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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw

Omega, no matter what Jay's opinions are, you're the one losing respect when you start calling names.

"Omega, he is still recovering because he still has to fight the urges he has, even though it has been years since he did the hard-core drugs."

We're talking about BUSH, here? GEORGE W. Bush, governer of Texas, son of George H.W. Bush? It's about the only thing that fits your posts, but I'm still kinda surprised. There is absolutely NO evidence that he ever used drugs. There are no WITNESSES to him using drugs. Heck, no one ever even made a real accusation. It's just something the media cooked up to try and destroy him. Not that it matters, as polls show that most people couldn't care less if he (or Gore, for that matter) had used drugs thirty years ago or not.

Tom:

"Well, even if Texas was dead last in most of those categories, I wouldn't consider it anything but a failure if in eight years Bush couldn't get them any better than a whole pile of 48ths and 47ths."

Never use numbers that are dependant upon other, unknown variables to make a point. It doesn't follow that just because the state is in 47th RELATIVE to the other states, that it hasn't improved all that much.

And I think he's only been governer since '94.

Ziyal:

"McDonald's still needs so many burger-flippers and cashiers. We'd more likely get a price increase."

Not if the owner of that particular franchise couldn't afford the increased wages (a dollar an hour for twenty people really adds up). Then he'd more likely close the establishment, and you'd all be out of a job.

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw

Couple points of order:

1. In a union of 50 states, SOMEBODY has to be first, and somebody HAS to be last. It's a false example, like saying "AIEE! 50% of students scored below average!!" Yeah, and the other 50% above. That's what averages are.

So, a ranking means very little if the spread isn't much. If the top salary is, say, 34K, and the lowest salary is 32K, that's only a difference of 2K.

So what's the spread?

2: I don't know about other places, but the library I work at pays its staff a certain percentage above minimum wage, in order to remain competitive. Now, in some organizations, that may be just great. But in a place on a pretty-much-fixed budget, a raise in one area necessarily requires a drop in some other area.

And since minimum wage STILL isn't the same as a living wage, raising it really doesn't have much of an effect on anybody's quality of life, outside of students with no other source of support, anyway.

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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master

And it's nice, because it means you actually have a chance of getting one day a week off.

quote:

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I respond with the statement that they do no such thing, in that jobs are simply eliminated to make up for the increased pay. Your answer is...?

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I disagree.

quote:

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Not if the owner of that particular franchise couldn't afford the increased wages (a dollar an hour for twenty people really adds up). Then he'd more likely close the establishment, and you'd all be out of a job.

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Bold pronouncement. And if there is still a profit, albeit a smaller one, in it the selling of burgers to Lower Schmoeville residents? Owner person just up and quits? Bad business move that.
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Oh, fiddle faddle, everyone knows that our mutants have flippers. Oops, I've said too much.....
~C. Montgomery Burns

And George II has probably vaccumed enough blow to keep an entire Real World cast high for months. Well, maybe not Hawaii.

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Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.
--
Ambrose Bierce
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Read chapter one of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! It's useless to struggle.

"I disagree."

*L*

OK, WHY do you disagree?

"And if there is still a profit, albeit a smaller one, in it the selling of burgers to Lower Schmoeville residents? Owner person just up and quits?"

OK, let's see here. Say that a McDonalds has ten people working at any given time (just a nice, round number). These places are probably open eighteen hours a day. So that's $180 less profit per day, assuming a $1 per hour wage increase. That works out to $63,000 a year. Just for the sake of argument, let's say fifty thousand. Now, these places operate on budgets. Where's that money going to come from? There aren't going to be that many unbudgeted dollars.

Hypothetical train of thought of a fast food franchise owner: "So I need fifty grand. Where am I going to get that out of the budget? Maybe we can forget getting that intercom that actually makes voices intelligable. We don't HAVE to pave the parking lot, do we? No, I guess we really do. Well, we could always fire a couple people. That'd make up for most of the losses. Oh, wait, we're running with a minimal staff as it is. I suppose I could raise prices, but then I'd do less business, and I'd be right back where I started. I could take it out of my own salary, but then I'd be better off selling the land to those people that want to build condos, and going back to whatever I was doing before. I'd be making less money here than I would be there."

Under any circumstances, jobs are eliminated. This leads to more of that "economic stratification" you're so worried about. Two classes: those that have the well-paying part time jobs, and those that don't have a job at alll; instead of a larger, combined class of those that have a reasonable-paying part time job.

Sol:

"And George II has probably vaccumed enough blow to keep an entire Real World cast high for months."

And again, your evidence being?

And he's not George II, or George Jr. Funny thing, how the media keep calling him "Jr." when he's not a junior, and his opponent IS "Albert Arnold Gore, Jr."

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw

His daddy's Georgie...he's a Georgie...it seems to me like he's a jun'r...

Who does care if George snorted a bit in his time? It means nothing.

You da bomb.

Omega:

As for my non agreement, you have given me no reason to agree. You get to do the digging this time...and I get to stand on the sidelines and snipe.

quote:

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There aren't going to be that many unbudgeted dollars.

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Your evidence being?

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Oh, fiddle faddle, everyone knows that our mutants have flippers. Oops, I've said too much.....
~C. Montgomery Burns