October 28, 2013

The ugly way Sarah Palin turns down a cable news interview

Sarah Palin found a novel way to turn down an interview request from Piers Morgan on Friday, posting a picture on Facebook of a bear she had shot dead and a note saying she was busy.

The former Alaska governor thanked chat show host Morgan for inviting her on his 'shambolic show' but added she was 'kind of busy right now'.

The Facebook message, which had been liked by nearly 3,000 of Palin's supporters within two hours of it being posted, is part of an online spat between the pair after Morgan poked fun at her intellect.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2477047/Sarah-Palin-taunts-Piers-Morgan-picture-bear-shot-dead-posted-Facebook.html#ixzz2j0ztVzWo

October 20, 2013

This is just part of how tax payers subsidize the labor force of the 1%

Two studies released today make some different calculations to determine the total cost to American taxpayers of a large, low-wage workforce. It comes to an average of $7 billion a year. That’s the amount of annual public assistance families of fast-food workers received between 2007 and 2011, according to a new report written by economist Sylvia Allegretto and others, sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley’s Labor Center and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and funded by Fast Food Forward, the group that helped organize the summer’s labor strikes. The authors used publicly available data.

The report calls out the fast-food industry for its low wages, citing a median salary of $8.69 an hour and a history of offering part-time work. That might have been fine when those behind the counter were mostly teenagers living at home. These days, though, 68 percent of fast-food workers are single or married adults who aren’t in school—and 26 percent are raising children.



Source:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-15/mcdonalds-low-wages-come-with-a-7-billion-side-of-welfare


Retail giants like Walmart are no better.




Walmart in Wisconsin

The report begins:

“While employers like Wal-Mart seek to reap significant profits through the depression of labor costs, the social costs of this low-wage strategy are externalized. Low wages not only harm workers and their families—they cost taxpayers.”

How much? About $5,815 per employee, they say. The Democratic staff members analyzed data from Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, which released data on enrollment by employer as of the end of 2012. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) ranked first on the list, with 3,216 of its employees enrolled in Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, called BadgerCare+. The authors assume that the workers who are on Medicaid would also be receiving reduced-price school meals, housing assistance, and other help. They figure that at a single Supercenter in Wisconsin, the 300 or so employees would rely on public assistance programs that cost $904,542 a year.



Source:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-03/are-american-taxpayers-subsidizing-walmarts-low-wages

October 15, 2013

Is it too much to ask to have Chris Matthews do a "Live" show at 7pm?

First he had two great time slots at 5pm and 7pm for the same show. Then he gets bumped to 7pm only. And so now his show is taped? How much pull does the guy have? Who wrote his TV contract?


There have been several instances just since MSBC's new format began where Matthews show being taped has clearly hurt the network.

Today is one of them.

Tonight his show is completely irrelevant.


Why didn't he go live? With all of the talent at MSNBC, and with 3 networks in a heated cable news war, how does MSNBC justify having a taped show at 7pm?


I guess have to watch GOP wannabe Erin Burnett to get updated news. Her show is terrible. But while her news is bad. At least its not old.

I'm sure Alex Wagner (or somebody who actually wants to work at the network) could have filled in and done a good job.

I don't get it.