GOP LOSES THE MINIMUM WAGE WAR

[DonViejo]

GOP LOSES THE MINIMUM WAGE WAR

GOP loses the minimum wage war: Why their position is clueless and doomed

Even if increasing it to $10.10 does cost jobs, so what. Here's why the right has already lost the debate

BRIAN BEUTLER

Raising the minimum wage is a popular idea. It’s also a good, if suboptimal, way to help low-wage workers, address inequality, and reduce poverty. It’s also a policy that distributes a significant amount of money down the income scale using an entirely off-budget mechanism, which means the government isn’t creating a politically vulnerable welfare program and isn’t financing that welfare program with new debt or by taxing outraged rich people.

This makes it an attractive option for liberal elites and lawmakers, too. And at a time when conservatives aren’t willing to entertain more income support or another payroll tax cut, without simultaneously taking it out of the hide of the poor in some other way, the minimum wage is a natural place for liberals to fight for the poor. It’s just about the last arrow left in their quiver.

With all that to speak for it, it’s no surprise that conservatives hate the minimum wage, certainly don’t want to increase the minimum wage, and are desperate for independent confirmation of their claim that a $10.10 minimum wage, as President Obama has proposed, is a job killer.

They got their wish on Wednesday, when the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis concluding that a phased-in $10.10 minimum wage would have a modest but real disemployment effect. They projected that at $10.10, the minimum wage would reduce employment somewhere between a trivial amount and 1 million jobs by the end of 2016. Their best estimate within that range is that a $10.10 minimum wage would cost the economy 500,000 jobs relative to what would happen without any increase at all.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/02/20/gop_loses_the_minimum_wage_war_why_their_position_is_clueless_and_doomed/

[Scuba]

1. Folks seem to overlook the fact that $10.10 still won't pay the bills.

[winter is coming]

2. +1. It's a way to look like something meaningful has been done without actually

providing a living wage.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. Maybe ...

but it WILL pay more bills than the current $7.25. No?

[Scuba]

6. I often argue that perfection is the enemy of progress, but in this case ....

... the appearance of having fixed a problem, while not doing so, may do more damage than doing nothing, at least in the long run.

I'd sure like the see the Democrats adopt a $15/hour minimum wage as a platform plank this fall. Now that would motivate some people to vote.

[1StrongBlackMan]

7. Yes, $15.00/hr would be a great plank ...

though it is doubtful that it would move many to vote, as the distrust of politicians' campaigning is still present (and being stoked).

But that said, rejecting the $10.10/hr., bird in the hand, in favor of a $15.00 wish is most certainly making perfection the enemy of progress. And anyone arguing otherwise, is certainly NOT making $7.25.

[Scuba]

8. Yeah, why advocate for good policy; no one trusts pols anyway.

BTW, I do support any raise to the minimum wage.

[1StrongBlackMan]

9. That's not what I said ...

and you know it.

Where did I say anything about not advocating for $15.00/hr., i.e., good policy? It is bad practice to spend more time being critical of what you have than advocating for what you want.

You only have to do one, in order to do the other, here on DU ... the rest of the world, including within the Democratic Party, we collect our gains ... small as they may be ... and use that as the starting point for the next push.

Try it some time, you'd be surprised at how far get and how quickly you get there.

[Scuba]

10. You need to take a class on negotiations.

If you want people to earn a living wage, you don't start negotiations by asking for less than that.

[1StrongBlackMan]

11. I would place my REAL WORLD negotiation results ...

against yours, any day of the week.

I have 30+ years of public service, including developing and implementing policy in a hostile political environment. I've been in the position of negotiating high-stakes labor contracts and civil rights settlements, and coordinating the public face of such negotiations.

Results:

12 labor contracts (Have sat on both sides of the table) ... 1 two day walk-out, no wage or benefit give-backs.

$12,000,000+ in Civil Rights Litigation Settlements.

Your turn ...

[Scuba]

12. 30-plus years negotiating contracts. Never once started by asking for less than I wanted.

[1StrongBlackMan]

14. Car purchases and selling your house, doesn't count. eom.

[Scuba]

15. You know nothing about me.

[1StrongBlackMan]

16. I know ...

after telling me that I need to take a class in negotiating, I posted my REAL WORLD negotiating successes that would suggest I do not need classes in negotiating ... to which you responded that you have 30-years of negotiating experience.

I'm just saying that car purchases and selling one's home does count.

[Skink]

3. Now that healthcare costs are not being paid by employers

it should be much higher.

[a kennedy]

4. Please read my sig line......it says it all regarding minimum wage.

[DFW]

13. No, they didn't. All they lost was a minor skirmish in their anti-Obama war

$10 IS an improvement, no two ways about that, but not all employees have it yet, and at any rate, though it will lessen financial burdens on many earning minimum wage, it still won't make anyone able to get by without some assistance unless they earn US wages and live in Sierra Leone, or have a partner who works as well.

Meanwhile, the Republicans get to yell and scream about lost jobs, as there will be some, and they will then parade those who "loved" their lives earning $7.25 an hour in their former jobs before a camera on prime time, somehow living a life of suburban comfort, probably conveniently omitting a spouse that pulls in $175,000 a year, and the fact that their minimum wage post merely supplemented it. Republicans are good at messages like that.