Holy Mother Of Government Intrusion
Written by Mockarena // April 11, 2010 // Weeps And Glees // 27 Comments
I swear, news about the destruction of free enterprise in this country is coming so quickly and so often that I worry people are going to miss some of what’s happening.
I would like to say I can’t believe Obama’s latest power-grab, but of course I can believe it. It’s to be expected at this point.
Now that he’s got his claws in healthcare and we’ll all soon be waiting in lines and hoping that Kathleen Sebelius decides we’re worthy of medical treatments under the single-payer system, Obama has his sights set on internships.
Say whaaaa?
Yes. Obama is going to prohibit private for-profit companies from having unpaid internship programs. Nancy Leppink, the acting director for the DOL’s wage and hour division said, “If you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law.”
Isn’t that brilliant? Even though school age kids are facing a 26% unemployment rate, Obama is basically telling them they’re not ALLOWED to volunteer their time in private industry in order to gain job skills which could help them compete in the employment market after graduation. And obviously, if companies are required to pay interns, then they’re going to have FEWER INTERNSHIP POSITIONS, which will drive that unemployment figure even higher. I would say that this is one of the dumbest things Obama has ever done, but that list is so long now I’m honestly not sure it would even fit.
But here’s the kicker. If you want an unpaid internship at Organizing for America or at the White House? That’s totally cool. It’s only if you want an unpaid internship at a company which actually produces goods and/or services in the free market – then you’re SOL.
If you needed any more evidence that Obama is soundly opposed to the USA’s free market system, then you’re just not opening your eyes. The proof is everywhere. And, according to this, there’s another advantage for Obama to say “internships for me but not for thee.” What he’s doing will “have a disproportionate impact against students who are not left-wing ideologues as most of those students intend on going into left-wing non-profit advocacy and the government anyway. It’s the independent and conservative students who just want to get the skills and connections to make an honest living in the free market who are going to get screwed.”
Unbelievable.
27 Comments on "Holy Mother Of Government Intrusion"
OMG, I just hope and pray the damage isn’t too much to fix starting in 2012!
I just hope the next round of politicians gets the message and actually starts to fix the problems we have. We need about 85% reduction in the size, scope, and funding of the Federal Government. I wonder if anyone can win an election on the platform of “eliminating entitlement programs and making you pay your fair share of the tax burden for the services you use”?
Julia,
That totally depends on what percentage of the population is getting the goodies for free… God help us if the numbers ever get above 50%… we’ll never see conservatives in power again
Think they’re trying to shape society by forcing our youth through the liberal circuit?
What happened to the whole supposedly “liberal idea” of volunterism? These loons just drip with hypocrisy everytime they breathe, much less speak!
Today I am a conservative congressional candidate in Arizona… But there was a day when I was the first of my siblings to go to college. I had zero experience, but a terrific work ethic, and was able to land some great internships that were invaluable to a kid with no ivy-league family connections to help land a job when I graduated. The experience these companies GAVE me in return for my hours on the job would have been fair compensation. But, the networking with working professionals in the industries I hoped to someday be gainfully employed can’t be measured. These internships helped me build a resume for graduation and took me from being just another college-grad on the street looking for a job to one that had demonstrated results in the real workplace.
Only a guy with the benefits of both silver spoon ivy-league connections and the advantage of Affirmative Action laws would fail to see that.
Good luck with your campaign, Pamela!
P.S. I covet your hair. Gorgeous!
From a strategy stand point on Obama’s part this is brilliant. What better way to indoctrinate people into communism, and counter capitalistic notions than this?
I’m not sure this is enforceable, let alone legal, since people are allowed to make contracts of all types.
Mockarena-
LOL. Thanks! I will tell my genius hairdresser, Michelle Zeller (owner of Dollyrockers in Anthem), you said so. She gets the credit, for sure.
Don’t most high schools require so many hours of community service/volunteering to graduate?
I work for a state agency that assists people, often kids right out of college, in obtaining employment. The single biggest piece of feedback we receive from employers is that there is no work experience, paid or unpaid. Should we be surprised that Obama wants to make this more prominent?
Punky you are correct, as well as colleges.
Does he just HATE people under the age of 25!?
Good luck EVER getting any experience.
Pamela, I completely agree with you. I was a manager of a Hotel in Boston and we had 3 to 4 interns every semester. If we had to pay them to be there, the company would NEVER have hired them. Many students in Boston are foreigners and their English skills need work. By having the chance to work, to speak the language and “networking with professional” ARE invaluable and irreplaceable. Some of the students were only able to work 2 days a week and only for 4 hour shifts. Comrade Obama doesn’t understand the costs associated with training, accounting and even just scheduling these students.
I wish you the best on your WIN for the congressional seat and many many many more conservative wins this November.
that picture reminded me of this guy:
http://www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Mussolini/Benito_Mussolini.jpg
and, we all know where that arrogance got him.
Having mentored scores of interns on the professional side of commercial aviation, I can tell you there is nothing like it for experience and resume enhancement. This action by the inmates who run the asylum in that government reservation on the Potomac, oh, forgot that was the blog entry about Sarkozy’s comments…..this action by the s#*theads in Washington is so pernicious, the only conclusion one can draw is that their intent is to destroy the United States, piece by piece: Cap ‘n Tax, Obamacare, capsizing Guam, nationalizing (nazification) of all industry and now this. These steps have gone beyond incremental and they are now coming at us as out of a machine gun.
I want to vote for Pamela Gorman for congress but since I don’t live in Arizona I have to find someone in ACORN to help me get a vote or two in there.
As early as 2008, federal law governing for-profit organizations required that they must pay workers unless the position fits six criteria:
A) The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to that which would be given in a vocational school;
B) The training is for the benefit of the trainee;
C) The trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under close observation;
D) The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded;
E) The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the completion of the training period; and
F) The employer and the trainee understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.
So, where’s the big change?
Bill H.
The big change is in the fact that regardless of whether or not these criteria are met, private for profit employers still can’t have unpaid internships. In other words, it sounds like these criteria are going to be history soon.
Bill H now go and compare the new law with the old one. Did you even read the article?
I read the article, but couldn’t find proposed changes to the law dealing with for-profit internships on any of the websites dealing with actual bills before congress. Perhaps my search just wasn’t sufficiently thorough, but I tend to be distrustful of articles claiming that changes are about to occur until I read the actual bills dealing with the issues brought up in the article. I’m disappointed by how often the characterization of bills paints an erroneous picture of the actual content of the bill.
An unfortunate characteristic of the web is that unverified bold assertions are often made about matters appearing before congress so I try to separate facts from fiction by finding the proposed changes to the law and reading them. In this case I couldn’t find pending legislation changing the laws dealing with for-profit internships so I posted the comment asking for specifics. What are the proposed changes and where can I find the bill that proposes them?
Bill H – I’m simply going off what the DOL chick is saying in the source link. If you’d like to believe that this isn’t going to happen, feel free to wait until the legislation exists. You probably think single payer isn’t going to happen either.
Bill H: Do you know the difference between policy and law?
Yes.
Good job.
Okay then Bill, take note that the policy is changing due to a bastardization of the law.
And it is changing. My husband, who has college internships, just got the info with his grant dollar packets.
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