Republicans successfully block minimum wage bill

[Chingylol]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...n_5240719.html

Why am I not surprised...

"WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats could not advance their bill to raise the minimum wage on Wednesday, failing by a vote of 54-42 to clear the filibuster threshold.

The vote was an early hurdle for legislation that Democrats have put at the top of their economic agenda for the year. Even if the measure eventually garners the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster in the Senate, it still faces long odds in the GOP-controlled House, where Republicans have shown no interest in bringing it to the floor.

Senate Republicans were expected to block the bill, which would raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour and tie it to inflation so that it rises with the cost of living. Democrats are hoping the issue will play well for them in this midterm election year given the overwhelming support among the general public for hiking the minimum wage."

[Tinykong]

$10.10 per hour for minimum wage seems high to me, considering that's roughly the pay for most entry level trade skill jobs.

[Chingylol]

$10.10 per hour for minimum wage seems high to me, considering that's roughly the pay for most entry level trade skill jobs.

$10 an hour is nothing. My one bedroom apartment in a semi shitty area costs me $1200 a month total, and that doesn't include internet or heat. If I worked a minimum wage job fulltime at $10 an hour, I wouldn't even be able to cover it. (1600 gross minus about 500 for taxes).

I live one mile where this takes place:



NJ sucks.

[Symphonic]

$10 an hour is nothing. My one bedroom apartment in a semi shitty area costs me $1200 a month total, and that doesn't include internet or heat.

The problem is the cost of rent, imo

*Though I think the minimum wage should be raised.

[SL1200]

I couldn't live on 10.10 per hour. I don't know how anyone could vote against it. We shouldn't have people working for wages that force them into welfare.

[Kujako]

$10.10 per hour for minimum wage seems high to me, considering that's roughly the pay for most entry level trade skill jobs.

It's high for some places, low for others. Which is why I favor an adjusted minimum wage that varies from location to location and has built in increases tied to economic growth (so we can stop having this debate every five years).

[simsumre]

This is both bad and good. People can't live on $7 an hour. It's not possible. Companies don't want to hire people at $15 an hour to flip a burger. You raise the min wage less people get hired. And those that do get hired have to do more work. On the other side people still can't live on $7 an hour. It's literally a no win situation. Of course all while the CEOs of these companies buy another yacht and live the good life, but nobody is going after those guys.

[Uko]

Id personally love a minimum wage boost if everyone else's wage went up with it but I know my bosses wont give me any boost since I make $10.25 atm. My job just would have went from fairly decent entry level job to hur dur do you want fries with that level of pay.

[Xeones]

$10.10 per hour for minimum wage seems high to me, considering that's roughly the pay for most entry level trade skill jobs.

It's not enough for a person to live on. Only way to get people off welfare is if they actually make something.

[Nightspear]

This is both bad and good. People can't live on $7 an hour. It's not possible. Companies don't want to hire people at $15 an hour to flip a burger. You raise the min wage less people get hired. And those that do get hired have to do more work. On the other side people still can't live on $7 an hour. It's literally a no win situation. Of course all while the CEOs of these companies buy another yacht and live the good life, but nobody is going after those guys.

The funny thing about these CEO's. They "earn" more from just having money, than they do from work income.

[Endus]

$10.10 per hour for minimum wage seems high to me, considering that's roughly the pay for most entry level trade skill jobs.

It's $10.25 here in Ontario. Going up to $11 in June. And people are still making a solid case that it should be higher.

Those trade skill jobs? Pay even better. Because minimum wage pay bumps translate up the pay scale.

And that's with a similar cost-of-living index and comparable dollar values, too.

[Lenonis]

Republicans filibuster something. News at 11.

Is anyone surprised that the party that wants to abolish the minimum wage filibustered a bill to raise it?

[MerinPally]

Hmm $10.10 sounds right if living costs are the same as in the UK which they aren't, they're lower. That works out as £5.98 as minimum wage, and minimum in the UK for a 21 year old is £6.31. Currently you're at $7.25 which works out as far lower.

[Rukentuts]

Thank God my state just raised ours.

Is anyone surprised that the party that wants to abolish the minimum wage filibustered a bill to raise it?

Is anyone else surprised that the only reason their states even have a minimum wage is due to federal placement? And that the states with lowest economic value are all but solely inclusive in the set relying on that federal wage?

Yeah, all those jobs not in MA, CT, DC, WA, and CA....

[Masark]

$10.10 per hour for minimum wage seems high to me, considering that's roughly the pay for most entry level trade skill jobs.

$10 even is the minimum wage here, and it's going up to $10.20 in October.

[Stormdash]

Saved thousands of jobs in the process. Nobody is supposed to be able to live on minimum wage, let alone support themselves or a family indefinitely. Minimum wage jobs -- low skill, low education jobs -- are supposed to be transitory, things you either have to get work experience you can parlay into better paying careers, or things you grab onto in time of need to avert crisis. They are not supposed to be a valid lifestyle choice.

At $10.10/hr, thousands of small businesses across all channels would either be cutting down in size or closing altogether. And countless thousands of young people would lose their first job opportunity. Take a franchise QSR -- right now, you might hire a 16 year old to answer the phone. They can't go into your restaurant's walk-in, can't work with sharps, can't work late. By no rational measure is that 16 year old able to provide in labor anything worth $10.10/hr to their employer, just because of the law restricting them. So that 16 year old will not get that job, ever, when there is a 20 year old available who can do all the tasks. And in turn, like in a pizza restaurant, the entire job of "phone person" would probably go away, because for that much money, you need any employees you keep to be able to do all the jobs in the store as needed, make food, deliver, etc.

[Lenonis]

Saved thousands of jobs in the process.

Citation needed.

Your post doesn't include factors like increased purchasing power, lower taxes as welfare burdens are reduced, etc.

I could make a phenomenal pro-minimum wage hike post too if I only look at one set of factors.

[Nightspear]

Hmm $10.10 sounds right if living costs are the same as in the UK which they aren't, they're lower. That works out as £5.98 as minimum wage, and minimum in the UK for a 21 year old is £6.31. Currently you're at $7.25 which works out as far lower.

In Denmark we don't have a minimum wage set by the government. Unions and Employer Unions work it out through negotiation.

Yet the minimum wage is about 17000 kroner per month (37 hour work week). Thats roughly 3000 dollars per month. I think its about 18$ per hour.

This may sound like a lot. But living expenses are far higher in Denmark.

[Kujako]

Citation needed.

Your post doesn't include factors like increased purchasing power, lower taxes as welfare burdens are reduced, etc.

I could make a phenomenal pro-minimum wage hike post too if I only look at one set of factors.

You're responding to someone who described being poor and unskilled as a "lifestyle choice". Why bother?

[Adam Jensen]

I couldn't live on 10.10 per hour. I don't know how anyone could vote against it. We shouldn't have people working for wages that force them into welfare.

Its easy to vote against it. You just have to be bought and sold by the corporations, like most the GOP.

Well I'll just add this to my list of Reasons I'll Never Vote for the GOP for Anything. Item #2981.