The really odd thing for me is to see people voting against their own economic protections, as if they were invunerable to economic change. Those now in charge of this country favor a federal government vastly reduced in it's influence over the States, and end to everything from Medicare/Medicaid to the Federal Minimum Wage Act.
It really is sweet in it's own bizarre way, this idea that conservatives have that the people who run businesses large and small are all wonderful caring people much like themselves, who would never dream of hiring a person to do a job and end up exploiting them, paying them as little as possible without any benefits or insurance, or setting them back on the street without notice. Why heavens to Betsy no! All those folks running major corporations go to bed each night (on 1100 count sheets) wondering if they can't find a way to pay their employees a fair wage instead of, like every other cost or commodity for business, at the lowest possible price for the best return.
It's okie-dokie for those folks voting Republican if we remove the Wage and Hour Act (what's a little overtime at straight pay if it means keeping your job?), Unemployment Compensation (it's the real strain on wages, why if the employer just paid the worker the insurance fee, the worker would have plenty of savings built up if he lost his job.) or Social Security (Don't get me started.)
I was talking with some twenty somethings the other day about this and one of them said "Well, they can't just dismantle the whole system." and I said "Who's going to stop them? The Supreme Court?"
Joe (
) Nation
