Fish Heads

2007-10-29 - 11:39 a.m.

So. My weekend. Hope yours went well.

Saturday was the day of several homecoming dances, which meant a lot of employees took the night off - some of them without permission. I had a band gig that night, otherwise I would have worked a double shift and helped out. Unfortunately, by the time we finished and got everything broken down, I would have been there for the last five minutes of the night.

Sunday morning we worked on cleaning up (not too much - the crew did a great job Saturday night despite being really short-handed). When I got off work, Brin asked me if we could go to Target to pick up a couple things. So after a breather, we headed over to pick up what she needed.

Then we headed over to the Park. We got a good spot for the fireworks show, then headed over to Nemo (which we still hadn't been on). The line, again, looked like it would be a three-week wait. So we did Buzz, Star Tours, and Peter Pan.

Then I suggested we try Nemo again. It was 11:15, so I figured that a lot of the folks would be leaving/gone by that point. Turns out I was right - from end-of-line to getting in the sub was only about 20 minutes.

As for the ride itself, it's about 15 minutes long and uses some pretty cool tech to include the movie characters. They didn't put a static display of Nemo, Marlin, Dori, et al, and just have their fins move.

After that, the usual pretzel stop at Coke Corner on Main Street...and then home.

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John Edwards says he wants to fight wealth disparity if he's elected President.

Among other things he says "the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called 'College for Everyone.' "

Well, let's see. Federal underwriting of universal pre-kindergarten, more Section 8 housing, and government-funded college help. Who pays for all that? The taxpayers, of course.

And the minimum wage at $9.50? Who pays for that? Not the employers. EVERYBODY will pay for that...because the employers will pass on the cost. Every time the minimum wage goes up, prices go up. So raising the minimum wage doesn't help because it's a never-ending chase.

And what if an employer decided to cut costs by firing the people who aren't worth the $9.50? Then it REALLY doesn't help.

What's really interesting is that Edwards is a multi-millionaire himself. He was a lawyer, remember? If he's that sincere about fixing "wealth disparity", then he needs to give away some of his money. Half would be good.

Oh, wait...he worked for his money. And other rich folks don't.

Seems like a good time to re-post this item about how much them rich folks already pay in taxes.

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It's Monday, and Mark Steyn strikes again.

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Well, time for lunch. And then, work.

Be seeing you.

Smed - 2007-10-29 15:48:35 - http://smedindy.diaryland.com
I'd much rather have my tax dollars pay for that, pay for SCHIP, pay for Education, pay for science and the arts and culture, pay for things that HELP people instead of pork barrel earmarks, not to mention a ghastly and devastating war that was the result of inept foreign policy. And if you can't pay people a living wage, then you shouldn't be in business.

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Dave - 2007-10-29 16:15:39 -
A "living" wage is only that if prices DON'T GO UP. That's why it's such a joke - prices rise with the wage. Besides, 28% of MY hourly wage is taken out in taxes and my 401k before I ever see it. So $9.50/hr gross is $6.84/hr net. So why stop there? Wouldn't $20/hr be even better?

"Living wage" is also a misnomer, because what I make here in CA would be a living wage in, say, Alabama or Oklahoma. Since state tax rates vary widely (Nevada has no state income tax, for example) and state sales taxes vary (and are even applied differently), a federally mandated minimum wage is inherently unequal...unless you change the tax structure completely and install a flat tax. Like THAT will ever happen. The government likes our money too much.

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