Uncivil Rights

William (I feel we can be on a first-name basis, now that we’ve had numerous correspondence), I must rebut your comments.

Capitalism is based on freedom, freedom to choose and buy the products you want, freedom to work where you want, freedom to make as much money as you wish; it all depends on you. You are not beholden to any company; you have the freedom of movement. Capitalism does not prohibit any rights. I believe you are a bit confused about capitalism because you live in and are used to Canada’s socialism philosophy.

You believe someone should be paid a “minimum” or “living” wage. This is not capitalism; government intervention and control of private employee wages is socialism. You also probably believe everyone has a “right” to free health care. If you truly understand this concept then you realize health care is not free; someone pays for it. This is income redistribution; again, this is socialism.

They are not my studies, but studies from various universities, think tanks, and the government, over long periods of time. Facts are facts and supply and demand, along with pricing economics can predict, with some accuracy, what will happen to the job market if wages are increased on a mandate from the government in a free market economy. Unemployment will increase and the cost of goods and services will also increase. This will, in turn, increase the selling price of those goods and services; this is simple economics. It has nothing to do with liberals or conservatives; it is the market.

You have conservative views on a few social issues; otherwise, your views on business, wages, and economics are very liberal. You are a liberal as this post is concerned.

Rich people do not have a right to exploit anyone. That is why if people feel they are being taken advantage of, they have a right to leave and find another job. A business owner has an obligation to his shareholders to minimize costs, increase productivity, and profits. If that means paying people a low wage, so be it. Businesses will realize wages are too low when they cannot hire anyone at their prevailing wage rate. This means that companies will then raise those wages to the market’s prevailing rate (the rate at which an employee will accept and perform that particular job in that particular situation) until they can hire enough employees. For example, a couple of years ago here, the minimum wage was $5.50/hr. There were more jobs available than workers, therefore, businesses were competing against other businesses for workers. McDonalds had to raise its starting wage to $10.00/hr just to be able to hire the number of employees they needed. This was a classic example of supply and demand at work. Should McDonalds have then complained that they are paying too much for those employees?

I brought up spelling and grammar because it really irritates me when one isn’t clear and concise. It makes one look uneducated.

I label those people liberals who have a socialistic agenda and pursue socialistic ideals here in America. Socialism doesn’t work; never has, never will. The next term will be progressives who are pushing a communistic agenda, i.e. government intervention in employee wages, sick time, paid time off, etc.

You obviously have no knowledge of the poor here in America; talk about labeling people. Relatively speaking, the middle-class in France would be considered “poor” here in America. Did you know that? It’s all relative. Those in poverty have been shown to move up the socioeconomic ladder as they get older. In fact, if you look at the statistics, most of those in poverty are under 25, and another interesting little fact, the most affluent class is those over 55.

I’m going to go on a limb here and say your Master’s degree is in some liberal arts area. Am I correct? I have an MBA. I am also a former president of a union, and I am starting my own company. I know of which I speak. My parents were in the lower middle-class. I’ve worked for my education and have a huge student loan which I hope to pay off ASAP. Anyone can apply and get a student loan to further their education and increase their knowledge, skills, and abilities to make themselves more marketable. Anyone can do it.

Canada has higher prices because it is a socialistic country. Your taxes are high because it has to pay for socialized medicine and a whole host of other social programs. If Canada had a free market, capitalistic economy (not socialist), the prices of goods and services would be lower in general.

YOU ARE CORRECT! Not everyone can do it, but everyone has the opportunity to try. For those that cannot take care of themselves, we use to have philanthropy in this country that helped the unfortunate; wealthy people, churches and the like would give large sums of money to help the less fortunate. Now, since government decided to take people’s money to do those things, less people are philanthropic. Does the government do a better job than society? I don’t think so. All wage earners go through stages. No one starts at the top. I have been laid-off twice and have always found something better at higher wages. It took a while, and we were strapped for cash, but that’s what happens; we deal with it and move on.

I am a conservative with LIBERTARIAN views. Bush didn’t make liberal a dirty word, liberals did. As I mentioned before, liberals have socialistic ideals and that doesn’t sit well with most Americans. The word liberal became dirty when their ideals and philosophies were discovered.

No one is forced to do anything in this country except to pay taxes. Anyone can quit a job they hate, or they feel is taking advantage of them. There are plenty of social programs in this country to cover one’s needs until they get back on their feet. I have been on unemployment, it works. The problem is I didn’t make it a way of life like some do in this country. We have created a welfare state; a situation that make it too easy for people NOT to work. I have met people that have utilized welfare for generations. That was not its intent. A basic standard of living is relative to the geographic area. It is not one simple amount.

America is NOT A DEMOCRACY! IT IS A REPUBLIC! Please get this straight.

If no one wanted to live like an American, why are we still receiving immigrants from all over the world, not just Mexico? We have the highest standard of living in the world! We have the most freedom in the world!

My clicker is constantly on the move because of debate like this. People love to read this stuff, and for that, I thank you.

This is from Neal Boortz at www.boortz.com:
This is one of my favorites. From Alexander Tyler. No, he wasn't writing about the United States. This quote is well over one hundred years old. Tyler was writing about the fall of the Athenian Republic.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."

The voters here in America have discovered they can vote themselves money from the public treasury in the form of the minimum wage, welfare, and up next: paid time-off, mandatory sick-time, “living wage”, free health care, etc…it goes on and on. Read Tyler’s words very carefully because this is where the liberals, the Democrats, the progressives, and the rest of the world want us to go.