Neal Asbury began his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 48 stations) by welcoming WKAL-AM, Utica, New York, as the newest media outlet for the show.
Made in America welcomed Hadley Heath to the show, the director of health policy and a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum, which specializes in health care, entitlements, economics, and fiscal policy.
Heath took issue with President Obama’s contention that his policies were helping women in the workplace, when the share of women working in his own administration is shrinking.
“The percentage of women in the general workforce is about 47 percent, but it’s much less than that in the Obama administration. Part of the problem is that women aren’t being promoted to top paying jobs under Obama and female staff members are earning on average 17-18 percent less than men,” said Heath, who added that some of the wage gap is due to variables in the job classifications in the White House.
Heath revealed that number of women earning six-figure salaries in the White House is shrinking.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman noted that between January 2000 and January 2012, as a percentage of the workforce, women lost more jobs than men, and were still earning 77-81 cents for each dollar earned by men.
Heath suggested that workplace trends might be working against women. She reported that a recent survey found that three-quarters of women would rather work part-time than full-time, while only 21 percent of men preferred part-time employment.
Neal and Dr. Roffman referenced last week’s show when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker shared his bold initiatives that have created jobs and reduced unemployment in his State.
“One of the reasons that Wisconsin is doing so well is that as a result of its sane tax policy and job opportunities, there are streams of ‘refugees’ from nearby states moving their operations to Wisconsin. They are turning their backs on some of Illinois’ tax policies, including a recent referendum that is going to tax millionaires. This is only going to drive more business out of Illinois, which at one time had many more manufacturers, but left due to the State’s tax policies,” recalled Neal.
Dr. Roffman noted that Scott Walker’s story is not being told, despite being a classic David vs. Goliath story that created jobs.
“Illinois, like New York, is finding that taxing the rich doesn’t impact the battle between the haves and the have-nots. It just drives out job creation. Now New York is forcing small businesses with as few as five employees to grant sick days. This is only going to cost these mom and pop operations more money, which will impact hiring,” predicted Dr. Roffman.
Made in America welcomed back Stacy Swimp, the president of the Frederick Douglass Society — a nonpartisan public policy and education institution that promotes free market solutions and advocates for labor freedom and school choice. It is part of Project 21, an initiative of The National Center for Public Policy Research to promote the views of African-Americans.
Swimp admonished the Obama administration’s support for the minimum wage, which he contends is leading to wage theft, class warfare and economic insanity.
“All these people marching for minimum wage don’t understand that it will punish the very people they are supporting. When wages go up, hiring goes down, and leads to layoffs. It’s not the job of the federal government to dictate how free enterprise works,” said Swimp, who wants to see a stop to unions bullying workers, even those they claim to be representing.
Neal agreed, noting that a recent survey found that 38 percent of employers would lay off workers if the federal minimum wage policy is passed – a pattern that is repeated throughout history each time the minimum wage is raised.
“It’s common sense. If a company’s cost of doing business goes up, they have to make cuts someplace, and it’s usually results in laying off workers. When 80 percent of black teenagers are unemployed, and fast food jobs disappear, which are a good starting place to gain work experience, it only hurts the black workforce,” concluded Swimp.
Dr. Roffman took issue with the negative media attention against fast food companies, especially the larger ones like McDonalds, who have not run away from these allegations, but have launched an internal investigation to see if some of their franchisees are breaking the law.
Kevin L. Kearns, President of The United States Business and Industry Council joined Made in America to discuss a self-serving idea by Bill Gates that rewards technology companies with incentives for cheap labor even as his own technologies hurt American job creation.
“Gates wants to expand the U.S. visa policy so he can bring in skilled tech workers from places like India, and then pay them low wages. This creates competition between U.S, workers and foreign workers, even while Gates is outsourcing more jobs to places like India. The U.S. labor force expands, but at the expense of higher–paying American jobs,” said Kearns.
Neal and Dr. Roffman proposed that it’s time to end President Obamas’ divisive policies, such as minimum wage and Obamacare.
Speaking of Obamacare, Dr. Roffman is incredulous that nobody takes exception to the $17 million per month being spent by the Obama administration to promote Obamacare, even using the mothers of celebrities in TV spots to push mothers to nag their children to enroll in Obamacare. We just keep recycling the taxpayer’s money to friends of the administration.
Each week Neal Asbury’s Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com.
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