Sioux Falls restaurateur and known liberal Steve Hildebrand got to serve Governor Dennis Daugaard on Friday. As a tip, the Governor left a signal that if the Legislature wants to kill the minimum-wage increase we voters passed Tuesday, that would be hunky-dory:
So, Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard came into my restaurant this morning to meet with a newly elected Republican legislator who frequents the place. After their meeting and before he walked out the door, I asked the governor if he had a minute to talk to me. I asked him to not let Republican legislators repeal the cost-of-living adjustments for the minimum wage increase that the people of South Dakota just passed by a healthy majority.
His response: "I don't believe in the minimum wage. I believe we should let the market set the rates of pay." I said, great. Then people in South Dakota will work for $2.50 an hour.
And then I pointed out to him that Sioux Falls has a 3% unemployment rate, but that 50% of our school-aged kids qualify for free-or-reduced lunches - and that poverty is a REAL problem in our state. I asked him to pay attention to low wages, poverty and to take this very seriously. His aides, were very rude and escorted him quickly out of the restaurant. I was left with only one thought - the governor of my state doesn't care that families are working in poverty level jobs, can't make ends meet. Too bad he can't have a reasonable conversation with a local business owner who knows how hard it is for people to make ends meet when wages are so low.
And what a shame if Republicans attempt to repeal a law passed by the voters. Not that they haven't done it many times. But really, wages for people working in poverty-level jobs. Shame on them [link added; Steven C. Hildebrand, Facebook post, 2014.11.07].
Almost everyone is working, but with only the meager protection of a minimum wage still well below what workers deserve for their productivity, half of the families need help buying lunch for their kids. Governor Daugaard, should the market also determine which kids eat?
Blogger Michael Larson suggested that we should lower the Governor's pay to parity with the Lennox mayor's, $3,200 a year. Let's go one better: let's let the market determine Dennis Daugaard's salary. Remove his legally guaranteed salary of $107,121.62 (plus that really valuable house he gets to live in on our dime, and the nice state cars and planes that haul him and his rude aides around). Let him work, and at the end of each month, we'll conduct a poll to determine just what they think their Governor's labor has been worth. Maybe he'll get $10,000. Maybe he'll get $10, and Mrs. Daugaard will have to go jerk espresso at Pier 347 or substitute-teach.
I suppose we could argue that's how we do state executive salaries right now. We poll the "market"—comprised mostly the Governor's fellow Republicans in the Legislature—and they compose a state budget that locks in pay for the Governor along with all state employees.
But not one of these executives is anywhere near subsistence living at $8.50 an hour. Not one of these executives needs a second income to feed the kids. Not one of these executives faces the reality of a market that would throw them into welfare or bankruptcy in a month if the law didn't protect their basic dignity as workers.
Citizens, take your new legislators to coffee this month. Remind them that you are the market, and you have spoken: workers deserve at least $8.50 an hour, with indexed increases each year. Legislators, don't mess with Initiated Measure 18.
Update 14:04 CST: Todd Epp suggests some might call a Legislative repeal of IM 18 totalitarianism. Indeed, we might.
Daugaard is an arrogant puss that should be indicted along with his predecessor and may actually find himself in that predicament. Daugaard's solution to all of this is "let them eat cake".
Don't blame Daugaard, he is the guy people voted for. They love him.
For once, I think I agree with Tara, the voters overwhelmingly elected these assholes, let them live with what they voted for. I am surprised Daugaard let it slip that he doesn't give a damn what the voters decided, but then, he doesn't have to get elected again so maybe we are about to see his true side.
Prior to this, I didn't have an opinion about DD other than he appeared to have some insight on regular folks, or so his first election's ads said. Turns out he's just another shrewd, arrogant jerk like Rounds who thinks his priorities is to serve people earning $500,000 and more. I hope the Rounds Racketeering Scam nets this clodhopper with the rest of the crooks in Pierre. It's incredible to think a nonprofit for the poor ever hired this pompous ass.
Yet another reason why Dems should the primaries and choose nominees and issues at convention.
chuck the primaries and reap the enthusiasm the convention generates.
The at least $2.5 trillion in South Dakota banks drives the politics in South Dakota: you are merely chattel.
Tim, we do get the government we deserve. But here's a place where the cognitive dissonance between our votes on policy (initiatives) and our votes on people can come to a head. If voters see the people they elect overturn the policies they choose, they will not be happy. If our Legislators are so unwise, we will need passionate candidates who can lead voters to act on their unhappiness with real votes to oust those who undermine their policy will.
Larry, maybe I've forgotten the argument, but I'm not convinced changing the system to convention nomination offers any comparative advantage in ousting Daugaard's regime or protecting our initiated will. Convince me.
Tara and Tim, I disagree with wording of your statements.
I would reword them to read that "there were enough voters who thought Daugaard is doing what they want him to do."
I most certainly did not vote for him, and please remember that other candidates received some voters approval.
The legislature hates I&R, except when they want to pass something none of them want their names on. LOL
Cory, look at how DD and other western red state governors are grappling with the social realities of their terms. SD is going to have another brutal winter testing the symbiosis with the feds.
Conventioneers actually talked about cannabis and how the state is being strip mined for profit. Energy is high and real democracy happens. Senator Johnson is leaving enough money to build a farm team: let's tap it.
Cory, you may be giving SD voters way more credit than they deserve, after all, they did send a man under investigation by the FBI to be our US Senator.
Abe Lincoln said, "It is a constant struggle to stop the corporations from taking over. Lincoln was a Republican. Now days the Republicans have joined the corporate rule. I just saw Rounds on national TV saying that to stop the Affordable care act we should start by eliminating really bad parts of it and then suggested that we start with removing the citizens advisory committee. This and eliminating the minimum wage increase are prime examples of the republicans not caring about or respecting people that God made just because they do not have any money or power.
Republicans do not understand the good that Abe Lincoln was. They are not honest about EB-5, and they think slave wages are ok.
Question for Steve Hildebrand. What hourly rate do you pay your employees?
I wouldn't doubt that the legislature, with Gov D's gleeful stamp of approval, would squash the minimum wage increase.
They really don't care what the voters think or say in this state. Just as long as THEY get re-elected. This has been proven with the "abortion" vote. Twice, South Dakotans have said they wanted the darn politicians to stop the nonsense with abortion. But, the legislators just whistle, shake their heads, and tell "us", nope. Y'all don't know what is right for you. We will do what we please!!
I figure it is just a matter of time before they tell the voters ref minimum wage, "that was cute that you voted for that. But we are going to tell you what is right for you." When it comes to "the people have spoken"? Well, this state and its elected officials choose to ignore what "the people" say and do what they want to do when they don't agree with "the people".
DD is an arrogant dick. MNs Dayton would have known how to say it, which would have been something like "the people of MN spoke and I will support what they voted in"
DDs reply is downright hurtful and full of apathy, I am offended. SD - don't let the republicans overturn this, it would just be like them to try to pull this.
Jeni, bottom line is, they voted for him. They get what they get. We all knew what they were electing, if they are to lazy or don't care to research what they are electing, then so be it, let them try to live with it. Call it tough love.
Jenny, they are elected, we have no way to stop them now. They will do what they want, the only way to stop it won't come for another two years now, or at the federal level but they control that now as well. I have said several times in several places, dark times are ahead for normal people and the poor both here and in the nation. Republicans will laugh all the way to the bank.
Working class GOPers like SD really, really, and I mean really do vote against their best interests. Over 70% voted for this guy and he can't even support them over a measly increase in low wages? Go figure.
Not an unfair question Tim Higgins. Prob doesn't have to pay over 2.50 tipped staff.
Jenny, better to work for nothing and have to hold more than one job to feed your family than vote for any liberal. That's what they think. I wish them luck.
dumbass dubya was so deranged he thought people worked to put food ON their families and that OBGYNs practiced love with their patients. With freakin' no minds like that,it is hard to expect the electorate to know anything.
If DD gets rid of the minimum wage,it won't be a surprise. Part of ALECS model legislation and they have made no secret that if it is bad for 'murrican workers,it is jake with the koch bros bottom line.
I don't know what Hildebrand pays his workers but I do know there's a Kemps Dairy in that SE MN medical town that pays its factory employees over $23/hr after a year of service there. Good wages for blue collar boys? You betcha, as they say in MN, and it's called Unions - the Teamsters as a matter of fact. I can only imagine how many SD boys would be lining up for a job that paid like that in Mitchell, Sioux Falls or Rapid City SD.
Cory-send out a call to all voters and ask them to comment here about getting rid of the minimum wage. I'm curious to see just how many wingnuts repeat verbatim Fake Noise talking points about job losses,etc.
Great opportunity for the State Dem Party to hold a press conference to alert people that DD defies the public will and can't be trusted to uphold the law. As with Rounds, DD won't stop misbehaving until he is caught. That was the case of DD doing business with Joop Bollen only until after he and son-in-law Tony V. and the other schmucks in Daugaard's office realized they'd get caught in the Rounds Racketeering Scam. The SDDP should mention that fact as well.
It's like house training your dog. If he craps on the floor and you don't scold him right away, he'll keep crapping on the floor. (I've moved along from the diaper metaphor, Bill, but not by much.)
Tim H, Hildebrand told KELO last January that he pays his workers above minimum wage. Hildebrand told KELO in October that he was able to raise wages above minimum without raising his prices.
We can probably run down to Sioux Falls, catch the baristas coming off shift from Josiah's, and ask to see their pay stubs. However much paycheck Hildebrand shows his workers will not change the magnitude of the disrespect Governor Daugaard will show to voters if he allows the Legislature to reverse the initiative will of the voters.
Tim Higgins - Don't expect Hildebrand to answer your loaded question. The issue here is whether a Governor should defy the law the people passed and still remain in office. Do you think a Governor should violate the people's law?
Agree with 96, dems need to get on this today, and keep it up on this and every other bad idea they come up with over the next two years, and also anything that comes from the fed investigation on EB-5, won't get anything on that from the state either. Just have to keep pounding and pounding, only way I know of to try to snap voters out of it.
Bate and switch. By majority vote SD people have spoken. They like bate and switch. They will get bate and switch.
The self-righteous indignation that these guys think that they can con the average citizen of SD, just blows my mind.
Bait and stick. I think it's called bait and stick, Ms. Jane.
It's carrot and stick, grudz. As in 'take that carrot and stick it, gimme a gravy tater.'
it's the switch from bated breath to carrots and sticks.
carats, baited Styx,
gravy taters not carrots
stick to the ribbed switch.
Best post yet, larry.
You know I love the taters
if they are slathered.
96 Tears, You must have missed the fact that as Lt Governor, when he was still the head of that non-profit, which was struggling to make ends meet, DD conned the legislature into 50 million in no bid contracts for the non profit, mainly to care for foster Native American children and to do so in violation of ICWA 1978.
The voters don't know this kind of stuff, because the media won't publicize it, especially the unnamed paper from Sioux Falls. When I submitted a LTE to them on this very subject, they were not going to publish it, because they said that what I said could not be proved.
When I sent them the following three links, they agreed to publish. Problem is, because they have become so obtuse about what they will publish, just like no one bothers to vote, no one bothers to read their irrelevant news rag anymore, either.
Bait and switch. Correction. I need to proofread.
hey grud: go take a flying mount at a rolling fried pastry.
Tried to repost but it did not take. Sorry this is so far down below my original post. Here are the links.
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/26/141700018/tribes-question-foster-groups-power-and-influence
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/06/171310945/south-dakota-tribes-accuse-state-of-violating-indian-welfare-act
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/31/141872944/improving-foster-care-for-native-american-kids
You are correct Tim, the sad thing is that we all have to live with the consequences of those who voted for DD, MR, KN, and etc....
Yes I know Jeni, until we find an effective way to show people what republican policy is doing to them and also show them what liberal policy will do for them if they would just give us a try, and also field candidates willing to stand up for liberal values, then we are stuck with it.
I don't like it anymore than you do but don't know how to change it, other than letting the voters suffer with it for a while then try to make the point, and pound repubs with it every chance they give us.
Daugaard is the kind of guy who wants to get synergy out of his asinine priorities. Daugaard's nuclear waste dump will be staffed by minimum wage STEM graduates. Arrogance and stupidity don't make for a very promising 4 years.
Someone got on the news already to start the momentum against this minimum wage raise. They have a café west river and are anticipating shortening hours. They say that they have been preparing for this since it got put on the ballot months ago.
To look at the whole picture you have to remember that this is South Dakota. We are accustomed to droughts and recently had three years in a row with no drought at all in South Dakota and six years of good farm prices. In that time the small town economies did real well. Many got more cafe's now than they did six years ago. So if their town had drought this summer, and some have, then their farmers and ranchers are going to the café less. If they have less work and are not keeping their employees as busy then as good business people they should cut hours for the employees when there is less work. Blaming the minimum wage is not always accurate.
Roger, that sounds like the letter I received from my health insurance company informing me that the rates are going to be increased because of the ACA.
I received that letter well before any portion of the ACA was even implemented. It was just a handy excuse to use for the rate increase that was going to happen if the ACA did not exist.
Winter is fast approaching, there are much fewer tourists, and even loyal customers will make fewer trips to the cafe if there is a lot of snow and/or ice. Being open for fewer hours during the winter makes sense, the owner of the cafe is just using the minimum wage as a handy excuse.
Come spring and summer the cafe will be open longer in order to gain a profit from the the tourist, and the loyal customers start leaving the comfort of their homes.
Tim-there is a wealth of information from Clinton's presidency to show that minimum wage increase stimulates the economy and not cause job loss as Rethuglicans claimed.
OTOH,these anti-'murrican bastards have shown they will do anything possible to stall Obama's agenda,including shutting down the gubmint. I have no doubt they have colluded with insurance companies to ensure large rate increases as a self-fulfilling prophecy
When the petition to increase the minimum wage was first announced, the owner of B&G Milky way in Sioux Falls, was all up in arms, saying how it would hurt his business and how he could not afford to pay the increase.
When I was a kid and even into my adult years, I was a regular at B&G when there was only one store. It always closed in the winter, which is understandable, even though Dairy Queen does not. For years there was only one store and that was on West 12th St. Now there are 4 in SF and if I am not mistaken, a couple of other smaller towns near here have one.
I know that the original owner is no longer there, and I am not sure if this is a relative or not, but I will never eat there again. If the guy can take the winter off every year and expand his business, but cannot pay a decent wage, he does not need my business.
96 not a loaded question at all. Hildebrand talks the talk but does he walk the walk
Yes Mike I know, for more current info just look at any city or state that has had increased minimum wage for a while, booming economies, low unemployment and happier people all around are the norm in these places. The fear mongering republicans do on this issue has been debunked time and again, but the facts don't stop republicans from spewing it and low info voters from sucking it up.
I am reminded of a trip to the legislature with the state members of a national senior citizens organization for the annual legislative day. The agenda was a catered lunch in the Capitol with your legislators followed by time to observe both houses in session from the galleries.
The citizens had just soundly defeated a measure to lengthen the term limits because the legislators felt that the existing term limits weren't enough time to learn the workings of the legislature and assume leadership roles.
One of the house members rose in support of overriding the will of the people and made a statement to the effect that the ballot was too complicated and the voters were too stupid to understand it. I thought for a minute that one elderly gentleman was going to throw his walker over the gallery railing at the legislator.
I think we have too many people in the legislature that will push their own agenda regardless of the will of the people. I also believe that a legislator that can't learn the learn the workings of the legislature in eight years is a slow learner.
The minimum wage of $7.25 was not always the minimum wage. It was an increase from the previous minimum wage.
When the minimum wage was raised to $7.25 per hour, did all those horrible things that were predicted to happen, happen?
Old Guy, they all kinds of rules in place (most are not very public) that allows them to override the will of the people any time they deem us not smart enough to know what's good for us.
Mr. Pay, how many people will be employed by your Nuclear Waste Dump, deep in the heart of the piney ridge?
JeniW- http://www.dpc.senate.gov/dpcdoc.cfm?doc_name=fs-110-1-88
The min wage passed and evnetually alot of workers lost their jobs,but,the elephant in the room was the Bush recession and economy collapse that happened in 2008
It was 10 years previous when Dems were able to push a min wage bill through congress and Clinton signed it.
Didn't you read Cory's comments, Tim H? Hildebrand pays his workers above min wage, as of this year anyway, so he does 'walk the walk'.
Face it So Dak workers, your beloved Daugaard wants to keep SD workers at below living wage levels. It's unfortunate for SD families that work so hard to make ends meet. Oh, and back off on the tired ol' " the cost of living is so much cheaper in SD" mantra. Madvillers know that GOP talking point is not true and there are studies to prove it.
Why is it that aside from my friends Bill and Mr. C, most of the people here so terribly concerned about minimum wage don't even live in South Dakota? And I'm pretty sure Bill and Mr. C make a whole heck of a lot more than minimum wage. In fact, I submit there are your two most likely candidates for statewide office. They might even get a vote from me and some grudznick-approved signage put up.
grudz, I live in SD, my kids all left SD because they couldn't make a go of it here. The last time we visited the cost of living where they are is the same as here and taxes are cheaper, they also are able to make a good living and only have to work 40 hours a week to do it. Sure beats the 70 hours at two jobs they were working here and still qualified for food stamps.
Typical wingnut complaint,Gridz. Why do you outsiders care how festered and putrid wingnuts make South Dakota. It is not your business how we ruin things here.
Yeah,it is our business because whatever your side gets away with in Dakota will be repeated in other wingnut run disease centers and that epidemic must be stopped at all costs. Wingnuts are insaner than ebola.
Tim-in the comments section of Steve H's Facebook post he tells what he pays his workers. I don't remember the numbers, but remember that it is there--so check it out if you want to know.
Mike, you're from Iowa. 'nuff sedd.
Mike, SD has very few wing-nuts. You just have to look at the 3% Gordon Howie received. Our state is full of establishment Republicans that vote for the crony establishment.
grudz, I live on Canyon Lake Dr in Rapid City, still waiting on you to start calling me names. Come on buddy, don't let me down now, I'm sure you can come with some stupid excuse why the kids couldn't make it here but are having no trouble now that they are out of South Dakota's business friendly environment republicans are so proud of.
Tim, we're almost neighbors. Whaddya say on the way to work someday we give grudz a nice refreshing dunk in Rapid Creek one of these days. Clean up his act a little for at least a day.
Maybe in that little stretch of creek that runs through Old Storybook Island park. We could lure him in with some KFC milk gravy and a few tater tots.
http://livingwage.mit.edu
Maybe this is what we should be presenting to our legislators as part of their 'right to life' stance?
Mr. Tim, why would I want to call you names? You seem like a fine fellow.
Well grudz, that's what most republicans do when they can't refute facts, maybe you aren't like most republicans. I could have made a mistake about you.
Bill, I'd be up for that. Hahaha
It's OK, Mr. Tim. I predicted this a month ago...the gnashing of teeth and general lashing about. It's OK. I understand, I really do. I still think you are a pretty swell fellow, and this reaction is pretty much what was expected (from the general libbie masses, I mean.)
Mr. Fleming, you know that you and I agree that violence solves little. Nobody should be dunked in a creek let alone a man beyond your own years, sir. Plus, I can't swim.
Francis S- Update (3-24-14)
While the minimum wage sets an earnings threshold under which our society is not willing to let families slip, it fails to approximate the basic expenses of families in 2013.
If you think that our society is not willing to let families slip below minimum wage,you haven't been paying attention to how low whitey wingnut is prepared to push workers so the koch bros get more and more of Grudz gravy taters.
I've not heard anyone talk about repealing IM18. I have heard people talk about repealing the inflator portion of it, and even if it's Constitutional. My sense is it wouldn't have passed if it was made known clearly to voters it has an inflator on it. Most I know don't even know what the minimum wage is or care much if it goes up a bit. Id vote no to a repeal of 18, but I think a case can be made that a repeal of the inflator isn't a repeal of a minimum wage hike which the voters wanted. My view is it's not a big enough deal to revisit this one legislatively at this time. We have bigger fish to fry.
Rep Hickey, you don't think low wage earners deserve a annual raise?
The issue is whether the govt should mandate a raise. And in particular if an inflator in statute should make the decision for us even in future periods when the economy is in the tank. That's how Republicans are thinking about it.
We have 52 people on our payroll. I also want to give my longer term workers decent pay bumps. When making payroll is tight, I'd rather pay more to those with seniority than those who are just hired. We have cut benefits in the last two years and I hate it. But I'm happy we can employ so many. We give back in other ways and as we can.
I can point you to $13-$14 starting wage no skill jobs in my district. But the owners don't want to hire a meth problem or a low wage, unreliable, no work ethic, or entitlement mentality. I'm just reporting there what I've heard in the campaign trail from job creators in district 9.
wouldn't you think a guy with two hearing-impaired parents might have developed capacity for empathy? Seems that went the opposite way with DD. A related topic: I strongly suspect that disproportionate numbers of sociopaths (those incapable of empathy) are found in prison or politics.
FYI, until last year I went five years since my last raise and had benefits cut. I did this so other in my staff wouldn't feel the pinch and cuts. No, annual raises aren't rights. They are earned and to be given as possible. In my case my income went up during that cut back period because I have an entrepreneurial spirit and even though my day job wasn't sufficient, I cultuvated other income streams. And we cut spending (not counting kids in college).
Keeerist,if the gubmint don't mandate a raise,it will never happen and wingnuts would be good with that.
Forgive the typos- fat fingers on a small phone.
Remember, we can't let the missing class find themselves with too much change in their jeans pockets, it might make some holes.
Reverend Hickey, How is the economy in the tank, when Sioux Falls has full employment, there are help wanted signs from one end of town to the other, the stock market is through the roof, worth nearly three times as much as right after the President took office. THe only thing in the tank is workers pay. Go past the car lots in Sioux Falls. There are more new cars on the lot than anytime in history. With the "cash for clunkers" program that was used to bail out the car companies, the prices of used as well as new cars has escalated through the roof.
The new housing market must really be great considering all the new homes being built, and yet my landlord just notified us that our rent is going up 20 bucks a month at my apartment building. Of course, you legislators, have frozen the property tax on homeowners, (the main reason you can't pay teachers) but then you will probably put another sles tax on during this next session and that of course will hit those of us at the bottom one more time.
So repeal the minimum wage increase if you must, but be sure to tell the good Christians in your congregation, why you had to do it, but don't use the bad economy as an excuse, because that does not hold water.
Tim - FYI - on his FB post on this subject, Mr. Hilldebrand stated, in response to the same question by another "none-of-your business conservative" like yourself, his business' STARTING wages were $3-5 above minimum, depending on experience and position.
Steve Hickey - any of your employment at minimum wage? I suggest you give it a try for a year. Then you you'll have a better basis for the claim to actually be contributing to the benefit of others than having simply forgone a raise. Or are you worried your employer may not be willing to re-up? After all - you will have clearly demonstrated that "market forces" (your labor supply-side) don't require a higher wage.
Richard, I'm self-employed as many ministers are self-employed. We do have a few at minimum wage- part-time, high school girls. The increase is so slight we figured it would only add $2400 a year to our payroll.
Please don't assume I have no idea how it feels to be broke. I do know that what it takes to not be broke isn't a government mandate on the minimum wage.
Talk about sore winners. The Dems claim a win on 18 and wa wa wa. Good Lord. How about EB5 or child welfare.? I don't know of any family bread earners working for min wage. I'm sure there are some if not many. This annual increase guarantees no jobs for many who aren't worth $5/hr. 3-5 above minimum? Cheapskate.
Richard, I'll assume you are talking to the other Tim in this thread, I am the farthest thing from a conservative as you can be. If I thought you were referring to me, I would be insulted.
Should the government mandate a raise? Fair enough question.
Should the government have mandated safety guidelines? Employers having to follow mandated safety guidelines meant having to purchase necessary equipment.
Should the government have mandated laws that requires businesses to be accessible for individuals with disabilities, or if not feasible to alter the building, to make other arrangements?
Should the government mandated laws about the number of hours pilots can fly a commercial airplane, or the number of hours that truck drivers can drive?
Any of those "could and should" have been driven by the business owners, but they were not.
If all of these "government mandates" were left to business owners, this would be a very different and much more unsafe place to live and work.
So, what happened to Ebola and ISIS, I guess the democratic president took care of that once more as we have stopped hearing about how dangerous it is.
Election is over Jerry, repubs don't need them anymore.
JeniW makes the point I wanted to hear: the indexing isn't as much government mandating a raise as government establishing a minimum level of protection for workers' rights. IM18 doesn't mandate that no one go broke. It only ensures that those who go to work get a basic minimum wage proportionate to rising costs.
Who are "those" going to work, Cory? Data on our min wage workers? I voted for im18 but did not agree with a cola. I cannot find willing to learn and work at twice the min wage. Is this fuss about something real or just to find relevancy for the Dem party?
There are a lot of high school kids who will get a raise and make my burger cost more.
But those high school kids will sustain you in your senior years even better.
Les, if I may, what you are finding is what even Sibson knows, the 16 dollar and hour person you want, cannot make it on that. Not if they have any kind of standard of living they are trying to achieve or a family to raise or any of that other American dream bullshit.
It's interesting that the word "inflator" has been chosen to describe the part of the minimum wage that keeps it from stagnating, as has been the regular result in the past. "COLA - Cost of Living Adjustment", is perfectly accurate, but lacks the negative connotation of Inflator. Inflator doesn't sound earned. It has the ring of a false raise. COLA is something we all understand firsthand.
Gotta pay attention to the way Republicans begin their attack on ordinary South Dakotans. Word games aimed to injure.
Grudz, my friend. I think most of us Madizens who don't live in SD now, still care about the state.
Speaking only for myself, I'd still be in SD if it weren't for the extreme right wing Republican corruption. After nearly 50 years there, SD is in my blood. I will always be a South Dakotan at heart, in love with the high plains, the smell of good, fresh dirt, and the Black Hills.
I'd often like to give up on SD, but other than short, frustrated breaks, I have learned that I can't. I remember how SD has been. I remember a decent level of income and feeling economically safe. I remember believing that my state cared about me. I remember feeling a part of the success of my neighbors, community, county and state.
I want my home state, South Dakota, to be more whole again.
Grudz, no one is forcing you to get your hamburger cooked by a teen. Go to your local grocery store, buy some hamburger, and cook it yourself.
Mix in some gravy, then when it is hot enough for you, pour some of it on a slice of toast. and guess what you have.... "S*** on Shingles." LOL :)
"Inflator" Did ALEC come up with that?
Les, back in September, the SD Budget and Policy Project issued an analysis of minimum-wage issues in South Dakota. SDBPP calculated that 38,000 workers are making under $8.50 an hour. Those folks aren't getting money for doing nothing. They are working, surrendering their time and liberty to someone else. They deserve some basic compensation. That base should rise or fall with the conditions that determine that base.
In response to this blog post and Todd Epp's inquiry thereabout, Daugaard chief of staff Tony Venhuizen says, "The Governor does not believe the newly-passed initiated measure should be modified this session." So, if words mean something and logic holds, if Republican legislators try tinkering with the minimum wage, the Governor will defend the will of the people and veto any such bill, right?
i would guess out of 800,000+ citizens, there are easily at least 38,000 who aren't worth $5/hour, Cory. Obesity alone would eliminate the ability to work for that many in SD.
Get rid of those dreams Jer, Beaver is gone. I cannot begin to imagine how a young family can make ends meet, particularly in the unskilled side. I guess it is still better than my parents lives when a nickel bought so much. Why didn't you buy it dad? "Didn't have a nickel, son". I wonder how many of us alive can say we lived a winter on bacon fat and flour?
<blockquote
Among the 50 states, only North Dakota has seen a construction utilization rate of 100 percent or more, but several states near New Mexico — Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas — have rates above 90 percent, while New Mexico is around 70 percent. Other states with low rates are Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Washington.
Infrastructure spending is one of the drivers nationally for construction, with a growth of 9 percent expected in 2014, according to McGraw-Hill. But what happens nationally in the election might be a factor going forward as a divided Congress has had a difficult time finding consensus on new federal spending priorities.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/business/on-minimum-wage-local-officials-leading-way/article_4b515f86-e686-5a37-881f-872d2d8265d7.html
Let's apply Daugaard's free market stance across the board and not just to the minimum wage and future increases.
By all means, if we did do that the governor would have to eat his words. Corporate tax breaks, low interest business loans, Future Fund grants, etc. would all be removed from all businesses, how would that affect crony capitalism corruption, maybe it is a good idea the governor has, get government out of business and let the free market take care of it all, not just the minimum wage.
If Daugaard wants to be a free market guy, do it and quit cherry picking what is and isn't a part of that system. If Daugaard and other Republicans did just that, we probably wouldn't have the Rounds EB-5 scandal.
Les, you answered your own query about obesity. You said "I wonder how many of us alive can say we lived a winter on bacon fat and flour?" That is basically what obese people eat with commodities and the like. Your fool stamps only will go so far so you fill up on things that make you fat. I guess then the answer would be thousands and thousands of Americans.
bacn fat and flour for commodities, huh? There was no such thing as the obesity epidemic 30-40 years back. Those thing you fill yourself up on because food stamps only go so far? Ya mean like the carts full of potato chips and soda? Must be why I drink so much beer. Cool, I'm all better now.
Yep, that is what I am talking about. Potato chips, corn syrup, enriched corn syrup, ran through the sugar beet siphon added to corn syrup. The whole thing to go along with your no name corn syrup sugar cookies, will make an old guy's day.
30 to 40 years ago, we just died before that obesity thing could happen. Real food is expensive Les, try going down to the local and buying what you want for a week or so and you will see. Flour is one of the commodities you get as an old guy and you can stretch your meager rations with it just like they did in territory days when you were a pup. Who can go out on the porch and cut a hunk of bacon off your hanging porker to fry up for the drippings, certainly not poor people.
By the way Les, there is a pork chop in every beer you drink so your are getting all of your daily requirements, according to the Les calorie pyramid counting system, that you could possibly need.
Sometimes there is a steak in every three beers, Jer. Very occasionally I have a steak shrimp combo which is 5 beers. All homebrews I might add. Just close your eyes, Jer. As the little match girl taught me, it's all in your mind.
Les, please, Please, PLEASE tell me you don't believe the crap about Welfare Queens, the phrase Reagan used to start it all, or today's Welfare Bums driving SUVs and watching big screen tvs.
You really know better than that, right? Then there is more about poverty, obesity, and other issues connected to minimum wage we can discuss without taking cheap shots. Are you up for that?
Deb, please tell me how you pulled all that crap out of my words?
You answered my question Les. I'm very glad to hear that you regard those old tropes as "crap." Yes indeed, it certainly is.
You did not answer my question, Deb!
Easy Les. Take it easy. There is no fight here. Notice that I Never Said those were your thoughts or opinions. I asked you if they were, while hoping they were not.
Your 14:15 comment today is what made me wonder. You've cleared that up. In my opinion, it's over. We're done with that. Okay? Move on.
Obesity is as much as an eating disorder as anorexia is.
I wonder why it is not considered and treated as such?
IMO they both are mental disorders caused by depression.
It is JeniW. It's called Compulsive or Binge Eating Disorder.
Indeed both are mental health issues, but you will notice that instead of treating as a mental health issue, the "blame" is put on the fast food industry, processed food, what is sold in stores, school lunches, etc.
I do not take it any further from here as it is off topic, but I mentioned it because of the earlier comments.
BTW, there were people who were overweight and there were people who were obese "back in the good old days."
I would argue that this subject is on topic as it pertains to low wage earners and what they have to live with. The blame, in this case from me, was the fact that with food stamps some of the stuff that is not so good for you is the only thing you can afford to fill you up. Processed food is not so good for you as its name implies. Processed really means added crap that is harmful and not very nutritious. School lunches have to go with what they can afford to feed the kids, I will say that at least the Obama administration has had the courage to look into what the kids eat and gave it an F for not having enough nutrition values.
Back in the olden days, there were no diseases either and we all rode into the sunset with our sweeties.
yup, dr. jerry, agree with u.
38,000 aren't worth $5? b.s. that thinking projected raises children into addicts...food, drugs, beer...er booze ect. medical science could appropriately treat addictions ... if they were not such a good business model. welcome marijuana! bye bye health care.
The dr. is in leslie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHKjNd7qZQU
Wingnuts don't need to eat. Their base emotions-fear,hate,etc feed them.
Jerry, what a horrible way to start the day.
What a great link Jerry! Bill Paxton from "Big Love" - go figure.
Your litigious abilities are well represented by your last post leslie. I imagine you've had experience in what you're rambling on about?