Socialist Mitt Romney – the Republican candidate for President in 2012 – has called for a hike in the minimum wage.
…Mitt Romney on Friday called for an increase in the federal minimum wage, splitting with party leaders and some top business groups on what’s expected to a major issue in this year’s midterm elections.
“I … part company with many of the conservatives of my party on the issue of the minimum wage,” he said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“I think we ought to raise it because, frankly, our party is all about more jobs and better pay, and I think communicating that is important to us,” he said.
President Obama and congressional Democrats have been pushing to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, from $7.25, to help low-income workers and reduce income inequality.
What has always troubled me about this is how do the people setting the number know what the right number is? Why $10.10? Why not $10.38? Or $9.71? Or $15.00 or $35.00? Or $5,000.00?
If $10.10 is good wouldn’t $5,000.00 be 495 times better? And why stop at $5,000.00? Why not a $1,000,000.00 an hour minimum? Think of the economic improvement to our poorest workers that would give. A minimum wage of $1,000,000,000,000.00 an hour would allow the government to run a surplus with ridiculously low taxes.
Stupid thinking on my part? Evidently a little more that half the people voting favor such thinking in our President. And the other half? Well they would have gotten the same thing had they voted Romney in 2012. Me? I voted Libertarian. Because a choice between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber is no choice at all. I’d rather throw away my vote.
Comments
6 responses to “How Do They Know The Right Amount?”
Since the law of supply and demand apparently doesn’t apply to labor, why not raise the minimum wage to $5,000 and end poverty in one fell swoop? I’m sure our Vice President, Genius Joe Biden, could get behind that idea!
I’m sure your resident genius, Capt. Arizona, would not only support this idea, but probably add that if we were serious about ending poverty, the government could just print more money and give it to the poor! What could go wrong?
Can I take back my vote?
The right number is high enough to make the politicians look like they are for the little guy but not so high as to cause any serious economic damage. This generally amounts to approximately the current minimum wage plus the amount of inflation since the last time it was set. What economic damage that does occur mostly shows up in the youth unemployment numbers, particularly among black youths, but that can be safely attributed to racism. I have been watching this particular vote buying scheme my whole adult life. They will never key the minimum wage to inflation explicitly because that would deprive them of the opportunity to wash, rinse, and repeat the whole cycle.
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