Newt Gingrich Wants to Return to 19th Century Child Labor

GOP Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich wants to eliminate paid janitorial positions in schools and replace them with child labor. Really. He thinks this will promote a strong work ethic amongst the poorest Americans (right wing code for minorities).

From Crooks and Liars: Confessions of a Child Janitor.

Working (even scrubbing toilets) should mean making a living. If someone who works is still eligible for food stamps and government assistance – it’s really the employer who is federally subsidized. These “job creators” are taking advantage of government programs so they won’t have to cut into their profit margins to pay living wages.

I had never considered the angle that these amount to subsidies of the private sector, but it is in fact completely true. If people work full time for shitty wages and still need food and housing assistance, it's the employer, not the employee who is really being subsidized with tax dollars.

Example: If you pay someone minimum wage they will make roughly $15000 a year for 40 hour weeks. They will almost certainly need food stamps (around $250 per month) on top of that to merely not to starve to fucking death. The food stamps don't buy much, but they keep families alive.

When working people need SNAP benefits (food stamps) the employer (the asshole that pays only $7.25) is the one being subsidized, not the worker. The worker is working full time. The employer is not providing them with sufficient compensation to live and eat, but instead relying on GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS (oogie boogie!) to make up for the wages he is not paying his employee.

Now suppose you pay someone not the just the minimum required by law ($7.25 per hour), which translates to $15080 per year (full time), but pay them an additional $1.57 per hour ($8.82 total). They will now have the same purchasing power they would at minimum wage plus food stamps, and you, Mr. Job Creator McGalt, will have been the one to add that power to the economy, not the socialistic, Kenyan, Muslim federal government.

This boils down to "job-creators" being cheap shitheads who lack the compassion and empathy to pay someone $1.57 more per hour.

Q.E.D.