What the Hell is Going on in Knoxville?

What the hell is going on in Knoxville? Compared to Chattanooga, say, Knoxville used to be a fairly centrist town politically.  Sure, the city never would've been mistaken for "progressive"--if the city has added recycling as part of its waste program, it's a new development--and the city certainly was (unofficially) segregated and the like.   But compared to say the staunch conservativism that marked Chattanooga in the 80s, Knoxville's politics seemed relatively centrist.  I'd, of course, really have to study the exact policies of the day but, off the top of my head, I can name Randy Tyree, Victor Ashe, Lamar Alexander among the leading politicians of the day.  Alexander, of course, thas moved so far to the right he supports killing the minimum wage and introducing English-as-official-language bills and still is considered a liberal for the new Knoxville breed.  Victor Ashe, one supposes, would be considered a down right communist.  Randy Tyree?  Don't even get me started. 

Knoxville now has a Sheriff who supports "stacking undocumented immigrants like cordwood in his jails."  What is more, Knoxville's state representative in Nashville is Stacy Campfield, who supports tying Welfare money to a child's grades among other absurd notions that pass for normal in today's Knoxville.

 Here's a link to a petition to Eric Holder if you want: Click Here.

And, last but not least, the richest governor in the nation (whom many Knoxvillians view as too liberal) -- from Knoxville -- is denying medical care to the state's poorest by refusing Obamacare's Medicaid program? 

 What a national-- and human -- embarrassment.

 It makes me wonder how a Madeline Rogero got elected Mayor? 

 

Letter to the Editor: GA Rep Westmoreland: Minimum Wage

I hope during Representative Westmoreland’s Townhall on Monday that many people will remind him that it is time for a raise by encouraging him to support raising the minimum wage to $10.50/hr from the current $7.25.

He should support “The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013.”


That’s right: In 1968, the real value of minimum wage was $10.65. Ever since then, we’ve been losing ground.


It’s time for a raise, Rep. Westmoreland: support “The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013.”

Currently, those who work minimum wage fall well below the federal poverty level of $18,123. It bothers me that people can’t break even.

It’s time for a raise, Rep. Westmoreland: support “The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013.”

According to many leading economists in an open letter in support of the bill, “If a worker today is employed full time for a full 52-week year at a minimum wage job today, she or he is making $15,080. This is 19 percent below the official poverty line for a family of three.”

It’s time for a raise, Rep. Westmoreland: support

“The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013.”

Like me, many people have always assumed that only young people make minimum wage; however, the economists write that “only 9.3 percent of the workers who would benefit from this minimum wage increase are teenagers; i.e., 90.7 percent are adults.”

It’s time for a raise, Rep. Westmoreland: support “The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013.”

According to the Thomaston Chamber of Commerce, that as of 20007 Wal-Mart is the area’s second largest employer. I didn’t know until recently that Wal-Mart’s CEO makes $11,000 an hour? The average Wal-Mart employee, however, makes $15,576 a year.

My Gosh!:

Wal-Mart’s CEO makes $11,000 an hour.

The average Wal-Mart employee makes $15,576 a year.

It’s time for a raise, Mr. Westmoreland: support

“The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013.”

Now, Rep. Westmoreland will argue that raising the minimum to a living wage will kill jobs. In fact, he’ll reference the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), which says that the minimum kills jobs. However, this “think tank’s” own Website admits that it’s in the tank for big business. The NCPA has always resisted the bill.

Therefore, he responded to a letter I wrote him by telling me he doesn’t support this modest raise in the minimum wage now or anytime soon.

It’s time for a raise, Mr. Westmoreland: support “The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013.”

In fact, the economists who write in support of the bill argue that “the weight of evidence from the extensive professional literature has, for decades, consistently found that no significant effects on employment opportunities result when the minimum wage rises in reasonable increments. This is because the increases in overall business costs resulting from a minimum wage increase are modest.”

These economists, furthermore, argue that “on average, even fast-food restaurants, which employ a disproportionate share of minimum wage workers, are likely to see their overall business costs increase by only about 2.7 percent from a rise today to a $10.50 federal minimum wage. That means, for example, that McDonalds could cover fully half of the cost increase by raising the price of a Big Mac, on average, from $4.00 to $4.05. The remaining half of the adjustment could come through small productivity gains or a slightly more equal distribution of companies’ total revenues.”

It’s time for a raise, Mr. Westmoreland: support “The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013.”

It’s time for Wal-Mart—Upson County’s second largest employer—to pay its employees a living wage, one that doesn’t force its hard working employees on Medicaid and Food Stamps.

Henry Ford once said the following: “If you cut wages, you just cut the number of your own customers. If an employer does not share prosperity with those who make him prosperous, then pretty soon there will be no prosperity to share. That is why we think it is good business always to raise wages and never to lower them. We like to have plenty of customers.”

If you’d like more information on this subject, please visit timeforaraise.org

I hope all of you will go to the Townhall on Monday and tell Representative Westmoreland that It’s time for a raise: support “The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2013.”

Sincerely,