Betsy DeVos: Michigan workers paid too much

The Grand Rapids Press ^ | Wednesday, April 28, 2004 | Steven Harmon

[FourPeas]

Betsy stepped in it. Big time. Although I agree with her underlying ideas, this was not the way to convey them.

[Willie Green]

That Bimbo just wants more Americans to be financially desperate to get sucked into her Amway multi-level marketing scams.

[FourPeas]

Bimbo? Do you have any facts on which to base that name calling? Whether you are a fan of MLM of not, Betsy DeVos is usually a very good party leader for Republicans in Michigan, who by the way, fully understand that no one is sucked into anything. We, as human beings, make choices and decisions for our lives; we are not victims.

[FreeEnterprise2004]

it would be nice if you actually commented on things you were informed about...

[Cicero]

It's the media pimps who came up with that headline that the workers are getting paid too much. Sure, that's the worst possible way to phrase it, and that's why they did.

What she said is that wages and work rules in the state are uncompetitive. And it's true.

[1rudeboy]

Make Michigan a right-to-work state, now. Take your pro-union BS elsewhere.

[FourPeas]

It's the media pimps

Agreed, completely. But, she should be (is) smart enough to not hand it to them on a platter.

[Dolphy]

Do you know anything about Michigan? I live here and have watched several clients move their manufacturing operations south. It's expensive to do business here and it's not just wages, it's regulations, legal climate, insurance costs, etc.

[mvpel]

"The fact that we had a manufacturing economy which paid people good wages is responsible for our middle class," Hollowell said. "They allowed people to send their kids to college, make improvements on their homes, save for their retirement. That's the American dream. This just underscores how remote the Republican leadership is from ordinary people. ... It means the Republican Party in general just doesn't get it."

Looks to me more like the Dems don't "get it" - the operative word there is "had" - "HAD a manufacturing economy."

Just like California couldn't force me to stay there to pay their absurd 8.25% sales tax and 9.3% income tax to fund their white-elephant rail systems and fill their $30 billion Democrat-dug fiscal hole, Michigan can't force businesses to stay there to be sucked dry by taxes, regulation, and employement lawyers.

The reason the manufacturing jobs paid people good wages is because the businesses were making even more money on their labor. This is a cardinal sin among Democrats, of course.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

"I hate to tell Betsy DeVos this, but high wages are not a bad thing," Hollowell said. "They're good, and we need more of them."

High wages per se are not a bad thing or a good thing. Paying somebody fifty bucks an hour to push a broom at McDonald's is great for the broom pusher, but a payroll based on those wages would result in ten dollar hamburgers and a fast bankruptcy.

On the other hand, paying the same fifty bucks an hour to a software engineer who brings in incremental revenue to his employer above and beyond his salary is good for both employer and employee. The solution is for people to get education and/or training so that their empirical worth can be reflected in their salary. There ain't no free lunch.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

How come you have never answered my question regarding minimum wage? Would you support a $25/hr minimum wage? Why or why not and what wage do you think should be the minimum?

[lewislynn]

Just like California couldn't force me to stay there to pay their absurd 8.25% sales tax

?

I live in California and I don't even pay 7.5% sales tax.

[mvpel]

Each county can tack on their own little ornaments to the sales tax - in Santa Clara county it was 8.25% thanks to the BART and light rail white elephants and the fast-spending Democrats with their million-dollar bike trail projects, and they were talking about raising it to 8.75% when we finally pulled up stakes and moved to New Hampshire (0% sales, 0% income taxes).

[mvpel]

Some scam - the biggest profitable online marketplace in the world.

[Tigercap]

I don't think so.

[Willie Green]

Do you know anything about Michigan?

Yep. Lived in The Thumb for 10 years, working for a nonunion automotive supplier.

It's expensive to do business here and it's not just wages, it's regulations, legal climate, insurance costs, etc.

As you should well know, the Big 3 squeeze the lifeblood out of their suppliers, so wages paid in The Thumb were just as low as any other rural area in our nation. But I agree with you on the regulatory/litigitory/insurance climate -- it sucked.

[laker_dad]

Never get involved with a pyramid scheme... unless, of course you start it...

[Willie Green]

How come you have never answered my question regarding minimum wage?

Could it be because you haven't asked it on this thread?
Or could it be one you asked sometime maybe 6~9 months ago that I actually answered and you now want to falsely accuse me of avoiding?
OR (final option) could it be the one that I intentionally ignored because I got tired of playing your silly rhetorical games?

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Or could it be because you don't have a logical answer?