Foresight and the Democratic Party

[Copernicus]

"I know that you are a staunch conservative, but your post really highlights the baseless demonization of Speaker Pelosi. It played well to the conservative base -- a San Francisco Democrat, a woman, and ther you have it. But if your main objection is her desire to raise the minimum wage and how that will somehow ruin the economy -- seems like you're really grabbing at straws."

There are an awful lot of straws to grab at...try her voting record and her stated policy positions. she is as bad as it gets, except that she's a woman and won't be taken seriously by a lot of Democrat men.

[bcubed72]

Just a thought:

In PA, Senator Santorum (R) argued during his campaign that too many families have both parents working, to the detriment to the children--yet he's against an increase in the minimum wage.

It seems to me that proponents of "stay at home moms" ought to be IN FAVOR of an increase. Plenty of working moms aren't working for personal fufillment--it's that, in this economic climate, a minimum-wage earning father simply can't support himself, his wife, and a child--there simply aren't enough hours in the day. An increase in the minimum wage might result in more moms electing to stay home (or at least reducing the number of hours worked). Thus, politicians such as Santorum run the risk of being seen as hypocrites.

[Knockwurst]

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There are an awful lot of straws to grab at...try her voting record and her stated policy positions. she is as bad as it gets, except that she's a woman and won't be taken seriously by a lot of Democrat men.

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I'm still waiting for some examples from her voting record or stated policy positions to suggest that "she is as bad as it gets."

[Mickey Brausch]

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Contrary to myth, many European countries are better positioned for the future than the United States,

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Because...?

[/ QUOTE ] Keep reading.

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...with longer healthy life expectancies, greater math and science literacy, free or affordable education from preschool through college, universal health care, less poverty and inequality and more corporations combining social responsibility with world-class innovation.

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This is not necessarily true. Regardless, it is biased as sh1t.

[/ QUOTE ]It is unfortunately true.

As to "bias", I have no idea what you mean. (Perhaps you mean you don't like the stats....)

Either the above claims are true or they are false. If they are true, then using them to formulate an argument about the future of Europe (as compared to the future of America) is not "biased"; it is explicitly legitimate. Hell, it's mandatory!

The future is shaped by our kids' education, the status of human health, our current social environment and all the other above-mentioned factors.

Ignoring them, though -- now that's biased.

Mickey Brausch

[Mickey Brausch]

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[Among the world's 100 largest corporations in 2005, just 33 were U.S. companies while 48 were European. In 2002, 38 were U.S. companies and 36 were European.

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This is relevant how?

[/ QUOTE ] One of the biggest canards propagated by some American right-wingers is that Europe is hostile to capitalism. The truth is that, for better or worse, private corporations are thriving in Europe. Moreover, some of the biggest corporations in the world are based in Europe. (And as it happens, more are European than American, currently, in the Top 100.)

I hope the relevance is clear now.

Mickey Brausch

[Mickey Brausch]

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CEO-worker pay gaps are much narrower at European companies than American. Americans work over 200 hours more a year on average than workers in other rich industrialized nations.

[/ QUOTE ] More irrelevant statistics.

[/ QUOTE ] You do not think time spent for working is an important piece of data? You do not think pay gaps are relevant? You do not think the GINI index is revealing? I guess you are only considering arithmetic averages when reviewing data. Well, I beg to differ.

Actually, all such data is quite relevant to the state of health of an economy and it is quite relevant in the debate on minimum wage, since it is disputed that economies with "high minimu wages" are somehow in trouble. Remember, I pointed out that Europe (with its "socialist" economies) is not doing too badly.

Mickey Brausch

[Mickey Brausch]

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Well, almost the whole of Europe has minimum wage legislated. The United Kingdom had its national MW passed in 1999 and the British economy is not doing too badly. Neither is the whole of Europe, come to think of it.

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Unemployment numbers, pls tks.

[/ QUOTE ] Sure:

"Euro-zone seasonally-adjusted unemployment stood at 8.3% in January 2006, the same as in December 2005. It was 8.8% in January 2005. The EU25 unemployment rate was 8.5% in January 2006, unchanged compared to December 2005. It was 8.9% in January 2005. In January 2006, the lowest rates were registered in Ireland (4.3%), Denmark (4.4% in December), the Netherlands (4.6%), the United Kingdom (5.0% in November) and Austria (5.2%). Unemployment rates were highest in Poland (17.2%), Slovakia (15.8%), Greece (10.1% in the third quarter 2005), France (9.2%) and Germany (9.1%)." EuroStat

In the United States, the official figure for unemployment is currently at 5.6%. Compare with the rates of the leading economies of Europe.

I hope this helped.

(Anytime you wanna also look up with me unemployment benefits, just ask. I have a hunch they're better in Europe than America, which makes those on the dole in Europe better off than those in America, as well. But I said that's just a hunch.)

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Mickey Brausch

[Mickey Brausch]

Please excuse the ounce of snideness in the last paragraph. Momentary lapse. I thought I was responding to our resident telescope observer.

MB

[iron81]

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Please excuse the ounce of snideness in the last paragraph. Momentary lapse. I thought I was responding to our resident telescope observer.

MB

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I think I'm gonna get some use out of that pic. I'm gonna bookmark it.

[Wisch]

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I'm still waiting for some examples from her voting record or stated policy positions to suggest that "she is as bad as it gets."

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She's pretty much as bad as it gets.

http://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Nancy_Pelosi.htm