud check and are asked to wire part of the value to a scammer-in-disguise, before the check “bounces”).
Distress scams (where victims receive a bogus message from a relative, friend or colleague who is supposedly in trouble and urgently needs cash).
Lottery scams (where victims are told they must pay tax and processing fees before they can collect their — non-existent — winnings).
Phony fines and overdue bill demands, most recently the widespread IRS unpaid-tax-bill scam.
You’d think that the people who provide these payment methods would be able to spot a scam when a victim comes up to them and tries to transfer money — especially to someone in countries where the crooks operate.
Actually, they sometimes do manage to stop people, mostly in their 80s and beyond, before they pay up.
But consumer organizations, notably the Federal Trade Commission, have been critical in the past, suggesting they could do more, which is why some of them have agreed both to hand money back to victims and to be monitored by the FTC.
Today, all the big money wiring companies provide guidance on their sites to try to steer customers clear of potential scams. We covered the broad details of these guidelines in an earlier issue, The Golden Rule that Halts Money Wiring Scams.
The biggest wirer, Western Union, now offers these 8 simple rules on their site to prevent fraud:
Never send money to people you haven’t met in person.
Never send money to pay for taxes or fees on lottery or prize winnings.
Never use a test question as an additional security measure to protect your transaction.
Never provide your banking information to people or businesses you don’t know.
Never send money in advance to obtain a loan or credit card.
Never send money for an emergency situation without verifying that it’s a real emergency.
Never send funds from a check in your account until it officially clears, which can take weeks.
Never send a money transfer for online purchases.
The firm also has a good test of your fraud awareness in their Fraud Quiz. Try it!
It’s partly because of this increased vigilance that crooks have been switching their favorite cash-collecting technique in a big way to reloadable cards.
These generally can’t be used for such large sums as the wiring services accept but scams for smaller sums can be much more difficult for issuers and law enforcement to spot.
One of scammers’ most popular payment cards has been the Green Dot MoneyPak Card, which we also touched on in Crooks Use Green Dot Scam for Advance Fee Fraud, when the scam was just surfacing.
Today, the scam is much more widespread. It works like this:
Victims are told they must transfer money immediately to the scammer, posing as some sort of legitimate organization.
They buy a MoneyPak at a grocery store or other outlet. The card has an activation code to cover its initial value, and a personal identification number (PIN), which the buyer can use to go online and top up or reload the card using a credit card or PayPal.
The crook tells the victim to phone or email the PIN to them to settle the phony bill, and then he/she uses it to drain the cash from the card account.
Aware of this scam potential, Green Dot has drawn up a list of “approved businesses” that it says customers are OK to use. And it advises people not to use MoneyPaks with anyone who’s not on the list.
Even so, scammers’ use of MoneyPak has become so worrisome that Green Dot has decided to phase out its current usage from the first quarter of 2015.
From then, Green Dot cards will only be reloadable at store cash registers via new card swiping technology.
That should help to reduce this type of scam, but in the meantime the company warns: “Don’t give your MoneyPak number to pay for something you buy through the classifieds or to collect a prize or sweepstakes. Do not give away your receipt information to another party either.”
Debit cards and money wiring are certainly fast ways of transferring cash to people you know — but they also can be fast ways of losing money when you send it to people you don’t know. So don’t do it.
October 25th, 2014 at 4:53 am
Michelle, it surprises how truly racist my race can be some times. I am campaigning for Massachusetts Democratic governor hopeful Martha Coakley who is falling behind her Republican challenger Charlie Baker. They were neck and neck last week. Each was polling 41%.
But recently the Charlie Baker has surged ahead to take a 45 to 36 percent lead. I am one of those charged with checking out what happened. Baker always had the white male vote. He lead by a 25 point lead. The balance for Coakley came because she had an 11 point lead. That lead fell to 4 points.
When I privately asked some of my fellow white friends and associates why they had switched or why they thought some of their white friends and associates had quit, they unabashfully said, “she’s black.” Some added one in the White House is enough.
I usually ignored suggestions on your blog that a lot of white people were voting color over their own best interests, but I was wrong. Here in a state where Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly chose President Barack Obama in both of his presidential elections, even when he faced Mitt Romney, the state’s former governor being a black candidate for state office can be an instant defeat.
October 25th, 2014 at 5:46 am
I know you are saying Coakley isn’t black. Yeah, but when the party she is in has a black as president, she is.