Fire the Janitors, Fire Gingrich!

Saturday, November 19, 2011 (article)

Friday, December 9, 2011 (comments)

Des Moines News

"Gingrich: Child Labor Laws are 'Truly Stupid'" and reaction

Fire the janitors! In the nation's floundering economy, Gingrich puts jobs for teenagers about jobs for adults. He feels it is a travesty to prevent low-income families from utilizing the extra source of income that children can provide. Gingrich condemns the current age restrictions and suggests replacing school janitors with paid student janitors. He argues it builds work ethic, and he thinks teenagers will be willing to do the undesirable because of school pride. If Gingrich changed the policies on child labor to support this type of job, he would increase the unemployment rate in the United States. The people that responded to the Des Moines News' discussion topic are adamantly divided on this topic. Some mock Gingrich's disregard for the adults that would loose jobs. This group regards Obama's jobs plan as considerably more reasonable than Gingrich's preposterous idea. Those that support Gingrich's stance think it will build character and work ethic in youth. This is likely he product of a bias in responses. Poor families without children are more likely to disagree with Gingrich, while families that could benefit from this policy would have to have teenaged children. The right that an adult has to earn a living and support a family takes precedence over teenage character building. Adult janitors are their family's main source of income, while teenagers typically serve as an additional source of income. Yes, everyone needs more money, but this trade off is not fair. Eliminating janitorial positions would be devastating for those workers and families.

This comment could decimate Gringrich's stance on jobs. He cannot pretend that this child labor policy will put the millions of unemployed people back to work. In fact, any jobs plan he presents can be completely undermined by this idea. No reasonable person will believe there is a way to lower unemployment by giving teenagers the jobs adults used to have. Fire the janitors, fire Gingrich!