Jeb Bush Story

The “Beverly Hillbillies” was one of my favorite television shows growing up as a child. The last time I heard a name similar to presidential nominee Jeb Bush was from the name Jed who landed a role on the television hit show, “Beverly Hillbillies.” Jeb and Jed have a similar story as the opening song would suggest at the introduction of the show. The theme song of the “Beverly Hillbillies” shares a story of Jed who in a short period of time found riches in an oil field and was in the wrong place to become a millionaire. The United States presidential nominee Jeb Bush has a story that could heavily impact his presidential campaign.

Take a look at this comment concerning the Iraq war:

Megyn Kelly (Fox news reporter) had the opportunity to sit down with presidential hopeful Mr. Jeb Bush. One question that sparked much debate concerning the effects of Jeb’s run for presidential election was when the host asked Bush a question concerning Iraq. The question that Ms. Kelly asked Mr. Jeb Bush was, “Would you have authorized the invasion (of Iraq) knowing what we know now, with the benefit of non-faulty intelligence?” Mr. Jeb Bush said that he would have authorized the invasion. When the comment hit the airways, many people raised their eye brows and some said it was just a matter of misinterpretation. Who is Jeb Bush and how could this debate of his freedom of expression place him at the crossroads between receiving a B plus or D minus on presidential topics?

Mr. John Ellis “Jeb” Bush is an American politician from Midland, Texas. Jeb served as the 43r^d governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is the brother of the well known former President George W. Bush. Bush is the son and brother of two Bush Presidents. While growing up, Jeb was exposed to politics. At a rather young age, Jeb decided that he wanted to perform public service and decided to travel to Mexico. In Mexico, Jeb did not become a millionaire teaching English and then attending the University of Austin to major in Latin American affairs. Jeb began to see prosperity when he threw his hat in political arenas.

Like Jed on the television show, Jeb moved from Texas and moved to Florida in 1980 to work as a real estate agent and broker. Once Jeb became familiar with Florida, he began serving as Florida’s secretary of commerce. Bush then turned up his motivation and decided to run for public office as Florida’s state’s governorship in 1994. The first run for governorship was not successful, but Jeb dusted himself off and won on his second try in 1998.

As governor, Jeb was in the middle of a controversy in the 2000 election due to some voting ballots. Two years later, Jeb won his bid for re-election as governor and was sworn in for his second term in January 2003. Some of Jeb’s greatest achievements during his term as govern was working with the state’s education system, his efforts to protect the environment and his improvement in helping the economy.

What is my grade for Jeb Bush?

In researching Jeb Bush, he has indicated that education reform is his top priority. He is focused on paying the good teachers well. Schools hire teachers whom they have reason to believe are well qualified. What will a good teacher look like and is accountability for a teacher test scores? What are the implications of funding and transportation if parents are able to select the schools their child or children attend? What will over-crowding look like and will learning increase? I like the concept of having the legislature help fund some educational programs for students.

If elected to office, Mr. Jeb believes in standardized tests, which works for accountability, but lacks in some areas of educational concepts. I would like for Mr. Jeb Bush and others to review the No Child Left Behind Act. Yes, it is true that 25% of all kids pass all four sections of the American College Testing, (ACT) but what about the 75% who only pass one section or none at all as high school students? When researchers look at the concept of Social Promotion, the concept that comes to mind is moving students due to their level of socialization. Socialization is the concept that because this child is 2 years older than everyone else, we want to move this child to the correct grade. Social promotion is also linked to the drop-out rates that high school campuses experience. No Child Left Behind should be a curriculum/program, rather than a concept. Overall, for the education concept, Mr. Jeb would receive a grade of 75. The grade was given because we need systematic programs rather than ideas. Part of the 75% of students not passing are due to language barriers, lack of knowledge and the inability to hire specialized teachers due to lack of state funding.

The second concept of protecting the environment contains a vast number of ideas. Jeb Bush would like for the following ideas to help support the environment:

1. Use cleaner burning fuels in order to prevent pollution
2. Allow industries to perform a self-audit
3. Require cost analysis to determine impact of environmental regulations
4. State should compensate citizens when environmental regulations limit their use on private land
5. Restructure the electric utility and allow consumers to select their own electric company.

When reviewing the different concepts proposed by Jeb Bush, we find that the idea of a cleaner environment is beneficial in so many ways. First, with the use of cleaner burning fuels, consumers are saving thousands of lives and preventing airborne illnesses such as asthma and other health related problems. In performing self-audits within industries, the result is the ability of industries to be proactive and reflective in the undertaking of the business. Due to different needs from the analysis and the increase in business within industries, audits in turn may bring more jobs to the United States. Within the category of environmental factors, I assign Mr. Jeb Bush a grade of 95%. The 95% was assigned to the environmental area because there must be accountability for self-audits and how will we ensure cleaner fuel and how much will it cost? What state funding will be used to ensure cleaner fuel?

The final category that Jeb Bush mentioned is the improvement in helping the economy. One plan that Mr. Jeb Bush proposes is the $787B economic plan, which means a lot of spending on economic plans. What will the money be spent on and whose agenda is the need for more funding on? In Feb of 2015, Jeb approached his campaign run by illustrating that he would help low-income families by reviewing issues of income inequality. The implications of Jeb reviewing low income families and focusing on income inequality would increase the number of jobs for low income families, which also means that many governmental programs would finally fade away. As a result of reviewing income inequality, there is a need to review skill sets with qualifications. When reviewing poverty, we find that a percentage of people are in the category of poverty and would like to work, but cannot because of the qualifications. A major plus that Jeb would have in improving the category of a better economy is to create jobs that would qualify individuals who were on the poverty level, middle class and the other class level. I would like to see that each person has a chance to work, whether disabled, in poverty, middle class or the other class. Each person must be able to start at one level and move to the next. Minimum wages need to be analyzed and reviewed. There must be a standard line or level that helps bring people out of poverty and give each person an opportunity to live. In the economy category, I give Jeb a score of 80%. Have we reviewed the current poverty levels? How can income equality be ensured when everyone is on different levels (college, jobs, locations, etc)? What impact will the new programs and jobs have on programs which assist those who are disabled or those with little or no college? We should create technical jobs as well industrial jobs for those who are more tactile.

The overall score for Mr. Jeb Bush is an 83. We must review education and reform it through programs, rather than ideas. The economy needs programs and self-analysis to see how we can prevent pollution, which leads to different health risks for the population. Finally, when reviewing the economy, we have to make sure each person has a chance to work. There are different jobs for different degree levels and we must strive to create equality in the economic progress.

emonya_love@yahoo.com

State

Minimum Wage

As of 2-24-15

Future Enacted
Increases

Indexed Automatic Annual
Adjustments

Alabama

none

Alaska

$8.75

$9.75 eff. 1-1-16

Indexed annual increases begin Jan. 1, 2017. (2014 ballot measure)

American Samoa

varies 1

Arizona

$8.05

Rate increased annually based on cost of living. (Ballot measure 2006)

Arkansas

$7.50

$8.00 eff. 1-1-16

$8.50 eff. 1-1-17

California

$9.00

$10.00 eff. 1-1-16

Colorado

$8.23

Rate increased or decreased annually based on cost of living (Constitutional amendment 2006)

Connecticut

$9.15 2

$9.60 eff. 1-1-16

$10.10 eff. 1-1-17

Delaware

$7.75

$8.25 eff. 6-1-15

D.C.

$9.50 3

$10.50 eff. 7-1-15
$11.50 eff. 7-1-16

Indexed increases begin July 1, 2017

(2014 legislation)

Florida

$8.05

Annual increase based cost of living. (Constitutional amendment 2004)

Georgia

$5.15

(see notes below)

Guam

$7.25

Hawaii

$7.75

$8.50 eff. 1/1/16
$9.25 eff. 1/1/17
$10.10 eff. 1/1/18

Idaho

$7.25

Illinois

$8.25

Indiana

$7.25

Iowa

$7.25

Kansas

$7.25

Kentucky

$7.25

Louisiana

none

Maine

$7.50 4

Maryland

$8.00

$8.25 eff. 7-1-15
$8.75 eff. 7-1-16
$9.25 eff. 7-1-17
$10.10 eff. 7-1-18

Massachusetts

$9.00 5

$10.00 eff. 1-1-16
$11.00 eff. 1-1-17

Michigan

$8.15

$8.50 eff. 1-1-16

$8.90 eff. 1-1-17

$9.25 eff. 1-1-18

Annual increases take effect Jan. 1, 2019, linked to the CPI. Increases not to exceed 3.5%. (2014 Legislation)

Minnesota

$8.00/$6.50 6

Large Employers:

$9.00 eff. 8-1-15

$9.50 eff. 8-1-16

Small Employers:

$7.25 eff. 8-1-15

$7.75 eff. 8-1-16

Indexed annual increases begin Jan. 1, 2018.

(2014 legislation)

Mississippi

none

Missouri

$7.65 7

Minimum wage increased or decreased by cost of living starting Jan. 1, 2008. (2006 ballot measure)

Montana

$8.05/$4.00 8

Increases done annually based on the CPI and effective Jan. 1 of the following year. (2006 ballot measure)

Nebraska

$8.00

$9.00 eff. 1-1-16

Nevada

$8.25/$7.25 9

Increases subject to the federal minimum wage and consumer price index. Increases take effect July 1. (Constitutional amendment 2004/2006).

New Hampshire

repealed by HB 133 (2011)

New Jersey

$8.38

Indexed annual increases based on the CPI, effective Jan. 1, 2014. (Constitutional Amendment 2013)

New Mexico

$7.50

New York

$8.75

$9.00 eff. 12-31-15

North Carolina

$7.25

North Dakota

$7.25

Ohio

$8.10/$7.25 10

Indexed annual increases based on the CPI. (Constitutional amendment 2006)

Oklahoma

$7.25/$2.00 11

Oregon

$9.25

Indexed annual increases based on the CPI, rounded to the nearest five cents. (ballot measure 2002)

Pennsylvania

$7.25

Puerto Rico

$7.25/$5.08 12

Rhode Island

$9.00

South Carolina

none

South Dakota

$8.50

Annual indexed increases begin Jan. 1, 2016. (2014 ballot measure.)

Tennessee

none

Texas

$7.25

Utah

$7.25

Vermont

$9.15

$9.60 eff. 1-1-16

$10.00 eff. 1-1-17

$10.50 eff. 1-1-18

Beginning Jan. 1, 2019, minimum wage increased annually by 5% or the CPI, whichever is smaller; it cannot decrease. Note: Vermont started indexing in 2007. (2014 legislation)

Virgin Islands

$7.25/$4.30 13

Virginia

$7.25

Washington

$9.47

Annual indexed increases began Jan. 1, 2001. (ballot measure 1998)

West Virginia

$8.00

$8.75 eff. 12-31-15

Wisconsin

$7.25

Wyoming

$5.15

Sources: U.S. Dept. of Labor, http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm; and state web sites.

An innovator of change, Dr. Alfreda Love is a leader, educator, motivational speaker, blogger, Radio Host and a self starter. Dr. Love created a talk show ministry that features your favorite celebrities, authors, writers, actors, actress and positive community leaders.

If you would like to speak on a subject or have news to cover email

emonya_love@yahoo.com