Conservative Blogger Erick Erickson: Minimum Wage Workers in Their 30s ‘Failed at Life’

[big_dog]

Conservative blogger and author Erick Erickson said Thursday that some minimum wage workers have simply “failed at life.”

Erickson made the comment while guest hosting for Rush Limbaugh‘s radio program.

“The minimum wage is mostly people who failed at life and high school kids,” Erickson said. “Seriously, look. I don’t mean to be ugly with you people. … If you’re a 30-something-year-old person and you’re making minimum wage you probably failed at life.”

Erickson dismissed the idea that some of those people may have just been down on their luck. “It is not that life dealt you a bad hand,” he said. “Life does not deal you cards. It’s that you failed at life
http://www.mediaite.com/online/conservative-blogger-erick-erickson-minimum-wage-workers-in-their-30s-failed-at-life/

[Blue_Tires]

1. ....

[Arkana]

2. If people who failed at life became minimum wage workers,

then people who poured gasoline on their lives, tossed a lit match, and danced as they burned must be conservative bloggers.

Fuck Erick "Son of Erick".

[hobbit709]

5. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ----

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. you're counting too slow...

[Rhiannon12866]

8. You're absolutely right!

MIRT is on the job!

[Arkana]

13. Now I wanna know what the guy said.

[Rhiannon12866]

15. I'll send you a PM, don't want to quote him on the thread.

[cwydro]

16. Whatever it was,

hope he's gone. I missed it too.

[Rhiannon12866]

18. He's gone.

He just came here to attack us "socialists," so he was dispatched by MIRT.

[1StrongBlackMan]

27. I'd like to know too. eom

[Rhiannon12866]

31. Okay, check your messages.

[roguevalley]

12. I thought they became teachers since those that can't teach, right?

sarcasm

[DisgustipatedinCA]

29. Right. And not only that, but most teachers only work 6 months per year and make $300K

At least that's what the Republicans at work tell me. My mom and wife, both teachers, somehow didn't hit either of those metrics.

[hobbit709]

4. Erick Erickson failed at humanity.

[Rex]

7. Repukes by their very nature 'failed at humanity'.

IF they were in charge of running the world, we would all be dead.

[closeupready]

9. Who cares. I'm sure Michael Milken still has plenty to say about

stuff. Or some of those Enron guys. Doesn't mean I have to give his bullshit the dignity of using my time to listen to him. Same thing here.

[Yavin4]

10. Here's the truly sad part about this

Many of Erickson's followers are themselves min. wage workers. Many of them are probably White, male, non-college educated and 30+ years old. These are the new min. wage workers.

Yet, they still will follow Erickson and vote for Republicans.

[1StrongBlackMan]

28. Yep ...

and they never pause to consider what Erickson's income would be ... without their donations.

[Kingofalldems]

11. Getting it out there?

Why do you continue to post crap that conservatives say?

[Shankapotomus]

14. Glad to hear he admits

Capitalism, even with regulatory help, still leaves working people with a life of failure.

So if these working people are failures, why bother participating in Capitalism? I thought Capitalism put us to work to improve our lives. Yet here Erick Erickson is calling them failures.

Is that what your participation in Capitalism gets you??? "You're a failure!"???

Put out the welcome mat, why don't you.

[VanillaRhapsody]

26. When I was growing up....I was taught ANYONE who worked a full day deserves respect

that all work was respectable work....


But these Repukes want to say that SOME work is unworthy of respect......and deems you a "failure" in their eyes.....

Those that think like that are they themselves actually the inferior human beings....the only motivation for saying some work is "unworthy of respect" is because they are actually themselves the inferior of the species....and they are desperate to have a group of people to shake their fingers at because it makes them temporarily feel less inferior to someone! These are people born with the flaw that makes them only happy if they are sure there are some other people SUFFERING more than they are! Its literally THAT pathetic. They are sick!

[DisgustipatedinCA]

30. I've never said this in my life, but great post, VanillaRhapsody. nt

.

[Shankapotomus]

34. I couldn't agree more

The Republican problem is really not a problem for our political pundits. It's one for psychiatrists. It's amazing how transparent it is and yet Right Wingers seem so blind to it in themselves.

Good to know there are others here who see it crystal clear.

[treestar]

17. So I guess that means it is justified?

OK for those people to suffer the results?

Very Social Darwinian.

And he forgets there are those who start at home plate. He was probably born on 2nd base and thinks he hit a double.

[quaker bill]

19. not everyone is born to be a rocket scientist

some are born to cook good donuts. There is no reason they should be called failures or deprived of a decent shot at life. It is important to consider that 1/2 of us have a less than median IQ (this is not debatable, it is a statistical identity). They are not failures, they are not "products of a failed education system", they simply are who they were born to be. Unless we intend to engage in some sort of hideous social Darwinian eugenics, these folks simply need a humane and decent way to live. A living wage for those who prepare the meals and clean up the messes is the minimum of reason.

[Nay]

24. Thank you. It makes me grind my teeth when I hear RW crap about

how anyone who wants to be a doctor just has to "work hard" and they'll succeed. They think intellectual ability is simply a matter of will. It's just so stupid.

[PorridgeGun]

35. nice post bill!

The uber-wealthy who insist "I built that" seem to forget that the foundation for their enterprises came pre-fabricated courtesy of millions of labourers, tradesmen and other working people.

The danger we face now appears to me to be that the control mechanisms constructed by a government that shamelessly caters to plutocrats are so tightly woven that revolution via the political process is now as impossible as revolution by the gun. Authoritarians like Feinstein and HRC are just as much to blame as Cheney and Bush.

Yes they're better on a few social issues, and not to say those aren't important, but when push comes to shove they can be found singing "deutchmarkland uber alles" in the same chorus as the power-hungry fools on the other side of the political spectrum.

[quaker bill]

41. Politicians will never be the answer

so comparing one to another is near enough to pointless to be unworthy of the time spent. While it is true that certain policies from Washington have contributed to the essential problems, and some better policies could enable change, or at least be neutral to it, nothing truly important will come from there. The best we can hope for is an administration that stops doing damage. BHO has tried, and certainly has slowed the damage rate.

Fundamental change will arise from the ground up and leave the politicians little choice but to go along for the ride.

I vote for the Dem in every race because they generally do less damage and create the havoc at a slower rate. I do not expect a cure at the ballot box, but less harm is always better than more of it.

[SoCalDem]

20. and????

These people EXIST in our country.. Do we just kill them? Do we all realize that these people have children who will grow up disenfranchised because of their meager upbringing?

Isn't it a better plan to bring UP the "underclass", than to spend the same (or more) amount of money building prisons and cops? or wasting massive amounts of cash trying to drive them further down ?

[AZ Progressive]

21. Because being an evil sociopath is such an admirable thing....

When in reality cheating by ignoring basic humanity is essentially cheating in the game of life. They shouldn't be admired for cheating rather than playing the game of life fairly.

[AZ Progressive]

22. Oh yeah, and backstabbing your competition rather than beating them fairly is so admirable

So many rich people all the way back to the robber barons cheated in getting their money because their opponents had much more of a sense of fairness and basic humanity than them, should they be applauded for cheating in the game rather than playing fairly?

[moondust]

23. Bozo Erickson failed at simple analysis.

If better paying jobs have all been moved to China and/or automated over the past 30-40 years then everybody now gets to work for minimum wage! Yippee!!

Idiot.

[LiberalAndProud]

25. It's good that he says it out loud.

We know these guys aren't trying to be a voice for the voiceless.

[font size="1"]Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.— Proverbs 31:8

I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight. — Malcolm X [/font]

[salin]

32. Maybe - it is an judgement on our economy?

There have been two recessions in the past 12 years - both structural - and the second (staring in 2008) extremely deep.

Compare jobs lost and jobs gained. It's even worse if one looks back to 20 yrs back.

There are fewer higher paying jobs. The majority of "new jobs" are service industry (many of which are minimum wage).

Perhaps it isn't loser 30 year old, but instead losing economy/policies?

[Initech]

33. I'm in my 30s and make slightly above minimum wage.

[De Leonist]

36. or....

They could have significant Physical, Developmental, or intellectual disabilities that make it much harder for them to get to key points in their adult lives. In my experience (I think a lot of other people who live with these sorts of issues would agree with me) it's not that those people are lazy, slow or incapable but rather that many employers just don't want to fucking hire them.

Also I just wanna say for anyone who has coworkers with any issues like that chances are their working harder than you to achieve the same level of productivity.

[lovemydog]

37. Left wing poster lovemydog: blogger Erick Erickson

failed as a human being.

[Live and Learn]

38. And Erickson obviously failed at being human. nt

[sabrina 1]

39. And that is person devoid of an understanding of life. But then, he never was too bright to begin

with. And our Corporate Media gives this guy a microphone. And people wonder why we don't trust the MSM in this country. I remember him when he was 'just a blogger' although we've come to know since then, that many of these people, he and Kos, eg, never were 'just bloggers' although they pretended to be. Someone was financing them as they lured Liberals and Conservatives to their forums, reigning in all that energy that was out there, and in the end, stifling it.

[blogslut]

40. ALL JOBS ARE IMPORTANT

As I have stated more than once -Who Would You Miss More? The Janitor or the CEO?

I'm sick to death of people who condemn honest work because that work does not entail a college degree.

YOU TRY SMILING AND SERVING AND PUTTING UP WITH BULLSHIT FOR A LIVING. YOU TRY GETTING DOWN ON YOUR KNEES TO HARVEST THE FOOD YOU PUT ON YOUR TABLE. YOU TRY CLEANING UP THE MUCK AND MIRE THAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND.

Erick Erickson wouldn't last a hot second doing the REAL WORK that HUMANS DO.