He Hates Pelosi Because of American Somoa

[Powdered Toast Man]

Seriously. My step dad said he couldn't stand Pelosi... So I asked him why. His only reason what the minimum wage exclusion of American Samoa.

OMFG. I laughed so hard.

Republicans... sometimes you just have to laugh at them.

[gateley]

1. Well that's a new one. nt

[Orrex]

2. Tell him that's where Girl Scout cookies come from.

[KamaAina]

3. (facebludgeon)

American Samoa has ALWAYS had that wage exclusion. Some of the Pacific island possessions don't participate in programs like Social Security and Medicare, either.

More AmSam trivia:

It is the only land under the U.S. flag in the southern hemisphere.

It is an unorganized territory of the U.S., under the Interior Dept. This has caused the UN to place it on the list of non-self-governing territories -- colonies.

American Samoans are U.S. nationals, not citizens. They can travel and work in the U.S., but not vote.

An American Samoan child is 45 times more likely than a mainland American child to grow up to play in the NFL.

[Meldread]

4. Just so you know...

...in American Samoa this is a serious issue. American Samoa is a pretty poor island territory of the United States, and for the most part is ignored by mainlanders. They have no voting representation on the federal level of our government, aside from one non-voting member of the House of Representatives (currently Eni Fa'aua'a Hunkin Faleomavaega, Jr. a Democrat). Roughly 80% of the economy in American Samoa is tied up in the tuna canneries that operated there; to be specific: Samoa Packing Company (operating under the "Chicken of the Sea" label) and StarKist Samoa. Back in 2008 Del Monte Foods sold StarKist to the Dongwon Group of South Korea.

There are a number of reasons that the canneries operate there; one of the biggest is that operating in American Samoa allows them to avoid United States import tariffs. Due to the unique nature of American Samoa in US law (federal law prohibits foreign commercial fishing vessels from offloading tuna at US ports; Samoa is exempt) they gain virtually 30% of their value by operating in the territory.

However, even with this level of trade passing through Samoa they still import almost twice as much as they export. Their biggest imports are manufactured goods, food, and fuel; on a per capita basis, American Samoa's foreign trade is greater than any other South Pacific entity.

Despite making millions operating through American Samoa, the canneries have threatened to shut down if minimum wage was increased. As I said, it makes up roughly 80% of their economy, and they have no representation on the federal level. Nancy Pelosi attempted to work out some type of deal regarding wages and tax exemption, but then Republicans attempted to make an issue out of it. They attempted to pin corruption on her.

In the end American Samoa had the minimum wage and various other laws enforced upon them from the federal level, from which they have no representation, and I believe that one of the tuna canneries have shut down operations already while the other one has downsized and is contemplating also pulling out. This of course threatens to cripple the American Samoan economy. It is difficult to attract business there due to its remote nature.

[alarimer]

5. Our very own sweatshop island

It's pretty disgusting that the only reason it has the status it has is so American corporations can claim "made in American" yet pay the people shit. Legally too.

[Meldread]

6. If I am not mistaken...

...and keep in mind that I've never been to American Samoa, nor am I in any way related to someone in Samoa (that I know of), so all of this is just knowledge collected from news sources and the internet...

But I believe that the American Samoan's were and still are opposed to these laws, in particular the minimum wage law, being imposed upon them - for obvious reasons. It will / has cost them their tuna canneries. From all I understand of the situation, it's pretty much economic armageddon for them.

I'm not sure if it's fair to compare wages in Samoa to wages on the mainland. They are so remote that they are virtually disconnected with us entirely outside of favorable trade agreements and other benefits. I am personally in favor of the Federal Government staying out of Samoa's business, not enforcing laws upon them, and allowing their elected leaders handle what is an is not acceptable. That or we invest heavily in American Samoa, laying the groundwork for an economic revolution there, and then incorporating them as a state.

I am very much against the Federal Government intervening overtly in territories not only because they have absolutely no representation on the federal level, but also I see it as working against the way our system of government should operate. These territories have their own elected representation for a reason.

[WeCanWorkItOut]

7. I'm more amazed at why my fellow Democrats like her so much

Her respect for a charlatan like George Lakoff, for instance.
I wish I could laugh at that. To believe in such a creature
(to put it politely),it's appalling.

But I can't blame her in particular. It's representative
of the intellectual poverty of the Democrats now.
They either believe in charlatans, or condone them.
Not so funny.

[KingFlorez]

8. As if a Republican would really care about that

I'm surprised one of them even knows American Samoa is part of the country, most of them probably believe it's a country where foreigners pretend to be American.

[ingac70]

9. ...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/pelosi/americansamoa.asp