House defeats minimum wage increase

The Washington Times ^ | March 15, 2013 | Stephen Dinan

[jazusamo]

The House on Friday rejected a Democratic push to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10, shooting down one of President Obama’s priorities from his State of the Union speech.

The 233-184 defeat also exposed divisions within the Democratic Party. Where Mr. Obama called for a hike from the current $7.25 to $9 an hour, congressional Democrats pushed for a $10.10 rate.

But they couldn’t muster unity even within their own ranks. Six Democrats from conservative-leaning districts voted against the wage increase, as did every single Republican who was present.

“We need jobs out there. The best approach right now is to get federal spending under control and government out of the way of the nation’s job creators,” said Rep. John Kline, Minnesota Republican, who led the opposition.

Mr. Obama’s call for a hike to $9 an hour reportedly caught labor advocates off guard. They had been working towards the $10.10 figure.

The White House has not weighed in on the $10.10 raise.

[RobC123]

Dont b hating on poor people. 42 % of us need dat money.

[CommieCutter]

Our occasional baby sitter applied for a summer job at a public pool concession stand. Five hundred people applied for the job. It’s terrible. I feel so sorry for today’s kids.

When I was young I could bounce from job to job whenever I wanted to. The employers didn’t care because they could replace me the next day.

[CommieCutter]

That’s the problem we have.

You can’t convince the most basic Democrat that when a business such as a grocery store is charging a 15% to 20% markup— that increasing their labor prices will ultimately result in price increases for the consumer. Democrat morons wont’ believe it.

They think there are millions— MILLIONS of dollars in profits that is being horded away from people just trying to support a family off of minimum wage. It doesn’t matter what industry it is, that is what they believe.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks jazusamo.

The 233-184 defeat also exposed divisions within the Democratic Party... [Zero] called for a hike from the current $7.25 to $9 an hour, congressional Democrats pushed for a $10.10 rate.

#1, there should not be a one-size-fits-all, IOW, a minimum wage law should be left up to the states; #2, Demwits delenda est.

[tallyhoe]

I think we should raise the minimum wage to $25.00 an Hr.. LOL

[PghBaldy]

They do understand, though, that the Federal Government will use every power it is, legal or illegal, to destroy them if they don’t comply with whatever it says.

[Graewoulf]

Thanks. I stand corrected: there were TWO bills, and I missed that point in the article. Thanks.

[exDemMom]

Their measure would have raised the wage incrementally over three years, and then set it on a path to automatically increase thereafter.

Ouch. These automatic increases would have put minimum wage on an unsustainable course, much like baseline budgeting has done to federal spending. I'm sure the goal is to equalize wages (because why *should* a neurosurgeon earn more than a hamburger flipper?), but the only way the economy can survive such automatic increases is through massive inflation. And if government tries to halt the money presses to control inflation... well, that won't work either. Doesn't Zimbabwe still have tons of money?

[bert]

-——I’m sure the goal is to equalize wages -——

I would argue that the rising tide raises all boats. The increases are to mandate the inflation necessary to devalue the debt.

They have a problem with the inflation they need. Wages are inelastic because of the vast number of unemployed. Prices rise but wages don’t. Raising the minimum is the method to raise all wages and salaries and thus the marginal increase in taxes.

[NoGrayZone]

Eeek, bees! My 1st part time job was 1982, I was 12. Here in the Long Island burbs, it used to be the teens on the block babysat for us younger ones.

Once everyone “grew up”, it was our turn to babysit the younger ones. 2 bucks an hour. Did that until I was 15 and could get my working papers.

Then I worked at our local super market, on the books. Can’t remember what my wages were.

Every time I get my “social security” report I laugh. They tell me how much I will be getting when I retire.

I know I will never see a dime of the money they stole from me.

[RetiredArmy]

No problem. Executive order coming right up. $15.00 an hour.

[mvpel]

My first part-time job paid $.76 an hour which I got because I could crank out collection letters on a manual typewriter mistake free at 85 wpm.

That was three silver quarters an hour, the melt value of which today is about $28.70.

We don't need to fix the minimum wage, we need to fix the money.

[Marathoner]

Mandatory $7.25 here in, ‘The People’s Republik of Madistan.’

HA. we've got you beat at 8.25 here in the People's Democratic Socialist Republic of Illinois.

[central_va]

A minimum wage would work in a non welfare state with closed borders, which we have neither.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I can fill a VW Bus and send you a bunch of leftover 1960’s era Hippies! Hope you like the smell of patchouli and unwashed armpits, LOL!

[Grams A]

Interesting information. Never would have thought of it from that perspective but you are so correct.

One of the really troubling issues to me though is that our politicians think they need to keep “fixing” too many things and then they have to fix their fix. I detest the minimum wage concept and have never felt that someone should be paid based on their race, creed, color or sex, but on their level of demonstrated ability. Really downsized my business several years ago. Got tired of so many people telling me how it had to be run.

The entire system is broken.

[pleikumud]

Eliminating the minimum wage makes the best sense. The American Kremlin doesn’t work any better than the Soviet version.

[calex59]

My first Job(s) were cutting grass for so called neighbors. We lived in a rural area so people were few and far between. One of our customers(my brother and I teamed up)didn't believe in mowers, hand or power, but insisted we cut her grass with hand sickles. Her son, one of my classmates, evidently was to damn lazy to do it, so my brother and I got the job. Hard work for a flat rate of 3 bucks apiece, if we finished the job. Took us many hours to earn that 3 bucks.

Our other mowing jobs paid an average of .50 per hour. We did ok for that time period(early to late 50s).

My first real job was working with a contractor as a laborer on a house building job. A classmate of mine also was hired on. My brother turned the job down(can't remember why but I think it was because he had started taking girls out and he didn't want the job to eat into his time), my friend and I earned 90 bucks apiece(after taxes) working about 5 weeks in the hot summer sun. That was a fortune in 1957 for a high school kid.

The area also had many commercial chicken houses. We would get jobs for one night catching chickens and stuffing them in crates for shipping, the pay was a whopping 2 bucks an hour(an unheard of wage in those days for laborers) for a minimum of six hours work, sometimes it ran into eight hours or longer. Wow, what a soft touch, we thought.

[JCBreckenridge]

“Our occasional baby sitter applied for a summer job at a public pool concession stand. Five hundred people applied for the job. It’s terrible. I feel so sorry for today’s kids”

Yeah, it’s glad to see someone understands...

[the OlLine Rebel]

It should be deleted. It’s unfair.

And more repubs should realize the min wage creates more opportunities for Illegals as small businesses try to keep costs low. Thus does it also create criminals out of business people who would otherwise hire Americans, but Americans are too expensive thanks to Feds and any min wage law.