Let Them Eat Chicken McNuggets! . . .

Bill Maher fires a silver bullet of logic at the zombie heart of right wing idiocy on the subject of the minimum wage:

When did the American dream become this pathway to indentured servitude? This economic death spiral where workers get paid next to nothing, so they can only afford to buy next to nothing, so businesses are forced to sell cheaper and cheaper shit?

Walmart employees can only afford to shop at Walmart. McDonalds workers can only afford to eat at McDonalds. And Hooters waitresses have to wear shirts they grew out of years ago.

Even if you're not moved by the "don't be such a heartless prick" argument, consider the fact that most fast food workers, whose average age by the way now is 29, we're not talking about kids, are on some form of public assistance. Which is not surprising. When even working people can't make enough to live, they take money from the government in the form of food stamps, school lunches, housing assistance, day care. This is the welfare that conservatives hate.

But they never stop to think, if we raised the minimum wage and forced McDonalds and Walmart to pay their employees enough to eat, we the taxpayers wouldn't have to pick up the slack.

This is the question the right has to answer. Do you want smaller government with less handouts, or do you want a low minimum wage? Because you cannot have both.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/bill-maher-takes-minimum-wage-employers-ta






Honestly - who in their right fucking mind believes that a nation whose middle class work force is comprised mainly of minimum wage, service industry workers is a nation that can progress forward in to the 21st century and still maintain it's status as an economic leader in the world?

This is not rocket science kidz - nearly everything that the conservative right stands for stymies the economic growth and success potential of the country and diverts the direction of our progress from world leader to third world, banana republic status.

This progress that The Gadfly speaks of is only attainable if the sane centrists in the GOP can gather enough backbone to confront this disease of right wing extremism that has infected their caucus and regain control of their own destiny.  If that comes to pass, perhaps there is still a chance that they can stem their party's steady descent in to the dustbin of political history and participate as honorable partners in working toward a vanguard American renewal - a renewal that puts the whole country and all of it's people on to a path of long term economic prosperity and breathes new life in to the nation's once flourishing middle class and restores people's ray of hope that the American dream is still alive and obtainable by all.



----TFG