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.
You know, you indirectly bring up a good point: the reason that the Congress is involved with the selection/confirmation of the President's cabinet is precisely because the President, being human, is bound to have flaws and that is a method to mitigate propagating those flaws into the executive branch — though I think that realization has been kicked to the curb on purpose, to keep those willing to make changes out of the office by denying them candidacy. (Ron Paul is a good example here, he had some really good ideas on economics [Yes, we should audit and end the Federal Reserve!] and all of his other nutty
tendencies could have been mitigated via the Congressional vetting of his cabinet.)
I agree with him, let’s raise the minimum wage. But before doing so let’s first take 95% of the money being spent on able bodied people in the form of welfare and distribute it to any company that will hire people for $15.00 per hour. Just divvy the dollars up.
That’s right, no more trillions of dollars for welfare, food stamps, AFDC, etc. Unless you are paralyzed or mentally challenged. If you are paralyzed we take care of you, if you are mentally challenged we find you the job that matches your skill set, you become a member of Congress.
So, instead of having welfare the money all goes to companies that will pay $15.00 per hour. Hmm, but that still means that taxes have to be paid to fund this, right? OK, let’s then do away with taxing corporations. Cool, now besides of getting rid of everyone working for the government paying out all this money we do away with the IRS too.
Obviously, eliminating SS for those who are currently receiving it or soon to receive it is an almost impossible sell, and the GOP would risk losing the vote of its most loyal constituency: the elderly and aging.
However, a gradual phase-out of SS could be sold, i.e. exempt all those currently on it or to be on it within the next 5-10 years, while benefits for future recipients would be diminished in inverse proportion with how long they've been paying (i.e. so that someone just entering the workforce pays nothing and will eventually receive nothing).
I'm not sure eliminating Federal minimum wage would be so hard a sell - many states have their own minimum wage laws that wouldn't change, while conservative states that don't have their own minimum wage laws would probably support candidates who oppose one at the federal level.
Bad idea, Ben.
Raising teh minimum wage will cost jobs. Even CBO says so.
However, IF we’re going to do it, lets’ package it with cuts in the business tax, the capital gains tax, and the payroll tax, and see how popular it is then.
At least that would mitigate some of the damage.
IMHO the government should not tell any business what to pay any employee.
Totally agreed.
In fact, I think more people should consider just what the national debt is: debt incurred in your name often against your will, guaranteed against your future earnings via the income-tax, which you have no option to pay. — it is, in short, the political elite selling yo and your children and their children [ad infinitum] into slavery.
Evidently he’s OK with higher unemployment and the status quo for government benefits.
I believe you’re right.
I’ve noticed that posts concerning Carson are often careful to make the point that, oh, he’s brilliant and so gifted and such a wonderful man, BUT.
I don’t know that I see that kind of thing when we’re disagreeing with other candidates. It’s overdone, IMO.
Carson is very soft spoken. But he needs to go further and shut up. Every time he opens his mouth, he puts his foot in it. I was initially very impressed with the man, but too many of his utterances are not ready for prime time. He might make a good HHS Secretary.
Cain did run for the Senate first and lost, maybe to Isaakson.
Right—he should have run for the House.
And they vote two to one Dem once they are naturalized.
Has Be(e)n Carson...
DISQUALJFIED
-— With every new comment Carson shows why he has no business in the race.-—
Such a rookie mistake.
Carson is a brilliant neurosurgeon, but he is outside his sphere of competency.
Oh I absolutely agree we cannot simply end it all at once for SS.
People are OWED the money that was stolen from them over the years.
Basically, ensure people who have paid into SS get their money back, over time, and stop making people pay into ASAP. It is also, unfortunately, necessary to do a graduated elimination because we cannot simply pull all those SS workers out at once. Cut them down gradually, too, laying off so many per year or so.
Interesting point about the MW for feds vs. states. I hope that would be true - except that LIV don’t think of state-level issues, only whether it’s “universal” or not.
OTOH, I cannot believe how many people here say the same thing over and over about Carson...
“not ready for prime time”
“every time he speaks he says something wrong”
“incompetent for politics”
etc...
Which I DO NOT hear regarding others.
It’s hilarious because seriously, every one of them really is not good enough for conservative sensibilities.
AND, they criticize Carson even though he is ACTUALLY saying what he thinks, not what he thinks RINOs might want to hear.
Then turn around and whine that nobody really says what should be said, or is too political (”not ready for politics”, anyone?) and worries too much about polls and media opinion.
Geesh.
“The real question is who is going to restore the import tariffs, and restore American manufacturing”
The libtards do not want American manufacturing. Too dirty, hurts the environment. Plants and animals before people.
Well at least people in cities would have more money to not buy guns with. There’s that.
Ayup. I used to oppose him for President because he lacks experience. Now I'm not sure I'd vote for him for much of anything.
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