In many areas of the country, the minimum wage should be $20 an hour. Of course, this would force up prices, but that's fine. It does not follow that rural Wyoming should be forced to have a $15 minimum wage.
Yes, the poor need $300 a week. As a great economist once said, if that is the issue, give them the money. This has nothing to do with giving folks $500 a week ($300 plus unemployment) to stay home from their jobs.
You want the federal government to control many aspects of the US economy. The US economy is simply too large for that to work. This is more possible in states that are larger economies that almost all European countries.
Yes, the poor need $300 a week. As a great economist once said, if that is the issue, give them the money. This has nothing to do with giving folks $500 a week ($300 plus unemployment) to stay home from their jobs.
You want the federal government to control many aspects of the US economy. The US economy is simply too large for that to work. This is more possible in states that are larger economies that almost all European countries.
You say you're a liberal but you have a very conservative stance on this issue. That's the problem with the Democratic party today - it's no longer liberal, it's conservative. The entire nation has shifted so far to the right that many democrats felt it's necessary to become conservative.
$15/hour minimum wage is necessary - in fact it should be $20 or higher to be truly fair. It is proven to boost the economy where it has been implemented. The trickle-down myths of the conservatives are atrocious and way too many Democrats fall for those myths and become conservative.
In NY, a $15/hour worker would qualify for $300 a week, which is half their regular $600 a week gross. On top of that, they would not have whatever benefits they would have had, and if that is medical then they are looking at minimum of $1,000 more a month just to COBRA their medical and upwards of that for getting something on the healthcare marketplace (another botched garbage shortfall from Obamacare ,aka Romneycare). Or, of course, they can get on (or in many/most cases remain on) Medicaid, which we pay for out of our taxes anyway.
The Federal $300 unemployment is absolutely necessary for the unemployed at every level, ESPECIALLY the lowest levels. Or we can do the conservative plan of let the chips fall where they may and let people go bankrupt, lose their homes, etc. and then prop them up after they've lost everything with more social safety nets which then would be a bandage on a bullet wound.
Of course, the same Democratic Party is largely to blame for the healthcare problem to begin with by continuing to object to universal healthcare in order to protect their wealthy ,corporate healthcare special-interest donors and lobbyists - something else they have in common with their conservative counterparts.
I'm perfectly fine with everyone having their own opinions and you having your opinion on this issue - I can agree to disagree. But your stance is not that of a liberal, it's that of a conservative.
As for the unemployment, the low wages permitted by the low minimum wage are now catching up with the labor market and affecting the economy. The $15 minimum wage was meant to pre-empt this from happening but it's too late. It's not even adequate if it were to go through, at this point. If Wendy's and other notorious under-payers want to have people work for them they will need to pay more.
Funny how In-N-Out burger and other far more successful fast-food places that destroy Wendy's and McDonald's are having no problem retaining and attracting employees, delivering a better product at a much lower price, and still paying $17 to $19 an hour PLUS benefits...
Conservatives need to stop blaming the workers who are overworked and underpaid and start blaming the garbage businesses who have only survived by cheating their workers with insultingly unfair and predatory low wages. As a Christian, this is a moral issue for me as well - I wouldn't want to prey on someone for their weakness and I wouldn't pay someone less than what they are truly worth and owed, nor do I want to live in a society that practices such immorality.
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