Posted on 05/08/2015 9:42:14 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
Conservative presidential candidate Ben Carson says the $7.25 federal minimum wage should be raised.
“I think, probably, it should be higher than now,” Carson told CNBC’s John Harwood in an interview Friday.
Carson added that government assistance often provides more than the minimum wage in several states, allowing people to ignore the long-term benefits of a job.
"I don't necessarily blame people for saying, 'Look, I can stay home and make this money, or I can go and work this little chicken job that doesn't have many benefits,’ ” he said.
"However, recognize that if you go and take that chicken job, you gain skills, relationships, the possibility of moving up the ladder. So a year or two or five down the road, you're no longer in that position. This is what people have forgotten."
His stance on the minimum wage makes Carson an outlier among the likely field of GOP opponents and comes with Democrats looking to make it a key issue in the 2016 election.
Among fellow GOP contenders Carly Fiorina, former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.) and Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.), Ted Cruz (Texas) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), Carson is the only one backing a wage hike.
Two likely contenders, former Gov. Jeb Bush (Fla.) and Gov. Scott Walker (Wis.), don’t back an increase either.
Bush said that the federal government shouldn’t raise the wage during an event in March. Walker told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in October that he doesn’t believe the minimum wage “serves a purpose.”
Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), who is weighing a bid, would be the only other Republican candidate open to raising the minimum wage. His advisers told The Hill in February that his stance could help him earn support from working families.
Democrats believe the issue will be a winner for them in 2016, with senators earlier this week proposing a measure that would raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020.
That figure goes well beyond the $10.10 wage that Democrats failed to pass when they controlled the Senate.
President Obama initially suggested a $9 minimum wage before backing $10.10. The administration is now supporting the $12 push.
Abolish the minimum wage! Crush unions! Let freedom ring!
Ben,
1) Guns - You struck out.
2) Minimum Wage - What are you doing back at the plate? You already struck out!
Get out of here. You showed your true colors.
Well for starters, it reduces employment.
I thought that Mike Huckabee also favors raising the minimum wage.
As I indicated in my post #28, LEGAL IMMIGRATION IS AN ENORMOUS PROBLEM AFFECTING THE JOB MARKET.
Americans could be paid less, documented, and there would be less “need” for these illegals if we let the market work all its own, including prices for labor.
We have a surplus of labor now with or without the illegals. In December 2014 there were 18 million immigrants (legal and illegal) living in the country who had arrived since January 2000.2 But job growth over this period was just 9.3 million — half of new immigration.
I like the Guy and I think he means well, but for every sensible Comment he makes three idiotic Comments.
He should be the Surgeon General in the Cruz Administration.
I still miss Jocelyn Elders and her Pearls of Wisdom. LOL
It will come up for a vote and I’m sure nearly every Pubbie in the Congress is going to vote yea.
So if you are running for President, why are you going to eviscerate yourself by being the lone guy out there campaigning against it? It’s like charging on horseback against an approaching Abrams tank.
I’m all for fighting the fight, but we need to focus energy on the fights we can win.
Yeah, that's the MD in him coming out, I'm sure.
Assault rifles have no civilian purpose.
And a lot of MD's feel weird about the gun thing...you know, how they just jump out and kill children in their own home and all that.
The more I hear him speak, the more he reminds me of that damned Dr. Dean fool.
Is he really running as a Republican?
Sincerely,
5.56mm
Heck, I could do that.
Though, a lot of people would be dissatisfied with my sorting method, it's the only one that matters: Is X constitutional?
Get well soon, Carson.
Economist Thomas Sowell needs to have a lo-o-o-ong talk with Dr. Carson.
Carson is a good surgeon, but he’s obviously no economist.
Ping for later.
“What does MW accomplish?”
It creates a barrier of entry into the workforce to the poorest among us.
I agree with you. Carson is not ready for the Candy Crowleys of the left, nor will he ever be. A child reporter could bait Carson into saying something unhelpful and probably illogical. Carson’s problem is that he is too candid, speaks with no filter, no nuance or rhetorical nimbleness. His campaign manager has Carson overexposed way too early. He may already be operating on less than full capacity due to fatique.
This guy is a nightmare.
That is terribly simplistic.
“With every new comment Carson shows why he has no business in the race.”
Ben’s a very appealing human being, and fundamentally conservative, but he hasn’t thought through the conservative philosophy well enough to understand that much of what he seems to advocate off the cuff is simply not consistent with conservative, individual rights, small-government, free market principles. His advocacy of essentially forced vaccination is a good example of that inconsistency.
I like Ben, and would vote for him against Hillary (and probably wouldn’t vote for Jeb), but I don’t think he’s ready for prime time.
His time ain't ever. If he were serious, he would've run for US Senate, or at least the HOR, last election.
He seems more like a foil to draw conservative blacks away from viable conservative candidates.
So he’s admitting economic illiteracy?
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