Richard Moore
I actually read part of Richard Moore’s little speech to the NCCBI in the Winston-Salem Journal. It turns out he’s not quite the towering populist I thought when I read Gary’s blog.
There are a lot of good arguments that can be made for increasing the minimum wage. Here’s what Mr. Moore told the NCCBI according to the Journal: “ ‘Businesses actually start to do better when consumers have more money in their pockets,’ he said, adding that Lee Scott, the chief executive of Wal-Mart, supports an increase.”
That’s called ‘pandering.’ This towering populist spokesman for the little man appealed to those NCCBI businessmen by telling them to support increasing the minimum wage because it would make them rich. Follow the logic: if your business pays minimum wage workers more, then they’ll turn right around and spend it and you’ll get it back – or maybe, as Mr. Scott of Wal-Mart must figure, he’ll get it back.
This is what passes for reasonable debate in politics today.
Mr. Moore wasn’t done. He also said: “If your competition pays only the base minimum (wage), their employees are almost forced to use public programs paid for by your tax dollars to get by. You are subsidizing your competitor’s business.”
More pandering.
Now he’s telling businessmen to support the minimum wage increase to shaft their competitors. I wonder where Richard Moore stands on the millions in ‘incentives’ the state has given corporations like RJ Reynolds and Merck Pharmaceuticals and Dell Computers? The last time I heard he was okay with that. But isn’t that taking tax money from one business to subsidize another?
He still wasn’t done. He said we need the minimum wage increase because ‘our morals demand it.’ That sounds pretty good. Until you consider that Mr. Moore probably came to moral enlightenment through a pretty unusual medium: politics. There’s a big debate going on among Democrats today about how to out-moral the Republicans in the next election. Mr. Moore has jumped right on board and discovered politically useful morals in a big way.
Here’s a prediction: However much Mr. Moore comes out for raising the minimum wage the other so-called ‘blue-chip’ Democrat candidate for Governor, Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue, will be for more. That’ll make her more populist and more moral.
And as for all that money Mr. Moore and Mrs. Perdue are raising – millions compared to the Republicans’ pittance of thousands – that would come to a grinding halt if the legislature ever passes a bill to stop lobbyists and state contractors from giving to politicians. If you took all the money Mr. Moore has received from lobbyists and state contractors and state appointees out of his campaign fund how much would he have left?
Richard Moore
I actually read part of Richard Moore’s little speech to the NCCBI in the Winston-Salem Journal. It turns out he’s not quite the towering populist I thought when I read Gary’s blog.
There are a lot of good arguments that can be made for increasing the minimum wage. Here’s what Mr. Moore told the NCCBI according to the Journal: “ ‘Businesses actually start to do better when consumers have more money in their pockets,’ he said, adding that Lee Scott, the chief executive of Wal-Mart, supports an increase.”
That’s called ‘pandering.’ This towering populist spokesman for the little man appealed to those NCCBI businessmen by telling them to support increasing the minimum wage because it would make them rich. Follow the logic: if your business pays minimum wage workers more, then they’ll turn right around and spend it and you’ll get it back – or maybe, as Mr. Scott of Wal-Mart must figure, he’ll get it back.
This is what passes for reasonable debate in politics today.
Mr. Moore wasn’t done. He also said: “If your competition pays only the base minimum (wage), their employees are almost forced to use public programs paid for by your tax dollars to get by. You are subsidizing your competitor’s business.”
More pandering.
Now he’s telling businessmen to support the minimum wage increase to shaft their competitors. I wonder where Richard Moore stands on the millions in ‘incentives’ the state has given corporations like RJ Reynolds and Merck Pharmaceuticals and Dell Computers? The last time I heard he was okay with that. But isn’t that taking tax money from one business to subsidize another?
He still wasn’t done. He said we need the minimum wage increase because ‘our morals demand it.’ That sounds pretty good. Until you consider that Mr. Moore probably came to moral enlightenment through a pretty unusual medium: politics. There’s a big debate going on among Democrats today about how to out-moral the Republicans in the next election. Mr. Moore has jumped right on board and discovered politically useful morals in a big way.
Here’s a prediction: However much Mr. Moore comes out for raising the minimum wage the other so-called ‘blue-chip’ Democrat candidate for Governor, Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue, will be for more. That’ll make her more populist and more moral.
And as for all that money Mr. Moore and Mrs. Perdue are raising – millions compared to the Republicans’ pittance of thousands – that would come to a grinding halt if the legislature ever passes a bill to stop lobbyists and state contractors from giving to politicians. If you took all the money Mr. Moore has received from lobbyists and state contractors and state appointees out of his campaign fund how much would he have left?