Monday, November 20, 2006

Explain This To Me, Please

"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." ~ Mark Twain

The GOP body is barely cold and already the Democrats are making noises that threatens Americans, in my humble opinion.

Representative Charles Rangel (D) New York, has proposed re-instating the draft to bolster our forces in Iraq.

Now, I admit I have been out of the loop of late, so maybe I forgot, but it seems to me the Democrats were the ones that were accusing Republicans of planning on re-instating the draft. It seems to me the Democrats were against the idea at the time. Maybe they were just hoping to scare the American people into voting them into office ostensibly to keep that from happening.

It also seems to me that the Republicans denied that was even conceivable.

The Democrats were supposed to be the ones that were against the draft, weren't they?

Also, while I'm on the subject, Democrats are talking once again, (or is that continually?) about increasing the minimum wage by as much as two dollars an hour.

Now, I'm no expert on economics. Lord knows I can't even handle my own finances, but it seems logical to me that raising the minimum wage is a fast track to a drastic rise in inflation. This is how I see it:

Raising the minimum wage is supposed to enable the minimum wage earners in the country to afford those goods and services they previously couldn't afford.

Companies are forced to raise their employees salaries by two dollars an hour. Consequently, in order to keep their profit margin constant, they have no choice but to raise the prices on goods and services.

Am I right so far?

So, under that scenario, minimum wage workers now make an additional $80.00 a week, and goods and services that were once unaffordable have been raised in prices up to where they are once again unaffordable to those same minimum wage workers.

So then Congress will have to meet again and approve another wage increase to make those goods and services affordable again. But then, (consarn it) employers have to raise prices again.

I can go on, with Congress raising the minimum wage and employers raising prices to cover the loss in profits ad infinitum, but in the end what the whole thing does is cause massive inflation and a crippling of our economy, not to mention all the things that go with inflation like wholesale layoffs, and small businesses all over going bankrupt.

But, as I say, I'm no expert about these things.

I'm sure some loyal Democrats will be happy to explain to me how I am all wrong on this.

11 comments:

Erudite Redneck said...

Well, you are wrong about the draft. Rangel has been pretty consistently for it. I know of no Repub who is for it.

As for raising the minimum wage: Layoffs, some; inflation, not so much.

Lone Ranger said...

Rangle is a one-trick pony. This is just his tactic to undermine the war on terror. The only difference between Rangle and hustlers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton is that Rangle has a real job - sort of. Whenever you can't understand the motives of a liberal, look for the money. He's out to profit in some way from this ridiculous stance.

The military doesn't want a draft. Wars are tough enough to manage without having to babysit a bunch of immature misfits.

Francis Lynn said...

Rangel is Rangel - don't expect Dems to support this at all.

Minimum wage - not wild bout it. But that $80 increase to the employee isn't going to cost him $80 in higher prices. Instead, the price increases will be spread out over the larger population & we'll all pay a bit more.

The Liberal Lie The Conservative Truth said...

Though the Dems claim they are against and will not vote for it when Rangel introduces it, I will wait until that time to see whether they speek the truth or not. Past experience shows otherwise. As far as Rangel and his dratf bill. He tried this once before under GOP leadership and it never got footing. Now he tries it with the Dems and it could, again we will see. Rangel is a racist. This is another of his racist agenda bills and regardless of whether it passes or not he is and will get the racist headlines that he desires. If it passes it will most likely fail in the Senate and certainly will get the VETO stamp at the White House.

Old Soldier said...

Raising the minimum wage - not only do employers raise the price of goods and services to compensate for the increase in labor cost - they frequently decrease labor; so how does an increase in the minimum wage benefit the ones given pink slips? Too, labor union contracts tie compensation to the minimum wage as multiples (e.g. 2.5 times MW or 3.7 times MW, etc) - they benefit significantly from an increase in minimum wage.

About the draft - during the Kerry/Edwards campaign, Edwards very plainly stated that if GWB was re-elected the draft would be reinstated. However, it was Rangel that proposed the bill the first time. It received no traction then, just like now.

Seamus said...

The Dems, like always, seem to be under the impression that money works under magical principles.

For a Dem, math works something like this:

Force employers (who are also citizens and workers too, by the way) to pay their employees more. This raises the costs for the employer to do business which means he needs more money from his customers. The only way to do this is by raising his prices and/or lowering his costs by eliminating such things as employees and other expenses. Ultimately this lowers the value of money and the size of the workforce. Magically this makes the poor richer.

Or, another classic, instantiate programs whereby the poor receive money from the government simply because they're poor. Where does the money come from? The "rich" of course (in other words everyone who pays taxes). So where do those "rich" people get their money back? From the poor, of course! By raising prices, interest rates, etc... Magically this makes the poor richer.

Isn't magic great? Oh wait, this is real life.

Poison Pero said...

You are wrong, ER, I know of at least one Republican who is for a draft.......Me!!

I wouldn't want a traditional military draft though, because the last thing the military needs is a bunch of turds who don't want to be there or are too stupid/lazy/weak. I'd want a national service plan created for every 18 year old/high school graduate.......AND IT WOULD BE FOR EVERY BOY AND GIRL!!

They would have the option of military service or some other national service (there's tons which can be done).
----------
As far as minimum wage goes, here in AZ they just passed an increase and I know it's going to effect the file clerks in my office........I currently employ three file clerks, all of which are young high school kids, and they're going to be out of jobs on January 1.

The owners of my company have told me to pass the work on to my Nurses and Medical Assistants, who will have to do their job and that of the clerks......They will get a small raise as a carrot to make them happy.

Net effect in my office:
- Nurses making $20+/hour and Medical Assitants making $15+/hour will get a token raise to do more work.
- Young clerks will get canned.

I doubt my situation is rare, and it only hurts those who are in the lowest wage category........Go figure.

Oh well, at least we won't be raising the cost of our office visits to cover increased costs......And I'll probably get a better bonus for saving the company money in the long run:)

Erudite Redneck said...

Re, "This is just his tactic to undermine the war on terror."

This is so old and tired. Rangel has sworn to defend the Constitution -- not the president, not the GOP, not even the NATION first. The Constitution. If he's reneged on that, then start a movement to have him charged and tried or learn new lines.

Hey, charge 'em all and try 'em. Start in the White House.

Pero, I absolutely agree with you on national service.


Once, again, Sheila is the most rational one here, but I don't know why she sullies herself by coming here.

Mark said...

Re: "Sheila is the most rational one here, but I don't know why she sullies herself by coming here."

I agree. Sheila is very rational.

But why do you sully yourself by coming here?

Because among the many pearls i cast out, you are hoping I change your mind?

Erudite Redneck said...

No. Because you are part of my mission field.

Poison Pero said...

I take exception to you guys calling Sheila the most rational one here.......I like to think I am:)