What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?

[Sean Renaud]

You don't think that there'd not be many more jobs if the minimum wage was dropped significantly?

We're not talking about "living wages", we're talking about entry level wages. The unemployment rate amongst black city teenagers is huge, some report it to be over 50%. Lets address that. A teenager doesn't need "a living wage", just enough to make the experience worthwhile.

There are other benefits too, it allows the youth to learn work habits, experience some reponsibility, pay taxes, build positive working relationships (references) and earn a little spending money.

A side benefit is that these kids would also find something more constructive to do than the frequent problems that are associated with "idle hands."

The high levels of minimum wage reduce employment in this sector. I say reduce minimum wage.

You don't think the pay across the board would plummet if unemployment went down that way?

Frankly unemployment in an ideal world amongst teenagers is close to 100% the fact that it isn't really the problem needing addressing but lets look at your greater point.

Kids already learn work habits. It's called school where they should be. They don't learn about paying taxes. Most people never really "learn" about that because it's not handled by them. Once a year they get given back money from the government. I suppose you could try to argue that work references really matter much when you're talking low level employment.

Unemployment isn't that high and certainly hasn't been continually that high. Remember that 4.5 you always like to talk about under Bush? Guess what we had then? A minimum wage!

You haven't made a single point that shows that lowering the minimum wage is a good thing aside from possibly making the argument that society is better off if if 3 people have jobs at 2.50 an hour and live with their parents forever instead of 1 person making 7.50 and hour and moving out on his own albeit on government assistence while the other two figure something else out.

 

[busybody..]

A bad job's report and watch these guys squirm.....gotta love it

Hey YO

What is my former GF doing in your AV?

 

[RightField]

You don't think the pay across the board would plummet if unemployment went down that way?

Frankly unemployment in an ideal world amongst teenagers is close to 100% the fact that it isn't really the problem needing addressing but lets look at your greater point.

Kids already learn work habits. It's called school where they should be. They don't learn about paying taxes. Most people never really "learn" about that because it's not handled by them. Once a year they get given back money from the government. I suppose you could try to argue that work references really matter much when you're talking low level employment.

Unemployment isn't that high and certainly hasn't been continually that high. Remember that 4.5 you always like to talk about under Bush? Guess what we had then? A minimum wage!

You haven't made a single point that shows that lowering the minimum wage is a good thing aside from possibly making the argument that society is better off if if 3 people have jobs at 2.50 an hour and live with their parents forever instead of 1 person making 7.50 and hour and moving out on his own albeit on government assistence while the other two figure something else out.

Black males drop out of high school at alarming rates, higher than 50%. (http://www.urban.org/publications/410936.html) so there are quite a few who aren't learning good work habits in school. I'd venture to say that school is a lot different that work also and that good habits in both are important aspects of building a solid resume.

I'm not talking about "career" work. I'm talking about entry-level high school kid type jobs where you learn to take responsibility, be dependable, learn skills and build a good foundation for future work (references, etc). As is usually the case, as a person learns and becomes more valuable to the enterprise, pay increases so a low starting wage doesn't mean that the person is stuck at that level forever.

There is a big problem with black employment in America. I wish the liberal nostrums (liberal policies) actually worked and the employment problem had gotten fixed, but they don't work and the problem is now worse than it has been in a generation. (http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/07/black_unemployment.html). (note I'm referencing liberal sites, while I disagree with their recommendations, I note that the analysis of the problem is based on facts).

The differences in unemployment rates between African Americans and whites also hold across age groups. When employment prospects dry up, it becomes increasingly difficult for young people in particular to find employment, with many pushed out of the labor force. And once again, the unemployment rate of black youth was an astronomical 41.3 percent in the second quarter of 2011 compared to a still very high 22.3 percent for white youth.

(Note, the unemployment rate for black males is much higher than it is for black females which is why the combined rate for both is below 50%).

I think this is a desparate problem that has only gotten worse under Obama's leadership and I think we ought to have a national program to try to correct it. I already mentioned dropping the minimum wage as a starting point (for youth). School Choice is another program that would be a big benefit. I also think that we ought to get national leaders speaking out about the importance of school and working and against this devistating cycle of unwed teenagers having more children. I like that the welfare policy changes that Clinton and Gingrich made in '96 were good and I think we need some more of that kind of thinking to take the next step towards rectifying some of these problems. I don't think it requires another "big government" solution based on increased spending and rife with fraud and abuse, I think it requires more effort on everyone's part, and maybe some reprioritization of the existing spending patterns.

Please note that I'm a Republican and I recognize that in the upcoming election, if the Republicans get as much as 3% of the black vote, that would be amazing....so my thoughts and considerations aren't based on electioneering. rather I think that the current situation is abhorrent and a major concern area for the US and one that needs to be addressed.

 

[mercury14]

So a starting point to helping alleviate black unemployment is to eliminate the minimum wage? And get rid of Obamacare? Because jobs that families can't live on that provide no benefits will be good for the black community?

 

[RightField]

So a starting point to helping alleviate black unemployment is to eliminate the minimum wage? And get rid of Obamacare? Because jobs that families can't live on that provide no benefits will be good for the black community?

I think giving millions to you, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will solve all our problems.

 

[mercury14]

I think giving millions to you, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will solve all our problems.

Oh sorry, did you want to take back your comments then? Maybe encouraging bad jobs that foster poverty wasn't such a bright idea after all?

 

[Dribble]

Perhaps, all I know is they keep changing the numbers....same for housing. They get people excited, then they adjust the numbers again. I'm sick of it.

Granted, its an election year, but I'm tired of hearing about how horrible this economy is ....

but what does matter is no matter how you look at it, how it is calculated, whom does the calculating, all the trends are in the same direction. So in other words, if you listen to Beco...they are all wrong and the only people that are right are the ones writting the GOP blogs.

 

[unregistered]

 

[mercury14]

Priority number one, turn it into a good job report by the application of a truck load of bullshit.

Almost 900,000 jobs created in just four months!

The unemployment rate is at it's lowest point in over three years, regardless of what kind of figure you want to use.

New unemployment claims have been trending downward for quite a while and are now at a four year low. This measure is probably more significant than the unemployment rate itself


Keep trying to find that black lining on a silver cloud.

 

[unregistered]

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There was a time when teens paid fees to their employers, to learn a trade.

 

[unregistered]

 

[RightField]

Oh sorry, did you want to take back your comments then? Maybe encouraging bad jobs that foster poverty wasn't such a bright idea after all?

As opposed to what, the current Obama/Democrat policies that are keeping unemployment amongst young black males at around 50%?

 

[Sean Renaud]

As opposed to what, the current Obama/Democrat policies that are keeping unemployment amongst young black males at around 50%?

Yeah. What policies specifically are keeping unemployment amongst young black males around 50%? Please show me the specific policys and laws that have changed things.

 

[Dribble]

Yeah. What policies specifically are keeping unemployment amongst young black males around 50%? Please show me the specific policys and laws that have changed things.

Pulls up a chair and opens a beer...time to watch RightField disappear

 

[RightField]

Yeah. What policies specifically are keeping unemployment amongst young black males around 50%? Please show me the specific policys and laws that have changed things.

This is the factual result of democratic economic policy. That's the current state of affairs and the dems are in charge. There's a way to fix that, vote the dems out of the White House and the Senate and then we can try some new programs.

I wish Jack Kemp was still around. He was concerned about the plight of the cities and advocated for practical programs as opposed to the failed programs that the dems continue to support.

 

[RightField]

Pulls up a chair and opens a beer...time to watch RightField disappear

I actually have a job and other responsibilities and don't get to spend full time on lit....I'm one of the people who have to pay taxes so you guys don't have to worry about housing, food or medical coverage and have time to play on lit all day long.

 

[Dribble]

Pulls up a chair and opens a beer...time to watch RightField disappear

Well he isn't the brightest...he should have just not said anything.

 

[RightField]

I'm listening to a baseball game so I have a little bit of time now. Here's a few good reasons.

• The Democrats support the teacher's unions and their program that suborts the needs of the students to their own need for long term job protection and other union proirities. Is there any question that our most of our city schools are failing, particulary the ones that serve largely minority populations?
  
• They have added regulation upon regulation to make many areas untenable places of business for companies who leave to find friendlier locales...and take city jobs away with them.
  
• They add more and more taxes into city centers in a search for additional revenue to support the ever-larger welfare state....while chasing jobs away.
  
• Their welfare approach has fractured families and is part of the cause of the large and growing number of single-parent households in minority communities.

Walter Williams is passionate about these problems, he's a black economist from Virginia:

In “The State Against Blacks,” author Walter Williams persuasively argues that well-meaning Democrats have succeeded in accomplishing what their predecessors failed to achieve through slavery, Jim Crow laws and Dixiecrat opposition to civil rights legislation - the destruction of the African American family. With a history of paving roads to hell with the best of intentions, so-called progressives could not have inflicted more damage on urban minorities in the 1960s had it been their intention to do so. Thanks to ‘The War On Poverty,’ what had been lower levels of unemployment in black communities exploded to more than double those of whites. Illegitimate birth rates increased threefold as did the number of single parent households. Through a variety of dependence-inducing programs, the government supplanted fathers as the breadwinner. Grand bargains with education unions spawned damnable rates of illiteracy and unemployable skill sets. No less an individual than Barack Obama has continued this assault on human dignity with his opposition to education vouchers in D.C. while sending his own children to the Sidwell Friends School (Tuition $32,000 per child).

School choice options inarguably divert resources from public schools. But, at what cost? At its peak, the Philadelphia Archdiocese had an enrollment of 250,000 students. The figure is now 68,000. Where did those kids go? Into a failing public school system and onto the backs of taxpayers at two to three times the cost of a parochial education. Europeans make no distinction between public and private/parochial schools when it comes to public financing. The healthy competition produces students academically superior to our own at a lower cost - up to 40 percent lower.

Bottom line is that democrats have a lock on power in most cities and have made a ruin of most of them, particularly among minority communities and now they're trying to export their success with the inner cities to the rest of America.

 

[Beco]

So a starting point to helping alleviate black unemployment is to eliminate the minimum wage? And get rid of Obamacare? Because jobs that families can't live on that provide no benefits will be good for the black community?

At least Obama would be doing something for the black community....

 

[RightField]

At least Obama would be doing something for the black community....

lol....yes, I agree with you....and it will start showing results any day now soon.....soon.....soon.....

 

[Dribble]

I actually have a job and other responsibilities and don't get to spend full time on lit....I'm one of the people who have to pay taxes so you guys don't have to worry about housing, food or medical coverage and have time to play on lit all day long.

Once again you only demonstrate your stupidity.

 

[RightField]

Once again you only demonstrate your stupidity.

I know, how silly me to work hard and work lots of hours when I could just take it easy like you guys.

 

[Beco]

Hey YO

What is my former GF doing in your AV?

Former girlfriend huh? I just put up another photo of her! Enjoy!

 

[Dribble]

Yeah. What policies specifically are keeping unemployment amongst young black males around 50%? Please show me the specific policys and laws that have changed things.

I'm listening to a baseball game so I have a little bit of time now. Here's a few good reasons.

• The Democrats support the teacher's unions and their program that suborts the needs of the students to their own need for long term job protection and other union proirities. Is there any question that our most of our city schools are failing, particulary the ones that serve largely minority populations?
  
• They have added regulation upon regulation to make many areas untenable places of business for companies who leave to find friendlier locales...and take city jobs away with them.
  
• They add more and more taxes into city centers in a search for additional revenue to support the ever-larger welfare state....while chasing jobs away.
  
• Their welfare approach has fractured families and is part of the cause of the large and growing number of single-parent households in minority communities.

Walter Williams is passionate about these problems, he's a black economist from Virginia:



Bottom line is that democrats have a lock on power in most cities and have made a ruin of most of them, particularly among minority communities and now they're trying to export their success with the inner cities to the rest of America.

Care to try again? Read the question carefully.