Re: Republicans shoot down increase in minimum wage


Rita wrote:
On Wed, 21 Jun 2006 16:27:08 -0400, Jay Smith <jaylsmith@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 21 Jun 2006 20:09:39 GMT, Earl <neptune@xxxxxx> wrote:

El Castor <anyonethere@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:JKudnbe-8fNPCwTZnZ2dnUVZ_sKdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx:


Thumper <jaylsmith@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 21 Jun 2006 06:48:01 -0700, "Joan" <jcmumsie@xxxxxxx>
wrote:


Rita wrote:
On Tue, 20 Jun 2006 15:24:57 -0700, El Castor
<anyonethere@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Rita <nitany_98@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 20 Jun 2006 07:16:41 -0700, "Golden State Poppy"
<GoldenStatePoppy@xxxxxxx> wrote:


El Castor wrote:
Well, Connie Chung, ex co-anchor of CBS News, and
her husband, Maury Povitch, have apparently been
hosting a show on MSNBC for the last six months.
Saturday was the final installment, and she
apparently decided to end it by singing a song. Here
it is -- perhaps one of the most God awful
exhibition I have ever seen. No, no, let me take
that back -- THE most God awful thing I have ever
seen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcozKfpbmaA&eurl=http%
3A%2F%2Fwww%2Edvorak%2Eorg%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D5770

I can only agree with you. I wonder what possessed
her?

MTV?
Yes the Senate voted along party lines and shot any increase
down. Thumper

More's the pity. We could have increased the minimum wage to
$100 an hour and ended poverty forever. )-8


Piker.

Move it to $500 and we would all be rich. Imagine, a million
dollar annual income for each worker


If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1968 it would
be over $9 an hour now. No wonder we're turning into a third world
country.
Thumper

Our lowest paid wage earners really have no power and few who do to
go to bat for them. But it should be clear to the densest person that
every little increase in the cost of living affects them far more
where it hurts than better paid workers.

OK - so what's your solution? Didn't you catch on to the sarcasm to
which you respond?

Lou Dobbs wrote a scathing article saying just that.

No one can accuse Dobbs of being a flaming bleeding heart
liberal.

Perhaps a bit short sighted?

Congress has not been laggardly about granting itself pay
increases. Nor have company execs.

And most American workers have seen improvements in their wages. And
don't stafrt with this BS about real wages falling. It just isn't true
when you look at wages of individuals over time.

Part of what he had to say:

Corporate America, the Bush administration and the national economic
orthodoxy with which they're in league have consistently argued
against helping working men and women at the lowest end of the wage
scale by raising the minimum wage.

The unfortunate thing is - raising the minimum wage may end being a
bigger hurt than help.

Big business groups like the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce say it will harm the economy and eliminate jobs.

And in fact it can and does do exactly that - worse yet, it gives big
business more reason to offshore jobs.

As is so frequent with the faith-based economics that grips both
political parties in Washington, such concerns have absolutely nothing
to do with reality.

It has everything to do with economics and nothing whatsoever to do
with religion.

For example, it's impossible to deny the national minimum wage of
$5.15 is not enough for a family to live above the poverty line.

And that was never the intent.

The
annual salary for workers earning the national minimum wage still
leaves a family of three about $6,000 short of the poverty threshold.

And those who are below that threshold have access to a variety of
government programs - from food stamps and Medicaid to EIC and rent
subsidies. It is not the role of big business to solve the problems of
poverty in this country.

Raising the minimum wage to $7.50 would positively affect the lives of
more than 8 million workers, including an estimated 760,000 single
mothers and 1.8 million parents with children under 18.

Currently less than 2 million American workers earn at the minimum
wage. Of those, more than half are "children" and I use that term to
describe the family member dependent. Kids working summer jobs, after
school, or whatever.

46 percent increase would get them only to the poverty line. Don't you
think these families just might need that cost-of-living increase a
bit more than our elected officials who are paid nearly $170,000 a
year?

For every dollar closer to the poverty line, the government takes away
some benefit - be it food stamps, rent subsidies, or EIC. Raising job
earnings does little for those who are actually in need since the
increase in wages is offset by a loss in benefits.

More releant is that minimum wage is not a lifestyle. 2/3rds of
minimum wage earners will be earning above that wage with 12 months.
Minimum wage positions are entry level - OJT for example.

With no Congressional action on raising the minimum wage since 1997,
inflation has eroded wages. The minimum wage in the 21st century is $2
lower in real dollars than it was four decades ago and now stands at
its lowest level since 1955, according to the Economic Policy
Institute and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

That is true.

Also, since the last time Congress increased the minimum wage for our
lowest-paid workers, buying power has fallen by 25 percent. Yet over
that time our elected representatives have given themselves eight pay
raises totaling more than 23 percent.

Strawman

Raising the minimum wage isn't simply about the price of labor. It's
also about our respect for labor. One of this country's greatest
business innovators, Henry Ford, made history almost a century ago by
raising the salaries of his production-line workers far beyond the
prevailing wage. Ford not only paid his employees well enough to buy
the products they built, but he kept his employees loyal and
productive. That's also very good business.

But then again, employee turnover in minimum wage jobs is expected and
actually necessary. There is no employee working for GM earning
minimum wage. Another strawman.

The myth that raising the minimum wage will lead to job cuts is just
that: a myth. In fact, research suggests just the opposite.

No, it does not.

According
to the Fiscal Policy Institute, since 1998, states with higher minimum
wages experienced better job growth than states paying only the
federal minimum wage.

What they don't tell you is that states with higher minimum wage also
have higher cost of living and a higher prevailing wage rate. The
higher minimum wage states also have seen the better economic growth
over the last 10 years. The phenomenon is not related to wages but to
the overall economic climate of the states.

The states (and there are 11 of them if you include DC) that have
higher than federal mandated minimums are - Alaska and Hawaii - duh.

On the West coast we have Washington State, Oregon and California. On
the East Coast we have Maine, Massachusettes, Vermont and Rhode Island
(blue states). Further along we have Delaware and DC. The only
midwest state is Illinois. Again, all blue.

These states are being compared to Arkansas, Texas, Louisianna,
Alabama....come on, get real.

Among small retail businesses in those higher
minimum-wage states, job growth was double the rest of the country.

Let's hope so.

js

.

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