Michele Bachmann Would Consider Lowering Minimum Wage To Match The Cost Of Labor Overseas
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
The Associated Press is reporting that Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is considering lowering the minimum wage to match labor costs overseas to lure corporations back to the United States.
Her comments came in response to the question of a reporter, during a campaign stop in Florida, who asked whether changes to the minimum wage should also be considered to balance the cost of labor here and overseas. “I’m not married to anything. I’m not saying that’s where I’m going to go,” Bachmann replied. She did say she wants to look at all aspects of doing business, from regulations to tax codes, and will consider anything that will help create jobs.
Lowering the minimum wage is not a viable option to stimulate the economy. People are struggling to live on $7.25 an hour as it is. Wages overseas are far lower than they are here. So low in fact that poverty is a way of life. Before Democrats passed the minimum wage law during the Great Depression, workers struggled to make a living while corporate CEO’s made millions. And when the Great Depression hit the country, millions of American workers ended up with nothing. Corporations don’t care how low wages are. Prices will not come down to accommodate lower wages. The only thing that lowering the minimum wage will do here in America is stimulate poverty.
// ]]>
9:58 am
I propose an experiment: put all of those wanting to lower the minimum wage, on minimum wage.
1:28 am
“You can always count on the Republicans to do the wrong thing.”
Possibley, though I’ve started to believe that you can also always count on the Democrats to point out the wrong things the Republicans are doing while shying away from doing the right thing. And that doesn’t really help anyone does it?
7:40 pm
all of These Candidates Are Nuts And They’re All Wasting Their Time Running, But I Guess Somebody Has To Run!!!!
4:48 pm
This was my fathers GOP:
Was Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower a liberal?
The Eisenhower Administration has brought to our people the highest employment, the highest wages and the highest standard of living ever enjoyed by any nation. Today there are nearly 67 million men and women at work in the United States, 4 million more than in 1952. Wages have increased substantially over the past 3 1/2 years; but, more important, the American wage earner today can buy more than ever before for himself and his family because his pay check has not been eaten away by rising taxes and soaring prices.
The record of performance of the Republican Administration on behalf of our working men and women goes still further. The Federal minimum wage has been raised for more than 2 million workers. Social Security has been extended to an additional 10 million workers and the benefits raised for 6 1/2 million. The protection of unemployment insurance has been brought to 4 million additional workers. There have been increased workmen’s compensation benefits for longshoremen and harbor workers, increased retirement benefits for railroad employees, and wage increases and improved welfare and pension plans for federal employees.
In addition, the Eisenhower Administration has enforced more vigorously and effectively than ever before, the laws which protect the working standards of our people.
Workers have benefited by the progress which has been made in carrying out the programs and principles set forth in the 1952 Republican platform. All workers have gained and unions have grown in strength and responsibility, and have increased their membership by 2 millions.
11:23 am
You can always count on the Republican’s to do the wrong thing. We need to increase the minimum wage to $ 10.00 an hour to bring it up to the buying power that the $ 1.00 an hour minimum wage purchased back in the early 1960′s. The European countries all have higher minimum wages and the Asian and Indian countries have none so we are not competing with Europe and have no chance of competing with China and India unless we want to go back to $ 1.00 an hour.
5:25 am
Damn GOOD IDEA……. minimum wage drives up the overall cost of everything and helps low end wage earners little if any at all. This is better than any idea Obama has placed on the table.
7:37 pm
You are one sick puppy….LOl
9:17 pm
So then you are willing to take a pay cut of a comparable rate to what those making minimum wage will be taking? Mighty generous of you!
12:45 pm
Since so many members of Congress are wealthy I think they should work for minimum wage and donate their salaries to help pay off the national debt. And I would suggest that those working for them also work for minimum wage. I think we should start with her.
12:51 pm
I’m calling it now…Rick Perry with Bachmann as VP…that will be their ticket…and that is the scariest damn thing I have ever said…
5:20 am
Hey!
Yes, they’re loony! Palin, Perry and Bachmann. But don’t we need at least a few facts before we accuse her of
‘wanting to lower the minimum wage to overseas levels’? She simply didn’t say that. She didn’t say anything other than, “I don’t want to paint myself into a corner” Yes, it’s cowardly and vapid, but to get all in a tizzy about it is fighting a battle that doesn’t exist. Do we need yet another reason to hate her? There are plenty of reasons that are based on things she actually said.
1:40 am
Michele Bachmann probably employs undocumented workers on her farm in Minnesota and pays them next to nothing. She sounds like all those senior citizens in Arizona who go all racist on Mexicans in the state and yet pay as little as possible to do their yard work, etc. I think she is in the race to get a multi-million dollar contract on Fox News, just like her crazy twin–Sarah Palin.
Justice for undocumented workers!
12:00 am
I live in Arizona and have done landscaping on and off since high school. But that was in California. Too many illegals doing all of that work in California now so I moved. But, in Arizona, water is so expensive few people can afford to water their lawns. I can`t find a lawn to care for here. The one crew that does tree trimming etc. are mexican`s but were born here. They too don`t want illegals coming and taking their jobs by working for less pay. That`s not the America I grew up in! Arizona has every right to enforce it`s laws with SB1070. Grow up!
6:46 pm
WHY DON’T YOU WORK IN CHINA B!TCH AND SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT! ALSO, YOU’RE HUSBAND IS TURING GAYS TO HETROSEXUALS. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? GOP’S ARE ABOUT HIGHER TAXES AND GETTING RICH. YOUR NEITHER. SOMEONE PUNCH HER IN HER F@@@@ING FACE!
4:47 pm
I would consider sending her overseas to work at those wages.
6:43 am
I would consider sending her into the sea’s right now (maybe just by the jersey shore, then jesus can help her) but that would not be very buddhist of me would it? I need to work harder to not hate uggghhh but she is fun to hate .
4:03 pm
Okay, I wouldn’t mind this on one condition – lower the cost of living to the same as those “other” countries that she’s so ‘concerned’ about.
3:55 pm
All of you have been bitching about this woman/deviless, and with good reason; however, I have it worse, because she/it is MY representative. I love living in Stillwater, Minnesota, but I am embarrassed to admit that my family has actually had to deal with them. My wife worked in an optometrist office here, and the Bachmann family came in to have their eyes (should have been their brains) examined. They then looked at all the glasses available, chose the ones they like, asked for the model numbers, and purchased them online to get them cheaper. To add insult to injury, they had to be hounded until they would actually pay their bill!
2:03 pm
This woman is one CRAZY SICK DEMENTED OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY MORRON!! Whoever votes for her is got to be a RACIST-NAZI MORON!
Wich hole in HELL did she come out of…Incredible!!!!!
3:13 pm
What do you expect? Bachman is part of the Tea Pot Party who are funded by corporate money under the Citiznes United law which now makes corporations considered as “people” giving the corporations first ammendment rights allowing them to contribute as much money as they want to stooges like Bachman to do their bidding…A vote for Bachman is a vote for the corporations.
8:32 pm
And people thought Sarah Palin was crazy…..
8:43 pm
You mean “moron”?
1:35 pm
If this is the best the GOP has to offer then…well damn…
This is pathetic.
12:32 pm
It appears that the contestant is highly qualified for the position. I understand that be considered for such a position you have to demonstrate that you are a puppet. I understand that you cannot qualify until you undergo a very detailed medical examination. If you have even the smallest hint of a brain you are out.
12:15 pm
Mouth breathing American greed is what got us here. Used to cost at least two full week’s wages for a TV, now people want one for a day’s wage. Well you got it. You got a BIG house fulla junk and you OWE and OWE and OWE. Owing can be OK but we make nothing. There should have been and should be today a big tax on imports for what would have been paid in taxes here for the goods at our labor rate.
11:55 am
It’s called “feudalism”! The Repubs want to bring back the Middle Ages! The bottom 98% of Americans will no longer be middle class. Just call us SERFS!
11:46 am
And at last we get to the TRUE point of the whole Repug battle against unions and American workers. They go to a country that has NOTHING, and offer them $0.30/hour. Their choice – work as slaves or don’t eat, there are NO other jobs.
It worked so well they plan to implement it here. Slaves are cheaper than lives.
Do you not see the danger of these corporatzis? The next civil war is HERE, NOW. They’re just not using guns very often – yet. But opposing this fascist takeover lets them call you a terrorist, and they WILL use guns then…
1:41 pm
“It worked so well they plan to implement it here. Slaves are cheaper than lives.”
Not implement it, bring it back. These kind of wages, and lack working condition standards (OSHA), are why unions were formed in the first place.
4:17 pm
OMG ! Yikes, but Yikes !! It is so true- PEOPLE OPEN YOUR EYES. THIS IS TRUE ! Do you think the republican corporate masters wont put your children in work camps to pay off your debts to cedit cards or charge offs or bankruptcies ?? They would if they could. So would the Goverment- they dont like the falure of the middle class working man,(they saved that privillege for themselves). We dont realize that our lives are just a comodity to them, a cog in the wheel that if too ‘bothersome’ can be replacd by a ‘newer’ one. Why would the crazy Bachman say such a stupid ‘half-thought’ statement (she’s not married to any “ideas” it would seem.) It’s so damn funny that I hope she chokes on her pearls ! May her mamma work for third world wages ! I hate this kind of stuff but do we just let tis remark ‘go by’ without notice? I just cant. I believe the country would geton board with green energy if jobs were created and the ultimate goal would be less and less dependancy on foreign oil and no cost energy for all, and they would work at those jobs for less than the normal nessacery fair wage, but man, we already do !! The country needs to end NAFTA and tax and tarriff the corps who are importing their final product back to the state for sale. It’s why we fell in the economic hole in the first place. We have paid enough, it’s time for the corp elite to pay the rest of the way and I mean ‘all the way’ home !
11:45 am
Marching orders from the corporate masters of the GOP are out. First the legislator in New Hampshire and now Michele. Two weeks from now, every tea bag carrying member the Republican Party will be all over it. The rank and file of the Tea Party will be rallying to demand lower wages.
11:19 am
Demand would drop to 0. This would cause a depression which would be much much worse than the 1929-1939 depression. This idiot should be taken out and paddled.
10:02 am
You’ve heard of left-brain and right-brain? Well, this woman is F-brain… a total F’ing moron. A few individuals combining their minimum wage (or less) incomes might be able to survive if they pay no taxes and consume none of the goods and services that we’ve come to regard as comprising the American standard of living, which, incidentally also provide a good share of the better paying jobs for people who design them, manufacture them, sell them, provide them… so how does this revive the US economy? Here’s a better idea: give everyone without a job an acre of government land in a warm place, a tent, and some seeds and let them grow their own vegetables. There: problem solved; no need for jobs.
9:53 am
I would be happy to try that…AFTER she lives like that for a year…and her husband. Then we’ll see if she still thinks it’s such a good idea. Why does anyone even listen to this woman, she is so out of touch it’s scary.
1:41 pm
She is probably thinking back to $5.00/hour and that would be about a 30% decrease. That’ll be fine – only if they lower Congressman’s wages 30% including their benefits and since we pay it through our tax dollars the TEA Party should be very happy, also.
8:20 am
Further evidence this person is a MORON. How she is even a potential candidate, proves there is a huge group of idiots in our country.
10:23 am
I would agree to that…after she lowers my mortgage to $100/month, bread to $.25 and gas is $.50. Better yet, lets just roll back prices to what they were when we were making $3.50/hr. Or does she think there are places you can live on $120/wk BEFORE taxes. What do you mean you can’t live on $400.00 a month? What are you doing with your money? Buying drugs?
6:49 pm
Her and Palin are the biggest idiots! I hope they kill themselevs.
5:27 am
That option could work, but the problem remains that stuff still costs too much. If they lower the costs of goods and services I could see that as a viable option, either that or lower the wage, and then give strict regulations on prices that corporations sell their stuff for. There is too much leeway for what corporations can charge for goods and services, the only way to keep things fair would be to have a set of rules that corporations must follow where goods and services would be affordable to all, no price jacking or gouging, that’s the only way it could work.
9:58 am
Wages aren’t the only thing. A company can go to China say they want to build a factory and the Chinese government gets it done. There are no zoning laws, safety regulations, environmental laws, labor laws, or anything else. America would have to gut 50 years of job safety and environmental laws to compete with third world countries where such laws don’t exist.
10:39 am
Exactly! Why do you think republicans have been working on nothing but taking away our rights as a worker. Lowering minimum wage, allowing younger children to work longer hours, vowing to repeal the healthcare bill, cuts in education. They want to keep the middle class (what’s left of it) stupid and uneducated. They want to pay us the same wages as in china — that’s what republicans are about – that is exactly WHO they are. They don’t care about working americans, they don’t care about their working conditions. Every safety regulation is another dollar out of their pocket and they will have none of that. This has been going on for over 30 years, that the extreme right has slowly chiseling away our rights, in the name of profit.
4:02 pm
“They don’t care about working Americans.” correction: THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT AMERICA.
10:33 am
Pssssst….that’s what republicans call “socialist talk”. God forbid should they fight for something for the middle class. What do we have to do to get some help? Are we expected to pay our politicans to do what’s in OUR best interest? I thought that’s what we elected them to do and why they’re paid over $170,000/yr. What else do we have to do – give them an all expense paid vacation? Hook them up with the ladys? What do WE have to do to get our elected officials to do something for us for a change?
2:54 pm
Unfortunately we will not get their attention until lights themself on fire on the Washington Square. Sadly, I’m not certain that lighting yourself on fire will get it done. What an absolute joke our country has become.
5:47 pm
There are a group of us going to Washington on October 29th. We are participating in a Citizens’ Filibuster at the Capitol. I don’t think anyone plans on lighting themselves on fire, but we hope everyone who is tired of the middle class being screwed over will come and participate-or look for local events on the 29th. Check out Coffee Party #Oct29 you can sign up to speak on Facebook
10:52 am
Man you are an idiot. Do you really think corporations are going to lower the cost of their products by 95% to match the cost of labor in China? Corporations are evil empires who only care about profit. Anybody who thinks that rich people or corporations care about the rest of us is an idiot.
4:11 pm
Quel Surprise! Evil Empires!? I thought that on a slow day, God under the aegis of the Supreme Court, breathed a soul into Corporations and deemed them “a person.”
12:20 am
why are products made in another country not treated like foreign imports
10:04 am
Exactly! Do you realize that China has a 25% tariff on manufactured goods imported from the U.S.? You know what The tariff is on manufactured goods imported from China? 2.5%! Almost 10 times lower! There is your trade imbalance. If we raised the tariff on Chinese goods to the level they charge, jobs would be coming back here in a hurry! But what do you expect when laws concerning business with China are written by the corporations doing business with China and their congressional lackeys?
10:10 am
Clue: They are.
11:28 pm
This woman causes me to use dirty words!