There WAS a time in our recent history when both political parties
worked to improve living conditions for the average American. The best proof of
that is the 1956 Republican Party platform, which you can read in its entirety
by clicking on the link below:
As you read through this document, you will note a number of items
that really jump out at you: (emphasis mine)
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"The legitimate object of Government is to do for a community
of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all, or cannot so
well do, for themselves in their separate and individual capacities.
While jealously guarding the free institutions and preserving the
principles upon which our Republic was founded and has flourished, the purpose
of the Republican Party is to establish and maintain a peaceful world and build
at home a dynamic prosperity in which every citizen fairly shares.
We shall ever build anew, that our children and their children, without distinction because of race, creed
or color, may know the blessings of our free land.
We are proud of and shall continue our far-reaching and sound
advances in matters of basic human needs—expansion
of social security—broadened coverage in unemployment insurance —improved
housing—and better health protection for all our people. We are determined
that our government remain warmly responsive to the urgent social and economic
problems of our people.
We shall continue vigorously to support the United Nations.
We hold that the major world issue today is whether Government
shall be the servant or the master of men. We hold that the Bill of Rights is
the sacred foundation of personal liberty. That men are created equal needs no
affirmation, but they must have equality of opportunity and protection of their
civil rights under the law.
The individual is of supreme importance.
The spirit of our people is the strength of our nation.
America does
not prosper unless all Americans prosper.
Government
must have a heart as well as a head.
Courage in principle, cooperation in practice make freedom
positive.
Under the Republican Administration, as our country has prospered,
so have its people. This is as it should be, for as President Eisenhower said:
"Labor is the United States. The men and women, who with their minds,
their hearts and hands, create the wealth that is shared in this country—they
are America."
The record of performance of the Republican Administration on
behalf of our working men and women goes still further. The Federal minimum wage has been raised for more than 2 million
workers. Social Security has been extended to an additional 10 million workers
and the benefits raised for 6 1/2 million. The protection of unemployment
insurance has been brought to 4 million additional workers. There have been
increased workmen's compensation benefits for longshoremen and harbor workers,
increased retirement benefits for railroad employees, and wage increases and
improved welfare and pension plans for federal employees.
In addition, the Eisenhower Administration has enforced more
vigorously and effectively than ever before, the laws which protect the working
standards of our people.
Workers have benefited by the progress which has been made in
carrying out the programs and principles set forth in the 1952 Republican
platform. All workers have gained and
unions have grown in strength and responsibility, and have increased their
membership by 2 million.
Furthermore, the process of free collective bargaining has been
strengthened by the insistence of this Administration that labor and management
settle their differences at the bargaining table without the intervention of
the Government. This policy has brought to our country an unprecedented period
of labor-management peace and understanding.
We applaud the effective, unhindered, collective bargaining which
brought an early end to the 1956 steel strike, in contrast to the six months'
upheaval, Presidential seizure of the steel industry and ultimate Supreme Court
intervention under the last Democrat Administration.
The Eisenhower Administration will continue to fight for dynamic
and progressive programs which, among other things, will:
Stimulate
improved job safety of our workers, through assistance to the
States, employees and employers;
Continue
and further perfect its programs of assistance to the millions of workers with
special employment problems, such as older workers, handicapped workers,
members of minority groups, and migratory workers;
Strengthen and improve the Federal-State Employment Service and
improve the effectiveness of the unemployment insurance system;
Protect by law, the assets of employee welfare and benefit plans
so that workers who are the beneficiaries can be assured of their rightful
benefits;
Assure
equal pay for equal work regardless of Sex;
Clarify and strengthen the eight-hour laws for the benefit of
workers who are subject to federal wage standards on Federal and
Federally-assisted construction, and maintain and continue the vigorous administration of the Federal prevailing minimum
wage law for public supply contracts;
Extend
the protection of the Federal minimum wage laws to as many more workers as is
possible and practicable;
Continue
to fight for the elimination of discrimination in employment because of race,
creed, color, national origin, ancestry or sex;
Provide assistance to improve the economic conditions of areas
faced with persistent and substantial unemployment;
Revise and improve the Taft-Hartley Act so as to protect more
effectively the rights of labor unions, management, the individual worker, and
the public. The protection of the right of workers to organize into unions and
to bargain collectively is the firm and permanent policy of the Eisenhower
Administration. In 1954, 1955 and again in 1956, President Eisenhower
recommended constructive amendments to this Act. The Democrats in Congress have
consistently blocked these needed changes by parliamentary maneuvers. The
Republican Party pledges itself to overhaul and improve the Taft-Hartley Act
along the lines of these recommendations.
We have
asked the largest increase in research funds ever sought in one year to
intensify attacks on cancer, mental illness, heart disease and other dread
diseases.
We recommend to Congress the submission of a constitutional
amendment providing equal rights for men
and women.
Civil Rights
The Republican Party points to an impressive record of
accomplishment in the field of civil rights and commits itself anew to
advancing the rights of all our people regardless of race, creed, color or
national origin.
In the area of exclusive Federal jurisdiction, more progress has
been made in this field under the present Republican Administration than in any
similar period in the last 80 years.
The many Negroes who have been appointed to high public positions
have played a significant part in the progress of this Administration.
Segregation has been ended in the District of Columbia Government
and in the District public facilities including public schools, restaurants,
theaters and playgrounds. The Eisenhower Administration has eliminated
discrimination in all federal employment.
Immigration
The
Republican Party supports an immigration policy which is in keeping with the
traditions of America in providing a haven for oppressed peoples, and
which is based on equality of treatment, freedom from implications of
discrimination between racial, nationality and religious groups, and flexible
enough to conform to changing needs and conditions
We believe that such a policy serves our self-interest, reflects our
responsibility for world leadership and develops maximum cooperation with other
nations in resolving problems in this area.
We support the President's program submitted to the 84th Congress
to carry out needed modifications in existing law and to take such further steps
as may be necessary to carry out our traditional policy.
In that concept, this Republican Administration sponsored the
Refugee Relief Act to provide asylum for thousands of refugees, expellees and
displaced persons, and undertook in the face of Democrat opposition to correct
the inequities in existing law and to bring our immigration policies in line
with the dynamic needs of the country and principles of equity and justice.
We
believe also that the Congress should consider the extension of the Refugee
Relief Act of 1953 in resolving this difficult refugee problem which resulted
from world conflict. To all this we give our wholehearted support.
Guarding and Improving Our Resources
One of the brightest areas of achievement and progress under the Eisenhower
Administration has been in resource conservation and development and in sound,
long-range public works programming.
Policies of sound conservation and wise development—originally
advanced half a century ago under that preeminent Republican conservation team
of President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot and amplified by succeeding
Republican Administrations—have been pursued by the Eisenhower Administration.
While meeting the essential development needs of the people, this Administration has conserved and safeguarded our natural
resources for the greatest good of all, now and in the future.
Our national parks, national forests and wildlife refuges are now
more adequately financed, better protected and more extensive than ever before.
Long-range improvement programs, such as Mission 66 for the National Parks
system, are now under way, and studies are nearing completion for a comparable
program for the National Forests. These forward-looking programs will be
aggressively continued.
Our Republican Administration has modernized and vitalized our
mining laws by the first major revision in more than 30 years.
Recreation, parks and wildlife.
ACHIEVEMENTS: Reversed the 15-year trend of neglect of our
National Parks by launching the 10-year, $785 million Mission 66 parks
improvement program. Has nearly completed field surveys for a comparable forest
improvement program. Obtained passage of the so-called "Week-end Miner
Bill." Added more than 400,000 acres to our National Park system, and
90,000 acres to wildlife refuges. Has undertaken well-conceived measures to
protect reserved areas of all types and to provide increased staffs and operating
funds for public recreation agencies.
We favor full recognition of recreation as an important public use
of our national forests and public domain lands.
We favor a comprehensive study of the effect upon wildlife of the
drainage of our wetlands.
We favor recognition, by the States, of wild-life and recreation
management and conservation as a beneficial use of water.
We subscribe to the general objectives of groups seeking to guard
the beauty of our land and to promote clean, attractive surroundings throughout
America.
We recognize the need for maintaining isolated wilderness areas to
provide opportunity for future generations to experience some of the wilderness
living through which the traditional American spirit of hardihood was
developed.
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Most of us would agree that the ideas proposed by the Eisenhower
administration are good ideas. By 2012, however, the Grand
Old Party had acquired a much different attitude.
The 2016 Republican Party platform strays even further than the
ideas espoused in the 1956 platform:
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www.gop.com
Today delegates to the Republican National
Convention adopted the official 2016 Platform of the party. The Platform
declares the Party's principles and policies.
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Since last November’s election, it’s fairly clear that the
Republican Party has simply lost its collective mind. Eisenhower would not only
not recognize his party, he would no longer have a chance of getting elected to
any position in the party.
There actually was a time when both parties fought for a livable
minimum wage. As of today, it has been 10 years since the Federal minimum wage
was increased to $7.25. Nineteen states started out the year with minimum wages
higher than that, and a handful of states have passed laws that will gradually
raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
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money.cnn.com
Congress hasn't raised the federal minimum
wage in 10 years. Democrats on Capitol Hill decided to mark the occasion by
introducing a bill that probably won't pass.
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Members of Congress received an increase in salary every year from
2000 to 2007, but have only had 2 small increased since that time.
|
www.legistorm.com
Congress is required by Article I, Section
6, of the Constitution to determine its own pay. Pay adjustments can be
enacted through stand-alone legislation or through ...
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Since the approval rating of Congress is below 20%, and has been
as low as 9%, Congress is unlikely to attempt a raise in its own pay. If the
abominable American Health Care Plan passes the Senate, Congressional approval
rating will plummet even further.
You may have seen the story in circulation that compares military
pay to a fast food worker making $15 an hour. Here is one example:
|
www.blakeporterneuro.com
This “rant” about minimum wage, fast food,
and military compensation has been circulating around Facebook for the past
few years, one version can be seen here:
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A comparison between the two, of course, is absurd, since the REAL
compensation of the individual in the military is significantly higher than the
money he/she receives in the form of salary. The fast food worker, meanwhile,
has to pay for housing, food, insurance (car, health, and renters), clothing,
and transportation. Even if the minimum wage were increased overnight to $15 an
hour, most full time workers would not be able to afford a two bedroom
apartment in most of the states in this country if they tried to limit their
housing costs to the 30% of income recommended by housing experts:
The Affordable Care Act, fortunately, has made affordable (and
life-saving) health insurance available (for the first time) to millions of
people in the country. For now, many of the fast food workers are safe, but
they could change in the very near future is members of Congress don’t come to
their senses.
None of us would argue that folks who serve in our military should
get paid less. However, there is an awful lot of bad information about the
status of fast food workers. Contrary to popular opinion, fast food workers are
not simply high school kids trying to make a few extra bucks for spending
money. 40 % of the workers in the fast food industry are over the age of 25, 26
% are parents with children, and 31% of the workers have at least attempted
college.
Diane Sawyer’s recent series, “My reality: a hidden America”,
provides a great deal of detail about the struggles of families trying to get
by on low wage incomes.
The most common argument against raising the minimum wage is that
it will hurt job growth. Nor surprisingly, that simply is not true. The link
below will take you to a site that lists the states that have the highest
minimum wage.
The link below will allow you to see economic growth in all of the
50 states
5 of the 10 states that had the highest minimum wage also showed
economic growth when comparing current quarter figures to the total for the
last 4 quarters. With one exception, the 5 states that showed a decline all
suffered minor declines. The exception was Arizona, which has some of the worst
education funding in the country. Arizona also has a governor who believes that
tax cuts are the answer to prosperity. He happens to be good friends with the
Koch brothers.
Sam Brownback, the governor of Kansas, is also a friend of the
Koch brothers. His relentless tax cuts in Kansas have been a disaster for the
state. Economic growth for the last 4 quarters in Kansas was an anemic .3%, and
the most recent quarter has declined even further. In recent weeks, the Kansas
legislature overturned a Brownback veto, and finally agreed to a tax INCREASE.
The lowest unemployment in our country since the end of WWII was 2.9%
in 1952 (during the Eisenhower administration.) In that same year, the marginal
tax rate was 92%,
The boom that occurred during the Eisenhower years was due to the
passage of the G.I. bill in June of 1944. As a result, millions of returning
vets received free college tuition and subsidized housing because the
government believed in INVESTING for the future.
In contrast, the HIGHEST unemployment rate that we have had in our country since 1945 (9.7%) occurred during Ronald Reagan's first term:
https://www.infoplease.com/business-finance/labor-and-employment/united-states-unemployment-rate
By no small coincidence, the top marginal tax rate in 1980 was 70%. In 1981, it dropped to 69.13%, and he following year (1982) it dropped to 50%, until it was lowered (again) in 1987 and 1988. George H.W. Bush was smart enough to get the rate raised in 1991, but it prevented him from earning a 2nd term in office.
Bill Clinton managed to get the rate increased to 39.6% in 1993. If the top marginal tax rate had stayed at that level, our national debt would have been ELIMINATED by the year 2000.
The most significant INCREASE in our national debt occurred during the Reagan years, when the national debt nearly TRIPLED (from $908 billion to $2.602 billion):
https://www.thebalance.com/national-debt-by-year-compared-to-gdp-and-major-events-3306287
The George W. Bush administration lowered the top rate in 2001, 2002, and 2003, and pushed the economy into the worst mess it has been in since the end of WWII. It took 8 years of Democratic leadership to reverse the damage.
A few years ago, Minnesota passed the largest tax increase in the
state’s history. Economic growth has been strong over the last 4 quarters, and
has improved even further in the current quarter. Minnesota also is one of the
most generous states in funding for education, and the median income in my home
state (land of the sky blue waters) is $10,000 a year higher than it is in
Arizona.
The Walton family is one of the wealthiest families in America,
and Walmart is the largest private employer in the entire world. However,
Walmart Corporation costs U.S. taxpayers $6.2 billion a year in public
assistance for food stamps, Medicaid, and subsidized housing.
The average Walmart supercenter costs taxpayers between $904,542
and 1.75 million per year. As Bernie Sanders recently pointed out, the
absolutely horrible Trumpcare health plan would give the Walton family a tax
break of $52 billion. That’s an inflated figure, but he DOES have a point.
In 1925, Henry Ford raised the minimum wage for his workers to $5
a day, more than double what they had been making before. Not only did the
higher wage reduce turnover, it also enabled his workers to buy the vehicles
that they had produced.
In 2008 dollars, Henry Ford was worth $188.1 billion at the time
of his death.
Donald Trump has actually advocated for a higher minimum wage,
although he would prefer that various states should take the lead.
Will the minimum wage be increased by Congress?
Only time will tell, but I have my doubts.
In the meantime, if you are a fast food worker ….
You deserve a break today
