Minimum Wage Game
The Republicans, who are feeling pressured by voters in an election year, brought up the minimum wage bill again after defeating a bill from Senator Kennedy a few weeks back, but with strings attached. The bill passed the House and now looks as though it will fail in the Senate. The strings attached were tax cuts for wealthy estates, Republican Senator Bill Frist also said that the issue of tax cuts and minimum wage would not be separated. It also puts Democrats in a awkward position since they would be voting for a minimum wage increase and tax cuts for the wealthy or against the minimum wage and against the tax cuts for the wealthy (Kind of issue John Kerry ran into, when he voted for one bill and that increased money for Iraq and against another similar bill since it required no accountability for the money).
I find it irresponsible that the Republicans would use politics on an issue that keeps many Americans in the poverty level even on two incomes. Fortunately a lot of states are realizing this irresponsibility on the federal level and taking charge themselves and increasing the minimum wages. Another issue being brought up is under the new law in states like Nevada where waiters and waitresses earn a minimum wage plus tips, businesses will no longer be required to pay them minimum wage since the Republicans say their tips make up the difference. The federal law would override the local laws, this is especially interesting since Republicans tend to be the party that believes in small government. The law would pretty much cut the wages of tip workers by a few dollars an hour which could mean people could no longer afford the houses they own, at $3 an hour is about $400 a month before taxes, Which for a low income family, is a lot of money.
I hope the Representatives and Senators of our states do the right thing and separate the issues of tax cuts and minimum wage, each one should get a separate up or down vote. If they truly believe in the minimum wage increase instead of just election tactics, the politicians should do the right thing and give the minimum wage its first increase in over a decade. Today everything from milk to gasoline to rent costs more, but we still pay the same minimum wage.
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The Republicans, who are feeling pressured by voters in an election year, brought up the minimum wage bill again after defeating a bill from Senator Kennedy a few weeks back, but with strings attached. The bill passed the House and now looks as though it will fail in the Senate. The strings attached were tax cuts for wealthy estates, Republican Senator Bill Frist also said that the issue of tax cuts and minimum wage would not be separated. It also puts Democrats in a awkward position since they would be voting for a minimum wage increase and tax cuts for the wealthy or against the minimum wage and against the tax cuts for the wealthy (Kind of issue John Kerry ran into, when he voted for one bill and that increased money for Iraq and against another similar bill since it required no accountability for the money).
I find it irresponsible that the Republicans would use politics on an issue that keeps many Americans in the poverty level even on two incomes. Fortunately a lot of states are realizing this irresponsibility on the federal level and taking charge themselves and increasing the minimum wages. Another issue being brought up is under the new law in states like Nevada where waiters and waitresses earn a minimum wage plus tips, businesses will no longer be required to pay them minimum wage since the Republicans say their tips make up the difference. The federal law would override the local laws, this is especially interesting since Republicans tend to be the party that believes in small government. The law would pretty much cut the wages of tip workers by a few dollars an hour which could mean people could no longer afford the houses they own, at $3 an hour is about $400 a month before taxes, Which for a low income family, is a lot of money.
I hope the Representatives and Senators of our states do the right thing and separate the issues of tax cuts and minimum wage, each one should get a separate up or down vote. If they truly believe in the minimum wage increase instead of just election tactics, the politicians should do the right thing and give the minimum wage its first increase in over a decade. Today everything from milk to gasoline to rent costs more, but we still pay the same minimum wage.
Digg
I find it irresponsible that the Republicans would use politics on an issue that keeps many Americans in the poverty level even on two incomes. Fortunately a lot of states are realizing this irresponsibility on the federal level and taking charge themselves and increasing the minimum wages. Another issue being brought up is under the new law in states like Nevada where waiters and waitresses earn a minimum wage plus tips, businesses will no longer be required to pay them minimum wage since the Republicans say their tips make up the difference. The federal law would override the local laws, this is especially interesting since Republicans tend to be the party that believes in small government. The law would pretty much cut the wages of tip workers by a few dollars an hour which could mean people could no longer afford the houses they own, at $3 an hour is about $400 a month before taxes, Which for a low income family, is a lot of money.
I hope the Representatives and Senators of our states do the right thing and separate the issues of tax cuts and minimum wage, each one should get a separate up or down vote. If they truly believe in the minimum wage increase instead of just election tactics, the politicians should do the right thing and give the minimum wage its first increase in over a decade. Today everything from milk to gasoline to rent costs more, but we still pay the same minimum wage.
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posted by Amar Shah at 1:56 PM
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2 Comments:
I agree with the fact that we should raise the minumum wage. It is pathetic that people with jobs paying minimum wage cannot afford a place to live or food to eat. Most cannot even afford transportation to their minimum wage jobs, which just sends the circle of poverty around again. It is very irresponsible that this has not been taken care already because everything in our economy costs more, why are minimum wages held at a fixed rate?
I have to disagree on raising the minimum wage. In fact, I'd rather see it abolished completely.
This might sound extreme, but you need to look at it from an economics standpoint.
In any college economics class you would learn about price floors and price ceilings. In this case, we have to look at the price floor: a minimum legal price that is imposed by the Government. In otherwords, you can't charge less money for your product / service because it's illegal. Price floors have to be set above the equilibrium price in the market in order for them to do anything. The problem is, when someone tries to charge a price that is above equilibrium, it creates a surplus in the market.
Apply this concept to the labor market. You will find that our unemployment rate is the surplus caused by the price floor of minimum wage.
There are reasons for this, but this reply is getting kind of long. Plus I'm going to make a post about minimum wage on my Libertarian blog (libertarianland.blogspot.com) in the near future. In that post I'll explain why the minimum wage works the way it does. Check it out over the next couple days for that post.
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