Liberals - how to tell if Dems are pandering on minimum wage

from JoeUser Forums

(Likely) soon to be Ms. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has talked up an ambitious plan for the first 100 hours after the Democrats take control of the House in the new congress.  One of the things she's put high up on the agenda is -- in my mind -- a clear effort to pander to the masses and deliver on a promise to raise the minimum wage in the U.S.A.

Now, I shouldn't have to remind most readers that the minimum wage in this country is paid to only a very small percentage of the employees in the country.  In most areas the minimum wage is boosted by local standards and perhaps local requirements for starting wages or minimum wages.  Economic factors and competition for employees has pushed the prevailing wage up in many areas and kept the minimum wage from being an amount that was actually paid to most employees.  Instead, in many areas the minimum wages were already floating around $7 - $8 per hour because paying any less would result in no employees taking the jobs.

Regardless of that though, there have been cries for years that the cruel heartless Republicans that controlled the congress weren't increasing the wage and were abusing the poor employees in this country (the U.S.A.)  Now, with Democrats about to take control of the congress, and with their talkative leader laying out the ambitions to get a raise in the minimum wage through the congress, we are about see if the promises were just that, or if there'll be substance to this particular one.

Will this be an act of pandering, or will the Democrats show a long term commitment to tackling the issue of wages in this country?  I'm personally betting on pandering, but others may disagree.  Either way, I'm gonna put forth the ultimate test to determine which it really was.

Pandering will be a one time raise in the minimum wage with perhaps a promise to revisit the issue in a couple of years.  Long term commitment will be if the Democrats pass a bill that raises the minimum now, followed with another raise in a few years, followed with an indexing of future raises tied to inflation, the CPI, or some other measurable factor that would be used to keep the minimum wage from lagging behind ever again.

I hate to be offering up suggestions that might help the Democrats in the long term, but I'm not a cruel and heartless Republican.  I may be a Republican, but I'm not cruel and heartless.  I'm a thinking man, and I have a heart and great respect for the workers in this country.  I'm also pro-business because I know business is the engine that drives America (the U.S.A.) by giving people opportunity to work and earn a good living.  It is for those reasons I'm also an anti-tax person, and why I tend to lean Republican.  I want a strong and healthy economy and traditionally the GOP has delivered better opportunities for business -- less regulations, lower taxes, and generally a good environment for businesses to thrive in.

Personally, I think those that generalize and make the ridiculous claims that the GOP is nothing but cruel and heartless are just demagogueing, but that really doesn't matter to the issue at hand here.

If the Democrats really want to implement a long term solution, they'll pick a plan similar to what I've talked about here.  Lay out raises in the minimum wages that will bring the minimum up to a somewhat reasonable level over the next several years.  Don't do it too quickly lest they kill off jobs for the same people they are trying to help, and don't forget to set up a plan to automatically increase the minimum wage in the future (indexed to inflation).

politics
4,170 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Who is betting on pandering, and who is betting on long term solution?
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Any increase in minimum wage that doesn't eventually bring everyone up to what democrats call a "living wage" is just pandering. If they claim that everyone has a "right" to a "living wage", then they should either up hold it as a "Right" or admit that it isn't. If a "living wage" is a "right", then they are either duty bound to maintain that right, or it's all just meaningless rhetoric.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

Any increase in minimum wage that doesn't eventually bring everyone up to what democrats call a "living wage" is just pandering. If they claim that everyone has a "right" to a "living wage", then they should either up hold it as a "Right" or admit that it isn't. If a "living wage" is a "right", then they are either duty bound to maintain that right, or it's all just meaningless rhetoric.

Concisely and precisely what I was working on saying above Ted.  Personally I think it's gonna be another pandering job.  They'll pay lip service to it, they'll deliver at least one raise, but after that they'll leave the issue to come back again and again.  Why?  Because if they actually solve the problem they can't use it as blackmail/greenmail whatever you want to call it to get their base that cares about the issue to come back and support them again and again.

This is a very important point and one that continues to escape much of their base -- they'll temporarily solve problems here and there, band aid up some things, but they'll normally never go for a true long term solution to any problem because they really do fear losing their control over their base.  They don't want to solve the problems permanently because that would let those people fall by the wayside over time as they stop having needs that can be satisfied by the Democrats.

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Because if they actually solve the problem they can't use it as blackmail/greenmail whatever you want to call it to get their base that cares about the issue to come back and support them again and again.


That, and they know that providing for a "living wage" for all workers can't happen in a free society anyway... but that won't stop them from playing to an audience that thinks it can.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
If they push the minimum wage above the current effective wage floor, it will be a definite drag on the economy, not to mention a further inducement to illegal immigration. The engine of the US economy, what makes it rise & fall, is not the Fortune 500 - it's the millions of small businesses out there, all of which will find it tougher going with an unrealistic minimum wage added to rising healthcare costs and ever increasing regulatory burdens. If the Dems decide demon business should also pay its "fair share" of taxes (a joke of a concept, but a different discussion), lookout recession.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top

If they push the minimum wage above the current effective wage floor, it will be a definite drag on the economy, not to mention a further inducement to illegal immigration. The engine of the US economy, what makes it rise & fall, is not the Fortune 500 - it's the millions of small businesses out there, all of which will find it tougher going with an unrealistic minimum wage added to rising healthcare costs and ever increasing regulatory burdens. If the Dems decide demon business should also pay its "fair share" of taxes (a joke of a concept, but a different discussion), lookout recession.

Another excellent point, but I don't believe the Democrats think for a second that they could cause a recession.

Having said that, I'm going on the record that bad times are ahead.  The Democrats will try to make noise about energy costs, but in the end they'll be powerless to really do anything about potential high fuel costs that could be coming.  They'll also blindly go on adding regulations that will be aimed at protecting us all from greenhouse gases and global warming but which add untold billions to the costs of doing business in this country, effectively making it all the more stupid to do business here when it can be done more cheaply in third world countries without the expensive wages and expensive costs for factory modernization.  Of course that won't be their fault either, at least not in the minds of the minions that will keep buying the old stories that the Democrats are there to protect us all.

Fair market is not something that most Democrats seem to understand, but they are perhaps about to get one heck of a lesson in it for all of us.

Reply #7 from PolMach Forums Top
They'll also blindly go on adding regulations that will be aimed at protecting us all from greenhouse gases and global warming but which add untold billions to the costs of doing business in this country, effectively making it all the more stupid to do business here when it can be done more cheaply in third world countries without the expensive wages and expensive costs for factory modernization.


I am a Republican, even though I live in Hungary, and I'm not an American citizen. I agree with the Republican agenda on almost all platforms, but there I have to disagree. These untold billions wouldn't be wasted ones. Business is important. But not to the extent of sacrificing the future of mankind. Or else we will have to bear the dire consequences..

Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
One thing driving down wages are the illegal’s that are allowed to enter the U.S. and provide cheep labor to business that not only saves money by paying below living wages but in many cases by not paying taxes on those wages. Bush and the GOP have turned their head on this and helped keep wages low by not enforcing our laws.
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
mark a vote for pandering. If they make a long term fix, it's no longer an issue to which dems can point.

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Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top

Parated and Daiwa have nailed it (you have to read both).  Pushing the Minimum wage to a sub floor (from what it effectively is) will have not effect.  Pushing it above that floor will result in a recession.

Interestingly enough, Col Klink has a point - on his head.  But he would have made a good one if he blamed the right party instead of continuning his ignorant diatribe against a lame duck president.  Indeed, it was the democrats that are seeking to subvert a higher minimum wage with their stupid immigration policy.  One that many buy into - for now.  Until they realize they have been screwed by the party that is supposed to be their champion.