William Rivers Pitt

I don't know who to be angrier at about this one: Republicans for their stance or Democrats for not making a bigger issue of it. The question is over the minimum wage, and whether it is sufficient to support American workers. Anyone working a minimum wage job will tell you it isn't enough, but a raft of GOP candidates have made statements recently that betray a staggering lack of empathy for the workers they pay lip service to. Linda McMahon, the GOP candidate for Senate in Connecticut, basically admitted she doesn't know what the minimum wage is, but thinks it sucks anyway. GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller of Alaska thinks the minimum wage is unconstitutional, and West Virginia GOP Senate candidate John Raese thinks we should eliminate it altogether and go back to a supply-and-demand wage system that he seems to think worked so well "before the Depression."

What would you expect from a pig but a grunt, right? The problem is that some, if not all, of these birdbrained candidates are looking like almost certain winners in the upcoming midterm elections. The Brookings Institution did a poll on the subject, and found that nearly 70% of Americans support raising the minimum wage. That's about exactly the same number of people who supported rolling back the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy...so of course, the Democrats dropped the subject entirely. Why they don't go wild on the minimum wage subject in these races is an absolute mystery, and it makes me crazy to watch them fumble away yet another ripe election issue.

http://www.truth-out.org/random-thoughts64104

i think i read where the dems want to lower it to help business make more money...seems like it would only help the big corporations tho

All those politicians are rich to begin with and have no idea how hard it is for the minimum wage earners.

This is a heart issue in this country. Most Americans believe in it and believe it should be higher.

I would hope that voters are paying attention here.

I think we should look at their wages and offer them a similar wage.

The Dems have had complete control of the both houses and the oval office. If they wanted it higher they could have raised it at any time.

... yet you point at candidates by the GOP or Tea Party?

lol what else is new?

Dems got reamed too. Did you read it?

they could all start by lowering their own salaries.

???
what?

Do you quote the media or do you research. People are always crying about Bush's "Tax cuts for the rich". Actually its tax cuts for just about everyone. You have to make more to get into the higher bracket and starting at the 3rd bracket percentages decrease.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_and_Growth_Tax_Relief_Reconciliation_Act_of_2003

Seeing that the median household income in 2006 was about 50k many people fit into percentage drops. The lowest drop was 2% and the highest was 3.6%. Oh no the top bracket dropped 1.6% more than anyone else. That is so much. Especially when you consider they pay 25% more than the lowest bracket and 10% more than the median household income AFTER the tax cuts.

I personally believe in a flat tax. Make everyone pay the same percent. Rich people still pay more because they make more.


I forgot to mention minimum wage.. sorry. Minimum wage should not be a federal issue. It should be a city or state issue. Someone should not need the same amount of money to live in L.A. as someone needs to live in say the middle of nowhere Arkansas.

Also you increase the minimum wage you increase the cost of living. Think of jobs that pay minimum wage. Fast food, grocery stores, gas station clerks, restaurants. etc. These are the places we spend money the most but they are non skilled jobs. If minimum wage goes up the prices go up because costs for the companies go up.

Lots of people that work these jobs are kids in school or retired people. Not all of course but a lot. The government has to weigh increasing the cost of living and lowering the value of the US dollar because more money is in circulation (as if the dollar isn't dropping fast enough) against helping a relatively small group of people.

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2004.htm

2.7% of people in 2004 made at or below minimum wage and 50% of those were 25 or younger.

maybe attention should center on reducing costs instead of raising minimum wages causing inflation and costs to soar for everyone........

minimum wage paid = minimal effort from employee. employee's should not be assured a specific wage, their wage should be based on what they produce.

It's pretty simple, this is capitalism, not socialism - you get what you earn.

*sigh*

$.02

One more thing, if you guys cause inflation its good for me. I am in Japan right now and the dropping dollar is making my wages relatively better every day. It has dropped over 10 yen to the dollar since I came here in February. That is about a 12% drop. in 7 months. It would be greater had Japan not bought 1 Trillion dollars which raised it about 4 yen to the dollar a month or so ago but it has since dropped again.