Daily News Gets It Right On Grand Avenue And LAX "Living Wage"
The Daily News has succinctly explained, in an editorial, how the Grand Avenue subsidy and the LAX "living wage" ordinance are bad for taxpayers.Why don't the local TV stations pick up on this? They go after teeny tiny stories -- "The orange roughy you ordered is actually FLOUNDER!" -- and can't be bothered with hundred-million-dollar taxpayer ripoffs. Is it because it's harder to take a picture of a subsidy than a plate with a fish on it?
Anyway, local stations give new meaning to "fish wrap."
Posted by Walter Moore @ 2/15/2007 08:53:00 AM
11 Comments:
Daily News also got it right on Jon Laurtizen screwing up the payroll for teachers.
I agree, Walter.
The television stations could do so much more to shed light on the plight of L.A.'s working poor... those who work 40, 50, 60 hours a week and still have to rely on government subsidies to keep their families afloat. If only L.A.'s working poor would be paid a living wage by the mega-corporations who employ them (and who can well afford to pay it), just think of all the tax dollars that'd be saved, just think of the lowered crime, the improved schools, the lower levels of alcohol and drug abuse, the strengthened families, the safer communities.
When hard-working laborers get paid a wage that allows them to lift themselves out of poverty, we all benefit. That's a story that the television stations just aren't telling.
You're right, Walter. Thank you for saying it.
Patrick Meighan
Los Angeles Greens
"have to rely on government subsidies to keep their families afloat"
Hello! If you can't afford the time, don't do the crime. There's this new thing now called "birth control." If you can't afford to raise a family, you use it to avoid mooching off other people who are busting their butts to support THEIR families.
Just think of how much less we'd need to spend on schools, alcohol and drug abuse, police, etc., if people would take responsibility for their own lives, and quit counting on Joe Taxpayer to solve the problems that they themselves created unnecessarily.
Thank you for agreeing with me, Patrick.
"Just think of how much less we'd need to spend on schools, alcohol and drug abuse, police, etc., if people would take responsibility for their own lives..."
Exactly, like by working very very hard and responsibly at a lucrative airport mega-hotel that, in return, does the right thing and pays said hard-working responsible person a living wage that allows said hard-working responsible person to lift himself out of poverty. Amen, Walter. Amen. Thank you for your wise thoughts and words.
Patrick Meighan
Los Angeles Greens
If you can't feed 'em, don't breed 'em.
The duty of the managers of a business is to maximize the owners' profits, not the employees' wages. And Patrick, if you find their plight so touching, why not just welcome a family of five into your home? Oh, wait -- that would cost you personally, instead of costing someone else. My mistake! By all means, take money money away from people who have worked, saved and invested by forcing their corporations to pay above-market wages to people who reproduce irresponsibly. That's "social justice" and "Green," right?
^
Yes, if liberals were truly concerned about the plight of working people's wages in our country, they would be firmly against illegal immigration. Instead it's all crass politics and pandering. Disgusting.
"The duty of the managers of a business is to maximize the owners' profits, not the employees' wages."
When America (and Los Angeles) is at its best, corporations can make huge profits AND their hard-working employees can live a life above the poverty line. When working people earn a decent living that allows themselves to lift themselves out of poverty, the result is lower crime, better schools, lower rates of drug use, stronger families, and safer communities. Those benefits are reaped by all of us... from the very poorest among us to the very richest among us (even the managers of highly profitable corporations).
And if, in the immediate term, the hotels aren't happy about the rules under which they have to operate, all I can say is that I can sympathize, to a point. I'm not happy about being forced to pay my tax dollars toward a bloated, trillion-dollar military complex, but I gotta do it 'cause I live in a democracy and I've been outvoted on this score. The hotels' "plight" is similar. But the good news is that the hotels will manage to survive their "plight," as I will mine.
"I submit that market wages for hotel workers would be much higher if Americans and legal immigrants weren't forced to compete with half of Latin America for these jobs."
"If liberals were truly concerned about the plight of working people's wages in our country, they would be firmly against illegal immigration."
I'm not much into blaming society's ills on those among us who are the most powerless and the most vulnerable (especially when those powerless, vulnerable people are only trying to work hard and and earn enough to support their families). I realize that it may be, on some level, human nature to scapegoat those who are least able to defend themselves, but it's just not the most *noble* facet of human nature, and I try as best as I can to resist the temptation.
Patrick Meighan
Los Angeles Greens
Get off your high horse, and stop dodging and changing the point Patrick. The corrupt Mexican elite should take care of their own citizens. We have enough of our own who need help, such as the black drywall installers who have been kicked in the teeth by illegal workers. But you obviously don't give a shit about them. Now go ahead and make your typical naive, silly rebuttal (while ignoring 6:38's question).
I am really tired of phrases like "hard-working laborers" "working poor" "working very very hard" blah blah, etc. (these phrases courtesy of Patrick's posts). These words are code for illegal immigrants. Yes, most of them work hard. So do millions of legal residents and citizens of the United States. Let's stop already with this emotionally based rhetoric. It does nothing to advance the discussion.
Patrick, I believe you and others use the "they work so hard" stuff to justify reasons why illegal folks should be here. It's that kind of illogical thinking sprinkled with a PC type of "compassion" that permeates most of what passes for analysis of our problems here in the City of Angels.
No wonder folks are leaving our fair city in droves. There is just no common sense here, and that's an understatement.
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