So now we are getting off the topic of the candidates, and the political parties themselves... and i'm sorry if it's too long for some people to follow
I mean, one party is generally more pro-Union, supports raising minimum wage, supports expanding healthcare access in general
Let's address this one at a time:
How is being pro union good for non-union members? it raises the costs for non-union members who need services from unionized jobs. Not only that, but unions make it much more difficult to fire bad employees... also, unions mean everyone makes the same amount, not more money for your shining stars and less for your employees who don't work as hard. So if you are a good employee, works hard, and is very productive, you are getting compensated the same (or less) then the employee who you need to pick up the slack for.
raising the minimum wage is great in the short term, but did you know that it contributes to inflation? some people who are smarter than me say so:
There are conflicting views on whether raising the minimum wage increases inflation. Some say it will, while others show that historically hasn't been the case.
www.investopedia.com
While proponents of increasing the minimum wage have grown increasingly vocal in the U.S., new research suggests that raising the minimum wage can actually have a significant negative impact on the total compensation of hourly workers. Researchers analyzed a detailed dataset of wage and...
hbr.org
With the debate on wages continuing in Congress and in the public arena, here are some of the major pros and cons of raising the minimum wage.
www.investopedia.com
A higher minimum wage has also resulted in fewer jobs; after all, who among us has went to McDonalds, only to find the cashiers have been replaced with Kiosks? or Self checkout in Walmart?
It also causes prices to go up, because the added costs are passed onto the consumer (that's you and me, and all of the other poorly paid people).
Expanding health care access is a good thing... however, after the ACA was passed, did premiums go down or up? here is a hint:
It turns out that across the board, for all ages and family sizes, for HMO, PPO, and POS plans, premium increases averaged about 60% from 2013, the last year before ACA reforms took effect, to 2017. In the four years preceding the ACA, premium increases were less than 10%, or even actual decreases.
www.forbes.com
Eleven years of ObamaCare have done little to combat the ever-increasing cost of health care insurance for the American middle class.
www.forbes.com
So, yes, more people have insurance, and we are all paying much more for our healthcare access.
The other party is promoting a platform that is anti-Union, thinks any suggestions of raising the minimum wage is "communism" (and wouldn't mind getting rid of minimum wage all together), and has consistently tried to cut healthcare access in the past, and their platform calls for *more* privatization... with their candidate explicitly telling those CEOs that he'll enact policies designed to increase their bank accounts...
Again, one at a time:
unionization in the US is
around 11%. So 11% get the benefits, while 89% of the population don't. If you aren't in the 11%, those unions aren't looking out for your interests at all.
the minimum wage causes issues (see above), and conflicts with supply and demand. and a lot of well paying jobs aren't union jobs.
how has the other party cut healthcare access? I believe their position is they want something that is better, because the current system hasn't gotten better in 20 years.
In a recent analysis from the Commonwealth Fund, the U.S. ranked last on measures relating to access to care, administrative efficiency, equity, and overall health care outcomes, even though we devote nearly twice as much of our GDP as the average OECD country to it.
www.forbes.com
and I'm going to have to ask for a source for "their candidate explicitly telling those CEOs that he'll enact policies designed to increase their bank accounts" unless you mean he's saying his policies are going to fix the stagnating economy, bring down inflation, cause businesses to grow, which will increase their bank accounts, allow them to give larger raises to staff, and hire more employee... which doesn't sound like a bad thing...
Not hard to see which one is better for EMS (where, let's face it, if you're not in a Union, IAFF or other, many are indeed Minimum Wage, or barely above, employees)
Here is a thought... why would you accept a minimum wage job? As long as you are willing to work for minimum wage, there is 0 incentive to raise salaries. This is how supply and demand works: why should a company pay you 25/hr if you are willing to work for 15/hr? or 10/hr? or 7.25/hr? aren't you worth more than 7.25/hr? I know I am... I worked minimum wage in high school... since I have graduated, I have made more than minimum wage. I've been a union member too; I like unions, and supported them. And public safety unions do have their places in this country. but not all unions are the same, and IAFF unions are NOT looking out for the non-unionized private EMS workers... they will screw them in a heart beat if it benefits their members (and rightfully so, because unions are only looking out for their members).
Final thought: how many former EMS people do you know that are now making more money in a non-union job? maybe they got educated, maybe they changed careers, maybe they changed jobs... I know quite a few, and there are a lot more non-union members in the US than their are union members. I'm one of them.
