It smells like fish (or the $35.8 million government gift to Del Monte)

[Drakonix]

Democrats have been pounding that they will be "the most ethical Congress".

Among the promises, they promised to raise the federal minimum wage - and they are. Such a bill was recently passed in the House on January 10, 2007.

However, there is an interesting exception to the new minimum wage law. For the first time, the new federal minimum wage extends to the American territory of the Mariana Islands. But the new law exempts one American Territory - American Samoa.

Hmmm. The new minimum wage law applies everywhere in the United States, except American Samoa.

There is an apparent glaring reason why this was done.

One of the biggest opponents of the federal minimum wage is Starkist Tuna, which operates two packing plants in American Samoa. The packing plants employ a total of more than 5000 Samoans.

Starkist Tuna's parent company, Del Monte Corporation, is headquartered in San Francisco, California - Congresswoman (and brand new Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi's area.

According to the Del Monte Corporation web site:
( http://www.delmonte.com/Company/AboutUs/Profile.asp )
the company's annual sales are over $3 billion.

Many lawmakers have stated that the exception to the new minimum wage rate for American Samoa was not disclosed to Congress before the bill was voted on in the House.

Congress: SHAME ON YOU for putting the rosey ramrod to a small group of distant Americans in exchange for a commercial interest. Singling out the Samoans like that is immoral.

The "most ethical Congress"? NOT!

Sorry, Charlie. I don't buy Del Monte.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/...0720-2734r.htm

Notes:

The $35.8 million is my figure and is a rough approximation if increased costs to an employer of raising wages from $5.10 per hour to $7.25 per hour, including approximated increases in payroll taxes and benefits. I'm feeling somewhat off today, so I hope I didn't bork the figures.

Statutory minimum wage increase is from $5.10 per hour to $7.25 per hour = raise of $2.15 per hour (at maximum).

In a standard work year there are 52 weeks of 40 hours each (52 * 40) = 2080 hours

(2080 hours * $2.15) = increase of $4,472.00 per year per employee
$4472 per year * 1.6 to allow for increased payroll taxes & benefits = $7155.20/year/employee. The X 1.6 figure is a standard approximation for costs of employees to employers in order to account for payroll taxes and costs of benefits.

Starkist Tuna (Del Monte Corporation) operates two packing plants in American Samoa that employ approximately 5000 Samoans.

Total annual cost for increased wages at $7.25 per hour (wage at conclusion of increases) for 5000 employees, including increases in payroll taxes and benefits is approximately ($7155.20 * 5000) = $35,776,000.00


Loss of revenue to government:

$4,472.00 per year * 5000 employees = $22,360,00.00 (approximately) in increased wages

$22,360,000.00 * .15 = $3,354,000.00 (approximately) annually in lost payroll tax revenue

($22,360,000.00 - $3,354,000.00) = $19,006,000.00 annually potentially subject to income taxes
$19,060,000.00 * .1 = $1,906,000.00 (approximately) annually in lost income tax revenue

$3,354,000 + 1,906,000.00 = $5,260,000.00 (approximately) annual loss in tax revenues (pretty much that's peanuts).

[theknife]

dig a little deeper than the Post article and you'll find that the new minimum wage law does not grant an exception to American Samoa - in fact, it does not even mention American Samoa.

American Samoa has a federal wage review board, made of local business and government reps appointed by the US Secretary of Labor, that exempts it from federal minimum wage standards. considering this has been the case in American Samoa long before Pelosi took over, your Del Monte/Pelosi connection is tenuous at best.

not to say that Dems won't slip a little something in for their favorite corporate constituents wherever they can, but this doesn't seem to be the case here.

incidentally, where were you for the last six years of the GOP Congress, when the kind of thing you're looking for here was a way of life?

[Drakonix]

I dug deep enough to supply the information to make my point.

The article wasn't from the Washington Post, it's from the Washington Times. The Post also had a similar story.

A number of other news sources had similar stories on this subject. So, all these news sources just made the story up? I really don't think so.

Here's another article, this time a UPI report. Apparently, pressure from the GOP caused a turnaround of events in this matter.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.ph...3-101749-1793r

Ms. Pelosi got caught with her panties down.

It's "a way of life" for both sides - unless they get caught, which was my point. Again, so much for "the most ethical Congress". They'll only be ethical when they get caught and we make them be ethical.

The GOP can dig up just as much dirt on Democrats as Democrats can dig up on the GOP.

At least now ALL Americans will benefit from the new minimum wage law.

[Mazer]

Bush hasn't signed it yet.

[Drakonix]

Bush hasn't signed it yet.

That's true, it's still a "proposed law" as it has only passed the house.

[theknife]

Originally Posted by Drakonix

I dug deep enough to supply the information to make my point.

The article wasn't from the Washington Post, it's from the Washington Times. The Post also had a similar story.

A number of other news sources had similar stories on this subject. So, all these news sources just made the story up? I really don't think so.

Here's another article, this time a UPI report. Apparently, pressure from the GOP caused a turnaround of events in this matter.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.ph...3-101749-1793r

Ms. Pelosi got caught with her panties down.

It's "a way of life" for both sides - unless they get caught, which was my point. Again, so much for "the most ethical Congress". They'll only be ethical when they get caught and we make them be ethical.

The GOP can dig up just as much dirt on Democrats as Democrats can dig up on the GOP.

At least now ALL Americans will benefit from the new minimum wage law.

you present stories suggesting American Samoa was exempted from minimum wage laws at the behest of Pelosi - this is factually incorrect. American Samoa has always been exempt from minimum wage laws and is not mentioned in the proposed bill. nice try, but in the end, per your link, all Pelosi actually did was rectify a past imbalance in the law's coverage.

if that's all you can dig up, it's not much.

[Drakonix]

Pelosi only "rectified" the situation AFTER being pressured by Republicans, as per the article I linked to. Nice try back to you.

I will remember your tactic of dismissing all news stories (that I post) as inaccurate. I will probably point it out to you in the future when you quote information sources. If it works for you, it works for me too, no?

I'm glad the law was fixed and the Samoans will also benefit from the minimum wage increase. It's the fair thing to do.

[Mazer]

It's fair to the extent that it will apply everywhere, but people support the minimum wage law precisely because it unfairly redistributes wealth to people who haven't earned it.

Like you pointed out, Drak, this issue isn't about fairness, it's about making the new Speaker of the House look bad. Considering that dozens of news outlets have covered this story I'd say that it's having the desired effect.

[miss_silver]

Originally Posted by Drakonix

Statutory minimum wage increase is from $5.10 per hour to $7.25 per hour = raise of $2.15 per hour (at maximum).

About time IMO, atleast now US citizen minimum wage will match ours.

How many sweat shops are there so far are there in the world for american corporations? Granted they are no colonies of the US but still, should they also benifit a wage increase since they are working for US corporations?

5.10$? illbet they would go nuts with that wage even if it's minimum, sure as hell beat 10 cents per hour.

[floydian slip]

Originally Posted by Drakonix

Democrats have been pounding that they will be "the most ethical Congress".

you are correct, democrats suck!!

so do republicans!!!


they are two side of the same coin that is controlled by corporations and pork.