BOBBY SCHILLING -- REGULAR GUY (AND NOT A GOP LACKEY!)

(Photo courtesy of WikiMedia.)

GOP ex-Rep. Bobby Schilling is seeking his old seat against Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos in Illinois' 17th District. In a recent radio interview, Schilling said:

"These increases, these are on our working poor, our middle class, hardworking taxpayers here across the United States of America. And now these folks are going to have to decide am I going to pay this premium or am I going to go buy some milk and groceries for the house. It's really getting tough for everyone. Everyone that I talk to, I don't hear them saying 'Hey, I'm doing great!'

And the folks that are living paycheck-to-paycheck, which is most Americans, including myself, is that, you know, this is not something that you want to be putting out when you've got a kid that wants to play sports or you want to take a trip for vacation. Instead, you've got to funnel your money over to Obamacare, which is something you might never have to use."

Keep in mind that Schilling earned $174,000 per year when he was in Congress. He has made $100,000 annually since he left Congress, too. 

And Schilling's no slouch in the assets department, with listed assets amounting to between $245,000 and $660,000, according to financial disclosure forms submitted by him. According to income statistics for the district in which he lives, the median income earned by potential constituents is $42,500 per year.

Yet Schilling feels justified in complaining about "Obamacare" to people who will be voting for, or against him, as if he's just one of the regular folks who struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis. I'd venture a guess: most of the people Schilling hopes to represent just WISH they had his problems.

Most of his constituents don't debate the pros and cons of whether they can afford to "take a trip for vacation." Most of his constituents don't get to go on vacation, though some may enjoy a "stay-cation." Many of the people living in Illinois' 17th District actually DO know what it's like to be forced to decide whether to buy milk and groceries, or to pay the electric bill in full this month. For Schilling to associate himself with the "working poor" is an affront to people who really work their asses off and yet still fail to breathe easy about money, even for a little while.

And what really gets my goat is the way that Schilling breaks with a common GOP theme to benefit himself -- the GOP clearly believes that the "working poor, our middle class" are among those categorized as "TAKERS." The working poor who need the subsidy provided by the ACA, those who receive food-stamps, those who get a tax break for EIC and who get a tax refund that exceeds the amount of taxes paid during the tax year are all lumped together under the tag "TAKERS."

In addition, after researching the question of whether Schilling is bionic or immortal (the answer is no, he is not), I find no evidence suggesting that his claim that Obamacare is "something you might never have to use" has any validity. MOST OF US WILL, IN FACT, HAVE TO USE THE DREADED OBAMACARE TO RECEIVE HEALTH CARE AT VARIOUS TIMES IN OUR LIVES. MOST OF US ACTUALLY FILL PRESCRIPTIONS, NEED BIRTH CONTROL, GET PREGNANT, HAVE KIDS WHO GET SICK, OR DEVELOP CANCER OR ASTHMA OR DIABETES, OR... well, the list goes on.

In fact, Schilling's representation of himself as a regular guy with regular concerns is most certainly the kind of act one puts on to deceive the voters, as he surely will continue to beat the GOP drum if he is elected. If elected, WHO WILL SCHILLING SUPPORT? WHY, SCHILLING AND THE GOP AND THE CORPORATE INTERESTS THAT THE PARTY LOVES SO MUCH, OF COURSE!

Why would anyone expect him to become a man of the people, when being a GOP tool has been such a gift to him?

WAGE THEFT "APPROVED" BY THE GOP ON 07/23/2014

(Photo courtesy of rocunited.org.)

WAGE THEFT IS ON THE RISE

IN AMERICA

According to a People’s World article posted 07/28/2014, wage theft is on the rise, but the GOP-run House Education and Workforce Committee chaired by Michigan Republican Tim Wahlberg is discouraging the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division from pursuing the claims made by workers and their lawyers. The GOP requested a report on the subject from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office, which indicates that the steep increase in claims results from more claims by lawyers.

The House Committee is urging the Wage and Hour Division to provide more in the way of “compliance assistance” to employers, rather than fining employers for their non-compliance with labor and wage laws.

The Wage and Hour Division enforces minimum wage laws, overtime pay laws and child labor laws. In 2009 an academic report on violations in the three largest cities in the U.S., New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, found a number of disturbing issues to be prevalent. A shocking 68% of the workers surveyed in the study reported having had their wages shorted in the week prior to the survey.

Other results included:

• More than 25% of workers surveyed were paid less than the legal minimum wage.
• 60% of those workers were paid at least $1.00 per hour less than the minimum wage.
• Nearly 25% of the workers surveyed either arrived early or stayed late, and 70% of those workers received no compensation for the extra work they performed.
• Among workers who earn the bulk of their pay in tips, 30% were paid less than the $2.13 per hour employers are required to pay them.
• One in eight tipped workers also reported that their tips were skimmed by their employer or supervisor, further reducing their income.
• The average worker who reported wage theft lost 18% of their pay, and most workers do not report the wage theft.
• 43% of workers who do report wage theft are retaliated against by employers.
• 75% of workers surveyed were shorted overtime pay.
• Most of the workers who reported wage theft were women.

In the following 12 job types, more than half of the workers surveyed reported being paid no overtime wages:

1. Child care, at 90.2%
2. Stock and office clerks, at 86%
3. Home health care workers, at 82.7%
4. Beauty, dry cleaning and general repair workers, at 81.9%
5. Car wash workers and parking attendants at 77.9%
6. Waiters, cafeteria workers and bartenders, at 77.9%
7. Retail salespeople, at 76.2%
8. Janitors and grounds workers, at 71.2%
9. Garment workers, at 69.9%
10. Cooks and dishwashers, at 67.8%
11. Construction workers, at 66.1%
12. Cashiers, at 58.8%

The House Committee decided on 07/23/2014 to ignore the data, instead focusing on the increasing numbers of lawsuits. The Committee seems to identify with employers who steal from employees much more than they empathize with the workers being stolen from, and ruled against improved enforcement efforts in favor of having the Department of Labor provide more help and guidance to employers about their responsibilities. This reasoning is in line with the former Bush administration’s response to the issue of wage theft, which would seem to suggest that improving guidance to employers has done nothing to stem the instance of wage theft since that political era.

The findings reported suggest the total dollar value of stolen wages amounts to more than $56.4 million per week in the cities of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles alone. Logical reflection on the enormity of the problem tells us that the practice of offering guidance to employers about how to stop stealing pay from employees isn’t working, and that more serious enforcement against thieving employers is necessary.

And the GOP shows us yet again that they don’t care about the working poor at all.