Posted on 07/25/2007 10:45:52 AM PDT by DCJeanGrey
he day the first minimum wage increase in 10 years was enacted, Democrats and Big Labor made it clear they would ask for another hike soon.
On Tuesday, a 70 cent increase to the federal minimum wage went into effect. The minimum wage increase, passed by the Democrat-controlled Congress in May, will increase 70 cents twice more over the next two years, until it reaches $7.25 in 2009.
To celebrate, labor activists held a rally on Capitol Hill to thank congressional Democrats for delivering the pay raise—and demanded more.
“Even when we get to $7.25, it’s not enough. We have to work hard for more!” labor leader Anna Burger of the Service Employees International Union yelled. Burger’s calls were echoed by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) Monday evening at the Democrats third televised presidential debate. “By the time we got it raised after 10 years, it was already out of date,” she said.
After Burger’s impassioned speech, speakers played U2’s’ “Beautiful Day” as congressional Democrats walked onstage. There, Democratic and labor leaders exchanged many hugs.
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D.-Mass.) said he was willing to raise the minimum wage much higher. He, along with Rep. George Miller (D.-Calif.), said, “We’re going to introduce a bill to raise it to $9.70 an hour.”
Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D.-N.Y.) said increasing the federal minimum wage would give dignity to low-wage workers, as well as help defend the country. “This will protect national security because a nation can’t survive without its dignity.”
“Remember this is just the minimum,” Rangel said. “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D.-M.D.) praised the Democratic House for passing an increase to the minimum wage within the first 100 days of control. “Unfortunately, it took just a little longer to get it through the Republicans in the Senate and to have the President sign the bill,” Hoyer said. “And, frankly,” Hoyer explained, “he only signed the bill only because there was other stuff in there that he wanted in that particular bill.”
The other “stuff” wanted by President Bush in the bill Democrats put the wage increase into was supplemental funding for the war in Iraq. The wage raise was tied to $120 billion Iraq war bill passed by Congress in May. That bill also included $4.8 billion tax breaks for small business, designed to encourage reluctant Republicans to support the wage hike.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) gave a partisan speech at the event. “The Republicans hate this victory today,” he said. “Do you realize how much they hate what we’ve done today? They resent what happened last November, they are jealous of what happened last November and they are mad as hell about what happened last November. They don’t want to acknowledge what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Reid listed three accomplishments achieved by the Democratic Congress: the wage increase, $7 billion included in homeland security funding for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction and hearings held on Iraq.
“We’ve had 100 and we’re going to have 100 more and we are proud of it, in preparation to have our valiant troops to come home,’ Reid said.
At the event, a small group of well-dressed, young men and women protested the Capitol Hill labor rally. They held sarcastic signs that said “Democrats, thanks for raising my taxes!” and “Democratic Accomplishments? 0.” Soon after they assembled, Capitol Police asked them to leave because they did not have a permit to protest the event.
This reporter also saw Capitol Police escort two members of the anti-war protest group Code Pink off Capitol grounds.
Hell, why not raise it to $97.00 an hour? Or $970.00 an hour? Or maybe $97,000,000.00 an hour? That way everyone can be a millionaire, because after all, we are all equally entitled to the fruits of success!
Note my dripping sarcasm.
Dems: chopping off the lowest rungs of the economic ladder too keep a loyal base off the ladder.
By the way, is there any constitutional basis for a federal minimum wage. Maybe if you tied the commerce clause in a knot you could argue that companies involved in interstate commerce could be made to comply. But that doesn't explain how a little mom and pop shop doing local business only could be forced to comply with a federal minimum wage.
Just another symptom of the unraveling of our country. Anyone with a clue understands that artifically setting the wage for workers is folly. But, when the masses are given the power to vote themselves entitlements, they do so. The average American has no clue what the impact of the minimum wage is on the economy, or on them, beyond knowing that those working for the minimum wage can get a raise.
While I believe neither political party cares about what’s good for America anymore, we know Democrats will cater to lower income Americans to secure their power.
Raising the minimum wage won’t ruin America, but it’s a symptom of what is ruining America.
There's no constitutional basis for 90% of everything the Fed government does these days.
As Vin Suprynowicz put it:
Like that's never been done before. ;-)
Do not ever, ever compromise with a liberal. It's just a slower path to the Dark Side.
Now you've gone too far. $96,999,999.00 an hour is plenty.
I’m against a minimum wage, but to avoid it being a constant political issue, why not just base it on some market percentage that fluctuates with the economy and let it adjust itself?
Why not $50 an hour.
It’s only money.....
Meanwhile last figures I saw was private sector union membership was ~7.4% in 2006 and is the lowest it has been in recent history.
It gets difficult to buy into thinking those “labor activists/leaders” speak in any way for “labor” as labor has been voting with its feet and have managed to avoid their “representation.”
Only people they can speak for is the small (small enough you could probably argue they’re irrelevant) number that were (for the most part, I suspect) compelled to join as a condition of employment.
Maybe somebody ought to point that out to them.
As for Clinton and others – it’s interesting that they favor a “woman’s right to choose” when it comes to terminating a pregnancy but aren’t in favor if it when it comes to compulsory union membership in closed-shop states.
But whatever…
Hey comeon! Lets be fare. The Democraps are looking for winning the McVote block of the fast food nation!
On the bright side, however, the only way the minimum wage hike is bad is if people are going to take the extra money and bury it somewhere. Otherwise, it will be spending capital that circulates back into the economy.
As long a minimum wage remains lower then the actual lowest wage paid I’m OK with it.
The market has already moved the ‘minimum wage’ well above the federal level (in my area).
In that sense they are all just arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
I suggest that the government just institute a single wage for everybody... Then you just have to work as many hours as you need to live... I think $100.00 an hour would be a good place to start. So if you want to be able to afford to live a lifestyle of someone who makes $20,000, you would only have to work about 4 hours a week! If you wanted to have a $200,000 a year lifestyle, you would have to work 40 hours a week!
Simple, huh?
OK, never mind that the McDonalds “Dollar Value Menu” would now be a $200.00 value menu.
The higher the minimum wage, the more distortion. The median income in the USA is about $40k per year or a little less. 40K = $20 per hour. Make the minimum wage $40K per year and job will go away, harming low skilled workers from gaining work experience, etc. Raising the wage from 5 to $6 per hour is not as damaging, since the market generally pays more than those wages, but the higher you go, the more it seriously infringes on the free market.
It’s all show and mirrors.
Raise the minimum wage and you cause a recession and firings.
They will make the cost of everything rise so the raise ends up meaning nothing anyway.
$97,000,000.00 an hour? No way, man. No blue collar job on earth is worth more than about $5,000,000.00 an hour.
the grand panderama tour continues....
the grand panderama tour continues....
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