It's been nearly a year since Rep. Romeo Danais made a big fool of himself on the NH House internal email system. Last April he distinguished himself by giving his fellow legislators what he called "a lesson in irony," by posting a conservative spam e-mail that compared food stamp recipients to wild animals. Rep. Danais found this "lesson" so amusing that he posted it to the House internal list-serve TWICE in the same day.
We humorless lefties were the bad guys. Apparently we were supposed to see the humor in a multimillionaire mocking the poor.
But now - a year later, he's giving us another chance, this time to enjoy his sense of humor on the topic of the minimum wage:
| Reply-To: | Romeo Danais |
|---|---|
| To: | ~All Representatives |
The real answer to this situation is not 'increase the minimum wage', its get the minimum wage worker into an area where s/he is not delivering minimum results for their labor! In other words get the minimum wage worker educated so they can deliver higher value labor, thus they will earn a higher wage.
OK, how do we do that? Well, for one, we need to get the young person into a situation where they can learn quickly that if they want to be stupid and not work on their education, then they can live the rest of their lives on minimum income and suffer the consequences. How? I think we should have mandatory, two-year, military service for every one in the 18 - 20 year age category.
Whoa, before you all get Up in Arms (no pun intended), everybody doesn't have to be infantrymen, there are every job category in civilian life in military life Plus more. And, you get a dose of reality while your in the military! Which most juveniles have no idea about reality one bit, because its not taught in schools.
Once out of the military, veterans will have a very different outlook on life and an education to boot (once again no pun intended) and a better outlook on what it takes to succeed. They will almost automatically get higher paying and better jobs than those of today who have not had military training.
No, its not a one-shot solves all answer, but, its a very good start to solving the problem of minimum wage living standards.
Rep. Danais
Rep. Danais seems to believe that those who earn minimum wage are lazy and stupid. If they were to go into the military, they'd come out and be better educated and get higher paying jobs.
It's clear that Rep. Danais knows as much about the NH workforce as he does about grammar. Employers do not pay minimum wage because they have lazy/stupid employees. They pay minimum wage because they can. The rate of unemployment and underemployment are so high that people will take those jobs, because they are trying desperately to get by. Minimum wage is an employer's way of saying, "I'd pay you less if I could."
Is the military a solution?
6.4% of NH veterans are unemployed.
8% of the NH homeless population is comprised of veterans.
5,000 NH veterans rely on food stamps.
A solution is for NH employers to pay NH workers fair and just wages.
A solution is to invest in NH and put people to work at decent paying jobs.
Another solution is to stop sending dunderheads to the legislature. What do you think you're odds of that are?
h/t to anonymous source
3 comments:
Also, many of the jobs Rep Danais waxed poetic about are now performed by contractors,
And then there is this: Leopard/Spots:
(Issue No. 72-24) FOR RELEASE February 8, 1972
DECISION IN ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS
HASD SANCTIONS AGAINST R. DANAlS INVESTMENT CO.! INC. AND ITS PRESIDENT UPHELD. The SEC has issued an order
dismissing the application filed by R. Danais Investment Co., Inc., Manchester, New HamPshire, and its president,
Romeo Danais, for review of disciplinary action taken against them by the National Association of Securities
Dealers, Inc. in which the firm was expelled from membership in the NASD and Danais registration as a registeredrepresentative was revoKed.
The Commission, as had the NASD, found violations of the NASD's Rules of Fair Practice in that Danais
improperly obtained copies of questions of the NASD's qualification examination for registered representatives and
incorporated such questions into a practice quiz used by trainees preparing to take the qualification examination.
The Commission determined, having due regard to the public interest, that the penalties imposed are not excessive
or oppressive. (ReI. 34-9475)
Your statistics do not include the vets who have left the service and are now idling in neutral minimum wage jobs waiting for that high paying gig.
I am somewhat ambivalent about the minimum wage thing. But I do feel we could have used that Jobs Bill, the Right shot down a couple of years back.
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