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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFox Pundit: America Should Eliminate Minimum Wage Because Switzerland Doesn't Have One
Fox Pundit Asks If America Should Eliminate Minimum Wage Because Switzerland Doesn't Have One
By Heather February 22, 2014 9:45 am
Here's how host Brenda Buttner opened the show and the response from one of their regulars, Gary B. Smith:
SMITH: I know Brenda and before people on the left say My gosh, that heartless Gary Smith! How can you scrap the minimum wage? I went around and searched to see if any other developed country scrapped the minimum wage. In fact, Switzerland has no minimum wage.
Now look, it's interesting. Switzerland's unemployment rate is 3 percent, so you say, well, surely then they have a high poverty rate. No. Their poverty rate is less than half ours, at 7 percent. Ours is at about 16 percent. In fact, California, which has a higher than the $7 per hour minimum wage at $8 has a 23 percent unemployment rate.
And oh, by the way, Switzerland has the highest wealth per capita in the world. My god, if Switzerland can do it, doesn't it make sense that we should try it?
..............................
Of course no one bothered to mention that Switzerland and other countries that don't have a minimum wage don't have one because their labor unions and collective bargaining agreements contain minimum compensation clauses, so it's not needed.
more:
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/02/fox-pundit-asks-if-america-should
jsr
(7,712 posts)with a uniformly high standard of living and quality of life and universal health care.
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)It probably won't pass though.
Some Cantons (read: "states" already have one though and their rates put US rates to shame.
And yes you're absolutely right in pointing out the role of unions. the national minimal wage didn't come to a vote until now because of the (former) strength of our unions, which rendered the issue moot. But sadly that is changing / has changed.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)according to BLS.
Where does he get 23%???
starroute
(12,977 posts)Since that's what he was citing in the previous sentence.
perhaps using the "supplemental poverty measurement"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate
Walk away
(9,494 posts)for some reason you decide you would like to dabble at being homeless and hungry. Everyone has a decent home. The state takes care of it and all of your needs. You really don't need a minimum wage because you always have all of the housing, food, heat, transport and care that you need if you are a Swiss citizen.
However, if you are a lower paid guest worker you are not so lucky. The conditions aren't bad but you cannot stay any longer than seasonal needs require.
You can not become a Swiss Citizen unless you marry one and even then you may not have an easy time of it. It could take many years.
exboyfil
(17,865 posts)is part of the reason that our poor have a lower standard of living than Switzerland for example. It seems like a restrictive immigration policy is one way to protect your own citizens.
Walk away
(9,494 posts)I'm just telling you how it is.
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)I live in Switzerland (20+years). While it's true that it isn't easy, you can become a cotizen without marrying one. The issue here is that local communities VOTE on giving citizenship - honestly ask yourself how diverese the US would be if the people would have decided whom to make a citizen. Sad but true.
(I simplified the whole naturalization process, it's complicated, but the point is that you can't become a citizen if the community you live in doesn't give its ok (which happens at the ballots).
Walk away
(9,494 posts)even if you were born there and your parents weren't Swiss citizens. My friend Yvonne's mom was Swiss, her dad was Canadian and she was born in the U.S.. She married a Swiss Citizen and had two children in Switzerland. The kids had no problems but she had to go through a lengthy process even after living there off and on for 20 years.
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)There's no denying that Switzerland has a peculiar fear of "the other". One of the downsides of living in paradise...
justgamma
(3,667 posts)As a percentage of GDP, they probably don't come close to the US.
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)Still a huge fucking waste of money and time.
Sincerely, an officer of the Swiss Army
okaawhatever
(9,469 posts)Joke: Did you hear the French Army is making it's own version of the Swiss Army Knife? It has 5 different corkscrews and a
telescoping white flag.
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show used the same line of "reasoning" about Germany not having a minimum wage ... He, also, left out the fact that Germany has strong unionization and collective bargaining.
When the rest of the panel raised that point, he glibly said, "well, we have unions here ... people are choosing not to join them."
ProSense
(116,464 posts)By Stephan Faris
Marilola Wili braces her foot against the wall to pull open a vault door inside a former bank building in downtown Basel. In the darkness inside, 15 tons of coins glint like dragon treasure. Its something everybodys dreamed about, swimming in money, says Wili, a waitress and musician as well as a member of Generation Basic Income. Thats an activist group trying to persuade voters to amend Switzerlands constitution to guarantee every citizen a yearly income of 30,000 Swiss francs ($33,000)whether they work or not.
The vault is part publicity stunt, part fundraising effort. Switzerlands system of direct democracy offers anybody who can gather at least 100,000 signatures the chance to put a ballot initiative before the countrys voters. Wili and her comrades celebrated reaching that milestone in October by dumping 8 million coins, one for every Swiss resident, in front of the Parliament building in Bern. Wilis chief occupation these days is to find a buyer for the five-centime coins along with the vault in which theyre displayed, as a sort of art installation. Proceeds will fund a campaign to persuade voters to approve their initiative in a referendum that will be held in two or three years.
Unease about income inequality and concerns about out-of-control capitalism are rising even in Switzerland, a nation long regarded as a business-friendly bastionwelcoming even the most questionable forms of wealth. At $80,000 per year, Switzerlands income per capita is the third-highest in Europe after Luxembourg and Norway. But confidence in the economy was rocked at the beginning of the global financial crisis in 2008, when UBS (UBS), the nations largest bank, required a $60 billion government bailout. The anger and anxiety that led to demonstrations and riots in other countries have been channeled into a flurry of mostly populist referendums. We on the right havent been doing our job correctly, says Thomas Minder, a Swiss toothpaste manufacturer and politician. Because theres no self-regulation on the right, we basically punt the ball to the left. And maybe, sooner or later, one [goal] is going to get through.
Early last year, Swiss voters approved an initiative championed by Minder that gives shareholders a greater say over executive pay and bans signing bonuses and golden-parachute pay packages for departing executives. In November the Swiss rejected as too extreme a proposal to cap top salaries at 12 times that of a companys lowest-paid worker. This year, initiatives up for consideration include the introduction of a minimum wage of more than $24 an hour, a 20 percent estate and gift tax, and nationalization of basic health care.
- more -
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-16/inequality-fight-swiss-will-vote-on-minimum-income
Martin Eden
(12,878 posts)Healthcare in Switzerland is universal[2] and is regulated by the Swiss Federal Law on Health Insurance. Health insurance is compulsory for all persons residing in Switzerland (within three months of taking up residence or being born in the country).[
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Switzerland
Cirque du So-What
(25,998 posts)FAUX is in the business of cherry-picking factoids which support the conservative agenda while ignoring the rest.
Martin Eden
(12,878 posts)Picking apart Faux hypocrisy is easy pickins.
Cirque du So-What
(25,998 posts)the faithful lap it up like kittens at a saucerful of milk.
Martin Eden
(12,878 posts)Watching TV is a passive experience in which the viewer is a receptacle. If a person does not engage their critical thinking skills and supplement viewing with active learning, he or she is very susceptible to the kind of propaganda Faux dishes out.
Retrograde
(10,163 posts)Can we emulate that as well? What about universal male military service? National health care?
One reason unemployment is so low, I expect, is because Swiss policies on immigration and foreign workers are so harsh: unless you're born a Swiss citizen it's very hard to become one, and they didn't strike me as being the most welcoming to refugees.
one_voice
(20,043 posts)an example, how about their universal health care, education, homelessness (lack of), retirement, etc.
Hypocrites.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)Just out of curiosity, what the standards to become a political consultant and Fox News?
I ask because my cat horked up a hairball this morning, and I'm wondering if the hairball might have all the requisite qualifications.
Incitatus
(5,317 posts)It is overqualified.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)No, literally. It shit on the rug, too. Maybe an internship?
jmowreader
(50,566 posts)The ability to regurgitate RNC talking points from memory, a pleasant-sounding voice, arms that look great bare, and the ability to arrive at the studio three hours before work starts for indoctrination and makeup.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)HATE THEM.
THEY are the reason YOU don't get a raise.
See that person on food stamps?
HATE THEM.
THEY are the reason the government takes all of your money in taxes.
See that poor person in the waiting room at the doctor?
HATE THEM.
THEY are the reason we are losing our freedom.
See that billion dollar jet fighter?
LOVE IT.
THAT is what makes America #1.
U - S - A!!!
U - S - A!!!
U - S - A!!!
U - S - A!!!
U - S - A!!!
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)But if someone is so fucking stupid they can't put two and two together and realize that raising the minimum wage--and they must know someone in their family or friends who makes that--is good for everyone, then they can't be helped. They are just too stupid.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)They are against raising it because they think it should be EARNED, not GIVEN.
The are resentful over the idea that their coworker will get a raise too because their coworker isn't like them.
They hate EVERYONE that is not like them.
You know,...an ASSHOLE.
El_Johns
(1,805 posts)And none of them are assholes, just people like everywhere else.
We walk about 40 miles a week. One of us is 67 and supporting grandchildren. You try it.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)El_Johns
(1,805 posts)they are are being used.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)They're the ones that act like THEY should be the boss.
Kingofalldems
(38,493 posts)a lot of things, the minimum wage would be one. With enforceable contracts we may not need OSHA either. But the 1% would never allow this to happen.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)If our official languages were German, French, and Italian, we'd do pretty well too
Spirochete
(5,264 posts)I suppose they do, because they have those knives, but I'll bet 1. They don't spend near the percentage of money on it, and 2. This idiot doesn't advocate emulating the Swiss in that respect.
reACTIONary
(5,788 posts)... the Swiss have a very strong martial tradition. They have universal military service. I've heard stories (from my brother, an unreliable but none-the-less amusing source) of Swiss grannies being able to expertly handle military weapons.
An old Swiss army joke, supposedly a real incident that occurred in 1912:
One of the Swiss Army Divisions was holding maneuvers, and the German Kaiser and his staff attended. There were dress parades with the Kaiser and the Swiss President. The Kaiser was told that in Switzerland, they had 100,000 marksman. He asked what they would do if the Prussians sent 200,000 men. The answer: We would each have to shoot twice!
catbyte
(34,478 posts)Cherry picking as usual.