Monday, October 13, 2014


Republican Senate Candidate and war profiteer Alan Weh has signaled the direction he would take as a U.S. Senator.  He was caught on tape at an Albuquerque Business gathering by saying, "so what?" to the dilemma of people making $4 an hour.  He doesn't think anyone under the age of 26 should get a minimum wage.  This is your modern day republican speaking in front of members of the Economic Forum in Albuquerque.  These are the supposed movers and shakers in our business community.  Except they have been sitting on their collective butts for years by protecting what they have rather than growing the economy in this state.  They are leaderless and bereft of ideas.  It hasn't always been like this with those folks, but something has happened to these once community minded people.  It is a very sad situation.

The whole question of a minimum wage hike in this country should get more attention, especially in New Mexico.  I remember my first job at a lumber yard back in 1963 provided me with a $1.25 an hour wage.  I lived on that for a summer before starting at the University.  I also earned minimum wage in my other jobs while in school and I got regular raises.  This was back when the income tax rates were high and the economy was booming and the local business leaders were good at what they did and were generous in giving resources to the community.

Gary King's campaign finally has some TV time purchased.  His  new ad is effective on the minimum wage and the Governor Martinez era meltdown of the economy here.  But, it probably is too little and too late to make a difference.


Anonymous said...

Weh's comments just elaborate the complete disconnect between the "haves" and "have nots." Unfortunately the "haves" completely control politics and "have nots" are losing hope. These are the seeds for social unrest and revolution.

Bubba Muntzer said...

It's interesting you mention the formerly high income tax rates. Their being lowered to practically nothing under Reaganomics, which is still the official policy of both parties, is one of the reasons the country is going to hell.

When income tax rates on corporations and personal income in the higher brackets were high, corporations and business owners had great incentive to plow money back into their businesses, and to pay it out in wages, because those were deductible expenses.

Now, because their income isn't taxed, the inventive is for them to drain every cent out of the business they can and take is as profit, which they do.

This not only leads to the current situation in which wages have been stagnant, inflation adjusted, since Reaganomics was adopted, but it changes the way they do business and even how they see themselves in relation their community, as Jim has alluded to.

Make no mistake, Reganomics -- cuts taxes on the rich, slash social services, attack the unions -- is official policy here and in Europe. It's sometimes called Neoliberalism or The Washington Consensus. Austerity. Structural adjustment. It's all the same thing. It's the condition for IMF and World Bank loans now. It's why the banks were bailed out but working people being foreclosed on were abandoned.

And that lost tax revenue, because businesses aren't paying near the taxes they used to, is why governments and schools and colleges are always in crises. We the people have to pay for all of it now, out of our still the same incomes.

So yes, business owners and the wealthy are the slackers in all this, the takers. They contribute nothing now in relative terms and yet use the infrastructure we provide to get ever wealthier.

And why aren't so-called Democratic elected officials saying this? Why aren't they doing something about it instead of aiding and abetting it?

People need to pressure Democrats to stop running around from photo op to photo op where they declare themselves to be "fighting hard for the middle class" and demand that they actually start doing it. They are not.

I challenge one of them to name a single bill they've introduced that does. They can point to things like getting money for a wildlife viewing area, which the vast majority of their constituents don't even know exists, but which their donors do.

Here's a web site that tracks press releases they've issued. This is the stuff they want you to know about. Just type their last name in the search box, or one of their last names.

Anonymous said...

Re King's TV ads: agree--too little and way too late!

Donald F Schiff said...

Way too little; way too late... at least for Gary King. However, it migh get some Democratic voters out to the polls, so we can save the NM House.

Anonymous said...

To Don Schiff: Your one of those Democrats that I heard abandoned King afer the primary and probably did not give him one thin dime or walk a single precinct for him even though your a State Central Committe member. The real question: Is the house really worth saving? Maybe Democrats really need to loose the house to remind them of what happens when they do not vote or support their own and Republicans take over! Two years of a Republican controlled house should be enough to shake Democrats to their senses and start voting again. Loosing a few top tier races should have the same effect, but 4 more years of damage will really destroy this state even more. I shutter to think that Robert Aragon has a real chance of beating Tim Keller, that Dunn just may pull off an upset over Ray Powell and that Maggie may loose to our fool of a Secretary of State.