: are you stoopid? :

beanieYou don’t look stoopid. You look alert and bright-eyed and totally compos mentis. So why does the U. S. Senate think you’ll fall for their nonsense?

Easy, they’re birdbrains.

After blocking a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, they hopped on their high horses and declared such a move would “hurt business and destroy the economy.” Okay, we didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. That same old chestnut gets trotted out whenever campaign contributors (i.e., corporate America) feel a pinch is coming.

It’s a scare tactic, boys and girls, also known as spin. The local utility company uses a similar strategy when they want a rate increase. If the state doesn’t approve their request, they warn, they’ll have no choice but to lay people off. Works every time.

But how would the Senate know what’s bad for business? They’re not business tycoons, they’re freeloaders. They stroll around in $5000 suits and $400 haircuts asking for money from business tycoons. And moguls and lobbyists and special interest groups, anyone with a pile of cash. That’s their real job: soliciting (or pandering). Our mistake was thinking they represented us in the government. Pfffff, no. You and I? We’re on our own.

Want to know what’s hurting business? Crummy products and deplorable service, that’s what. In case you can’t afford to indulge in the buying experience, being a customer sucks. Once upon a time we were considered assets. Businesses wooed us with free toasters and treated us graciously, as though we were minor royalty. Now, we’re more of a nuisance, something to be ignored. There, again, our entitlement mentality comes into play — we think paying hefty fees and steep prices entitle us to courtesy. It does not.

Paying through the nose gets us bupkis. General Motors demonstrated that. They couldn’t be bothered with replacing the faulty ignition switch blamed in the deaths of more than a dozen drivers. Even though the part cost less than $10 and took under an hour to fix. But, come on, why go to the trouble and expense when customers are so easy to replace? Money’s the precious commodity. Save that.

Better yet, save yourself. Buy earplugs and take the bus.image

Copyright © 2014 Publikworks

21 responses to “: are you stoopid? :”

  1. Run A Muck Ranch Avatar
    Run A Muck Ranch

    Very well said!

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    1. Why, thank you, Run A Muck! That’s awfully nice of you :o)

      PS. Great dog.

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  2. Our minimum wage is currently $10.25. As of June 1, 2014 it will be $11.00. It is hard to imagine anything less but if I read the comments here correctly, yours is currently $7.25. Of course everything here costs a heck of a lot more so I suppose it is relative.
    In answer to your question…the governments all obviously think we are stoopid. How can you argue with their logic when we elect them?

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    1. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. In Illinois, though, it’s a whopping $8.25. Every state is different. They can go higher than the federal minimum, but not lower.

      And you’re right, we did elect them. What were we thinking?

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  3. FurthermoreAndSoForth Avatar
    FurthermoreAndSoForth

    The City of Seattle is working on implementing a $15/hr. minimum wage. Of course businesses are screaming the sky will fall. I understand a teeny tiny biz having a problem with it, but the Big Boys? Nah. They’ll be fine.

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    1. I saw something about that. Do you really think it’ll happen? Wouldn’t it be funny if they did raise it to $15 an hour and Seattle’s economy improved? It could if people actually had money to spend, don’t you think?

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      1. FurthermoreAndSoForth Avatar
        FurthermoreAndSoForth

        Yeah, I think it’s going to happen. The latest is that it’ll be phased in — $10-something at first, then gradually up to $15 in a year or two (or something like that). And it’s exactly the point many people are making, that if us regular folk have money to spend it’ll help the economy, not hurt it.

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        1. I hope they can pull it off and Seattle gets a big rebound financially. That would be sweet. And so embarrassing for the boobs in DC. nert nert nert

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  4. I love how you take something that is going on in the news and make it exciting and thought provoking!

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    1. What a nice thing to say, tbree! Thank you, you’ve made my day :o)

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  5. Stoopid, must be to put up with this for long.

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    1. Keep your chin up, Valentine. Things are bound to change, one way or the other : )

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  6. Oh and there is not a lot of difference in the exchange rates at the moment. weird.. c

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    1. No, not weird, absurd. Ludicrous. Preposterous.

      How do I get to NZ? Go to Australia and turn left?

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      1. yup, go to aussie, wait for low tide, just trot over.. no worries mate!

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        1. Ha! You’re the best, celi.

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  7. bonkers.. minimum wage in NZ is 14.50, last time I looked.. which is a little over 500 a week. Not a lot really. I do not know how people live on the minimum wage here.. I hope they all have a patch of dirt to grow their veges!.. morning darling.. c

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    1. Whoa, 14.50? And we can only cough up a measly 7.25? Hmm, what’s wrong with this picture?

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      1. Hmm, though beer is more expensive in NZ. .. might be that.. c

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        1. Cheap beer? Double the income? Cheap beer? Double the income? Tough call, can I get back to you?

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          1. I’ve got people! Let me know!! (laugh!) c

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