Posted on 05/19/2015 2:48:15 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
LOS ANGELES — The nation’s second-largest city voted on Tuesday to increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020 from the current $9 an hour, in what is perhaps the most significant victory so far in the national push to raise the minimum wage.
The increase — which the Los Angeles City Council passed in a 14-1 vote — comes as workers across the country are rallying for higher wages.
The impact is likely to be particularly strong in Los Angeles, where, according to some estimates, more than 40 percent of the city’s work force earns less than $15 an hour.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the courts. When my California town considered doing it fifteen years ago, the lawyer’s conclusion was that the city could only set wages for its own employees or dictate wages to those businesses it contracted with. Guess we’ll see if state law has been changed.
...and then raise taxes and reduce the taxpayer graduated minimum threshold of who will pay taxes to cover the cost of all those who will be making the actual minimum wage of $0.00. Ain’t progress great!
Someone from the “press” should ask Jimmah Carter what he thinks will happen to inflation as a result of this.
Boy, you don’t get out much. Many of the greedy employers hire people with fraudulent ID. They know it’s fraudulent and they pay them minimum wage. Don’t know about were you live but 9 bucks in CA is dirt poor. These guys want a never ending flow of dirt cheap labor.
Figure it out. This is not complex.
“Liberals believe it’s better to have no job at 15 bucks an hour than have have a job at 9 bucks and hour.”
As long as being on unemployment is a better deal than working, we will continue to pay and extend unemployment benefits. I have had ex-employees on the dole who told me so.
This is a 17th Amendment (17A)-related issue imo. More about 17A shortly.
Although minimum wage is ultimately up to a state’s voters, and regardless whether this move was prudent or not, this action by LA is an example of unique, 10th Amendment-protected state powers to regulate intrastate commerce.
In fact, regardless what FDR’s activist justices wanted everybody to think about the scope of Congress’s Commerce Clause powers when it wrongly decided Wickard v. Filburn in 1942, state power-respecting justices had previously clarified that the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate interstate commerce which reasonably includes establishing minimum wage.
”State inspection laws, health laws, and laws for regulating the internal commerce of a State, and those which respect turnpike roads, ferries, &c. are not within the power granted to Congress [emphases added].” —Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
Note that the Supreme Court has also historically clarified that Congress is prohibited from laying taxes in the name of state power issues.
“Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.
California state officials are probably clueless that the corrupt feds are taking constitutionally indefensible federal taxes out of people’s paychecks, taxes which Congress’s cannot justify under its constitutional, Ariticle I, Section 8-limited powers.
And Congress gets us back to 17A. More specifically, it was originally the Senate’s job to kill House appropriations bills which not only wrongly stole state powers, but also state revenues associated with those powers, payroll checks now being tapped thanks to the 16th Amendment.
So if state government “leaders” were to wake up to unconstitutional federal taxes being taking out of paychecks and put a stop to them, then the $15 minimum wage becomes even more questionable, even if it is still a great way to win votes from low-information voters.
And here is the frosting on federal government’s cake. By raising minimum wage to win votes for themselves, California government “leaders” are unthinkingly also making California minimum wage workers pay even more unconstitutional federal taxes from their take-home pay to the corrupt feds. (Chalk up another win for the corrupt Senate.)
The 17th Amendment needs to disappear, and a bunch of corrupt senators along with it.
Buh-bye LA.
Funny how destroying our economy is called a victory in the press. I wanna see their victory dance when they get laid off and gotta pay 6 bucks for a loaf of bread.
IIRC, Long Beach set a higher minimum wage for the workers at the hotels in the resort area of their city. I never thought they would get away with it, but I think they did.
“Liberals believe it’s better to have no job at 15 bucks an hour than have have a job at 9 bucks and hour.”
But if you have no job at $15 an hour, you get 25K in welfare/assistance benefits.
I would like to know what is the legal basis for any of these laws - particularly on a local level. Anyone?
If you want to make REAL money, find out what these people do and design automated systems to augment/replace them, pronto.
““Liberals believe it’s better to have no job at 15 bucks an hour than have have a job at 9 bucks and hour.””
But...don’t forget that some of the biggest flaming liberals, Jobs included and the wankers at Google too, got caught RED-HANDED fixing and depressing the wages of high-tech workers. This had repercussions nationwide. Their hands were duly slapped, of course...
Went to lunch today at a local Denny’s in Tujunga, CA.
My folks have been going there for decades. I’ve joined them in recent years. Around 12:45 my folks favorite waiter came over to the table and explained that today was the last day.
At 2:00p.m., ust 1:15 later, this restaurant was going to close it’s doors for the last time.
It’s hard making ends meet for small businesses. Imagine every fast food enterprise or restaurants having to pay $15.00 and hour up from $9.00.
We’re about to see a mass closure across Los Angeles.
We’ll see some amazing one of a kind restaurants close down, never to be seen again.
The people on the city council never had to make a payroll. They didn’t have to comply with regulations that are sometimes almost obscene.
I predict this law will last about a year, year and a half.
The city council will realize it’s mistake. All the illegals will be out of work. Something will have to be done.
By that time the major damage will already have been done.
People who have been making a living at these small businesses will be out of work. The owners will have been bankrupted.
Live and learn on other people’s money. That’s what government idiots do.
Where in Hell did city council members, who WORK FOR the citizens of their city/county/state/ decide that they should be able to dictate to their employers, what those employers pay their private business employees????????
The idea is the working poor would have enough to get off of welfare, but instead the cost of everything in life will go up and many more will go unemployed.
I guess it all went over your head.
If there are employers that are hiring illegals and not paying $9/hr. now, why should they move to Texas, when they can just stay in LA and not pay $15/hr.
Man, you don’t get it. Even the illegals in CA make 9 bucks mowing lawns...They work at places like McWhopper, hotels, warehouses and whatever fat corps and they use fraudulent ID’s. They’ve made an entire industry out of this. Where you been?
It seems everyone knows this except you.
It might comes as a shock to you, but 9 bucks an hour is like early 1990s wages. It’s bottom of the bucket in CA and most everywhere else.
BTW, If any employers here don’t want to pay their low wage employees $15 per hour, they can move to places like TX and pay far less. Who do ya think stoop labor jobs will attract?
Get it?
I think Santa Monica did something similar.. can’t recall what the rationale was.
Liberal: I got fired so my co-worker could get his minimum raise. I'm so happy now.
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