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Yeah, the bottom has dropped out for the Dems, and I think that they now realize that they're going to get bounced pretty hard this year. They're losing special elections that they thought were safe. My concern is that we'll lose a few good civil-libertarian and fiscally conservative Dems for RINO's in some races.
you may hate her, perhaps with good reason, but just stop the hyperbole. stop with the "they'z a socialist!!!!1" BS. its so old and tired and untrue and new hampshire politics should be discussed intelligently without ignorant people like yourself.
Name one view of Porter's views that is NOT socialist. Otherwise, spare us the huff n' puff. They don't call her Che Porter for nothing.
"Millions of Americans count on the minimum wage to support their families. I was an original cosponsor of the Increasing the Minimum Wage Act (HR 2), which gave American workers the first and long overdue, minimum-wage increase in over ten years. According to the US Census Bureau, the poverty rate has been rising year after year since 2000. I believe that no American should have to work full-time and still live in poverty."
Your other points hold validity, but this does not. Increases in the minimum wage have pretty strong support based on various surveys I have looked over. In New England the cost of living is quite high for those people that must work 2-3 minimum wage jobs just to survive. The business owners would say that it will increase their costs (which it likely will) and they will probably pass along those costs in terms of higher prices for consumers. However, if wages are too low with respect to the overall cost of living, you drive away a good quantity of your labor force as well. (They will move to lower cost locations). Recent data, shows that the labor force in NH ranks in the bottom 1/3 of all states. It is a balancing act for sure, but is definitely an issue that will come up again.
Last edited by GraniteStater; 02-04-2010 at 05:16 PM..
It doesn't matter my posts get deleted in here any ways. If you agree the .gov should mandate wages at private companies then you are in favor of socialism.
It doesn't matter my posts get deleted in here any ways. If you agree the .gov should mandate wages at private companies then you are in favor of socialism.
I wasn't talking about the federal level. The states have the power to set a different minimum wage than the federal minimum wage if they so choose. I am not in favor of government inferring with regard to wages at private companies.
Oh those Democrats... trying to blame this on the republicans...
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending - NYTimes.com (http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all - broken link)
Quote:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 1999— In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.
''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''
Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.
In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.
''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''
Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.
Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.
Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.
In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.
Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.
In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.
The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.
SB503 will be heard in front of the full House on 5/12.
It is another excuse to track people from cradle to grave. This expansion of the UPI, or 'unique pupil identifier' database (implemented in NH in 2004) will include not only public school students but preschool students and homeschooled higher ed students as well as those who attended private schools. It is an inappropriate use of ss#s.
[SIZE=3]SB503 would mean the end of privacy for all NH students. The removal of choice and disregard for those who prioritize homeschooling and private education in part due to the privacy afforded to such students is not characteristic of NH, a state with a reputation for protecting liberties. Expanding the UPI database is certainly not the NH way.[/SIZE]
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Here is a report from the Fordham Foundation which clearly shows the problems that have resulted from states tracking student info: States mismanage student information, study concludes - Fordham Law
Also, Kevin Jennings, the 'Safe School Czar' has stated in interviews his intention of gathering data on students in order to hold schools accountable for their attitudes.
[SIZE=3]From Kevin Jennings ....[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]In every state, I would like to see data collection on this issue of bullying become part of how we evaluate our schools. We have placed such an emphasis on standardized test scores, that I'm afraid that issues like this are getting lost and I think the only way to prevent that is if we mandate the collection of data and hold schools accountable for providing a safe environment, just like we hold them accountable for getting their reading scores up. [/SIZE] [SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]NH Schools should work on being accountable for providing a solid education. Students and their parents are the only ones responsible for student attitudes and opinions, not schools. When government becomes involved in shaping our students attitudes (and therefore their opinions) through schools, it is another step toward removing personal responsibility from individuals, removing individual choice and a sneaky way of deteriorating parental rights. [/SIZE]
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When government becomes involved... it is another step toward removing personal responsibility from individuals
That, right there, is the root of many of the problems in the world.
My dad used to tell us a story as kids about a republican and a democrat on a boat and they saw a man drowning 50 feet away from the boat. The boat has a life preserver with a 25 ft line. The guys on the boat argue about how to help the man. The democrat would untie the life preserver, toss it to the man and drive away. The republican would leave the life ring tethered to the boat, toss it out the full 25 feet and tell him to swim half way.
The problem is that the neo-cons stopped throwing the life ring at all.
As far as swimming skills and compassion, the greatest compassion was shown to me when my dad, a WWII Navy Veteran, taught me how to swim as he was beating cancer and working full time. I am now proficient in all strokes and water rescue but back then he let me wear my life preserver while playing before our first lesson.
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SB503 - NOT the NH way
