The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss
“The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, And Nothing But The Seuss.”
In celebration of Dr. Seuss’ 117th birthday week, here are some of my favorite excerpts from his works related to our Chamber activities, especially because his style illustrates optimism! And do we ever need that during this challenging pandemic!
“One fish two fish red fish blue fish” — “From near to far from here to there, funny things are everywhere…Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”
Think about the challenges we face in an uncertain economy with major budgetary decisions facing our state and nation. But- tomorrow is a new day and we must work together to tackle the issues and make some hard choices. We are grateful to those who will join us virtually on March 16 for Connecticut Business Day. Our strong voices will be heard. There is work to be done so stay in touch!
“Green Eggs and Ham” — “I am Sam… Sam I am … Sam! If you will let me be, I will try them. You will see … Say! I like green eggs and ham! I do! I like them, Sam-I-am!”
Think about some of the roadblocks. During this last year, we have witnessed your courage to step out of the box and so some things differently. Check out our website: www.nwctchamberofcommerce.org for the upcoming meetings and events. You’ll be sure to see that our programs and initiatives are addressing major issues and taking into account the different options we must evaluate to find solutions.
“Oh, the Thinks you can think!” – “Oh the THINKS you can think up if only you try! Think! Think and wonder. Wonder and think…There are so many THINKS a thinker can think!
Think of the future with COVID-19 in check. Who would have imagined a pandemic the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes? Our gratitude and appreciation to all of the first responders, caregivers, medical staff, creators of the vaccine, educators, and businesses who are maintaining a level of optimism that we will get through COVID-19.
“Oh, the Places You’ll Go! You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away!…You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest…Today is your day! Think of the “places” you’ll go with the Chamber. Zoom along with us!
WASHINGTON — The House approved a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill that was championed by President Joe Biden, the first step in providing another dose of aid to a weary nation as the measure now moves to a tense Senate.
“We have no time to waste,” Biden said at the White House after the House passage early Saturday. “We act now — decisively, quickly and boldly — we can finally get ahead of this virus. We can finally get our economy moving again. People in this country have suffered far too much for too long.”
The president’s vision for infusing cash across a struggling economy to individuals, businesses, schools, states and cities battered by COVID-19 passed on a near party-line 219-212 vote. That ships the bill to the Senate, where Democrats seem bent on resuscitating their minimum wage push and fights could erupt over state aid and other issues.
Democrats said that mass unemployment and the halfmillion American lives lost are causes to act despite nearly $4 trillion in aid already spent fighting the fallout from the disease. GOP lawmakers, they said, were out of step with a public that polling finds largely views the bill favorably.
“I am a happy camper tonight,“Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said Friday. “This is what America needs. Republicans, you ought to be a part of this. But if you’re not, we’re going without you.”
Republicans said the bill was too expensive and said too few education dollars would be spent quickly to immediately reopen schools. They said it was laden with gifts to Democratic constituencies like labor unions and funneled money to Democratic-run states they suggested didn’t need it because their budgets had bounced back.
“To my colleagues who say this bill is bold, I say it’s bloated,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “To those who say it’s urgent, I say it’s unfocused. To those who say it’s popular, I say it is entirely partisan.”
The overall relief bill would provide $1,400 payments to individuals, extend emergency unemployment benefits through August and increase tax credits for children and federal subsidies for health insurance.
It also provides billions for schools and colleges, state and local governments, COVID-19 vaccines and testing, renters, food producers and struggling industries like airlines, restaurants, bars and concert venues.
The battle is emerging as an early test of Biden’s ability to hold together his party’s fragile congressional majorities — just 10 votes in the House and an evenly divided 50-50 Senate.
At the same time, Democrats were trying to figure out how to assuage liberals who lost their top priority in a jarring Senate setback Thursday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., offered encouragement, calling a minimum wage increase “a financial necessity for our families, a great stimulus for our economy and a moral imperative for our country.” She said the House would “absolutely“approve a final version of the relief bill because of its widespread benefits, even if it lacked progressives’ treasured goal.
Progressives were demanding that the Senate press ahead anyway on the minimum wage increase, even if it meant changing that chamber’s rules and eliminating the filibuster, a tactic that requires 60 votes for a bill to move forward.
There comes a point when an argument against something becomes as tired and worn-out as a cheap suit that should be thrown away.
That is the way I feel about the ongoing argument against raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
It has gone beyond being ridiculous. It is downright shameful and disgraceful and I am wondering what country those opposed to it are living in, because it definitely is not America.
I am so sick of hearing how raising the limit would lead to the closing of thousands of small businesses across the nation and throw this nation into chaos.
Well, I have a message for all those small-business owners who are crying about paying their workers more money: stop your whining, pay the cost or close your doors.
And spare me the outrage.
I don’t believe welfare should be the answer for people who live in the land of opportunity and are working every day.
But the message has become, “welfare is good enough for them.”
I am not sure why these business owners feel people should work for these starvation wages so they can keep their doors open and be successful.
Because that is what raising the rate is all about.
The people who own these businesses wouldn’t work for that amount of money and they don’t expect their children to work for that amount — so who are they to insist that others do?
Over and over, lawmakers, lobbyists and politicians push that message of fear, which in my opinion is a redirect into a false narrative.
What lawmakers don’t talk about is who picks up the cost for these people who are not being paid a livable wage.
But we know the answer to that is you, me and every other taxpayer.
Yet, all we hear is raising the wage will lead to fewer jobs and fewer opportunities for low-income earners.
Let’s take a look at these “opportunities” and how ridiculous their argument stands against the realities of life.
Right now, the minimum wage in Connecticut is $12 per hour. That amounts to $480 for a 40-hour work week — and thousands of workers never reach those full-time hours.
Raise your hand if you think you can pay rent, utilities, phone and cable and feed your kids on that kind of income. Forget quality of life.
Even at $15 per hour, slated to go into effect in Connecticut in June 2023, some type of assistance will still come into play to help stretch that $31,200 annual earnings.
I think readers can figure out why, considering a two-bedroom apartment in 2020 will set a renter back at least $1,300 monthly.
So, somebody, please tell me why taxpayers should pick up the slack for business owners so they can keep their doors open?
I agree with the lawmaker from California who said on CNN “if you can’t afford vacation pay, you don’t have a viable business model.”
He couldn’t be more right.
I remember going to a Small Business Association seminar in Old Saybrook in the early 2000s. Like others there, I wondered what it would take to start my own business and keep it running.
We went over all the aspects of putting together a viable business plan, and what repeatedly was stressed was paying employees and, that no matter what, you had to have the money to pay wages.
Giving people raises and offering benefits is part of owning a business.
I am not sure when that changed, but I do know it can’t be blamed on the pandemic as the argument against raising wages goes back decades.
It is even more disturbing when you consider the type of work most minimum-wage earners do.
I think we all remember last April as the virus ravaged America, affecting food supplies and workers and sending people into a panic.
We were desperate as store shelves were empty and hourly employees were afraid to come to work as their co-workers fell victim to COVID-19.
I wonder how much having those workers return in force to keep shelves stocked was worth to the opposition then, so that they could feed their families.
I bet like everyone else, they were cheering for those workers.
Now, those same workers are not worth $15 an hour? Give me a break.
And it’s not only the food industry. The entire business community stands united to fight against supplying these workers with higher wages and better health benefits.
The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938. It was established to protect workers from abuses that had occurred during the Industrial Revolution a century before, as well as the Great Depression of the 1930s.
I guess that government protection ran out a long time ago when businesses decided there were so many people who needed jobs, employers could just throw people away and fill the slots.
And that is why in the year 2020, the federal minimum wage stands at just $7.25.
How ridiculous is that? I know many small businesses are suffering and teetering on the edge and no one wants them to close their doors. But this argument has grown stale because whether business has been good or bad, the hourly worker has always lost out.
I say if America’s capitalist system found a way to create a wealth gap that has become unimaginable, then it can find a way to raise pay and benefits and not throw the nation into chaos.
As far as I am concerned, there are only two solutions to this problem.
Wages? Pay the cost or shut your doors.
James Walker is the host of the podcast, Real talk, Real people. Listen at jameswalkermedia.com. He can be reached at 203-605-1859 or at realtalkrealpeoplect@gmail.com. @thelieonroars on Twitter