VIDEO: All 3 Missouri GOP Senate Candidates Stumped When Asked To Identify The Minimum Wage

[SunsetDreams]

Three Missouri Republicans running to take on Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) in November were asked during a radio debate on KMOX what the federal minimum wage is and whether they would vote to increase it. None of the three knew what the minimum wage is, but all knew that they would vote against increasing it, regardless.

Host Charlie Brennan asked the three candidates — businessman John Brunner, former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, and Rep. Todd Akin — “What is the federal minimum wage? Would you vote to increase it?” Here are their responses to the first question:

BRENNAN: Okay, do you know what the minimum wage is?
BRUNNER: No sir.
BRENNAN: How about you Sarah Steelman?
STEELMAN: Uh…$7.50 an hour.
BRENNAN: Do you know what the minimum wage is?


AKIN: My guess is its somewhere in the 6 or 7, but I don’t know the exact number right now.



The federal minimum wage (and Missouri’s minimum wage) is $7.25 per hour. Certainly all three should know the wage level at which four million American workers are at or below. Akin, especially, should know, since in 2007 he voted against raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/03/16/446351/akin-steelman-brunner-minimum-wage/

Stunning. You don't know what the minimum wage is, which tells me that you haven't researched to see if said minimum wage is keeping up with the economy(which it isn't)...and yet you will vote against an increase

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Information

can do nothing but cloud the issue.

If you're rich and yet lack something, it will be given to you.

If you are poor and yet still have something of value, it will be taken from you.

That's the Republican Way.

[tridim]

2. It's not that they don't know, it's that they just don't care.

It doesn't affect them and though it does affect the people who vote for them, it doesn't affect their vote.

[ceile]

3. that is just breath taking.

That is beyond the pale...no words.

[SunsetDreams]

4. It truly is, and they

are running for the Senate

[DonRedwood]

5. I'm not surprised....not at all

but it is still pretty sickening.

[DefenseLawyer]

6. But I bet they all went on to say that only teenagers make minimum wage

and if we just repealed the minimum wage we would great a billion new jobs and a few other Rush Limbaugh talking points on the subject.

[hfojvt]

7. I always have to look it up

I don't know that I would vote to increase it now either. Not now that it has gone up by 41% over the last five years.

[SunsetDreams]

8. The difference is you

are not running for office. The difference is that you didn't already vote against an increase, and still claim to not know what the minimum wage is. The difference is that you are not responsible for voting for/against a minimum wage increase that would affect millions of families. So your position is that you agree with not increasing the minimum wage, because it's been increased by too much of a percentage (41%) over the last five years? Has that percentage that it's been "increased" kept up with the economy? I mean are people able to afford clothes, gas, groceries, utilities, house payment/rent, college education for themselves or their children, insurance, etc..on $7.25/hr even if they work full time?

[hfojvt]

12. well the inflation calculation says

$5.15 in 1999 is the same as $7.04 today. So it appears to have kept up with inflation.

There are millions of people now making $0 per hour because they have no job. I am guessing that it is easier to pay bills at $7.25 an hour than it is at $0 per hour.

The minimum wage was flat for about a decade, and now it has gone up by 41%. So at this time, there is not an urgent need to increase it. I know some on DU think it should be $30 an hour, but I am not one of them.

And I did run for office. I could run for office, but one cannot have every fact memorized. At least most people cannot.

[starroute]

13. Between 1997 and 2007, there was no increase in the Missouri minimum wage

In 1997 the federal minimum wage was set at $5.15, which restored less than half the value it had lost since 1980. So when you say Missouri has kept up with inflation since 1997, you're overlooking the fact that even the 1997 value was historically low.



Between 1997 and 2006, Missouri did not raise its minimum wage above the $5.15 figure and fell behind many other states. It began to catch up with an increase to $6.50 in 2007, followed by additional increases each of the next three years, which brought it to the present level of $7.25 in 2010.

Since then, there have been no further increases. Two years ago, the Missouri Senate was actually debating a proposal to decrease the minimum wage for teenagers and mandate that the state minimum wage must always be equal to or less than the federal minimum. And at present, business with an annual gross under $500,000 are not even required to pay the minimum.

There are good reasons for believing that a minimum wage more equivalent to what it was in the 1970s would be good for business and good for the country. The figure of $10 an hour often cited as a "living wage" would seem like a reasonable starting point.

[Mariana]

14. The official core inflation numbers

are fucking bogus when it comes to how people are affected. The official inflation numbers EXCLUDE the changes in the prices of food and energy. Those prices are too "'volatile" so they're just left out. Isn't that convenient? Those are the very things that have increased in price the most, and are also the things that everyone has to buy in order to survive.

[DefenseLawyer]

9. Those high minimum wages

would explain why income inequality keeps going down in this country. All the rich peoples' money is going to pay ever higher minimum wages! Oh wait...

[gulliver]

10. Wait, but later they said they were against raising it.

But they didn't even know what it is. So how did they know they were against it...unless they are just against the minimum wage. I don't think that would sit well with the poor souls in small towns and sticks who vote for them.

[Smilo]

11. Of course, we don't know - we are millionaires, we are not concerned with the

poor working stiffs of this country.

Let them eat cake.

Snark.

[spanone]

15. ignorance is the root of the republican opposition

why have facts when the voters don't demand them?

they only oppose, they offer nothing