After Enacting Highest Minimum Wage, This State Leads Nation In Job & Wage Growth

[KamaAina]

Last edited Thu Feb 18, 2016, 01:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Florida, of course.

http://www.occupydemocrats.com/2016/02/17/after-enacting-highest-minimum-wage-this-state-leads-nation-in-job-wage-growth/

Republican politicians and their corporate backers have long fought against the raising the minimum wage, which has been stagnant for decades. Billionaire Donald Trump, who began his career with a “small $1 million loan,” somehow argues that “our wages are too high.” Marco Rubio asserts that “in the 21st century, it’s a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage you’re going to make people more expensive than a machine.” Ted Cruz thinks that “if you raise the minimum wage, the inevitable effect will be, number one, young people will lose their jobs or not be able to get their first jobs.”

Of course, none of these doomsday opinions have anything to do with facts or reality. The state of Washington raised its minimum wage to $9.47 in January 2015; the city of Seattle has begun phasing in a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Contrary to the naysayers, the state is “far outpacing” the nation in both employment and wage growth. Employment grew by 3.7% during the fourth quarter of 2015, mostly in the industries of “construction, information technology, professional services, and leisure and hospitality industries.”

Private sector analyst group ADP gave Washington an index score of 117.9 on their annual Workplace Vitality Report – 11 points higher than the rest of the nation. While Republicans, FOX News, and Koch-funded think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute constantly warn of horrific job losses and an economic cataclysm, in reality they are simply terrified of having to pay their workers a fair wage and give up having the government subsidize their poverty wages. It’s clear that the anti-minimum wage campaign is nothing but a conspiracy by multinational corporations and the oligarchs to keep funneling money to the very top – at the expense of the American economy as a whole and the well being of the American middle class.

Actually, California has had a $10 minimum wage since the beginning of the year. Watch your back, Washington!

[LittleBlue]

1. Because our people have money to spend

Impoverish your workers, impoverish your customers. The business folks here in Seattle thought this would be a disaster. Still haven't heard of anyone going out of business due to the $15 minimum wage. People can spend more. It works.

[cascadiance]

2. And they also have an avowed socialist on their city council too (Kshama Sawant)!

A recipe for success that needs to be done nationally! Her campaigning was a big reason why that minimum wage passed too.

[OutNow]

3. I support socialists including Sawant and Sanders

I contributed to Kshama Sawant's initial campaign a couple of years ago and again last year when she won reelection to Seattle City Council. Her group, Socialist Alternative, knows how to organize and run a serious campaign for the 99%. While many small socialist groups have shunned the Sanders campaign because he isn't a "real" socialist, Sawant's organization states, "Bernie Sanders’ victory in New Hampshire is a political earthquake that is rocking the U.S. presidential elections and the entire establishment. For the first time in U.S. history, a candidate who calls himself a socialist has won a major U.S. primary, and by the widest margin in the history of the New Hampshire primaries." I agree with this.

http://www.socialistalternative.org/2016/02/11/bernies-political-revolution/

[KamaAina]

4. If only it didn't rain so damn much!