[Vision2020] Republicans to Idaho's Poor: Leave or Drop Dead

[g. crabtree]

Hansen opines,

> > What Idaho needs are jobs that pay a living wage, jobs that offer 
> > careers,
> and wages that put food on dinner tables, not sub-minimum wages that only
> serve to fatten the corporate bottom line.

So just exactly what kind of jobs might you be referring to? The poor folks 
discussed in Tom Henderson's article will not be working at the tech park 
any time soon. By what mechanism do you create jobs where a person with no 
marketable skill jumps in and makes skilled worker wages?

Mr. Henderson states that Idaho Republicans give these people only two 
options, move or die. In reality there is a third option, become adequate. 
Take the best job you can find, do it as well as you can, pay attention, 
work your way up. This model has worked for many poor Americans for quite a 
while now. If your work ethic/skill set is so limited that you will forever 
sit at the lowest rung of the employment ladder, chances are you wont be 
working long anyway. Raising the minimum will not lift you out of poverty. 
(Unless you would like to see it raised to $22.50)

If I am wrong in this I hope that someone (Hansen?) will provide a list of 
all the high pay/no skill jobs they have in mind. Better yet, get out and 
create them. And in the mean time quit standing in the way of 
entry/intermediate level jobs that do at least provide a firm starting point 
(better than min. wages & some bennies) simply to protect your nebulous 
"quality of life" or while waiting for the "magic jobs" to miraculously 
arrive.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2006 6:45 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] Republicans to Idaho's Poor: Leave or Drop Dead


> >From Thursday's (March 30, 2006) Lewiston Tribune with a special thanks 
> >to
> Tom Henderson.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Republicans to Idaho's poor: Leave or drop dead
> By Tom Henderson
>
> The Idaho Legislature has a brilliant strategy for eliminating poverty in
> the state: Eliminate the poor.
>
> At $5.15 per hour, Idaho's minimum-wage earners can't last much longer. 
> They
> could move somewhere like Washington (where the minimum wage is $7.63) or
> Oregon (where the minimum wage is $7.50).
>
> Or they could just die. Poverty knocks about 10 years off a person's life.
> So if the Legislature waits long enough, the current crop of poor people
> will die sooner rather than later.
>
> At least the economy will be spared the pressure of people feeding
> themselves.
>
> Republicans sat and nodded their heads as they listened to the Minimum 
> Wage
> Blues. Unfortunately, it was sung by businesses. They wailed the same old
> tune about higher prices and increased unemployment.
>
> Oh, come on.
>
> Idaho's minimum wage is tied for lowest in the nation. The bill before the
> Legislature would have raised it only by a buck an hour. The bill also
> indexed future increases to inflation. Even so, Idaho would have a long 
> way
> to go before catching up with Washington and Oregon.
>
> But it was too much for members of the Republican-controlled House State
> Affairs Committee to bear. They promptly killed the bill. Idahoans can
> forget about those annoying poor people for another year.
>
> Unless they happen to be among those annoying poor people.
>
> There's a good possibility of that. At least 29 percent of Idaho's young
> adults live in poverty, according to www.idahofoodbank.com. Forty-two
> percent of Idaho's children live in low-income working families. (Idaho
> ranks 45th in the country.) Twenty-three percent of Idaho's children have 
> no
> parent with a full-time, year-round job.
>
> The Legislature doesn't care, as long as the poor and their children stay
> out of sight.
>
> In 2000, the Legislature ordered the governor to minimize or, if legally
> possible, eliminate efforts to connect eligible poor people with public
> benefits -- such as food stamps and the Children's Health Insurance 
> Program.
>
>
> The 2002 Legislature reiterated its hostility to the poor getting any kind
> of assistance.
>
> Rep. Steve Smylie, R-Boise, says people making Idaho's pitiful minimum 
> wage
> can always get other jobs. Find decent wages with minimum-wage skills in a
> limited marketplace? Try it sometime.
>
> However, you had better try it someplace other than Idaho. The Legislature
> has made it clear: The poor will get nothing in this state except
> indifference.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > What Idaho needs are jobs that pay a living wage, jobs that offer 
> > careers,
> and wages that put food on dinner tables, not sub-minimum wages that only
> serve to fatten the corporate bottom line.
>
> If you truly want to know why people are not attracted to Moscow, look at
> wage scales, look at the property tax burden that increases with every
> gift-wrapped conditional use permit awarded to tax-exempt entities in the
> central business district.
>
> Wake up, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
> *******************************************************
>
> And why shouldn't the rich pay taxes?
>
> "The people that write laws are greedy.  They need money to buy votes. 
> What
> better way to get it than to extract it, by force of law, from the
> relatively few who can afford the nicer things in life.  If you can buy
> something nice then you can pay more taxes so that politicians can give
> something to the 'poor' and take a cut for themselves."
>
> - Varnel W. (March 20, 2006)
>
> *******************************************************
>
>
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