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Gary Johnson on Jobs
Libertarian presidential nominee; former Republican NM Governor
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Eliminate federal minimum wage instead of raising it
Q: Raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 /hr?Martin Heinrich (D): Yes. Raise to $15.
Gary Johnson (L): No.
Eliminate federal minimum wage.
Mick Rich (R): "Remove all regulations that discourage hiring."
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on New Mexico Senate race
, Oct 9, 2018
Why not $75? We can't afford minimum wage
Q: Do you favor a minimum wage?JOHNSON: Yeah. But I just think it should be 75 bucks an hour. I mean let's just go straight to prosperity.
WELD: You're kidding, right?
JOHNSON: I am totally kidding. But when you say 75 bucks,
I think people get it. "Well, gee, you can't afford $75." Well, my question is how can you afford $15? It's minimum wage; that's the definition. Government setting a minimum wage. Come on.
Q: Meaning government shouldn't?
JOHNSON: Yeah, shouldn't.
Source: Washington Post joint interview of Johnson & Weld
, Jul 7, 2016
Governments don't create jobs--businesses do
When I was governor of New Mexico, I had the highest job growth of any of the 50 governors. But I didn't create a single job--businesses did. I just got government out of their way. We have an unprecedented opportunity to use today's crisis to
return us to economic growth and prosperity. Never before has the government been such an obstacle to employment. Republicans and Democrats have regulated and taxed our economy to where we're lagging behind
Brazil, Russia, China, Israel and India in terms of growth and innovation.Government can't grow us out of this mess--government is the problem.
Radical tax reform and spending discipline can bring America back. Let's get America working again.
Source: Gary Johnson, "America moving again" in The Washington Times
, Feb 2, 2012
Oppose NLRB recent actions against Boeing in SC
Q: Do you support NLRB recent actions against Boeing in SC? [The National Labor Relations Board claims that Boeing located a new 787 passenger aircraft assembly line in South Carolina to retaliate against Washington state union workers who went on
strike in 2008.] A: Absolutely not. For as obsessed as the administration appears to be with creating jobs this is one more example of fewer jobs. 2012 is an opportunity for GOP to show we're the party who'll get our fiscal house in order.
Source: 2011 Republican primary debate on Twitter.com
, Jul 21, 2011
1999: Vetoed raising minimum wage from $4.25/hour to $5.65
In 1999, Johnson vetoed a bill which would have raised the minimum wage from $4.25 per hour to $5.65. He also signed a law deregulating New Mexico's electricity market that allowed residential, small-business customers and schools to
start shopping for their electricity supplier. He's argued that when a Democrat negotiates with labor unions through collective bargaining it's a "giveaway" instead of a negotiation.
Source: Club for Growth 2012 Presidential White Paper #9: Johnson
, Jul 21, 2011
Long unemployment benefits postpones dealing with problem
Q: The nation's unemployment rate is 8.8%. Among your proposals for getting the private sector to start hiring are eliminating corporate income tax, doing away with the Federal minimum wage law and to stop extending unemployment benefits, isn't that just
a windfall for big business?JOHNSON: Well absolutely not, I think that repealing or doing away with the corporate income tax is simply getting us back to where we were and we need to understand that the corporate income tax is a double tax.
And with regard to unemployment benefits, I'm in the camp that believes that we as individuals, we need a bit of help, so government helps out but at the point at which it runs out, that's when we really deal with the problems that we have as
individuals. That's when we deal with those problems. So does government actually perhaps make the problem worse, as opposed to better, by having a finite amount of time that you would receive unemployment benefits?
Source: 2011 GOP primary debate in South Carolina
, May 5, 2011
Create block grants for Agricultural Stewardship.
Johnson signed the Western Governors' Association resolution:
- The WGA would like to join the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) in proposing a new concept, one that NASDA has dubbed “A New Vision for Agricultural Stewardship.” The NASDA concept calls for the creation of a state block grant program, designed to allow states the flexibility to target resources to their specific conservation and environmental needs. Under the plan, the state departments of agriculture, in conjunction with state and local agriculture and conservation partners, develop priorities to be addressed under their block grant umbrella.
- The NASDA block grant proposal promotes broad flexibility in this development, noting that the block grant can be used to address threats to soil, air, water and wildlife; or be used to meet state or federal environmental regulations; or make “beneficial cost-effective changes to cropping systems, grazing management, manure, nutrient, pest, or irrigation management, land uses,
or other measures needed to conserve and improve soil, water, and related natural resources.” The intent is to not duplicate existing programs, but to give states the ability to address areas of specific need. The funding could even be designated for use in existing state conservation or environmental programs, should a state find that’s where the most need rests.
- Under the Agricultural Stewardship Program, the states would enter into cooperative agreements with USDA on an annual basis and issue annual reports to USDA regarding the progress to date and future intentions.
- While Western Governors feel the program outlined above is extremely important, it must be defined broadly so that Governors may designate a lead state agency, and it must be weighed in conjunction with the need for improvements and adjustments to existing conservation and environmental programs.
Source: WGA Policy Resolution 01 - 08: Farm Bill Reauthorization 01-WGA08 on Aug 14, 2001
Opposes federal wage controls & healthcare role.
Johnson opposes the AFA survey question on livable wage
The American Family Association Action Voter Guide asked if candidates agree or disagree with the statement, 'It is the government's responsibility to be sure everyone has health care and a livable income.'
American Family Association Action (AFA Action) produces the online "iVoterGuide" for selected state and federal races. The mission of AFA Action is to inform and mobilize individuals to strengthen the biblical foundations of America.
Source: American Family Association survey 16AFA_Q29 on Nov 8, 2016
Page last updated: Jan 07, 2019
