ON THE MINIMUM WAGE: ARE THE WALTON'S THE POSTER CHILDREN OF GREED?

Raymond Burse

Recently, Raymond Burse, the President of Kentucky State University, asked to reduce his $350,000 salary by $90,000 a year.  His reason for taking this large salary cut was to allow the university to raise the wages of the 24 lowest paid employees. 

The State of Kentucky minimum wage is set at $7.25 per hour; these 24 employees now earn $10.25 per hour.  Yes, he lowered his salary more than 25% a year to help only 24 people!  

When asked why he did it, President Burse related that he was the youngest of 13 children in his family, and that while growing up to sacrifice was a normal part of life. 

Christy Walton

According to the Forbes Magazine list of 400 richest Americans published recently, Christy (6th), Jim (7th), Alice (9th), and S. Robson (10th), four Americans who share the last name Walton, are worth approximately $143.7 Billion. Christy has $38 Billion, Jim gets by on $36 Billion, Alice survives on $34.9 Billion, and S. Robson ekes out life with a mere $34.8 Billion. 

Alice Walton

How did they earn this much money? Christy chose to marry John Walton, who died in 2005. John and his siblings earned their wealth through birth. Their father was a gentleman by the name of Sam Walton, who died in 1992. Sam Walton built the ubiquitous Walmart and Sam's Club chains.

The kid's inheritance, Walmart, is estimated to employ about 2.2 million people worldwide, catering to the needs of 100 million customers each week. They employ approximately 1% of all working Americans, 1.4 million people. In their 2014 annual report they claimed yearly sales of more than $476 Billion. If they were a country they would stand as the 19th largest economy in the world, with a profit margin of 3.41%, around $16.2 Billion.

Jim Walton

If the world was filled with more leaders like Raymond Burse,  and fewer with the mindset of the Waltons, our legislators could easily reduce the funds for some of our anti-poverty programs like Medicaid and Food Stamps. 

Let us look at the Waltons as an example of what just one U.S. company could do.  If these four billionaires gave up 25% of their yearly profit, about $4 Billion would be available to provide all of their U.S. employees with an immediate $2,850 pay raise each year. Economists believe this money would be immediately spent on basic goods and services. And, they would probably purchase many of these goods from Walmart stores, essentially putting the money back into the Walton's pockets. 

S. Robson Walton

The pay raise would also likely make Walmart employees ineligible for the approximately $2.66 Billion in Federal government poverty assistance they now receive, according to figures from Paddy Ryan of the Daily Kos.  Ryan estimates the amount is equal $420,000 in aid per store. In many states Walmart employees are the top recipients of Medicaid services, while as many as 80% use food stamps or SNAP to feed their family. 

If the Waltons, like President Burse, gave up 25% of their wealth for their employees, about $36 Billion would be available for bonuses for U.S. employees of approximately $30,000 each. Would that not make a nice Christmas for Walmart employees? 

Mr. Greedy

So, knowing this, why would the Waltons not want to lift Walmart employees in the U.S. out of poverty? Why would they not want to give their employees a small pay raise so they could spend more money in Walmart?

For those who are about to scream, "These are entrepreneurs and job creators they shouldn't have to give up anything!"  Let me remind you that the only reason the four Waltons have this much money is that three of them happened to be sired by one man named Sam; and the richest of them married the son who liked to fly experimental airplanes!

The minimum wage at Walton's money mill needs to be raised to $15 per hour. And it needs to be done now.  The only possible answer to why the Walton family does not is greed...simple, unadulterated, unvarnished GREED!  

ON GUNS IN AMERICA: NRA SAYS THEY HAVE A PLAN TO STOP VIOLENCE

Wayne LaPierre

The National Rifle Association has announced that in light of what they describe as the "Watts-like riots" in Ferguson, Missouri, the nation's leading gun advocate will present to the new Republican-led Congress an outline for legislation to "protect Americans once and for all."

In the news release that accompanied the announcement the gun lobby group states that, "the NRA wants to assure that every U.S. citizen has access to a gun whenever and wherever they find themselves facing the darkness of violence." Watts refers to a neighborhood in Los Angeles where in August 1965 racially-motivated riots killed 34 people and injured more than 1,000.

Text and Shoot While Driving Combo

In the statement released to the media that outlined the proposal, Wayne LaPierre, the Executive Vice President of the group is quoted as saying, "On behalf of the billions and billions of law abiding Americans who belong to the NRA, we need to put an end to the violence perpetrated by the dark element in our society." 

Named by the NRA as the Guns Everywhere Citizens Protection Act of 2015, the measure will require every major U.S. manufacturer to include a gun be designed into their products. If passed the legislation would go into effect within two years of enactment.

"No, my door isn't always open "

LaPierre added, "According to our statistics, kept on behalf of the billions of loyal Americans who belong to the premier defender of America's Constitutionally guaranteed Second Amendment rights, the most sacred of the rights guaranteed by our forefathers, there are only about 300 million guns in the hands of the average U.S. citizen.  That number is growing at a truly disappointing rate of only 10 million guns per year.  These numbers, along with the puny number of weapons held by the estimated 780,000 police and 13,400 FBI Special Agents, are just a drop in the bucket of what is needed to fight the ubiquitous dark evil spreading across our great land."

The NRA Dresser-Killer Combo

When asked to clarify his comment on dark evil, Mr. LaPierre simply added, "You know who I'm talking about; they're the ones who don't have pure white intentions in their hearts and souls."

In a related story, The Tampa Bay Times reported yesterday that Nathan Scott, one of the three victims shot in the library of Florida State University recently, is asking the Florida Legislature to allow concealed weapons on college campuses.

In an interview with Musings, Mr. Scott (no relation to the present Governor, Rick Scott) stated that, "If the damn library had titles like Sig Sauer or Glock instead of Notes of a Native Son and Invisible Man I can guarantee nobody would have been shot."

Later that day, Musings received a press release from the NRA's Florida affiliate.  In it, Marion Hammer, the NRA's chief Florida lobbyist, is quoted as saying, "What a smart young man this Scott is.  I'm 1,000 percent behind this sensible idea."

Michael Brown

Governor Scott's office also released a statement regarding the Scott proposal. When asked to clarify, an aide to the Governor said, "You know we're only working here on jobs, jobs, jobs.  But, guns replacing books in the libraries across Florida could bring these protection aids to millions of hard working Floridians who can't afford more than basic food and shelter. With the increase we've seen in the dark and evil element, eating Skittles and playing loud thug music, we're eager to get behind this effort to help people protect themselves."

Tamir Rice

Since Michael Brown's death in Ferguson last August, 14 teens have been shot and killed by police officers in the USA, including six African-American youngsters.

The latter statistic includes Cameron Tillman, a 14-year-old boy from Terrebonne, Louisiana, who was shot to death on September 21.  In Cleveland, Ohio, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was gunned down on November 22.  Both boys were armed with dark skin and toy guns.

ON THE MIDDLE EAST: COULD THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE BE THE SOLUTION?

Ottoman Empire--1699-1914

Since they met in early August to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the start of the Great War, Francois Hollande, President of France, and David Cameron, Prime Minister of Great Britain, have been discussing the horrific mistake their countries made after World War I in an effort to determine if they can fix it a century later.  

This blog has learned they plan to re-create the Ottoman Empire, ceding the entire region to Turkey without including Turkey's President, Recep Erdogan, in the discussions.

An aide to President Hollande, who asked to remain anonymous, went so far as to say, "We in the government wish Francois Georges-Picot was never born. We think it only fitting we end this horrendous agreement in the same way we came to it in 1916, without discussing it with anyone in the Middle East."

Prime Minister David Cameron

In an interview with Prime Minister Cameron two days ago, the Conservative Party leader said he agreed with the statement of the aide to his Socialist French counterpart, adding, "I cannot for the life of me figure out why anyone alive in England after the war even listened to Mark Sykes, much less knighted him."

The Sykes-Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was concluded in May 1916, and effectively divided up the Middle East. It led to the creation of Syria, Israel, and Iraq, crossing ethnic and tribal lines to provide spheres of influence to Russia, France, and Great Britain. Russia wisely withdrew from the agreement after the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917.

Francois Georges-Picot

Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, when asked at his home about his relative Picot, stated bluntly, "Non, non, non. Dans ma famille, nous ne parlons pas de mon grand-oncle!" [No, no, no.  In my family we do not speak of my great uncle!]. After commenting, the aging VGE slammed the door closed in this reporter's face.

Since breaking this story, Musings has been given exclusive access to the French and British government negotiating teams that meet three consecutive days each month. The meetings alternate monthly in the cities of Calais and Dover. The current schedule calls for a formal signing ceremony to be held November 11, 2015. Planned implementation of the agreement is to occur on November 11, 2018, at 11 a.m., Paris time. 

British team leader Sir Thomas E. Lawrence, when asked why the three-year delay in implementation, stated, "We learned from the mistakes of Sykes-Picot. It wasn't the secrecy that caused all the later problems, it was the fact that the Middle East didn't have time to acclimate to the change."

President Francois Hollande

His French counterpart, Margaretha "Mata" MacLeod, interrupted, "And, we aren't including the Russians this time. If Erdogan wants the Crimea back into his Empire he can talk to Putin about it."

The agreement will be known as the Hollande-Cameron Agreement.  In a fitting tribute to mark the end of the Great War, the agreement will be signed in the Palace of Versailles next November.

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, when told of the meetings, reportedly said, "Mein Gott!  Perhaps if they had been this reflective back in 1918 the whole Nazi thing would have never taken hold here!"