Raising the minimum wage is a no-brainer for me ~ it has been for years ~ in addition to the many studies that prove a higher minimum wage benefits everyone, including employers, it's simply the right thing to do morally ~ I don't give a flying fig about the "politics" involved ~ Sooz

Raising The Minimum Wage Is A Political Goldmine
By Ruy Teixeira, Guest Blogger on August 23, 2013 at 2:13 pm

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an issue that was hugely popular with the public, fit perfectly into the progressive agenda, appealed to the white working class, and split the Republican Party right in half? Sounds to be good to be true, right? Actually, it’s hiding in plain sight: raising the minimum wage.

Start with overall public opinion. The public’s views on many policy issues can be very complicated; there are nuances to the nuances, so to speak. The polling on the minimum wage, however, is about as unnuanced as it comes. People just think it’s the right thing to do and decades of attempts by conservatives to convince the public otherwise have been an abject failure. Take, for instance, this Pew Research poll from early 2013. By a thumping 71-26 margin, the public said it favored increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 an hour.

Moreover, there was astonishingly strong support across demographic groups. Blacks and Hispanics supported the proposal by 91-8 and 83-14, respectively, and whites felt similarly by a not-as-large-but-still-strong 64-33 margin. Those with family incomes below $30,000 supported raising the minimum wage by 79-20, but so did those with incomes above $75,000, who were also on board by a high (65-32) margin:


Unsurprisingly, Democrats and independents supported a higher minimum wage by, respectively, 87-11 and 68-28. But here’s where it gets really interesting: Republicans also supported a rate hike, albeit by a narrow 50-47 margin. So raising the minimum wage roughly slices the GOP down the middle.

This split in support has a very distinct class character. Working class (non-college) Republicans supported the proposal by 58-40, while college-educated Republicans opposed it by 60-34. Similarly, low income Republicans (less than $30,000) supported raising the minimum wage by 68-31 while high income Republicans (over $75,000) opposed such a raise by 57-40:


Of course, even strenuous advocacy of raising the minimum wage will not suddenly persuade a majority of white working class Republicans to support progressive candidates. But even modest white working class defections would go a long way, even — or perhaps especially — in red states.

No wonder Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is running for Mitch McConnell’s seat in Kentucky, is making a higher minimum wage a central part of her campaign. In fact, the only really hard thing to understand here is why more candidates with progressive views on the minimum wage aren’t following Grimes’ lead. Let’s hope in the future they will.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/23/2507361/raising-minimum-wage-issue-downside/

I'm for this in theory. But in the real world, I don't know why anyone (other than teenagers) would accept a job that pays minimum wage. GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND GO FIND A BETTER JOB FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

Wow SciFi. You are evidently ignorant of the current job market. You sadly sound like you've bought into the far right rhetoric.

Ditto, roseanne.

I am in agreement with Roseanne and Oscar.

In defense of Scifi, he's in California. I'm in New Jersey. The world on the coasts is different than the world in the middle.

Has very little to do with far right rhetoric, just a different purview.

A rise in the minimum is a sea that floats ALL boats instead of the few.

Blah, blah, blah.

Say what you will, I don't have much empathy or sympathy for an adult who can't find a job that pays more than minimum wage. Sorry, but I just don't.

Socialist balderdash!

How very sad.

Indeed.
Such comments usually come from those who have had it pretty easy.

Wow! Dissolving all of our opinions into "blah, blah, blah". That's insulting and beneath you, imo.

Here's something to consider: A huge number of those working for min. wage have at least 2 jobs in order to pay their bills. Many of those were laid off from "better jobs". Do you really believe that they wouldn't jump at the chance to have one "better" job? How do you propose they do that in today's job market?

I've read story after story about engineers (or other educated, high level people) who were laid off and couldn't find anything in their field. Then they were considered "overqualified" for those "better jobs" that pay above min. wage. They are the ones flipping burgers, delivering pizza's and/or stocking at the local Walmart. Some were "older" workers who weren't even in the running for "better jobs" because of their age.

Min. wage jobs are not exclusively for (or filled by) teens as in the past. Those days are gone. This is the new reality.

Now, how about addressing all of the above? If you can't "hear" anything but "blah, blah, blah" then it is very sad.

That "socialist balderdash" works here Jab

Good luck when the company owners agree to pay $X/hr while sipping their cognac and smoking cigars at their latest Chamber of Commerce meeting. And don't even try to tell me that doesn't happen. I've seen and heard it for myself.

Oh, please. Blah, blah, blah is the perfect expression to use.

Do YOU have a job that pays minimum wage? I know you don't. Because you would not be satisfied with such a job and you'd find a better one.

I could see an adult taking a job that pays minimum wage if they lost their regular job and they need to take what they can get. But such a job would be temporary anyway, so it really doesn't matter if the pay is too low since they'll be on their way soon anyway.

I really don't understand why any adult would be satisfied with staying on a job that pays minimum wage and then be demanding a pay increase?! Instead of their wasting all that energy demanding a pay increase, they should be using that energy to find a better job.

Minimum wage jobs are for teenagers -- not for adults.

Blah, blah, blah.

"Do YOU have a job that pays minimum wage? I know you don't. Because you would not be satisfied with such a job and you'd find a better one."

I'm disabled.

I once applied for a job as a graphic designer. The company charged clients $85.00/hr to sit with their designers but they offered me $8.00/hr - AND - I had to supply my own computer. As the interview concluded, I said something like "I'll charge my clients $40.00/hr and I won't have to subsidize your business. Nor will I send them to your printing company for print runs. Good bye."

It's done all the time SciFiGuy. The city I lived in at the time was known as the eight-buck-an-hour town. This was at the time when the minimum wage in this province was $7.25/hr.

Must be that sci-fi world you live in.
Others call it ivory towers.

I do.

Well, alrighty then.
blah, blah, blah

*ignore*

there is a practical side to FMW. in ensures that people @ or near the poverty line will not use government services. having FMW fall 20% in real terms since 1973 = more food stamps, to put it bluntly.

Not to mention the lack of discretionary spending. That's the REAL economic engine in a consumer-oriented society.

totally. i thought ALL of us watched that Wolff video. apparently not.

The problem with that philosophy is that, with the death of unions, more and more jobs are becoming minimum wage jobs. The good, well paying manufacturing and service jobs of yesteryear are now paying minimum wage.