Child Labor Laws Destroying America?

[bex1218]

According to Sarah Palin

This somehow does not surprise me.

[Nekojin]

And according to Ann Coulter, the Democrats would be effectively destroyed if we took away women's right to vote, which she apparently considers to be a good idea.

Some of the supposedly-mainstream fruitloops in the political circus have gotten wackier than I'd have ever considered possible.

[Anthony K. S.]

I liked that comment :

"Let's start with her kids, then."



(I also liked the one that said, "The space in her head has a sign that says 'For Rent,'" and the remark that there's an air bag behind her eyes, even though they didn't really have anything to do with the issue.)

[bex1218]

And according to Ann Coulter, the Democrats would be effectively destroyed if we took away women's right to vote, which she apparently considers to be a good idea.

Some of the supposedly-mainstream fruitloops in the political circus have gotten wackier than I'd have ever considered possible.

My mind can't function now.

[Rageaholic]

Newt Gingrich said something similar last year. He thought about firing janitors and making kids work. I really really hate the Republican work ethic.

[daleduke17]

According to Sarah Palin

This somehow does not surprise me.

Actually there are some pending child labor laws that are really screwed up and will hurt not just family farms, but jobs that teenagers traditionally take. Around here it is not uncommon to see teenagers (14-19 normally) helping farm, raise cattle, etc. If some of these laws go into effect, anything that brings a profit cannot be performed by a minor...so, in some part, Palin is correct (she does go overboard, however IMO).

[KnitShoni]

Actually there are some pending child labor laws that are really screwed up and will hurt not just family farms, but jobs that teenagers traditionally take. Around here it is not uncommon to see teenagers (14-19 normally) helping farm, raise cattle, etc. If some of these laws go into effect, anything that brings a profit cannot be performed by a minor...so, in some part, Palin is correct (she does go overboard, however IMO).

Are those the pending laws the article mentions that it specifically states will only affect non-family farms and lumber mills? I'm going to have to look them up, because I haven't read about them.

[DrFaroohk]

About the firing janitors and making kids work....

My stepmother is a teacher, and was telling me how they've had this big thing going on to change the grade system. Something like, instead of A B C D and F, it'd be like P, Q, N, T or 5. I dunno. But anyway, I thought about the committees and time and money and manpower this all wasted just thinking of stupid shit like that.

THOSE people should be the new janitors.

[crashhelmet]

There was a report out that Obama once asked Steve jobs what it would take to get iPhones made in America. He replied that it wasn't possible.

Apple can't employ kids here so they outsource the work to Foxconn for what they'd pay kids here. In turn, Foxconn hires kids to make their insane profits.

[tropicsgoddess]

These morons are trying to get back in the Dickensian era! Taking away child labor laws to put children to work won't do shit for the economy. What would drive the economy back up is if we had more jobs created IN THE US which would drive up consumer confidence and spending and make the US economy thrive. Simple. Stop outsourcing US jobs to the overseas for cheap labor and giving breaks to those companies that outsource their work overseas!

[PepperElf]

These morons are trying to get back in the Dickensian era! Taking away child labor laws to put children to work won't do shit for the economy. What would drive the economy back up is if we had more jobs created IN THE US which would drive up consumer confidence and spending and make the US economy thrive. Simple. Stop outsourcing US jobs to the overseas for cheap labor and giving breaks to those companies that outsource their work overseas!

yeah but that won't happen. not when people keep demanding prices to go down.

how many of us say... go buy things made overseas because they're cheaper? rather than buying more expensive stuff made at home? we don't even think about it really, we just look at price tags.

then we wonder ... where are our jobs?

[daleduke17]

Are those the pending laws the article mentions that it specifically states will only affect non-family farms and lumber mills? I'm going to have to look them up, because I haven't read about them.

There are a few that the article doesn't mention that would affect family farms as well. Plus, "non-family" farmwork would include detassling corn and walking beans.

[HYHYBT]

Mind listing them?

(As far as general principle... I don't see why farms should be treated any differently regarding child labor than any other type of business. Logically, anyway, setting aside historical precedent. But I also think children should be able to help in the family business regardless of what it is, with appropriate safety and time restrictions. I don't know what laws actually allow about that, but anyway, why should farms be treated differently than anything else?)

[AdminAssistant]

One of the issues with farming is that it doesn't fit within a convenient, 8-5, 40-hour/week schedule with "appropriate safety and time restrictions". During the summer, when you have to keep irrigation going, spray fertilizer, treat with pesticide/herbicide, you often work from "can see to can't see." During harvest time? Hell, the picker has lights on it. It's not uncommon to see pickers going until midnight, and module trucks from the gin (and the gin itself) run 24/7. Note: I grew up in cotton country, YMMV.

When you grow up on a farm, even if you're a girl who has no interest in farming, you work, especially during the summer. You chop cotton, you help lay polypipe, you help keep the generators on the wells going. As soon as you can drive, you're pulling a water wagon, bringing lunch to fields, running to the co-op or implement store for chemicals or parts. You're loading fertilizer into the sprayers. My sister and I spent our summers doing that because 1) Dad needed it done, and he couldn't afford another hand and 2) he wanted to teach us what *work* was. Hard physical labor, in 100 degree heat, from 5 am until he was done with us. A cousin of mine decided he wanted to drop out of college. He was sent to live with us for a year, and Dad was instructed to convince him to go back to college. It took less than a year. Larger families, especially if the kids want to grow up to be farmers? Those kids are driving tractors, hi-boys, and pickers before you can legally drive.

You want to make all that illegal? Then you may as well get rid of the institution of the family farm entirely, because that's how it survives. That's why they call it a family farm...it takes the entire family to run it.

I just saw that bit about shucking corn up there...really? Hell, that was always a pretty enjoyable way to spend a Saturday, sitting around with the family shucking corn and hulling peas, then helping Mom get them ready to store in the deep freeze.

[Rapscallion]

You could get rid of it, but it's institutionalised and has been so for generations. Getting rid of it would be costly in terms of detection and enforcement, and it would mean far higher costs in the grocery stores.

Is it ideal? Not really. Is it the real world? Yes.

Rapscallion