On Tuesday, April 4, 2006, Senator John McCain responded to calls from his audience for employers to "Pay a decent wage!" by implying that the men in his assembly would be unwilling to pick lettuce in Arizona even for $50/hour.To his surprise, the assembly of union workers immediately shouted their willingness to accept his offer.
The senator's comments are very much in line with the views of his Republican Party, whose members seem to enjoy the undisputed fact that, according to a New York Times article of August 23, 2007, Americans earned a smaller income in 2005, the fifth consecutive year that they had to make eds meet with less money than at the peak of the last economic expansion. As workers struggle to make mortgage and other payments with their rapidly declining income, the folks in the top two tenth of one percent of income earners are doing quite well. According to Tony Fratto in the White House's official statement, the fact of the serious problems faced by those in the lower income brackets "is not a very interesting story".
A few centuries ago, during the French Revolution, when told that French citizens were starving, because they had no bread, Marie Antoinette (see picture, above) supposedly blurted out: "Then let them eat cake!" Actually, she did NOT say that, but it makes for a good story. Despite her innocence, she was marched to the guillotine, where she lost her head! Unfortunately, Mr. Fratto cannot claim innocent ignorance, since we still have various live witnesses to his comments.
For the original McCain story, please click on the title of this posting!
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