Before you dig into the details of which old white guy gave what to whom, just consider the differences in totals. Five guys gave Romney nearly $100 Million, whereas five different guys gave Obama less than 20% of that amount. So, who has more clout with whom? mjh
Money men: Who are top 5 donors to Romney? > $94 Million total
Donors with dollars: Top 5 fundraisers for Obama < $15 Million total
I’m particularly irritated by the presumption that Republicans are pro-business. How so, if they are against fair wages for workers?
ABQJournal Online » Talk of the Town
Small Businesses Support Living Wage
RAISING ALBUQUERQUE’S minimum wage would help small businesses like my own compete with the large, national retail and restaurant chains that pay rock-bottom wages to their workers. I pay significantly more than the minimum wage — even to my lowest-level employees, and many other small-business owners in Albuquerque, pay above the minimum wage as well.
Our responsible, living-wage business model is good for our bottom lines and for Albuquerque’s economy, and raising the minimum wage will ensure that profitable national restaurant and retail chains play by the same rules.
Critics like David Foster (“Higher Minimum Wage a Threat to Economy”) neglect to mention that small businesses cannot survive without a strong consumer base, and when big box retailers and other chains — the same big businesses that I suspect are leading the opposition to the minimum wage increase — pay low wages to pad their profits, they are taking money out of the community and denying their workers the income needed to shop at local businesses and to support the local economy.
Given the profits that large chains like McDonald’s and Walmart bring in, they can easily afford to pay their employees $1 more an hour. In turn, raising the minimum wage would boost consumer spending in Albuquerque and support job growth as businesses expand to meet increasing customer demand.
Workers and many business owners like myself support raising the minimum wage to bring fairness and growth to Albuquerque’s economy. Trickle-down economies don’t work when the faucet is closed tight.
TRAVIS PARKIN
Albuquerque
I met Merri Rudd Friday night, October 30, 1981. My Droog, Robert Coontz, brought her home to Preston Road for dinner with Droogie John Merck and me. Mer walked into the living room sniffing the air as she walked between the table and the couch, which I thought was odd. She said she was a dog in a former life. I said I was a werewolf. The rest is history. Our story.
Happy Anniversary, Darling! xox, mjh
[photo by John Merck]
ABQJournal Online » Letter: And Poor Mitt Has Only 3 Homes
Without considering the royalties from his two books, his wage as president is $400,000 per year, an amount adequate to qualify for an 80 percent mortgage, if he needed it. Forbes recently estimated the Obamas’ net worth at $6 million, most from book sales.
In contrast, Forbes estimates the Romney family to be worth $230 million. It is clear that offshore accounts and financial legerdemain are much more profitable than writing books, unless you’ve written the “Harry Potter” series.
So there, Mr. Shaut, there is nothing to worry you any longer. You have a choice between a Midwest writer and law professor, or else a Wall Street leveraged buy-out artist.
CRITZ GEORGE
Albuquerque
ABQJournal Online » Letter: And Poor Mitt Has Only 3 Homes
Not that there’s anything wrong with wealth. Oh, wait, there is something wrong with robber baron wealth. mjh
ABQJournal Online » Marijuana Review Is Warranted
By Dick Minzner / Albuquerque lawyer on Mon, Oct 29, 2012
There is no doubt that a professional football career shortens a player’s life expectancy appreciably. Even if life is not shortened, serious injuries frequently impair the quality of life after football. More than two thousand former players are suing the National Football League over brain injuries they allegedly suffered while playing.
These players voluntarily played football, which they probably loved, earned more money than they could have earned elsewhere and must have understood there were risks of injury. A common reaction to the suit among the public and commentators seems to be that the players made their choices and should accept the results of these choices.
An alternative common observation is that players deserve compensation if they received inadequate medical treatment or information from team doctors, and there should be better treatment and information available in the future. Nobody, however, responds by advocating the outlawing of football, even though serious injuries are inevitable.
Most Americans accept that in a free society adults can choose to do things that endanger their health, even if they seem unwise to others. Professional football is not the only, or most extreme, example.
Less visible but more tragic are the deaths of over four thousand motorcyclists per year and the serious injuries to many times that number. In boxing and other combat sports the purpose of the activity is to cause disabling injury. In college and high school sports and in unorganized sports and activities, injuries are common, some with long-lasting effects.
It is widely understood that alcohol and tobacco are proven killers and that some fast food diets can be unhealthy. We accept the decisions of adults (including, in some cases, parents of underage children) to decide whether to assume all of these risks.
There is, however, a notable exception. We spend tens of billions of public dollars annually to prevent Americans from choosing to consume marijuana and other drugs. This effort has many negative social consequences. Incarceration of criminals takes money from other needs such as education and health care. Law enforcement is diverted from other efforts. The judicial system becomes overcrowded.
Very profitable activities go untaxed, benefitting criminals at the expense of honest citizens. Our prohibition policy enriches criminal organizations and corrupts law enforcement in this country and others.
Further, marijuana prohibition has proven ineffective. Probably most adults and many high school students, if so inclined, could readily obtain marijuana in spite of its illegal status.
We should have a public discussion about whether the health risks of marijuana are clearly greater than those of alcohol, cigarettes, motorcycles, boxing and football. If not, then at least as to this drug, perhaps adults should have a choice, even if they make an unwise decision.
Are there reasons that potential marijuana purchasers in a free society should be denied the same freedom of choice to risk their health that cigarette smokers, alcohol consumers, motorcyclists, boxers and football players have?
Marijuana prohibition is, in essence, a large, ineffective government program with very substantial costs in terms of dollars, freedom and the empowerment of criminals. In an era of lean public budgets, it diverts resources that could be made available for other purposes.
Any other public program with a similar record would face substantial political opposition from both liberals and conservatives. It is time for a re-examination of our policy.
Dick Minzner is a Democratic former member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. He also was a Cabinet secretary for the Department of Taxation and Revenue.
Barack Obama for Re-Election – NYTimes.com
Mr. Romney’s campaign Web site says he will “nominate judges in the mold of Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito,” among the most conservative justices in the past 75 years. There is no doubt that he would appoint justices who would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Barack Obama for Re-Election – NYTimes.com
The Supreme Court
The future of the nation’s highest court hangs in the balance in this election — and along with it, reproductive freedom for American women and voting rights for all, to name just two issues. Whoever is president after the election will make at least one appointment to the court, and many more to federal appeals courts and district courts.
Mr. Obama, who appointed the impressive Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, understands how severely damaging conservative activism has been in areas like campaign spending. He would appoint justices and judges who understand that landmarks of equality like the Voting Rights Act must be defended against the steady attack from the right.
Mr. Romney’s campaign Web site says he will “nominate judges in the mold of Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito,” among the most conservative justices in the past 75 years. There is no doubt that he would appoint justices who would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade.