The Coming Destructions of the $15 Minimum Wage

 

There are a number of Democrat run and owned cities which feel they have found the solution to poverty caused by those working merely for the paltry $7.25 per hour; the new dawning of the $15 per hour minimum wage. These cities see no problem with doubling their minimum wage and believe that the businesses, such as burger and other fast food restaurants and retail shops will have no choice as they will be unable to move from the city. They have missed another alternative that those unable to move beyond the city limits will face, total disappearance as they find it impossible to sell their merchandise at the inflated price required to pay their remaining help the overly inflated salaries. Where the minimum acceptable wage is already around $10 per hour the increase will still cause hardships for the retailers and manufacturers. Their higher priced goods will cause financial distress for those residing within the city limits without the means to get to the suburbs where the prices will actually be lower. Even the real estate will lose value as it becomes more difficult to rent their retail and manufacturing spaces and the cities slowly fall into disrepair as the people find they have little if any choice but to leave the city. With what jobs currently exist being initially cut just to remain viable, the economic base for these cities will be cut from under them. The loss of jobs will lead to decreased business which will again lead to more job loss in a slow death spiral. These cities will slowly turn into husks collapsing under their bureaucratic foolishness. They are signing their death warrant in their misguided attempt to right a nonexistent wrong.

 

When I first entered the job market the minimum wage was all of $1.25 per hour; yet nowhere in the entire area around the city where I resided could one find a job at that wage. The minimum wage by 1975 had risen to the unbelievable heights of $2.00 per hour and even that was not high enough to affect work in my home city. The reason was simple, nobody would accept such a wage nor could any employer find workers even for digging ditches at such a wage. My first job was washing dishes at a diner which paid more than $1.50 and was among the lowest paying of jobs. As it turned out I was a poor dishwasher and was fired within the first few weeks. From there I found work stocking shelves at a chain shoe store which paid even more and eventually became a commissioned sales person where minimum wage never became a consideration. Still, even friends who took construction work actually digging ditches or, as I did one summer, building railroad tie walls in a new community development were paid well above minimum wage. I know that across the nation there were many places where the minimum wage was the guideline for minimum wages of employment but that was always a starting salary. Anybody working at a minimum wage who was still making the minimum wage within six months or a year was usually soon to be seeking a different line of work as they were not up to par. Minimum wage was a test salary which was offered largely as one learned how to work at their chosen job and once they proved proficiency their salary would rise above that minimum rate. This fact was one of the truths I found wherever I moved was that any employee worth their salt made minimum wage only for the shortest of periods and once they proved their worth they received a more decent wage. Are there those who make minimum wage to start and will continue making that level no matter how hard they work? Yes, but these are a very small minority and few of them are raising a family on their salary. Those who only make minimum wage for extended periods of time will not benefit from a $15 per hour minimum wage as those will be the first people who will be let go. Often those making minimum wage for prolonged periods of time often are kept on the payroll not because they are price efficient but because their employers realize they are doing the best they are able and they remain employed more for spiritual or social reasons than economic ones.

 

 

The reality is the world is a hard and cruel place with little sentiment, though fortunately there is more sentiment just not in the workplace. In the workplace every salaried individual must fulfill a simple parameter; they must make more money for their employer than their employer pays them. Businesses are not for generosity or charity, even those in the business of charity as even they must show a profit for every employee. Their secret is the majority of their employees are largely volunteers and thus can easily take in more than they cost. Businesses need to make a profit or they serve no purpose and would soon go out of business without a profit margin. Let us take an example of a business which makes exactly the money as it pays out in salaries. How long would the owner and his family survive if this was the case? Owners only receive a salary from profits after all expenses are paid and thus employees must make more than they cost or the owner has no reason to remain open. Further, what is the owner to do when the rent for the store space comes due, the water and electric bills, the gas bill, taxes on the property and on sales, and how do they pay for the insurances for their employees such as medical (Obamacare does not come cheaply to the average business) and unemployment and payroll taxes etc. And then there are the other incidentals an employer has such as the Christmas party and cupcakes for employee birthdays and of course meals for their own family. If it is a large company then there may be stockholders who also demand profits otherwise they will take their investment capital elsewhere.

 

These are the most basic of reasons that the $15 per hour minimum wage is going to bust many of the cities employing it. There are probably a select few cities such as San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago and a maybe others where the minimum employable wage, not the minimum wage but for that location it acts as the minimum wage, is already over $15 per hour. These cities could make the empty statement that they are raising their minimum wage to $15 per hour knowing that virtually every employer, especially their main employers, already are paying $16, $17, $18 or even more just to find worthy candidates to fill their positions. The problem with their taking their minimum wage above the national average is it places an upward pressure on smaller and less affluent cities to follow suit when their economic situations cannot support such a wage scale. It is all well a good for the major cities where there are no shortages of employable people compared to the job base to make offers to raise their minimum wage to less than the going rate as they and their employers will not suffer. But as this is not about their minimum wage, it is about making a case to raise the Federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, which the Democrat Party has been pushing, which would have disastrous results especially for rural neighborhoods and farm laborers. Small towns would find the higher prices near impossible for families to meet and employers would run their businesses as lean as humanly possible possibly leaving numerous former employees unemployed. These communities would soon be faced with taking their economies off the grid, so to speak. They would most likely turn to a barter system which is untaxable and makes things relative and neutralizes the minimum wage as what is the worth of bushels of wheat in exchange for a new roof on the barn? Soon these communities would drive out any competitors who could not accept bartered goods such as the chain stores which run only on dollars and cents. No, the $15 per hour minimum wage argument is mostly being pushed in Democrat controlled major cities such as Seattle, where their Federal Court Judge heard a case and has attempted to nullify President Trump’s immigration vetting delay from terror ridden nations. These cities already have virtual minimum wages well above that $15 per hour and thus are only going to hurt small Mom and Pop stores and other smaller enterprises or workplaces with low profit margins such as miniature golf courses, etc. The whole reason behind the minimum wage argument is to give false hope to young employees who see such a higher minimum wage as their salvations not realizing that it will only bring about a bout of inflation until the new minimum wage will be equal in buying power to the present minimum wage and will only result in the American worker becoming more expensive and thus chase more jobs overseas. This is a bad argument and can only harm America, but what do the politicians care if they can garner a few extra votes in November?

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Hillary Clinton Harrowed Conundrum

 

There has been near constant accusations and bloviating all about Donald Trump’s presumed short fuse. These attacks have come furious and provokingly and these are being used as chum in the water for the mainstream media to feast on; and believe us they have been coordinating and laying aside above the fold for every leading news-story; or should we say political editorial. These salacious assaults on Donald Trump would be far more convincing and less conniving if they were to include even a hint on Hillary Clinton’s short fuse and ill-tempered side which were a driving force behind much of what has displayed her being ill-fit to be the President of the most powerful nation on the planet. When Donald Trump has an emotional outburst, his response is verbal and short-lived. Hillary Clinton is known to carry forth for the remainder of life, hers or her newly acquired target. When Bill Clinton lost his reelection election she famously called the Christian Campaign Manager a “F—-g Jew B——d.” She became the wounded warrior and claimed that a “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” was behind the accusations of sexual misconduct of her husband. Beyond that, Hillary took charge of the intimidation, belittling, slandering, character assassination, media control, story massaging and sundry miscellaneous attacks targeting any and all allegations and accusations against Bill Clinton thus assuring that no more women, or bimbos as the White House labeled those coming forward, would be coming up with any additional accusations or verifications against the President. This was a well-coordinated assault just as well planned and executed as was the campaign to get out the vote except this was a suppress the evidence effort.

 

Hillary Clinton on the Prowl for Voters

 

If this was the extent of Hillary Clinton perfidy, there would be little evidence of her unsuitability for the office of President of the United States. Hillary claims how she has always been so transparent in all her actions that the public can trust that all her actions will be entirely open and able to be monitored by all who are interested. Apparently Hillary Clinton has completely forgotten her efforts at designing her own version of a healthcare system. Her committee contained some of the best minds in the progressive movement plus the fly in the ointment, Hillary Clinton. The public was left in the dark. Congress was left in the dark. The media, including the leftist media, was left guessing, being fed tempting morsels but actually only gristle and no red meat. The universe was led on the merry path of flowers and unicorns with all the wonderful reports of total free coverage with almost no additional costs. Perhaps the promises of everything for nothing proved to be the straw that broke the healthcare back. When Hillary Clinton and companies’ plan was presented to Congress, even the democrat faithful headed for the hills escaping as fast as they could. Her produced healthcare plan was such a monstrous and unwieldly conglomeration of regulations, legal demands, meticulous record keeping and required filings with the Federal Government that all who read the plan were flabbergasted. Commentary from numerous sources inside and outside, but close to the manners in which the plan was hatched, told of Hillary Clinton riding roughshod over all contrary opinions doing exactly as she thought best. This kind of leadership, totalitarian leadership, had actually driven a number of leading surgeons and physicians from participating or even signing the plan sent to Congress. They told of fiery outbreaks replete with profanity at some of the mildest of suggestions or alternative proposals where Hillary Clinton appeared to have lost all sense of reason.

 

Finally, there were numerous reports and even complaints filed against Hillary Clinton for abusive language, abusive treatment, violent outbursts and some workers fearing for their safety. These complaints and requests for transfer or alternate position from people who had nearly a lifetime of service climbing to reach a White House assignment and to then risk never making it back to their former privileged position was an acceptable sacrifice to be rid of Hillary Clinton. All of these point to Hillary Clinton not only having an explosive temper but also a short fuse with a vengefully long memory. Such was a temperament of throwing items, oft of value, for periods as long lasting as an entire day and even lasting through the next day or beyond as well. Some who have been found to get on the wrong side of Hillary Clinton have related that despite attempts to settle their differences or even apologize have failed dashed on the craggy cliffs which make up the beach at shoreline Clinton. Hillary Clinton has proven herself to be a person with a malleable core where beliefs come to die especially after receiving poor poll ratings. Taking the sum of these parts produces a picture of an unbalanced individual whose coworkers fear working anywhere near her spheres of influence.

 

Many have spoken similarly of Donald Trump, but from most appearances his tantrums have been largely bluster with little threat of physical violence, at least before the October Surprise of crass claims of sexual violence. Given the claims of violent actions, we would feel safer with a Donald Trump Presidency than a Hillary Clinton Presidency. Unfortunately, elections remain out by three weeks and it is still anybody’s election to win or lose. Donald Trump will be facing sexual harassment charges most of which are likely people coming forth for their moment of fame. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is facing a truly deep character fault which will have a direct effect on her Presidency. As to which one is most likely to get the United States embroiled into a war, it would be Hillary Clinton with her establishment of a “No Fly Zone” probably on Aleppo could escalate with the downing of a Russian fighter jet leading to a direct confrontation. That is but a single potential point of contention where a single miscalculation could lead to great problems soon thereafter. That alone is food for thought.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Let’s Play “Can We Find a Trump to Trump This?”

 

The media coverage of items dragged from the depths of Donald Trump’s past would be a whole lot more believable had they treated anything from the Clinton’s pasts or presents with equal severity and critical research. So they have found another outrageous thing Donald Trump said and the Republican Party mainstays are all a twitter, on Twitter and Facebook, castigating their presumed candidate because they actually have moral compasses and core values instead of the win at any cost and damn the rules because the media will protect us and pooh-pooh any charge from our past and present because the political reality in the United States is the media has become the publicist and attack dog of the Democrat Party. Notice the amount of time the media spent on the item of the second about how the Clintons used the Democrat Central Committee to assist them in destroying the campaign and hopes of Bernie Sanders. If you blinked or coughed you missed that coverage entirely. Or how Hillary literally laughed in the faces of the Benghazi Committee and the members of Congress taking the deaths of four Americans including an Ambassador and two brave men who gave their every last breath trying to protect the staff and the Ambassador while President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton were doing everything in their power to help the whole affair disappear in a blizzard of misinformation and commanding relief efforts to stand down so as not to make a federal case of protecting these people. Those two men held off the entire attacking terror force we now know for eight long hours always checking the skies for help which never came. They sent out radio plea after radio plea describing their situation and giving exact coordinates of the mortar placements which were bombarding their position. All that President Obama and the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were doing was damage control and minimizing any hope these men had that their country’s leadership actually cared enough to send in the Marines, literally. How silly and ridiculous their efforts must have appeared to the exact people charged with presumably tearing down nations to bring them to safety must have appeared as they put out one fire after another which were being lighted to send hope and tell these men and their protected that help was on the way. Assisting forces were boarding helicopters and warming up fighter jets only to be commanded by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton to power down their efforts because these people were not worth risking their careers at such a crucial stage in the reelection campaign of President Obama and the future election, or is it supposed to be coronation, of President Hillary. That is what mattered then and that is what matters now, the placement of Hillary upon her throne.

 

Where are the investigations into the Clinton Foundation or has all suspicions now been squelched and another fire put out just as all those, and this was their terminology, “Bimbo Explosions” were handled all those years as Willian Jefferson Clinton was the rising star of the Democrat Party from Little Rock and these continued “Bimbo Explosions” while he was President wagging his finger at the camera and the American People claiming, “I did not have sex with that woman Miss Lewinski.” Notice how such womanizing and actual sexual escapades are being silenced as if Hillary never assisted these cover-ups and the entire media machine has silenced all mention of anything untoward from the Clinton Sex Machine which was Bill Clinton’s driving force while climbing and maintaining his political stardom. The media is downplaying the potential for mischief which will present itself with Bill Clinton back in the White House as First Husband where he will be sent to travel the globe and rub elbows and whatnot with the wives of other nation’s Presidents and Prime Ministers. Is this the picture we want for the United States?

 

 

We are being treated to every lewd and unsolicited glance from the past of a man who never expected to actually be running for President of the United States and did not have handlers his entire life scripting his way around every failing and misspeak as many in the political class have had the luxury of for these past fifty to sixty years. While Hillary resided in the hallowed halls of the political game Donald was working in the real world and actually had real world failings and missteps which remained unsanitized making for such fine targets for today’s media. The media has on record the entire playlist of past Donaldisms right next to the “Do not ever allow see the light of day” playlist of Clintonisms. Imagine yourself thrust into the limelight having your entire past and that of anyone who was close such as a wife, husband, college roommate or just about anyone else and every prank from summer camp, as we’re sure if Donald Trump ever assisted in short-sheeting a counselor’s bunk we will hear of this as the ultimate in horrific behavior two days before the election on Sunday, November 6 as the lead in every Sunday newsprint. The story will be retold on all the talk shows and will lead with nothing else being covered with interviews with the traumatized counselor who is needless to say traumatized by this coverage out of the blue and not because of post-traumatic stress disorder from the short-sheeting. Nor has he been likely to have sought, as might be claimed, psychiatric help to get past this horrific experience brought on by young Donald who has obviously never matured from that day forward. This is the typical type of story we are being treated to as if they have any bearing on how Donald Trump will serve as President while how Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acted in that service to the country is inconsequential as it has no bearing on how she will act as President. Tell me how that makes any sense.

 

There has been one other item which has bothered us since the very first primary where Donald Trump won so handily against some extremely stiff competition and how every word he uttered in a debate were the only quotes the media ever played unless there was a complete failure by one of the other candidates. Did anyone notice how Donald Trump was considered a serious candidate and one capable of leading the campaign of one of the major political parties in the United States. The media was his campaign and they did their part to get him the nomination right before they turned on him like a rabid dog might one morning turn on its owner seemingly for no reason. The difference is there was a reason and that is the media has their dog in this race. Somehow Donald Trump was the media’s favorite and there was a reason. Any legitimate Republican even to include Ted Cruz, the media’s backup for Donald, would have cleaned Hillary Clinton’s clock in this election and the political world knows this. It had become apparent that Donald Trump is not only running against the Democrat Party, the Clinton machine, both Bill and Hillary Clinton and the media but also the Republican Party as well. The Republicans have yet to put up even the tiniest squeal of protest against the treatment and have actually piled and heaped shame upon Donald themselves and are now heading for the exits in a well-rehearsed fire drill making Donald persona non grata even in his own party and have made it appear even his running mate will have nothing to do with him after this well held secret was waiting in the wings to be used at this juncture. The Republican Party knew this was coming as each and every one who was questioned as the story was breaking or even before it broke so that these reactions of Republican elites could be aired with the story were ready and willing to throw Donald Trump under the bus. One need ask why?

 

The Republican Party has their candidate for the Presidency and she is Hillary Clinton. That is correct, both major parties are running Hillary Clinton for President and her path to the White House was supposed to be a cleared path with the least presentable and least probable candidate being chosen by the Republicans and then denigrated and destroyed by the same Republican Party such that Hillary would have her deserved and rightful coronation. This is the dirty little not-so-secret secret of this entire campaign from both parties. Was there any Republican who was being seriously considered potentially a threat to a Hillary Clinton victory? Jeb Bush with all his millions would have walked off with the election but he was destroyed before he got started. He was likely promised by the Democrats to be given his turn after Hillary Clinton serves her eight years and he will get four. Who were the front runners from the start? Remember? There was Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and John Kasich. All the stars were eliminated by the media one-by-one and the Republican Party never cried foul and simple whimpered along in tacit agreement with the decimation of their candidate field leaving only candidates Hillary might be capable of defeating. Even with this field they had to go to a Donald Trump candidacy to even be able to pretend Hillary was the better choice. There wasn’t a bigger clown to ridicule than Donald Trump but something went awry. What was that they say about the best laid plans of mice and men? Well, all the King’s horses and all the King’s men are trying to put Humpty together again but Hillary keeps falling off her perch and cracking into a million pieces before our eyes and it is not news. Her excuses lead like she was suffering from pneumonia which was why she fainted at the 911 rally and had to be slid away from all coverage, as required to keep the lie going, into a van without escort or Secret Service protections and media circus one would expect. Then this weak and eviscerated pneumonia victim then turned up escaping her minders waving to all who passed by from Chelsea’s New York apartment chipper as the first day of spring. Then there was her bright and shiny perky Hillary at the first debate and we are anticipating an equally medicated and scripted Hillary with the little bug in her ear feeding her every word and every thought guiding her along while Donald Trump is left to his own devices completely abandoned by all. Trump should place a sign over his campaign headquarters stating, “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.” He was cherry picked as the only person Hillary Clinton could easily beat six ways come November 8, Election Day and she has proven unable to even manage this. What would have been her chances against any competent candidate? None, negligible and without a doubt her rise would have been an impossible Herculean task. Alas, poor Sisyphus is going to have a new task in Hades. Sisyphus will be tasked with pushing Hillary Clinton up the hill to a microphone only to have her tumble back to the bottom every time.

 

Sisyphus Pushing Hillary Up the Hill

 

Sisyphus may as well represent the media, the Democrat Party, the Republican Party, talking heads from Sunday Morning News shows, the nightly news anchors, etc. Actually, to parse a phrase, “Never was so much owed by so few to so many,” can refer to Bill and Hillary who owe a debt for her successes and covering her many failures in deed and character to the entirety of the political and media empires which have congealed around protecting her path to the White House. What is so surprising is that it will take a landslide victory by such a great margin to get past the fixes already in place in the crucial states to make President Hillary a certainty. Donald Trump is not going to need the undecided battleground states as those are fixed where such opportunity presents; such as Philadelphia having 125% turnout with 98% voting for the Democrat and other noted irregularities such as Chicago in all too many elections. Trump is going to need to win in places where the powers that be do not expect him to even have a snowball’s chance in Death Valley on an August afternoon such as taking New York or California, something we have believed he might be able to pull off and they put some early efforts in place in both these states, or any other solid Democrat stronghold. Perhaps he can take Illinois or Minnesota or Maine or anywhere in New England or the great northwest of Oregon (OK, no hope in Oregon) and Washington (not much better then Oregon) and if he takes any of these there will be no amount of cheating or vote buying or rigging that will prevent his landslide. If Pennsylvania and New York go to Trump early in the reporting as the polls close, then the gig is up and Hillary is finished. That is the reality and they know this which is why Donald Trump will be made into the most hideous monster of a human being since Idi Amin Dada. The torrents of the media are on the verge of demon Trump all the time. Expect even comedy and other venues of shows on television to start with anti-Trump campaign assistance. We can expect the late night shows to begin blasting away at the latest “Did you hear this scandalous item from Trump’s past?” They will talk about things he presumably did in grade school as if he did them yesterday in Times Square. Expect people from Trump’s past, real and imaginary, to be presented as witnesses to his character, or lack thereof, and a string, a procession coming to the microphone given their fifteen seconds of fame where all they need do is say, “I’m Joe Six Pack and Donald Trump is an evil monster who left me without hope or any future when he destroyed my car, house, dreams, relations with Marilyn Monroe or whatever fiasco of a life tragedy they can claim and the public will be expected to realize, oh my gosh, how could I ever vote for such a mean and evil person while Hillary Clinton will remain wrapped in her cocoon protected from prodding or other harms. No words about Benghazi, old news; or the e-mails, not prosecutable; or pay to play, no proven quid pro quo; or her losing of the Rose Law Firm tax files until the statute of limitations was passed and then they were in a white house clothes closet found by the cleaning crew, old news; or her presumed ill health, simply pneumonia and what a miracle recovery, isn’t she wonderful; her lying to Congress and to the relatives of the dead about Benghazi, not Benghazi again, can’t you leave that old news alone; cleaned server hard drive, really want to try that again; and any wrongdoing by the Clintons is either old news, been there-done that, that again, we tired of hearing about that, doesn’t mean anything, “never happened, OK, happened but doesn’t matter, OK matters but you sure it was Hillary, that again?”

 

This election is not about Donald Trump or anything he ever did as anything Trump has done did not result in dead bodies, dead United States Ambassador and two former Navy Seals left hanging to die, lies and cover-ups of felonies, risking and compromising United States top secret information, selling lies to Congress and the American people, and a trail of continuous scandals and cover-ups longer and deeper than anything, oh wait, here’s a grandmother who was denied a visit by her great-grandchildren because Trump had to lead a parade. Ridiculous, yes, but also an example in jestful hyperextension of reality not that far stretched. And we have yet to get into the lies and mischaracterization of Hillary’s proven positions on numerous foreign policy and international relations. A simple pair of examples would be her being capable of handling Vladimir (the Invader) Putin better than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s presumed love for Israel against Donald Trump the presumed anti-Semite whose daughter is an Orthodox practicing Jew and whose every child is married to or dating a religious and/or Zionist Jew while Chelsea also married a Jew who is a Democrat leftist progressive whose parents were members of Congress and his father later served time in federal prison for fraud, is a wealthy hedge fund manager and alumnus of Goldman Sachs thus bigtime Wall Street connection, but to his credit Marc Mezvinsky has an upbringing and adulthood which were shaped by a strong Jewish background amid all the politics according to media reports. Trump’s eldest daughter actually converted, Chelsea has not and probably never will convert thus her children will not be Jewish by religious law while Ivanka Trump will raise their children as true and honest Jews by Halacha. This Jewish connection to the potential next Presidential family is unprecedented in American and Jewish history with few Jews outside of Israel ever being so close to the seat of power. Benjamin Disraeli as the Victorian Prime Minister of Britain being probably the most famous exception may soon have some competition but that remains to be seen. Remember that much of the Trump controversies are manufactured from deeds of a man outside of politics and on the wrong side of the media and both parties’ elites and was chosen to be the sacrificial lamb at the coronation of Hillary Clinton, who has been unofficially but practically cleansed of all her and her husband’s wrongdoings by a complicit media and political elites, and they have now realized they chose a wolf from amongst the sheep.

 

Beyond the Cusp