H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y is all one can say about the minimum wage bill.  StarKist Tuna, a subsidiary of Del Monte, based in San Francisco, is exempt from the new increase:
The bill also extends for the first time the federal minimum wage to the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. However, it exempts American Samoa, another Pacific island territory that would become the only U.S. territory not subject to federal minimum-wage laws.
    One of the biggest opponents of the federal minimum wage in Samoa is StarKist Tuna, which owns one of the two packing plants that together employ more than 5,000 Samoans, or nearly 75 percent of the island’s work force. StarKist’s parent company, Del Monte Corp., has headquarters in San Francisco, which is represented by Mrs. Pelosi. The other plant belongs to California-based Chicken of the Sea.Â
This should not come as any big surprise. Pelosi touts organized labor, yet doesn’t have any unions involved in any of her businesses or investments.Â
  WHAT TIME IS IT? Â Â Â Â Â Â
On the site, she indicates that :
Friday, January 12 – Allow Negotiation for Lower Prescription Drug Costs Wednesday, January 17 – Cut Interest Rates on Student Loans Thursday, January 18 – End Subsidies for Big Oil and Invest in Renewable Energy Click here to view the schedule in a calendar format from the Office of the Majority Leader. Let’s see how this is looking…Stem Cell Research to be vetoed, therefore, nothing accomplished. Minimum wage exempt in San Francico, therefore, did not fulfill the goal. 9/11 Commission recommendations? The LA Times said it best:
Business as usual! others blogging: Gun Toting Liberal â„¢, Right Wing News, Sigmund, Carl and Alfred, Blogs for Bush, Don Surber and PoliPundit.com The Gun Toting Liberal / Gun Toting Liberal â„¢: Â House Speaker Pelosi’s “Tuna Exemption” :
John Hawkins / Right Wing News: Â “Sorry Charlie,” Nancy Says No Minimum Wage For You!
Matt Margolis / Blogs for Bush: Â Pelosi Knows Minimum Wage Is Bad For Businesses
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Tuesday, January 9 – Â
Note the MSM is not giving Pelosi the same complete “anal exam” that they gave Newt and Hastert. Pelosi is just your stereotypical Democrat porkbarrel tax and spender.
PCD- add to the above this post and it is nothing more than hypocricy
The hypocrisy, the lying, the corruption, and the disgrace of the Democrites is already apparent for all to see.
Remember when Klinton promised after his 1992 win the “most ethical administration ever”?
I agree the Republicans needed a good spanking for straying from core Conservative values. But the voters made a pact with the devil. To get the Republicans out they voted in something worse.
We need a couple more parties. Viable parties. Bring competition into the political arena. The two-card Monty we have now is clearly not working. Add my voice to that chorus.
Do some of your own research, please.
The article refers to a company based in California that has processing plants in American Samoa. She isn’t giving some special rate to some company running a sweatshop in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. Also, the plants in American Samoa would be subject to their local laws.
While I would be in favor of including American Samoa into the minimum wage law, it is not how that territory determines it minimum wage. It is actually determined by a multi-industry committee. Each industry has its own minimum wage set through the committee.
Here is the law relevant to the process which American Samoa uses: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode29/usc_sec_29_00000208—-000-.html
To save you the work, Puerto Rico sets their minimum wage equal to the federal rate, and the US Virgin Islands has a minimum wage that is higher than the federal rate.
Furthermore, the increase federal rate wouldn’t even apply to companies in California. Why? Because California’s minimum wage is already higher than the House approved $7.25. California’s current min wage is $7.50 and will be moving to $8.00 in 2008.
Hope this helps clarify the point. Next time be what a blogger should be, skeptical of the mainstream media, and do your own research.
Daniel,
The salient point is that Pelosi is not allowing amendments to the bill, yet she puts in an exemption benefiting her district, but not allowing other Reps to do likewise. Also,, how much campaign contributions did Pelosi get from these companies? Let’s ask all the questions of Pelosi that Liberals sneeringly ask about Haliburton, Big Oil, etc.
Is the picture above a picture of Pelosi? It must be about 25 years and 5 facelifts ago. have you seen her lately? They’ve pulled her facial skin so tight she has this permanent wide-eyed evil deer in the headlights look. Too funny.
PCD:
Look. Again, do some basic research before you go off stating “facts.”
First, reread the WashTimes article. It never says that Pelosi added amendments or her ADDING any benefits. Here is the story again for your reference.
Second, read the law that was passed by he house. Again, here is a link for your reference. The Act that passed is all of 1 page long? Are you kidding me? Any Republican who is bitching about it not applying to America Samoa either didn’t read a single page before voting on it, or their legislative aid staff is incompetent enough to not do the research if it was really important to them.
Third, as I stated in my original post, the minimum wage for the American Samoa islands has ALWAYS been done that way. As much as you want it to be some evil scheme by Speaker Pelosi, it just isn’t.
Furthermore, let me state here to avoid any unnecessary accusations of bias. While I am a Democrat, I have no naivety that stuff will get rammed through the Congress. Exemptions will probably be made at times, things will be added, but this is not an instance of that and you should all stop pretending it is as such. Also, please don’t complain about not being able to offer amendments. Those pitiful complaints fall on deaf ears.
I prefer how Boehner put it best: “What we really expect out of the Democrats is for them to treat us as they would liked to have been treated.”
Right.. the Reps. lost, they are going to be cut out of the system for the first few weeks as the Dems were for 12 years, and then life will go on. The vote was 315 to 116, and 54 republicans crossed the isle to approve it. Obviously, the bill wasn’t that bad.
Last, about the amount of money donated by Del Monte to Pelosi. I wasn’t able to come up with any. Some Del Monte employees donated to other Democrats in California, including Barbara Lee. But just as many, if not more, of Del Monte employees donated to Republicans in and around CA.
I used the FEC.gov data as my source. Pelosi’s page should be here.
Thanks for the comment.
Please respond if you have more to say! I enjoy the discussion.
4- What point of this don’t you understand: The bill also extends for the first time the federal minimum wage to the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. However, it exempts American Samoa, another Pacific island territory that would become the only U.S. territory not subject to federal minimum-wage laws.
I would suggest that next time you are skeptical, that you take the time to figure out why a region would be exempt and what strings were pulled to get it exempted from the new laws. If they were paying at or above the new minimum wage, why would they need exemption? MI just passed their own minimum wage laws that won’t be affected by this new law, just as California will not be effected, but a basic understanding of balance sheets leads one to conclude that the parent company depends on the cheap labor..where is the labor that is relevant to the profit margin? American Samoa…..
Peejz:
If that is the subjective logic you want to apply to the situation, that is fine. I just hope you applied the same logic to Republican Congresses.
Again, I am not saying that law making isn’t and won’t be a dirty business under the Democratic congress. Legislating is dirty business of side deals, favors, etc. That is how government works.
I am saying that you guys don’t really have a strong case here and you are making too big a deal out of this. You don’t even have evidence saying that Del Monte Corp gave 10,000 to her PAC or to DCCC. You are just tossing together disparate facts into a subjective reality and mixing it with your cool-aid as truth. The American Samoan Islands have had an exempt status since 1937 when the minimum wage was adopted(also not a Democratic Congress!! AND PRESIDENT!! Can’t blame that on Pelosi though, she wasn’t even alive). You guys are falling victim to the same wing-nuttery that you accuse liberals of.
Have fun tilting at windmills and mouthing stupid talking points that don’t hold any water (this time).
err.. also *note* a democratic congress and president
“You don’t even have evidence saying that Del Monte Corp gave 10,000 to her PAC or to DCCC. You are just tossing together disparate facts into a subjective reality and mixing it with your cool-aid as truth.”
Yeah, Peejz! Do you have a copy of the cancelled check? Hmmm??? A picture showing Pelosi stuffing money in her pockets as it is handed to her by the Del Monte lobbyist? The fact that she writes a special exemption into the bill for her District, after all the pontificating, means absolutely nothing! It is at most a pure coincidence, you see! At worst, an error, a mistake, an oversight! Yeah, that’s it, that’s the ticket!
These apologists never give up, do they?
NOBODY is buying your argument, Daniel.
The chronic cognitive dissonance that plagues you people is obviously affecting your logic.
“NOBODY is buying your argument, Daniel.”
That’s because most of you are hopless partiasn hacks.
I understand what happened…maybe you need to re-read his post slowly, if that’ll help.
13- or he is just slow:roll: Take your all the time you need re-reading it!
8- Actually, I never brought up an PAC money did I? As for this: You are just tossing together disparate facts into a subjective reality and mixing it with your cool-aid as truth. The American Samoan Islands have had an exempt status since 1937 when the minimum wage was adopted(also not a Democratic Congress!! AND PRESIDENT!! Can’t blame that on Pelosi though, she wasn’t even alive). You guys are falling victim to the same wing-nuttery that you accuse liberals of.
Hey Einstein, the other territories had exempt status as well..until yesterday, but the difference is that  one of the biggest opponents of the federal minimum wage in Samoa is StarKist Tuna, and Starkist Tuna has headquarters in SF!…Nice try at spinning..:roll:
And please, enough with the kool-aid..We don’t do kool-aid where I come from! We can afford pre-mixed beverages.
Raising the minimum wage is an economic disaster because it fails to account for one VERY important thing. Just because you’re paying someone more, doesn’t mean they are earning it. The amount of money that a company can afford to pay is in direct proportion to the amount of money that they have coming in. Try paying your bills with bad checks and see how far it gets you. Same thing applies to companies. I’ve had P&L responsibility for stores that I’ve managed and uncontrolled payroll reeks havoc on the bottom line. Last time I managed a store during a minimum wage increase, I was forced to cut hours to keep wages in line. It meant that my best employees got minimal raises while my less stellar ones got larger ones. I got chastised and eventually fired for insuring that my better employees stayed the same amount above minimum wage as they were before the increase. I also had a lot of disgruntled employees because they were no longer getting as many hours as they had before. It also meant that customers weren’t getting the service that had previously been the hallmark of my store because there were simply not enough employees to be able to wait on them all expeditiously. It also resulted in my store being targeted by a professional shoplifter on multiple occasions (we recognized him and had him arrested on the 3rd time he came in, unfortunately we were not able to recover our missing merchandise.)
For every dollar of increase in the minimum wage, the employer will need to pay $3 – 4 and revenues will need to increase $6-7 for the business to remain profitable. Unions do nothing to help the situation. Seeing as many union contracts are based on a percentage above and beyond minimum wage, any increase will have an even greater impact on union jobs which aren’t even minimum wage anyway. If a union contract requires an employer to pay 230% of minimum wage for a base apprentice, that means that for every dollar of minimum wage increase, the base union apprentice receives a $2.30 per hour increase. With the payscale for most unions being substantially higher than the minimum, any increase can be devastating to any union employer. If the contract requires the base pay to be 400% or more of the minimum wage (not hard to believe considering some payscales I’ve seen) the current increase in minimum wage will result in union employees receiving over $8.00 or more per hour. That is a pay increase of over $1200 PLUS benefits per month. Exactly how is an employer with 10 employees supposed to afford a monthly payroll increase in excess of $25000 a month. Will those 10 employees begin producing $25000 more worth of work a month? For those who don’t know, you can’t just hire the number of union employees you want for a construction job. The union business manager comes out to the job site and TELLS YOU how many of which pay scale that you are going to hire. I watched the Carpenters’ Union business manager walk into a FootLocker that was being remodeled in Philadelphia and demand to see the carpenter’s union card. After checking the card, the business manager demanded the blue prints, looked them over and informed the carpenter that he should’ve reported to the local hall BEFORE starting the job and that the job required 3 carpenters and that a journeyman and an apprentice would be there the following morning. After the business manager left, the carpenter was mad as hell because he was going to have to pay for the extra labor out of his bonus.
I fully expect this minimum wage increase to cause an increase in unemployment, an increase in the trade deficit, and also a general slowing in the economy. People on welfare aren’t capable of purchasing large ticket items, and they don’t produce anything.
If the Dems REALLY wanted to help the CITIZENS who elected them, they would be coming down like a ton of bricks on the illegal aliens who depress wages and illegally take many good paying jobs that citizens would be willing to do. The Illegal alien who carjacked three cars, shot at police, committed a home invasion, caused 3 car accidents, and then stabbed a sheriff’s deputy was earning $19/hour as a heavy equipment operator. Exactly how many CITIZENS would turn down $19/hour plus overtime? BTW He’s a multiply convicted felon who had been deported multiple times. Considering his sentence for his last rampage will keep him in prison until he’s at least 70, I doubt he’ll be sneaking back across the border. He was sentenced to 83 years so he won’t be eligible for parole anytime soon.
In addition to the Del Monte-San Francisco connection, there is a link between the company and another prominent Democrat: Following a 2002 business deal, about 75 percent of Del Monte stock is owned by shareholders of the H.J. Heinz Company – whose heirs include Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Massachusetts Democrat – and failed 2004 presidential candidate – Sen. John Kerry.
There is one thing to keep in mind about all of this. It really doesn’t matter what the House puts in the bill, it’s almost assuredly NOT going to come out of the Senate intact. Even conservative Democrats in the Senate are saying that unless it includes tax breaks for small businesses to help reduce the burden, they’re not going to support it. It seems that a few of them understand that when businesses fail, they don’t hire employees and then neither of them pay taxes. I read an interesting quote from Milton Friedman yesterday. It said “If you’ve cut tax rates and revenues are still going up, you haven’t cut them enough.” BTW the good word is that the Deficit is the lowest that it has been in 4 years. I guess having the highest tax REVENUES in history does actually bring it down. Funny thing about those tax breaks for the rich, they lead to JOBS for everyone else.
Who really benefits from earning minimum wage in the first place?
Teenagers?
Families with one sole breadwinner usually don’t rely on this income….do they?
Alot of older workers who pull in this minimum wage are doing this part time anyway.
I just don’t think minimum wage was ever intended to support a family and it shouldn’t.
I have known quite a few single mothers who only made minimum wage and because of that they also received help from the gov’t to help offset their expenses….free medical, food stamps, etc…..
I just don’t get it I guess..
Demoncraps mantra
We’ll tell you whats best for you and just what you should or should not know, and you all just SHUTUP and let us elitist decide for you. You don’t comply we’ll sic our marxist loving media on you.
Stop your whining! If the Republicans had their shit together Speaker Pelosi wouldn’t be where she is today.
The Democrats are going to stay in power until the Republicans get their act together.
I don’t like Speaker Pelosi. I can’t believe what you posted. What a bitch.
The Democrats didn’t come to power this time because they had a clear/good message. They came to power because the Republicans have lost their way.
“The Democrats didn’t come to power this time because they had a clear/good message.”
The “clear and good message” the Democratic Party won on was: We’re not them.
(“them” being the Republicans)
Seems to have worked, as the people clearly didn’t want “them” anymore.
The voters spoke loud and clear: They are ready for Liberalism and political correctness, and are ready to accept it in its entirety! It is now time to move America sharply to the Left, embracing Socialism, and yes, Communism! The voters clearly want it!
Us Liberals can now finally admit that plunging America into Socialism, then Communism, has been our objective all along! We can now freely admit it because the voters have accepted it, and signaled their desire!
All the seeming;ly absurd things we say, we do, we support, that you simple-minded right-wingers said never made any sense, had no logic. Of course they made sense, just not in the context you placed them. They make sense in the Liberal scheme of things, where everything is turned upside down. They are part of the Left agenda. It’s just that you never fully understood!
Leave it to NANCY NONSNENSE to favor her own home town of HANOI ON THE BAY and to think i once visted that place years ago but now i,ll never set foot in there ever again:mad:
“HANOI ON THE BAYâ€
Good one snowy egret!!!
“but now i,ll never set foot in there ever again”
Yesssssss!
Speaker Pelosi.
Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
“Speaker Pelosi.
Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
Ask me in two-four years. I’ll tell you then.
If she does a good job, I’ll give her full credit. But politicians are politicians, no matter if they are Republicans or Democrats so I highly doubt if it will.
“Speaker Pelosi.
Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
ONLY if she does what is expected in advancing the militant gay agenda! Frankly those of us in San Francisco couldn’t care less about tuna packers in Samoa or wherever the hell they process fish. We put Speaker Pelosi in Congress and now into her new position, and we demand she repay us for our support.
We want:
1. Legislation making the gay agenda national policy.
2. COMPLETE removal of any Xtian religious symbol, or any vestige of it at all from the public venue. It should only be discussed in private. Muslim ok though.
3. Gay marriage, subsidized by the Gov’t.
4. Tighten hate crime definition to include any spec, printed material, or electronic digital data that is disparaging, insulting, hurtful, or oppposed to the gay agenda.
5. Immediately opoen the doors to travel to/from Cuba (we want that fresh meat…mmm…)
Well that’s just for starters. After that we’ll get serious!
lame