Bernie Sanders for President...

[buttslinger]

....real issues, such as a living wage of $15 an hour, equal pay for equal work, the prison population, fossil fuels, education and health and so on. I think that is where the debate ought to be going.....

OK, you're right, but there is a problem, I am absolutely unqualified to make an informed opinion or rational decision about any of these big issues because I don't have the resources to know if $15 an hour jobs means Big Macs would cost $15 or poor blacks might not be able to get any job at all. Or if releasing pothead prisoners would result in more spaced out stoners building cars on the assembly lines in Detroit.
If you have a College degree, then maybe you talk politics with your friends hanging out, If you have post graduate degrees then maybe you can actually have informed political debates with your friends at brunch, and not only make informed statements, but get informed insightful counter positions from your yuppie colleagues. If you have a High School diploma you talk to your friends about sports, gossip, whats for dinner. You don't what the news on PBS, you watch "The Big Bang Theory"
The USA is about an Amassed Fortune, and Politics and Business is kinda bout how "we" are gonna "divvy up" that fortune mongst "us".....At 0.5% interest, BUTTSLINGER's fortune is NOT growing, let me tell ya, and I think this actually benefits Obama's pet project: the poor black man. Bush had his own favorites: big business, and they surely prospered during his time in office. Hillary will probably be good for the middle class white man who has some savings. There are some Americans who are immune to these comings and goings,...the UBER-RICH who have Amassed such huge fortunes that their interest and dividends make more than the total income of a small Iowa town. They are always a few steps ahead of the government, or can influence government to see things their way, even if it means a small town in Iowa is going to have to go to work 5 days a week to pay for their lifestyle. It seems to be a lot easier to have America win and the black man lose than having America win and the Uber-Rich lose. Imagine that.

That would seem to be the major problem to me, if you fund the Military to defeat ISIS, then that's less money for social security, education, medicare. America winning first depends on your individual definition of winning. It depends on which earthly God you pray to. If Donald Trump is your God, you're doing pretty good right now!!! If you are a Hawk, McCain is a genius. If you're a woman, you might think Hillary is best for what ails the USA. So what is right really can depend upon your perspective.

Let's just suppose for a minute Bernie Sanders is right about everything, even if he is told old or uncharismatic to be prez: His winning would upset a whole lot of people who are in power right now. The yuppies and college professors would celebrate, but the CEOs and Generals would be pissed. His policies would indeed improve situations across the board, but it sometimes takes ten or twenty years to see that repairing a bridge today is a good idea.

Saul Alinsky had a technique where stockowners in a big company would sign over their proxies to him, and with that power he could gain control of that company and make sure the stockowners had their priorities met before fat cat CEOs. If all the people who don't even vote would sign their proxie (vote) over to Bernie, they would be very glad they did. But they won't.

[dreamon]

I can understand why you are cynical about US politics, but the candidates did refer to real issues, such as a living wage of $15 an hour, equal pay for equal work, the prison population, fossil fuels, education and health and so on. I think that is where the debate ought to be going. Many of those issues are not so different from what is on the agenda here in the UK. And it is, after all, debate that keeps democracies going.

I find it amusing that Sanders campaigns on a $15 minimum wage while paying $12 an hour to his volunteers.

[Stavros]

OK, you're right, but there is a problem, I am absolutely unqualified to make an informed opinion or rational decision about any of these big issues because I don't have the resources to know if $15 an hour jobs means Big Macs would cost $15 or poor blacks might not be able to get any job at all. Or if releasing pothead prisoners would result in more spaced out stoners building cars on the assembly lines in Detroit.
...

You do live in the USA Buttslinger, so you ought to know if $15 is a living wage. I suspect you also know that not everyone in the joint is there because they smoked one.

[Stavros]

I find it amusing that Sanders campaigns on a $15 minimum wage while paying $12 an hour to his volunteers.

Ouch!! Maybe he is waiting for the law to change? If he is the one to change it, it will be a long time coming...

[trish]

What don't you understand about the word "volunteer"?

[broncofan]

There is no requirement to pay a volunteer or an intern for that matter. Sanders is advocating for a system where all employers pay their workers more, not one in which he pays more while everyone else pays the same amount. Such a system is only workable if it's mandated by law and applied uniformly. It doesn't register as hypocrisy for both those reasons. Just like someone who thinks the marginal income rate should be higher is not a hypocrite if they don't write checks to the gov't before the law is passed.

I think Sanders is not very charismatic, does not have much vision, and seems driven by ideology to such an extent that he would not make very good decisions as chief executive. But he does at least seem sincere and committed to a progressive agenda.

[broncofan]

Dreamon, just offer a rebuttal. I have no problem with you periodically downvoting my posts you really don't like but this is following the familiar pattern of you saying something, me disagreeing, and then you finding a previous post to downvote. You might as well just do that to my last post, it's no less apparent.

BTW, what do you think about the democratic candidates? Any that you find less objectionable than the others?

[fred41]

To clear some things up...he is paying his 'Senate' interns $12 an hour.
Interns are covered by the FSLA; private interns are usually required to be paid - HOWEVER, according to articles I have read, Congress is exempted (of course) from this law...so that, yes...a federal gov't intern isn't often paid.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...erns/29624615/
also, from what I have read, Bernie Sanders is for phasing in the 15 dollar minimum wage by, I believe, 2020.

BUT...
If that were not the case, I believe it would have been hypocrisy - You can't use the law to protect yourself,in regards to a wage, if you are, in fact, arguing a 'living wage'...especially if there is no law mandating (and therefore 'limiting') what you, yourself can pay. Any decent manager knows, especially if your running for the ultimate managing job in the U.S.A - you have to lead by example...

However, all this is moot, since it seems he is one of the minority in congress to actually pay his interns anything at all.

Republicans can gain a small comfort from this 2013 article, showing more of them paid interns(but not Rubio or Cruz) than their Democratic counterparts.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...nterns/279111/
But over all...meh.

[broncofan]

We'll agree to disagree on the point about hypocrisy. I agree it's a good idea, but when you do something before it's mandatory, you give others a competitive advantage. People don't do the right thing because others don't and if you do, you're not just doing the right thing but you're suffering the consequences of others not (ie. a collective action problem). It is of course a good idea to do the things you advocate before it's mandatory, but I don't think failing to makes you less sincere about your aspirations, which envision a plan where everyone shares the burden.

There's a FLSA balancing test for interns. http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm . As you say if Sanders were a private employer there's no way he would meet all six factors. But peculiarly enough, every unpaid internship I ever had I ended up doing real work and didn't learn much except that other people like having free labor

[dreamon]

What don't you understand about the word "volunteer"?

Oh so that makes it ok. Everyone should be paid $15 an hour. Unless they're a volunteer.