Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum Call for Higher Minimum Wage

Townhall ^ | 05/11/2014 | Mike Shedlock

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Tariffs

http://www.vindy.com/news/2005/jun/17/thomas-sowell-tariffs-didnt-work-then-wont-work/?print

[Tennessee Nana]

From Obamacare to war-mongering to minimum wage, what

real differences were there between Obama and Romney?

[Dave W]

You won't be voting in 2016 - it is that simple. Mitt is a smart enough guy to know the bad effects of an increased minimum wage. In fact, I'm certain he can enlighten us to a number of reasons that we don't even know.

Instead, it is all about politics. From a politician's point of view, it is not worth the trouble publicly debating if someone should make x or y per hour. With the horrid media and $250 million in ads lambasting you for being cold and not caring about people, it is a game they can't win. It is sad, but true. On that basis alone, they have no choice but to support an increased minimum wage. We will survive a higher minimum wage, but we can't survive 4 or 8 more years of what we are experiencing now. This is a product of media bias and the alarming dumbing down of education of the masses, something that is starting to pay off for the democrats.

[MV=PY]

Romney understands the economic impact of raising the minimum wage. This man made many (many) millions of dollars in business. Rest assured that he gets it.

One can only conclude that he thinks this is the best position to take for political purposes.

[DannyTN]

Actually the history is that we had substantial import tariffs from the start of the country until the 1960's and the country did just fine. The steel industry tariff does have some lessons for us.

1. We may be hamstrung by the WTO, and we may need to get out of the WTO. We need to examine whether the committments we made to the WTO are really in America's best interest, and exit the WTO if they are not.
2. We should expect some retaliatory tariffs and that's okay. The kid who hits the bully back, shouldn't expect the bully to go down on the first slug. The bully might, but more than likely the bully will hit again.
3. The world is not going to like us if we raise our tariffs. China won't like us if they can't keep ripping off our manufacturing and exporting their unemployment to us. We just need to expect this. It's no different than a store ending a loss leader promotion. Yeah people get mad cause the price goes up.
4. Selective tariffs have more unintended conseqences than general tariffs. This is easier seen with the sugar tariff, where sugar is tariffed but candy is not, thus driving candy manufacturers off-shore.
5. There are a lot of people bought into free-trade and many of them are journalists. There is going to have to be some educational campaigns to offset the current free-trade group think that is out there.
6. It's often hard to prove the true effect of a tariff. There were all kinds of assumptions and suppositions made about the effects of the steel tariffs, but very little real analysis.
   • Some looked only at the consumer side.
   • Some looked only at downstream industries that used steel products and most of those analyses jumped to the conclusion that the higher prices cost those industries, when that's not necessarily true.
   • The benefit to the steel industry, was obscurred by the fact that from the start the tariff was only to be temporary. So steel companies still merged or went bankrupt.
   • Some looked only at the problems caused by an entrenched union and waived the white flag assuming such problems were unsurmountable.
   • Few at any looked at the strategic and military value to America of the American steel industry.

[Finny]

So you think voting for a third party is the same as “not voting.” You are mathematically challenged.

[Rusty0604]

I know that in San Francisco even with the “living wage” people can’t afford to live there, due to liberal policies.

There should be no minimum wage. Wages should be agreed upon between the employer and employee. Fast food joints in Midland, TX are paying $15 an hour and they will provide transportation. Why? Not because the gov’t is forcing them, that’s for sure.

[freedomfiter2]

Our country seemed to do pretty well until we decided to tax earned income instead of imports.our decline worldwide has only accelerated with the “free trade “agreements. Reality and theory don’t always mesh.

[Rusty0604]

I think some people on this thread are union members. The unions are one of the main reasons we lost so many jobs to overseas.

[ObamahatesPACoal]

http://www.msnbc.com/martin-bashir/watch/pawlenty-rep-king-doesnt-define-gop-position-on-immigration-38671427514

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/20/rick-santorum-immigration-republicans_n_2516157.html

http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/15/will-mitt-flip-a-third-time/

Why are these political thugs being allowed to beat up the entire Republican party on minimum wage? Where is the unity?

Why did they help Democrats distract from real issues?

[napscoordinator]

I know you dip sticks refused to support Santorum....you get what you sow.....I laughed when you guys all cried about Obama’s second term. I said, “Told you so”.....when you make a deal with the Devil you get burned. Everybody who bashed Santorum which was a ton of you got what you deserved. I am comforted in the fact that I wanted Santorum and don’t feel horrible at all that you guys are miserable these four years. I want Walker this round....let’s see if you guys will screw yourself again. I may be laughing again in 2016 due to your stupidity.

[Taxman]

BINGO!

http://www.fairtax.org

[Taxman]

Nope.

You implement the FairTax.

http://www.fairtax.org

[Taxman]

Nope!

FairTax!

htttp://www.fairtax.org

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The fair tax is just another income tax. There are many different ways to calculate net income. After a while it will become riddled with arcane rules and exemptions, just like the current income tax.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The Smoot-Hawley tariffs, some 60 percent, damn near ruined us.

[Taxman]

Some taxes are “fairer” than others. The Libertarian in me wants to agree with you that there is “no way a tax is fair.” However, since the dawn of civilized society, there have been taxes collected to pay for necessary government services.

I am in the camp of “taxes are necessary to support a civilized society” but are absolutely not legitimate to serve as a means for “social engineering” or to establish “social justice.”

After we settle the “how do we raise funds necessary for government,” we can have the “proper role of government” debate.

What we are about with the FairTax is raising funds for the legitimate functions of government in the most fair and equitable manner that can be devised.

And, the answer is, a flat rate sales tax.

EVERYBODY pays the same rate, thus fulfilling the Constitutional requirement that all Americans be treated equally under the law.

Here is the FairTax FRequently Asked Questions response to your comment:

“Yes, the FairTax is fair, and in fact, much fairer than the income tax. Wealthy people spend more money than other individuals. They buy expensive cars, big houses, and yachts. They buy filet mignon instead of hamburger, fine wine instead of beer, designer dresses, and expensive jewelry. The FairTax taxes them on these purchases. If, however, they use their money to build job-creating factories, finance research and development to create new products, or fund charitable activities (all of which help improve the standard of living of others), then those activities are not taxed.”

See http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FAQs for more Q&As re:FairTax.

[Taxman]

You are misinformed re: the prebate!

The prebate effectively untaxes the necessities of life: (Excerpt FRom the FairTax FAQ web site — http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FAQs)

“Under the FairTax, all Americans consume what they see as their necessities of life free of tax. While permitting no exemptions, the FairTax (HR25/S122) provides a monthly universal prebate to ensure that each family unit can consume tax free at or beyond the poverty level, with the overall effect of making the FairTax progressive in application. There is no marriage penalty as the couple gets twice the amount that a single adult receives.

“While everyone pays the same tax rate at the cash register, the prebate results in effective tax rates (annual taxes paid divided by annual spending) that increase as the level of spending increases a progressive tax rate structure. For example, a person spending at the poverty level has a 0% effective tax rate, whereas someone spending at twice the poverty level has an effective tax rate of 11.5%, and so on.”

[Taxman]

That, my FRiend, is a spending problem, not a taxing problem!

If we keep dong the same thing over and over again, we have to expect we’ll get the same results!

[ObamahatesPACoal]

Why is Santorum joining Romney, Rand Paul(voter ID) and Pawlenty to help the Democrat narrative?