"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Nice To Have It Right Out in the Open

See, the Republicans know how to get the economy going:

Andrew Biggs is a Republican member of PROMESA, a board created in 2016 to chaperone Puerto Rico’s finances in the wake of the island’s bankruptcy problems. Yet, when speaking about the recovery efforts, he compared those U.S. citizens to “drunks” who have “hit rock bottom.”

The Intercept reported Tuesday that, while speaking at an American Enterprise Institute event on the island and disaster relief, Biggs claimed fair treatment of workers is what is stopping Puerto Rico from recovery. He specifically cited minimum wage laws, labor rules surrounding just-cause termination, paid sick days for staff, paternity leave and overtime. Even a planned Christmas bonus is stopping Puerto Rico from greatness, according to Biggs.

“The reality is, the government doesn’t want to do these things,” he said of labor laws. “If you let them not do them, they won’t do them.” If the island were to be given additional aid from Congress, Biggs argued that it should come with strings attached demanding they kill their progressive labor laws.

See? If we just get rid of those pesky liberal labor laws and workplace safety rules and all that junk -- maybe just bring our labor laws into line with those of, say, China, why, jobs will just flow back into America.

And given that his audience was the American Enterprise Institute, which is about as corporate friendly as you can get, this comment is no surprise:

Toward the end of the panel, AEI resident fellow Desmond Lachman said, “One doesn’t want a good crisis to go to waste.” He explained “other countries” have sought support from the International Monetary Fund when they hit “rock bottom” after a natural disaster.

Right, the IMF -- remember how they helped Greece out? And that wasn't even a natural disaster. That one came directly from people like the members of the American Enterprise Institute. (I seem to remember that would-be dictators, along with muzzling the press, go after labor unions -- the organizations that are the origin of those pesky labor laws.)

Oh, and by the way -- Puerto Rico isn't a separate country: it's a U.S. territory. So many people, especially on the right, seem to forget that. Maybe because Puerto Ricans tend to be brown and speak Spanish.

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