Posted on 11/21/2011 3:07:07 PM PST by Steelfish
Newt Gingrich: Child Labor Laws 'Truly Stupid' [Video] By Kim Geiger
November 21, 2011 Promising “extraordinarily radical proposals to fundamentally change the culture of poverty in America,” Newt Gingrich said Friday that he would fire school janitors and pay students to clean schools instead.
Speaking at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, the Republican presidential candidate and former speaker of the House challenged laws that prevent children from working certain jobs before their mid-teens.
Gingrich blames “the core policies of protecting unionization and bureaucratization" for “crippling” children.
“It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, in child laws, which are truly stupid,” he said.
”I tried for years to have a very simple model,” he continued. “Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they’d have pride in the schools, they’d begin the process of rising.”
funny how all my kids want to work and my youngest is 8 but saying that they know what work means and what it can bring you.
Gingrich added, the day I take office I will send troops to the southern border. Their orders? Shoot to kill all who cross illegally!
What! He didn’t say that?
Cain would be the only one with guts to take drastic action on day one.
Child Labor laws had the same three origins as most of today’s systemic ills:
1) The humanitarianism and moralizing of the 1880’s religious revival (nothing was done about it)
2) The political idealism of the Progressives 1900’s-1920’s (some small concessions and curbing of abuses were made)
3) As a New Deal “solution” to the economic disaster of the Great Depression as a way to reduce the labor pool and preserve jobs for a single breadwinner per family. This became official and permanent societal doctrine and norm with a full range of pervasive sociological propaganda, true and semi-true. (Women were also forced out of factories and back to the city home at the same time for the short period between the roaring 20’s and WWII for the same reason - job rationing.)
Long after abuses were curbed and the reasons for the expediency are gone however, the policy remains in force due to an alliance of left and right, regardless of any ancillary and deleterious effects - delayed adulthood, loss of work ethic, counter-culture etc.
Bet I explain it better than Newt :-)
Post #23
The left gets overwrought about child labor overseas but overlooks the alternatives and results of getting their way.
In west Africa children who once worked on plantations were the last pennies that kept a family from starvation. Well meaning lefties come along and harass the owner to stop hiring children. The children then become too expensive for the parents to care for. The kids end up begging in the street, enslaved in drug or sex trades or fighting in African child armies.
It's a good thing that the abuses were curbed. That way all those 8 and 9 and 10 year olds cleaning the school won't be taken advantage of. Much. Combine that with repealing the minimum wage and those schools will be cleaned for next to nothing.
And why stop at janitors? Get the kids to replace the lunchroom staff. And teachers. Why not teachers? Get 8th graders to teach 4th graders, 7th graders to teach 3rd graders, and so on. How hard can it be? Then you'll do away with every unionized resource in the school and run them at a fraction of the cost.
“Bet I explain it better than Newt :-)”
You did a good job. ;-)
However, Newt is quite capable too.
Years ago, I required my high-school American Government students to research antiquated laws that were still on the books. This was to show how government can be very inefficient... even here in the USA....particularly if it becomes too big or too institutionalized. These students had already studied the horrendous inefficiency of the the centralized gov’t of the (then) Soviet Union.
Common sense and wisdom are the remedies. One of my favorite quotations is:
“The first effect of not believing in God, is that you lose your common sense.” ...GK Chesterton
(Most leftists do not believe/trust in God....thus, the desire to make the state a god.)
Picked strawberries at 10 and other fruits after that. First non farm job was working for Sears in the automotive section when I was 17 in 1977. Made $2.75/hr (min. wage was $2.65) plus I got 3% sales commission. I was pulling down $230-250 a week as HS Senior working about 20-25 hours after school and on Sundays. Had every Saturday off except when there was a midnight sale. Full timers would leave at 5:30 and I would have the sales floor to my self. Man did I think I was rolling in the dough back in those days!
you are willfully missing the point entirely.
***Well meaning lefties come along and harass the owner to stop hiring children. The children then become too expensive for the parents to care for. The kids end up begging in the street, enslaved in drug or sex trades or fighting in African child armies.****
Which proves that the road to hell is still paved with good intentions.
He can't resist throwing things out there, whether they relate to what's important to voters or not, whether they help his candidacy or not.
And that's not a good sign.
“Kids having to work? Oh, the huge manatee.”
My parents would have been jailed!
It taught me to work my butt off for what I have. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If more parents did the same these days we wouldn’t have “Occupy” anything but their own JOB!
And that point is?
***Well meaning lefties come along and harass the owner to stop hiring children. The children then become too expensive for the parents to care for. The kids end up begging in the street, enslaved in drug or sex trades or fighting in African child armies.****
**Which proves that the road to hell is still paved with good intentions.**
In America and Europe, we just abort them.
Speaking of “delayed adulthood” check this out:
http://www.sarilaw.com/Articles/Child_Support/When_is_My_Child_Emancipated.aspx
If you are in NYS and a non-custodial dad (which is almost 90% the case in all divorces) then you are totally screwed.
I don’t think any “child” over 18 whose (usually) custodial mother is receiving “child” support on their behalf should be allowed to vote. After all, they are still “children” according to NYS law.
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