"Whether people like it or not, we need to go ahead with it," said Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., who supports the idea. "There's a general agreement among Republicans (opposing the raise) that "maybe we don't like it much, but we need to move forward with it just for political reasons."The proposed raise to a still anemic $7.25 would come over two years - plenty of time for oil companies and inflation to further impoverish already struggling American workers who face weakening unions, downsizing and increased offshoring.
Inflation has eroded the minimum wage's buying power to the lowest level in about 50 years. Yet lawmakers have won cost-of-living wage increases totaling about $35,000 over that time. So House GOP leaders are bowing to the inevitable on the increase.
This report comes on the heels of a Chicago city council resolution Wednesday that would require "big box" retailers to pay around $10.00 an hour - substantially more than the Illinois minimum wage of $6.50. A possible Daley Dynasty veto looms over this measure, however.
So it is apparant that appealing to a sense of moral conscience doesn't work with Republicans, but political pressure certainly does. And the GOP would take the credit for the increase which may or may not help them overcome the ravages of war in November.
Dem0crats, are you taking notes?
6 comments:
Public support for increasing the minimum wage reveals mass ignorance of economics; so does the public's opposition to privatized social security; as does anybody who sees a logical link between lawmakers voting to increase their payroll (from the funds that they raise through taxes and control via their charge of the US government) with these same legislators enacting a law that increases what one private organization pays its employees.
If the Chicago law stands, Chicagoans will find that they will pay more for "big box" merchandise within city limits, have fewer new "big box" retailers, and fewer expansions of existing such retailers. These developments will occur not simply because of this single anti-growth measure, but because "big box" retailers will now correctly view Chicago's politicians as hostile to free commerce, and will be less likely to risk new investments there that could become suddenly subject to fresh socialist meddling.
I predict that traffic from Chicago to subburbs for Big Box retail purchases will increase, including employees of Big Box retailers. Some of these employees will find their jobs shifted to the subburbs, and they will travel there to shop at the subburban Big Boxes due to lower prices.
As always, govt meddling in private enterprise will lead to less favorable outcomes than the brilliant, all-knowing archetects. Perhaps the Westland City Council will take an interest in dictating how much Nadir must pay his band members. Surely Nadir and his band members are not capable of negotiating these fees amoungst themselves. Perhaps a majority of Westland voters might conclude that Nadir doesn't pay his drummer enough, and learn that "appealing to Nadir's sense of moral conscience doesn't work."
Nadir, how much do you tip at a restaurant? 15%? Some of us in Westland think that's not enough. We think that you should tip 25%. Have you ever tried to raise a family of four living off tips waiting tables at one of those horrible "Big Chain" restaurants? We should pass a law requiring all Big Chain restaurants to add a mandatory 25% tip to all bills. Of course, now that I've appealed to your "sense of moral conscience", you will start tipping 25% anyway.
And what about those people out there tryig to earn a living playing music? Nadir, do you have any idea what it's like trying to raise a family as a musician? I understand that most bands only get paid about $100 per band member at each gig. Is that true? Let's pass a law that at every gig, every band member must get paid a minimum of $500. How does that sound? Every private venue open to the public must pay each band $500 per band member, plus expenses. Why shouldn't we do this, Nadir?
It is true, Paul, that I have experienced labor problems within my bands just like other musicians have. It is very expensive to insure that high quality musicians are well paid. This is why we have seen an increase in djs and even bars and restaurants resorting to cd players or Ipods as an alternative.
This has resulted in fewer opportunities for musicians and a lower quality of entertainment for patrons. That is the reality of the economic situation.
Worse than the minimum wage issue for other workers, musician wages haven't increased much in the last 30 years - since the advent of disco. The musicians union is essentially powerless in most cities, so wages have remained flat or have fallen.
The reason, however, is that most clubs and bars are small businesses that do not have the capital of a big box retailer. The price of drinks haven't increased a lot over the last 30 years either. I haven't seen any studies, but I would imagine people aren't necessarily drinking more.
Wal-Mart's profits have continued to rise and small business owners continue to lose market share to big box stores. While Chicago's move is protectionist, it may help extend the life of some small businesses. It may also backfire as workers leave lower paying small retailers to work at the big box stores which will be forced to pay higher wages.
It's a tough call.
The point of my post was that the Republicans are hijacking a Democratic campaign platform and using it against them, however. This may not play as well with business, but it will play well in the inner cities and among the poor where Republicans are trying to get a boost.
Public support for increasing minimum wage reveals masses of workers who are sinking deeper into debt and impending poverty. Upper middle class workers like you don't have that problem, so you couldn't care less whether the kid flipping your burgers gets an extra buck or not. In fact, you won't like it the price of your Big Mac goes up.
Nadir: I want the most people make the most money possible, and moving upward as fast and as far as possible. Having the government dictate a minimum of what you must pay your band members, or what clubs must pay your band, interfers with this. People with your view believe that governments can actually "set wages" and "set prices". But this is simply not true. You can force Wendy's to give the burger-flipper an extra buck, but you can't force Wendy's to not fire, or not hire, another burger flipper... or to not open the next Wendy's a mile down the road where the laws are different. And you can't force Wendy's to simply not hire people until they are able to provide a service that Wendy's values at the price that you have now set... or transfer wages into new technologies that avoid your wage laws.
You and your band have some minimum fee that you guys will agree to perform on any given Friday night, say, $1,000. If "compassionate" lawmakers enacted a new requirement of $1,400, do you think that you would lose out on some gigs?
Do you think that the govt should require you to pay your band members a certain minimum fee?
Nadir: We are waiting to hear if our appeal to your "moral conscience" has worked. Have you yet increased by 20% what you pay your band members? If not, we will bypass your greedy, dusty heart and go strait to The People, Power Be Unto Them. We hope that they have enough compassion to require you to increase what you pay your bandmembers.
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