New Twist in Biden’s Ridiculous Push For a $15 Minimum Wage
Two days ago I commented on a New Twist in Biden’s Ridiculous Push For a $15 Minimum Wage
The twists were amusing but my final words tell the story. “It is Dead on Arrival in the Senate“.
Dead on Arrival
Today we learn, gratefully, that all of the Progressive cheers were for naught.
The Democrats decided to scrap their minimum wage hike demands and all of their crazy twists to pull it off.
Instead, the Senate Moves Ahead With Covid-19 Aid Package Without Minimum-Wage Boost.
Senate Democrats had tried late last week to see if they could fashion a way to penalize large companies through the tax code if they didn’t pay workers at least $15 an hour after the Senate parliamentarian said an across-the-board minimum-wage increase didn’t comply with the chamber’s rules. But Democrats decided late Sunday to scrap the tax plan as its complexity and limitations emerged and it became clear that some Senate Democrats were skeptical of it.
Progressive Howls
“We can’t let a parliamentarian decision stop a wage increase for Americans,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.) said on a call with reporters Monday.
Rules? Who Gives a Damn?
A minimum wage hike has nothing to do with the budget.
And the rules for a fast-track reconciliation bill require the bill to be budget items only.
That is why I was sure this would die in the Senate, and it did.
But once again note that no one gives a damn about rules as long as it is their legislative agenda in play. Both parties are equally guilty,
Bill Still a Boondoggle
Even without the odious minimum wage hike, the bill is still a major boondoggle.
For discussion, please see Mitt Romney Explains Biden’s Stimulus Bill Is a $1.9 Trillion Clunker.
All that has been stripped out is the minimum wage hike to $15.
Even now, don’t consider a wage hike out of the question.
I expect Democrats will come back with a stand alone proposal perhaps starting at $15 once again.
That would die too, but I do expect a compromise hike to $11.00 or $12.25 to pass.
Mish
Yeah, I’d much rather have the taxpayer pickup the difference, b/w $7.50/hr that Amazon or Walmart pays, in poverty benefits (Food Stamps, Medicaid, etc.) than actually have the employer cover the full costs. Especially since Amazon and Walmart pay so much in taxes…. Bottom line, middle-class pays for it one way or the other, either in higher prices at the store to cover wages or in state and federal taxes.
Good. The minimum wage should be set at the state level. Those who live in a state with a low minimum wage can move to another state. But what they’ll find is living costs vary widely between states. So they’ll be no better off.
OT, re gold:
Bond yields have eased a little. The dollar pumped overnight but is now letting off steam. Gold rose in the overnight and in London, but is now getting hit at the open in NY. The 1720 area has been tested twice, and I expect we test it again before the week is over.
As long as the dollar stays in an uptrend gold will probably stall, as long as other currencies stay relatively stable. I’m still looking for 1700 to be the line that holds….but we might not dip that low.
If you want to set a minimum income, then it would seem logical to also set a maximum income… I mean income because why should those who don’t work be spared eh? … but something tells me that the half of the population that have to lose income to reach the mean are largely going to be opposed to that idea, as would those below the mean hoping to surpass it… when writ plain…and that is not counting a few folk who hang out in DC. I suppose the min wage exercise is more about convergence though…at a certain level, as in making everyone chip in via price increases… via those businesses that can afford pay increases (the less workers the better so) with the rest (probably smaller) just getting pushed out. The unregulated shadow economy being highlighted as what people find increasingly acceptable is unlikely because…well because it’s the shadow economy and so cannot be lit.
$15.00 will help people lift from poverty in places like TX with a 7.25 Fed minimum. this is an outrage from the Biden/Harris admin . in six months, their polls numbers will drop and then they will be moaning why..
it is time for the libs to vote in masse to kill the bill when it comes around sans the $ 15.00 minimum wage bill so Biden will not give us the $ 15.00 min law we should give him his relief bill.
You know the president is not a dictator?
You know the opposition party can kill almost all legislation?
You know the only reason the relief bill will pass is because of budget reconciliation?
This is not Biden’s fault, and it’s a bad idea anyway. Work to get the law changed in YOUR state.
it is his fault. This is the same argument that masked the failures of the Obama/Biden administration. In fact, now 200 alumni admitted that they made a mistake when the caved in to the Rethugs.
BTW our state already raised to $ 11.00 per hour.
“$15.00 will help people lift from poverty in places like TX with a 7.25 Fed minimum…”
How? Think this through.
Markets can only charge what people can afford or are willing to spend. If the mass of sub $15/hour people suddenly have more money in their pockets, then the landlord charges more, the grocers charge more, the ballparks charge more, and so on down the line. The people who suffer are those with slightly more talent who already get paid $15/hr. Their pay stays the same, but now they must pay a little more for everything.
Minimum wage is just a disguised regressive tax on the not-quite-poor enough population. You are half correct to say that one group is lifted out of poverty. They are lifted half way out by pulling those above them, half way in!
well, people earning $ 7.25 per hour will make…more money. their income will go up.
Yes and we get to pat ourselves on the back because we helped the little guy. We totally screwed the not-little-enough guy, but who cares? We get to look like saints!
Talk about having a simple mind, that’s not how it works
$15 minimum wage has entered the popular consciousness. It’s a meme now. No need for legislation. There will be strikes and mass action by workers. It will become a badge of honor for companies that pay it and a mark of shame for those that don’t.
That being said, minimum wages are price controls and interference in contract. At the very least, it should be set at the state or county level, not that local legislators know any better than national legislators.
No one has a response to minimum wage not meeting poverty threshold
Why does it have to meet the poverty threshold?
I only like the Federal minimum as a way to stop poverty and in most cities $7.25 won’t do that. Upping to something less than $15 but with better worker protections (particularly for unionizing) is something that makes better sense to me. It’s one of those situations that feels like more of a state/city issue but those who default to the Federal minimum should be forced to do better. $11 or $12 would work but in some cities, so would $20. Florida will be $15 by 2026. It can be done.
“I only like the Federal minimum as a way to stop poverty…”
A sucker is born every minute.
The minimum wage increases poverty
Then pay attention in school and get educated. You won’t have to work for minimum wage then.
There is $400 billion or so in the bill for states but do they actually need the money? Around May pf 2020, CA was shedding crocodile tears about how bad their deficit would be due to Covid. Then they discovered that they actually had a $54 BILLION one-time (they claim) surplus! And are now proceeding to ladle money out to all comers, including an anticipated $600/ea for ‘undocumented’ workers who do not qualify for the federal handouts.
Virus Did Not Bring Financial Rout That Many States Feared
Grim forecasts held up for a few states, but many took in about as much tax revenue as before the pandemic — sometimes a lot more.
March 1, 2021, 12:20 p.m. ET
It’s money transferred from the Federal government into people’s pockets in a more direct way never used before. Too bad they didn’t do that in 2009. Instead they bailed out Wall Street and hoped the money would trickle down. I hate to say it but maybe our leaders actually learned a lesson.
I don’t consider the bill a boondoggle. I do think raising the minimum wage had some negatives so question the rationale. In my state its moot since we have a high minimum wage
No big surprise. I never thought it would make it through the Senate.
Got my paperwork for PPP number two today. It looks like I’m getting about 60% of the first pay-out.