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disturbing
By cybah
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 10:05am
Good for Charlie.. at least.
I was reading a statement from another state where they are going to do this. Their entire reply was about "small businesses hurting because they can't get workers".
So um, because people are tired of being paid shit wages, they are refusing to go back to an employer who could have given to shits about them before the pandemic. Many of which forced employees to work during the early months of this pandemic (and one of the most dangerous times).
I can't fucking blame people for not wanting to go back to a 7.25/hr job.
So GOP governor's response... cut off unemployment and force people back into shit jobs for shit wages. All to protect businesses that can't seem to figure out that people don't want to work for shit wages.
Anyone want to try to counter the argument that says the GOP isn't stil in support of some for of slavery? Cuz that is what this is... Keep'em poor, Keep'em stupid. GOP way for 40 years and counting.
?
By CybahDumb
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 10:22am
Show me what job pays 7.25 /hr
Point Stands
By pointStands
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 12:33pm
Despite the MA min wage of $13.50/hr for non-tipped workers, Cybah's point is national.
"I was reading a statement from another state..."
In many states that are terminating unemployment...
By tblade
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 12:39pm
...$7.25 is the minimum wage. Is it your contention that minimum wage jobs don’t exist? This is before we even talk about the utter bullsh** that is “server minimum wage” which is as low as $2.13.
Minimum wage
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 12:54pm
minimum wage jobs do exist, however they are actually not very prevalent.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 1.9% of all hourly workers in 2019 were paid at minimum wage. There are also a lot of studies that show that, even those who do work on minimum wage, they are only at that wage for a short period of time.
Now, you can still argue that the pay being offered is not incentive enough for someone to come back, and those companies should be paying more. No issues with that argument.
On the flip side, taxpayers who are working shouldn't have to shoulder the burden for someone who is choosing not to work.
Cute handle
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 6:50pm
You are the dumb part, I can tell. And, no, Krysten Syphillis won't date you for this.
Now, let's talk about REALITY: the Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour - barely twice what it was when I was in high school in the early 1980s.
Pandemic assistance is geared to minimal subsistence - meaning that IF wages can't compete, then wages are TOO LOW.
Funny how the whining exponentiates when supply and demand should be INCREASING wages ...
Yep. What cybah said.
By tblade
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 11:32am
Furthermore, all the small or medium-sized business owners crying about workers getting financial support from the government need to immediately pay back their PPP grants and any other of the pandemic handouts that they received—in full with interest.
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/
You’re gonna take millions and millions in government handouts and then complain about a family getting an extra $300 each week? GTFOH.
How about the payroll money?
By ScottB
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 1:09pm
60% of PPP loan funds had to be spent on payroll to qualify for forgiveness. That was all about keeping money flowing to workers at small businesses which would have shut down otherwise.
Payroll isn’t just wages
By tblade
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 2:10pm
Just send the money right to the workers. Why launder it through corporations who can use creative accounting to decide what qualifies as payroll?
I mean the CEO’s car allowance? That’s “payroll”. Payroll tax on a salaried manager? Payroll. Insurance premium payment for the owner’s spouse who is on the books as a salaried manager (but doesn’t really do anything)? Payroll. And those are the legit examples.
Let’s not pretend that 60% of the PPP money went into the pockets of hourly workers. I have no problem with the PPP program, all I am saying is don’t collectively take hundreds of millions of dollars in “socialism” and then cry victimhood because you, as “job creators” and “innovators”, can’t figure out how to incentivize people to come work for you.
It got done that way
By ScottB
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 2:22pm
Because that's how you respond quickly as a government and the public policy objective wasn't just to keep money flowing to workers, but also to make sure that small businesses and non-profits (which were also eligible) would still be around to provide jobs once lockdowns and other restrictions were eased.
Wal Mart and Amazon didn't have to close for lockdowns but Main Street small businesses did. Fast food and pizza delivery did great while many small neighborhood restaurants closed for good.
The federal government doesn't really have a great handle on workers' current income or whereabouts. Sure, they have some income data but they don't really know what workers are currently making and they only have an address from the most recent tax filing. To wit, look at the confusion and delays about getting stimulus payments out last spring. Lots of working people don't have bank accounts so getting regular paychecks out to them would be a challenge. Going through state unemployment systems wasn't a great option because they were already overwhelmed.
The strategy they employed through PPP and similar programs (despite a fair amount of fraud) ended up working pretty well -- it kept a lot of businesses afloat and preserved jobs to get us to a robust recovery.
Immigrants
By tblade
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 2:33pm
I would add that another good thing about the PPP loans is that many of the people who drew a pay check from companies utilizing PPP loans were workers who, despite paying years of federal and state taxes, did not qualify for unemployment benefits.
LOL
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 5:35pm
It got done that way because direct relief to workers doesn't present the same GRIFT opportunities that convoluted handouts to millionaires and billionaires and corporations does.
Do try to keep up.
Unfortunately, some business owners
By anon
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 8:15pm
used PPP to pay family members pretending they were "employees" while actual employees had their hours cut.
Most employers
By ScottB
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 1:34pm
Don't give two shits about their employees.
The only states in the list given by WCVB with an unemployment rate north of 5% (which has historically been considered full employment) as of March were Mississippi (6.3%) and South Carolina (5.1%).
In states where the labor market is already tight it doesn't make sense to pay people to sit at home if jobs are available. And pay that's considered to be shit in MA isn't necessarily shit in Iowa or Alabama.
Some businesses just aren't going to be viable at higher wages and they'll close, taking those jobs with them.
Mississippi
By cybah
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 2:38pm
Was the Gov of the state I was paraphrasing...
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2021/05/11/states-ending-federal-u...
Cost of living
By ScottB
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 4:32pm
You can rent an entire 4-bedroom house in Jackson, MS for less than a 1-bedroom apartment in Nubian Sq. $300/week (which is $7.50/hr for a 40-hour work week) distorts the labor market in Mississippi a lot more than it does in Massachusetts.
If you were making $10/hr full-time in Mississippi before being laid-off, you'd make $100/week more on unemployment with the extra $300/week. The whole point of unemployment insurance has been to give people a cushion against unexpected job loss, not to be a policy tool to force wages higher -- the latter is the role of a minimum wage law.
50th in poverty
By tblade
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 4:43pm
Mississippi ranks 50th out of 50 in state poverty stats with about 20% of residents living in poverty. Of course the cost of living is low in high-poverty areas.
Poverty stats
By ScottB
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 5:11pm
Don't take into account local cost of living, either.
Being under the poverty threshold is a lot more survivable in MS than MA. It's not great either place, but $26K (poverty threshold for 2 adults & 2 kids) goes a lot further there than here.
Oh honey
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 5:36pm
Maybe you should go live in Mississippi - that hole you are digging yourself is deeper than most of the wells and septic systems people that live there get to "enjoy".
RINO
By Scratchie
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 1:58pm
Next thing you know, he'll be claiming that Biden won the election.
I know you were just kidding...
By Gary C
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 2:49pm
...but there are still PLENTY of people who think that for real, so let's not give them ammo.
Funny you should say that
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 6:52pm
https://www.masslive.com/politics/2021/05/presiden...
So glad I live in Mass.
By greg martanella
Thu, 05/13/2021 - 2:01pm
Southern states herd their people like cattle.
Don't tell me, I lived in Fla. for 7yrs.
A lot of Republicans will suffer by their own hand for this mistake.
They are slapping themselves in the face like babbling maniacs,
while the GOP sinks titanic-ally.
& I don't miss seeing kayleigh mceneny on TV either
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