GOP Rep. Joe Barton Calls For Minimum Wage Repeal

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

President Barack Obama's call to raise the minimum wage has long been met with resistance from congressional Republicans, but Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) took things a step further by suggesting the minimum wage be done away with entirely.

"I think it's outlived its usefulness," Barton told National Journal in a story published Thursday. "It may have been of some value back in the Great Depression. I would vote to repeal the minimum wage."

The story didn't include any specifics on why Barton felt the minimum wage had lost its value, and a request to his office for further explanation wasn't immediately returned.

Barton's comments came one day after Obama delivered a highly-discussed speech on income inequality and poverty, in which the president renewed his push for a higher minimum wage. The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour, which amounts to roughly $15,000 a year.

Obama said that despite working around the clock, individuals who work in the fast-food and retail industries, as well as nurses, continue to live at or barely above poverty.

"That’s why it’s well past the time to raise a minimum wage that, in real terms right now, is below where it was when Harry Truman was in office," he said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/joe-barton-minimum-wage_n_4392722.html?utm_source=concierge&utm_medium=onsite&utm_campaign=sailthru%2Bslider%2B

Maybe you should try living on minimum wage Barton.

[trumad]

1. Joe Barton is a Dick!

Nuff said.

[muntrv]

2. Do away with Joe Barton.

[Ron Green]

3. Barton is nothing more than a shill

for the oil and gas industry. Period.

[Mass]

4. 5 states have no minimum wage at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:State_minimum_wages_v2.jpg

Minimum wage by U.S. state and U.S. territory (American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands), as of Jan. 1, 2013.
States with minimum wage rates higher than the federal rate (Green,)
States and territories with minimum wage rates the same as the federal rate (Blue)
States with no state minimum wage law Yellow
States and territories with minimum wage rates lower than the federal rate red

and a few have a minimum wage lower than the federal standard.

If the GOP argument that minimum wage depresses employment and wages was true, they would give us the stats for these states. They do not.

[Turbineguy]

5. Yeah Joe!

Let's go back to the Great Depression! What a fantastic idea! The best stuff from this guy comes out of his ass.

[democrank]

6. Same tired old heartless Republican scheme.....

When they`re down, kick `em.

[dem in texas]

7. When you think Texas politicians couldn't get any worse....

Joe Barton is a scumbag. He is in the pocket of big oil and any other lobby group that will give him five dollars. He is the one who apologized to BP because the US government was mad at them for fucking up the Gulf of Mexico with their big oil spill.

Texas takes the cake, no other state has such a lousy bunch of politicians representing them.

[Marie Marie]

8. You gotta love these dumb asses that keep doubling down

against the wishes of the majority of Americans.