Sunday, September 18, 2005

Hastert: I Got Mine, Laddy

"The Coach" is characteristically mum regarding King George's illegal suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act, which will allow the government to pay less than the federal minimum wage -- that's been stalled at $5.15/hour for 8 years now -- to rebuild New Orleans.

It's not clear whether or not suspension of Davis-Bacon would clear the way for companies to eliminate overtime wages at the same time.

Some numbers to ponder:
Working 11 hours/day, six days each week (with no time off, no vacation days), a minimum wage worker could earn $17,675 in a year (assuming good health, survival, etc.). Minimum wage workers typically receive no pension benefit.

Heroes rebuilding NOLA will earn less.

Dennis Hastert has nine weeks of vacation each year, flies home from Washington every weekend to lounge around his 192-acre wooded estate (except this weekend, when he's in Scotland on our dime), and is paid $203,000/year. That's before you add in the folding money handed under the table by foreign nationals.

If Hastert were to retire at the end of next year (unlikely), he'll qualify for a $163,000/year pension.

Why does Dennis Hastert hate American workers?

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