CWFoster wrote:I suppose what the CEO of WalMart makes is between him, and the Board of Directors. they can fire him and hire someone at minimum wage if they so choose. .
I totally agree with you, on this matter. It is up to the board, what they pay their CEO. But my tax dollars should not have to subsidize the Walmart payroll, by providing food stamps, rental assistance, etc, to their employees. The low pay, and still having to be on government assistance, probably is part of the reason, some would rather just collect more money from the state, instead of working at Walmart, and still needing help to survive. I don't blame them. If all I was qualified to do was work at Walmart, and collect government cheese, I could easily see how someone would be tempted to blow off the job, and just collect the government cheese. At the same time, I don't want to subsidize, with my tax dollars, that lifestyle either.
I agree with you on your approach to getting health care costs down. Limiting malpractice awards, and allowing greater competition between companies, across state lines, would help a lot. Believe me, we are not that far apart in a lot of areas. I hate a bunch of the Obamacare law, but there are parts I agree with. I mean, setting a percentage of the premiums that a health insurance company must use in actual healthcare costs, or the customer gets a refund of some of the premium, is a good part.
I also agree, that drilling for oil, in the USA, would be good. In fact, there has been a 14% increase in the domestic production of oil, in the last 3 years. There has also been a 10% increase in the domestic production of natural gas, in the same time frame. As long as the drilling is done in a responsible way, I am all for it. But you can not deregulate oil and gas companies too far. I grew up in the south Arkansas oil fields. I saw what unregulated oil companies will do to the land. The devastation from the oil boom of the early 20th century was still evident in the 1970s when I was growing up. There are still salt water marshes, whose bottoms are made up of toxic sludge. Though much of the area has recovered now, I could still show you some dead areas.
I agree that we need to quit spending more than we take in, and that that is a large part of the equation when talking about reducing our national debt, but we will also have to increase funds, or the debt will never be paid off. Unfortunately, that will require raising some taxes. No doubt about it. That is not political, it is just a fiscal fact.
Believe me, I am no fan of the Democrats, but I am more angry at the Republican party, for professing to be something they are not. I used to vote party line Republican, but they no longer get my vote. I might vote Republican again, once their walk matches their talk. But until then I will continue to support 3rd party candidates. I believe that voting for the lesser of two evils, is still a vote for evil.
Just the way I believe, and I am not going to change.
Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)