The Debate over $10.10
Sunday, February 23, 2014
What if:
Say you were given a big shiny red button..
By pressing the button, you can lift 900,000 people out of poverty, giving them an instant raise to $10.10 per hour.
But what if by pressing the button, you may be eliminating 500,000 to a 1,000,000 jobs or maybe none. That is what a recent report said by the CBO (Congressional Budget Office). For me, I hardly can believe that increasing the minimum wage would eliminate that many jobs. As far as I'm concerned the CBO is over-estimating the number of jobs that 'can' be lost. It is out of line with almost every other major study concerning the effects of raising the minimum rage to $10.10 per hour. What I see by raising the minimum wage is that would mean that there would be more spending power, more money getting pushed right back in the economy. People would purchase more, and they would be able to pay more bills and increase their credit worthiness.
The answer to the question may not come until long after you pushed the button, or you may never know.
So again, the main question here, should we raise the Federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour?
There has been a bill that was introduced by Democrats and supported by President Obama that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour.
What is President Obama's reason for the raise? Yesterday 2/22/2014, President Obama made a statement on the website - WhiteHouse.gov stating:
"Let's tell Congress to say yes. Pass that bill! Give America a raise, because here in America, no-one who works hard should have to live in poverty, and everyone who works hard should have a chance to get ahead."
The present minimum wage now is $7.25 per hour and going to $10.10 per hour would be a major increase, in matter of fact, a 39% increase. The bill as written would be tied to inflation, so increasing the minimum wage would be automatic as the years go on.
Of course, the opposition to the bill are the Republicans. They claim that raising the minimum wage would cause businesses to hire less people, ultimately hurting low wage workers and the economy.
The supporters of the bill and Democrats say that putting more money in the worker's pockets can only help the economy.
If you look at it, both sides have legitimate points. But if you were to ask me what I would do, I would push that red button and increase the minimum wage that would effect almost 1 million people.
A report by the Congressional Budget Office, which is to be a non-partisan, non-influential office says that it would raise the incomes of 16.5 million people that would see the raise who currently make between $7.25 and $10.10 per hour. And there are at lease 8 million people who are already making $10.10 per hour. Their employers wouldn't want them to stay at a minimum wage level, so they would see a pay increase.
By raising the minimum wage, there would be at least $5 billion more in income for poor families and at least 14 million more in income for the middle class. This would lift at least 900,000 people out of poverty. Now is this the reason why Republicans are against a hike in minimum wage. As with every bill they have sponsored in the past, they seem to want to help themselves and the rich and not the middle class. Recently, a Republican controlled House would not allow a vote on unemployment insurance to reach the House floor, thanks to the majority leader John Boehner and are not in favor to vote on a minimum wage bill. Again, most likely for selfish reasons, the main being that whatever President Obama wants or the Democrats want, the Republicans say they want the opposite. Boehner and the Republicans are not concerned what the Americans that voted them in office want. Only time will tell, and the Republicans should get another wake-up call in the mid-term elections this year.
Just stated are guesses and facts of what raising the minimum wage would do. Now, I will pose the question again. Will you press the 'red button' if by pressing it would instantly give minimum wage workers $10.10 per hour? Without hesitation, I would.
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