Thursday, May 22, 2014

Then Reality Sets In!



By Jeff Simpson

One of the loudest whistles that our republican friends, especially those who have never spent a day in the private sector, like to blow is the over regulation dog whistle. Too many regulations are killing business and jobs.  

WASHINGTON -- During the 2012 presidential campaign, Wisconsin businessman Lance Johnson said President Barack Obama's workplace safety inspectors were burdening him and killing jobs with too much red tape.
"I've never been audited by more government agencies in my life than I have under Obama," Johnson, president of Johnson Brass & Machine Foundry Inc., in Saukville, Wisconsin, told The Wall Street Journal in a Nov. 2, 2012, campaign story.

Then reality sets in:


On Monday, Johnson's foundry was the site of a horrifying industrial accident.
As reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a "catastrophic failure" of machinery sprayed molten metal on workers, injuring eight and sending four of them to the hospital. According to a statement from Johnson issued Tuesday, the molten metal hit workers on their legs and backs. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
 According to OSHA records, Johnson's company was hit with proposed penalties of $9,638 for exposing workers to apparent hazards in 2011.

Say it with me.  "But wait, there's more.":

Another of their favorite things to do is override local ordinances they feel "hinder job creation"(yes its laughable but stick with me): 

 Gov. Scott Walker has signed a bill that prohibits local governments from passing ordinances guaranteeing workers’ paid sick and family leave…Walker, a Republican, says in a statement the bill removes another barrier to creating jobs.  

"This law removes another barrier in the road to creating 250,000 private sector jobs by 2015," Walker said. "Patchwork government mandates stifle job creation and economic opportunity. This law gives employers the flexibility they need to put people back to work and that makes Wisconsin a more attractive place to do business."

Heck even the JSonline editorial board was giddy over Scott Walker overturning this law.   

Milwaukee voters placed a risky bet in 2008 when they approved an ordinance requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave. Although on its face, the measure sounded good, the unintended consequences of this ordinance would deal a blow to job growth and economic development at a time when the city can ill afford it.
The state Legislature sent a bill to Gov. Scott Walker this week to correct that error. The governor said he is likely to sign it. He should do so.
The city ordinance could harm Milwaukee's reputation as a place to do business and could hurt the very people it is intended to help. In an economy struggling to gather steam, the cost of providing paid time off would likely come from fewer hours for part-time help and fewer jobs or expansions of the workforce for full-timers.
Beyond that, the ordinance would put Milwaukee on an island, isolated from its neighbors who would be perceived as more friendly toward business. Jobs desperately needed in Milwaukee could migrate elsewhere as a result. Do Milwaukee voters really want to see that happen?
Milwaukee voters approved the ordinance as a piece of direct legislation. In that binding referendum, 69% of voters said yes to requiring paid sick leave. But the referendum didn't spell out all the consequences. 
 I do not live in Milwaukee, but I am quite certain that the referendum did not spell out all of the consequences.  I doubt Ecoli, pneumonia or hepatitis was part of the referendum.

Then reality set in:


A sick employee in a Springfield, MO Red Robin restaurant may have inadvertently exposed thousands of customers to hepatitis A. CNN reported on Thursday that diners who ate at the restaurant between May 8 and May 16 are should contact the local health department for instructions.

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department held a news conference Wednesday that an estimated 5,000 people may have been affected.

OzarksFirst.com said that health department will open public clinics to test and process the public. However, anyone who is pregnant or immune suppressed, said officials, should go straight to their doctor.

Hepatitis A is a highly contagious viral illness that inflames the liver. It is most frequently transmitted through contaminated food and water.

Nothing says "open for business" like a preventable Hepatitis outbreak. 

 It is strange that the republicans, with the help of the Journal Sentinel, were able to get this "job killing obstacle" out of the way, yet still failed miserably at creating jobs.    


              



19 comments:

  1. I was still building tires in Iowa when Reagan got elected. A good friend was the chief investigator for OSHA in Iowa and the day after Reagan took office her boss called her in to his office and told her that she was not to do any more on-site inspections and that she shouldn't leave her office unless there had been a serious injury.

    One of her first on-site inspections was a fatality in a workplace owned by a virulently anti-OSHA Republican. The dead worker was his son.

    Nowadays, of course, no CEO's kid would be caught dead doing grunt labor in one of daddy's plants, so there really is no need for the pantywaists at OSHA to muck things up by slowing production with any pesky inspections.

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  2. what the hell does a restaurant in MO have anything to do with an ordinance in Milwaukee? Wow that is a reach.

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    1. OY! The small mindedness of our friends on the right never ceases to amaze me.

      I am certain that there is no way anyone in WI could have Hepatitis and go in to work when they should be home, because they can not afford to take a day off. I am also certain if said person did go to work and coughed all over your food, that there is no way in WI that anyone else would contract said disease.

      You are correct, there is no correlation.

      Delete
    2. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

      Hepatitis!

      Go walker!

      corey -- let's go out to a cheap diner together, one with a rabid tea baggin' owner!

      You know the type I mean, backed-up toilets, no soap or paper towels in the bathrooms, and only powdered creamer for your coffee!

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    3. if it takes an ordinance for someone with hep. to stay home from work, this world is in far more trouble than I fear. How about a little common sense..... Sorry, forgot where I was posting this.....

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    4. corry -- please join me with your human dung-stained hands and let's get some fried vittles and other finger food.

      You're gonna love hepatitis and its not just for breakfast anymore.

      You know, you teabaggers can get this when you flech too and if your sanitary habits are as bad as your critical thinking skills, you could get this when you teabag too (NOTE: it is a NOUN you know!)

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    5. everyone has the common sense to stay home from work when they have Hepatitis. However as the point of the piece points out then reality steps in and the need to pay their mortgage trumps.

      If only they were able to stay home when they were sick and still get paid thus saving the rest of the population.

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    6. "everyone has the common sense to stay home from work when they have Hepatitis"

      However low wage workers without adequate healthcare may not go to the doctor.

      Knowing that they are uninsured and have no paid sick time, they probably can't afford to call in sick, and can't afford to get medical help. So even if they would follow the doctor's orders if they knew they had Hep A, they didn't know.

      So I could see how this could be kind of a cognitive dissonance trap for your randian reject to figure out. "Free market sickens thousands and wastes medical dollars but we saved big money on cheap ass food..."

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  3. What has happened to this great state of Wisconsin? Rather, the Great Ole USofA? Satisfied to find like-minded folks here - sadly, too late. I moved here from Illinois to get away from the political madness only to find it creeped it's way up North. Just yesterday I decided to abandon a home that I cannot afford due to bubble property tax inflation and the insecurity of never knowing where those property taxes will go when my home of 7 years finally (if ever) gets back to it's initial value. I am off to a city/state that will at least allow me to flourish as I age instead of taxing and fining me to death. Keep up the great work guys! There are others out there who see it for what it is, and are more often accused of being nuts by the sheeple of this damned state we are in. Peace!

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    1. don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out? Illinois was better of without you and Wisconsin will be better off to.

      One lets scott walker teabagger to vote in november!

      Freeloaders like you never do well -- pay your fair share, moron!

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    2. I bet you're a real pleasant individual to be around. I voted Obama twice, moron. Nothing makes me love the human race more than anonymous internet trolls attacking their own kind rather than attacking the corporations and government that really deserve to be stood up to. Anonymous internet trolling is easier than standing up to the real issues in person, huh?

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  4. Isn't this a shame that we've all fallen into the mind set that if we just attack one another that will solve the problem. We elect individuals to make our lives better and if they don't do that then we should replace them rather than going at each other's throat. If we all turn up at the polls we can control our own destiny. Compromise might work but we no longer seem willing to find middle ground in todays politics. Maybe we should all dump our ideological talking points and let commonsense rule rather than money.

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    1. No - the real shame is that anyone thinks posting vague platitudes about "make our lives better", "common sense", and "middle ground".

      There is no middle ground with divide and conquer politicians nor is there a reason to compromise when elections are outright STOLEN!

      The bastards need to be called out and, if you don't have the stomach for it -- you are part of the problem.

      They've gerrymandered the state to the point where it will be virtually impossible to take back the legislative branch and they stole the governors office.

      They will disenfranchise as many as they can -- all for out-of-state interests.

      And you want to complain about civility!

      I call your BULLSHIT!

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    2. Well said, Anon 8:39. You do not negotiate with the WisGOPs in this day and age. They will go to any length they feel they can get away with it, and don't care what damage is done as long as they get money and power.

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    3. I completely agree with 8:39. One thing I'd like to add is that negotiating with sociopaths and compulsive liars seems to work for some, until they finally come to their senses.

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  5. Hey guys I'm on your side....I want Walker and his troops gone too but we need Burke or Vinehout to do that but I was told that getting into a pissing contests with skunks doesn't work. So let's get the message out to those voters that are uncommitted which is only a small % so we can take back Wisconsin. An angry attitude is great but let's not drive away voters either.

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    1. How about you quit telling people what to do and making proclaimations you can't back-up about voters.

      What part of THE RECALL ELECTION WAS STOLEN don't you get -- it does not matter how many we get out to vote if the process is not free, fair, open, transparent, and verifiable.

      There is no solution at the ballot box right now -- in fact -- the walker regime is illegitimate.

      Wisconsin's constitution is clear -- the power to govern comes from consent of the people. The people have not consented to be governed when elections are gerrymandered to be impossible to win and other races are outright stolen.

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    2. HA! that is good stuff anon @9:50. Stolen... awesome!

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    3. Scott Walker's sole purpose in life is maximizing campaign contributions. He owns the dump and run strategy. A career politician without any real business experience. Scott Walker is an emperor with no cloths.

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