But don’t panic, Bush haters. Because this is the kind of compassionate fascism that many of you are cool with —promoted by elites in the best interest of the proles. From Craig C, via email:
Fascism is on the march in Maryland. The [anti-Bushites] are constantly throwing the word around and don’t even know what it means. Fascism is when the state allows the means of production to remain in private hands, but tells it how to operate. On the heels of a law requiring large businesses (read Wal-Mart) to use 8% of payroll for health care, or else pay it to the state, Annapolis is now considering a bill to make ALL businesses pay 4.5%….
Wow. Next thing you know, they’ll be taking away people’s homes to put up business parks in order to drive up tax revenue.
Of course, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I mean, part of that revenue will almost certainly make its way back into the community, and then everybody wins—not just those private property owners with their selfish desire for personal autonomy.
Plus, I hear such governance makes the trains runs on time.
Somebody should tell David Neiwert.
Or creating the 8 hour work day. I tell you, this thing ends in chaos.
Come on Jeff, you know fascist means anything to the right of Joe Lieberman.
TW: their, as in, don’t shoot until you see the whites of their lies.
Chaos, actus? Or Anarchy?
(h/t Ryan)
The realistic responses to expect from business might be so long and nice knowing you, or ok, but were going to downsize x number of workers to offset the cost.
But, hey, at least the politicians will have something to crow about come re-election time.
And really, so long as they keep steaming those crabs in Old Bay, what’s a little fascism?
But only Jeffersonian principles can create Tater Tots, actuse. You just remember that.
tw: Ketchup
Maybe if you’re flipping burgers. Me? I’ve put in 70 hour work weeks from time to time. Generally closer to 50 hours a week.
But hey, actus buddy, you know how to run my life better than me. Why don’t you tell my company that I am only required to work 40 hours and I’ll ask you for your financial report when they fire my ass.
Oh, and I do my job voluntarily, so the extra hours are fine with me. If I wanted to stick to a perfect 8 hour day (with the 1 hour mandatory lunch!), I’ll switch to something more menial and thrill at the life I can live off of minimum wage.
Speaking of the crabs, they are currently running a tv ad blitz asking people in the chesapeake bay area not to use fertilizer on their lawns to prevent it running off into the bay. The tagline?
Save the crabs. So we can eat them.
actuse sez: Everybody needs a solid, federally-mandated 40-hour workweek. With guaranteed benefits.
tw: Stand over by the window.
Let’s see…. seems to me that I am already a caretaker for the state. I am required to pay my employees a minimum wage, I pay for an insurance policy in case the have an accident at work, I maintian an insurance policy that will pay them unemployment if I fire them. (both state and federal)
France, 1968, redux.
Thanks to Allah
Yeah, maybe we in the US Army should unionize, so we can get to the same high standards as the Dutch Army has at home.
Hey, if the State is willing to subsidise my EPLI insurance to protect me from frivolous lawsuits (none yet, thank God), the currently 60% I now pay for all my employees health insurance, half the soc. security and medicare (not that they, or I will be able to use it when we retire), SEP program, worker’s comp, etc., 4.5% sounds darn reasonable. Where do i sign up?
tw: “costs”, you said it, bubba.
Jeff, I followed that link you added in the comments. Man, I am glad I am not a French car insurance agent…
Just think of it as a 4.5% tax on payroll, with a 100% tax credit for employee health insurance premiums paid. What’s so bad about that? Tax credits are good things.
How nice. Do you get overtime?
Why something so fascist as minimum wage?
Who is unsurprised that somwhere between the wachowski bros and the wall street journal op-ed pages, the ideas that there ought to be no leaders and that oppression and exploitation should be abolished got perverted?
Who is unsurprised that actus is—once more—spouting liberal dogma?
Well, I would think the obvious criticism is that I don’t rely on my employer to provide my homeowner’s or auto insurance, why should I rely on, or more appropriately, why should the employer be mandated a certain level of spending on healthcare or healthcare insurance. Healthcare is no more a condition of employment than is responsibility for one’s clothing, grooming, food, shelter or transportation, etc.
And sorry, no, just because a relic of WW II–subverting wage and price controls–introduced employer-paid health insurance, it is no reason to continue an absurd policy.
And my European doctor friend, who tells me of how (praise to the EU!) they’re now shutting down the ER on weekends, because it’s illegal to have doctors work too much. That should be our goal.
Turing: less. That’s what you get when you stifle competition and remove negative incentives… (Economics teacher talking…)
Um, dude, this is Maryland we’re talking about.
Actus has a job? Where are the child labor laws when we need them?
They’re busy being fascist.
No, but he knows someone that at one time knew someone that was related to someone that used to have a job. That would make him an expert.
The fascism of montgomery county soccer field malaise.
Nope. I get a fascist salary. I wear fascist casual clothes, drive a 1995 Fascist Jeep, and run my own fascist photography company on the fascist side.
You like tossing around the word “fascist”. It might help if you actually understood what that meant before you use it next time. Trust me, if you look in Websters you won’t find
fascist right wingers who disagree with the anonymous poster actus.
Using it like you do makes you look like you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Now, back to my point. I don’t work an 8 hour work day. I don’t know too many people who do. Even people who get paid hourly tend to work extra hours.
Me? I’m just happy people like actus are there to prevent me from working for what wages I am comfortable with. Heaven forbid liberals actually, you know, were liberal and honored people’s personal choices. But noooooo…. You can’t work a job for $4.00 if you wanted to, you’re not smart enough to look out for yourself. So we’ll make everyone pay a ‘minimum wage’ which increases the cost of everything around them which negates the minimum wage anyway.
But don’t let economic reality interfere with your little fantasy world there, assus.
Followed the Neiwert link, thanks, actus. I’ll be putting my notebook in the dishwasher now. Ew.
Craig C’s right; de jure private property but de facto state ownership is a perfectly acceptable definition of fascism. That’s what I learned in comparative systems, anyway.
There’s a Wal-Mart in Hunt Valley MD, and another one just up the road in Shrewsbury PA. They’re frequented by the same folks. I’ll be interested to see how this natural experiment plays out in employment patterns, prices, etc. My guess, based on a lot of years of experience with mandates around entry-level employment, is that employers under the mandate will simply hire older, more skilled, more productive employees to replace their current employees—so even in those cases where there isn’t a disemployment effect (and there generally will be one of those as well, depending on the size of the increased employment costs), there’s a riptide effect that changes the composition of the employed. This further disadvantages those already in danger of not reaching the first rung of the ladder. See wage, living.
Like anyone proposing such laws gives a damn. EITC is one of the most effective antipoverty tools we have, but it barely has any constituency in Washington; meanwhile, the minimum wage, which has terrible specificity and all sorts of adverse effects, has a huge cheering section. It’s all about the posturing.
Niewert’s so far over the top that he’s halfway down the other side.
Actus, I make a salary. Unlike most salaried people, I actually stand a chance of getting paid overtime, when approved, when I put myself in for it. Sometimes. With restrictions.
And it ain’t because (for the most part) that the company demands it of me, it’s because I’ve got a lot of work to do; work that I consider to be important; work that will not get done if I don’t do it. And I take pride in my work.
So, that’s one sample. Others might tell you different things.
Another probable result: Walmart, which as a corporation has made a real effort to hire senior citizens to perform non-physically draining jobs, will probably stop hiring those older people. The cost drain would be too much for WalMart to be subsidizing when the premium rates rise due to chronic old-age ailments.
So, the state will still be paying those same health costs but with no employment driven benefits.
Actus,
I know that you are politically 180 degrees away from the prevailing thought at PW, but you always have kept it civil (if a little snarky).
No other thoughts from me, just an observation.
Dude. did you see the post? It calls Maryland. MARYLAND! fascist.
What astounds me most is the leap to the private, assumptions—but more discussions—about job, school, upbringing and even genitals. Its something about that internet.
Heck Actus, you drive me up the wall, but I don’t think I have stooped to any of that you have described…and I would hope never to do so.
Or perhaps your insatiable need for attention no matter how low you have to go to get it…
QED
Is someone upbringing their genitals at private schools? Why can’t I get a job like that?
KNOW THY ENEMY WITHIN
They undermind America and support the enemy by allowing enemy POW’s civil trials
They undermind America and support the enemy by
exposing The NSA spying program to the world
They undermind America and support the enemy by allegding the President has acted above thw law
They undermind America and support the enemy by calling for all troops to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan
They undermind America and support the enemy by
their statements the war is illegal
They undermind America and support the enemy by
phony anti war protest that are used to further politcal party hate against the white house
They undermind America and support the enemy by
refusing to accept the people of Iraq and the democratic progress they have made
They undermind America and support the enemy by
calling for the impeachment of the President withoutlegal or constitutional grounds
They undermind America and support the enemy by
their own phony racist fear of Arab people running American ports
They undermind America and support the enemy by calling American troops terrorist ( John Kerry )
They undermind America and support the enemy by calling American troops Nazi’s ( Dick Durbin )
They undermind America and support the enemy by calling the war a failure
( every democrate in the house and senate )
They undermind America and support the enemy by speading fasle story’s of abuse of Musilm POW’s which resulted in riots more hate and 15 people dead
( American liberal bias media CNN The NY & LA Times )
its a disgrace that the greater danger lives in America
and the left has always been associated with anti american
Injustice – it would be nice if you had a passing familiarity with the English language.
What the hell is “undermind”?
Common sense would be a nice trait too, but there are some things that just can’t be taught.
When I was in high school I was a member of a debate team. The topic was “ideal national government”. Our team simply adopted fascism but did not reveal its historical name. We won. The other side was flabbergasted!!
BTW, defacto state control, dejure private ownership does not really describe fascism. It was more like a formalized dictatorship by interest groups which included labor IIRC.
Meet Amtrak.
If I were WalMart I’d just leave Maryland. The company makes $35 million per minute. They’d never even notice.
Otherwise, I wonder what Maryland will demand next?
And which states will now follow their lead? I guess their management didn’t learn anything from the goverment tobacco suit.
Is there a coherent thought there?
Nope.
“Even genitals”—sure; it takes two of em to go and f**k oneself.
actus –
Why are you so against personal ambition? Is it because youn have none, and feel a trifle guilty about it?
What’s the deal with you? If I feel like busting my hump to make a decent life for myself and my family, what percentage are YOU supposed to get for for pestering me and anyone else who believes in personal responsibility? It’s time to grow up, Mr. The Soviet Union showed the world just exactly where Socialism leads.
Some day you should visit the (ex) USSR, and find out just what Socialism has wrought on the people of the USSR. I gotta say, you are a beaut!
My favorite part of your philosophy (?) is how you think your intellect is so far above anyone who disagrees with you. What a bunch of stupid assholes, huh? Oh well. Their loss. Right?
<blockquote>
My favorite part of your philosophy (?) is how you think your intellect is so far above anyone who disagrees with you.
<blockquote>
QED, part deux