The Debate over $10.10

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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The Republican Party, Controlled by the Tea Party

The Republican party may think that they may have a deciding edge over the Democrats and think they now are ahead in many of the major polls, because they truly believe that they have something to run on - the failure of Obamacare. It truly looks as if the Republicans are putting all of their eggs in one basket. Maybe they have and maybe they may not have the edge.
 They are just crying over spilled milk, or a leak that they cannot control. It is true that it has been nothing less than a very bumpy road for Obamacare, but the numbers now show that people are signing up to the new healthcare plan in record numbers. Presently, there have been a minimum of one million people that have signed up to date. Obamacare is the law of the land, regardless of the desire by Republicans to discredit it even before it is implemented and practiced by the people. The question here is why are the Republicans continuing to pursue the reversal of Obamacare, even at the expense of tax payers. Like it or not, another faction of the Republican party  is known as the Tea Party. This party disagrees with the mainstream Republican party on many issues, and they in effect have been the number one destructive faction that is affecting the Republican party, even moreso than the Democratic party.
Evidence of the distructive nature of the Tea Party over the Republicans is witnessed in the recent shutdown of the Federal government, led by a Republican from the Tea party named Ted Cruz. The confirmed cost of the shutdown rose to $24 billion dollars. The Republican party still is not able to understand that being attached at the hip with the Tea Party, they do not have a chance in hell to win the next election. The Tea Party has become so destructive to Conservatives. They are so far to the right, that most of what they portray doesn't make sense, in the fact that what they push as their ajenda couldn't posibilly fly with the majority of mainstream voters of this country.
Evidence of the disgust of the mainstream Republican party is the response of the leader of the House, John Boehner. As members of the tea party recently voted against the recent approved budget by Congress to eliminate another government shutdown in January, the leader of the House openly voiced his disgust with the Tea party members who voted against the bill.
Actually, John Boehner did the right thing for a change, to openly protest Tea Party Senators like Ted Cruz. But he voted on a bill that did not support a primary need for many middle and lower class citizens, as approximately 1.3 million people are now scheduled to loose their unemployment benefits right after Christmas because the Senators did not include a vote to extend unemployment benifits in their bill just passed before taking a recess over the holidays. This failure affects people of ALL ages. It is interesting to note that the money waisted by the Republicans on the latest shutdown of the Federal Government over Obamacare would be what is needed to fun the 1.3 million people now scheduled to loose their unemployent benefits. Almost one half million of these people are just children, now to go hungry, as if they live in a deprived third world country. How disgusting is that.
Even knowing that over a million people were now about to go without benefits to live on, and could no longer afford to purchase the bare minimum necessities, including food, housing and clothing, the Congress chose to go on their holiday recess, which means that they all will now go home and enjoy their holiday cheer, both for Christmas and New Years, knowing that many people will have nothing to celebrate this holiday season, or to live on for that matter. As of December 28, 2013, people will now go hungry, and may even loose their housing, if they cannot afford to pay their rent on time. If nothing is accomplished right after the holiday break when Congress begins again in 2014, I fully expect to see a further drop in the polls for Republicans. People will become desperite, and in my opinion, violence will become prevelant if something is not done soon. Store robberies can and may occur out of the despiration of the people who need food. Needless to say that many of these unemployed may have guns, and gun violence may take a sharp upturn. It is sad that right before Christmas that this state of the nation exists, a country such as affuent as the United States, a country who should be the model for others throught the world.
Is this something that any party can run on? It may be fact that it took both Democrats and Republicans to pass a law such as the latest budget bill, but the fact is that the Democrats will now bring up unemployment insurance as soon as they return in January. This is guaranteed. The Republicans surely do not want the Washington talk to change from what they believe is the failure of Obamacare to extending unemployment insurance. But the fact is that people with no money to live on is actually a more important subject than Obamacare at the moment. The Republicans will not recognize that fact, because if they did, they would have introduced a measure in the latest bill passed to extend unemployment benefits.
Because the President and the Democrats will fully support a new bill to extend unemployment insurance for a minumum of three more months or so, the Republicans will not support it, for the mere fact that the Democratic President supports it. It is for this reason that this will be the number one subject matter for the Senators in January and the senators may take their good old time in resolving such a serious issue. The President already openly stated his disgust for Congress not supporting a bill to extend unemployment insurance/benefits before their recess. The Republicans have nothing to gain, but everything to loose, if they do not side with the Democrats here. But unfortunately for them, the controlling faction of their party, the Tea Party, the group of people that had so much influence over the mainstream Republican party about a month ago, who were directly responsible in shutting down the government with the fractured leadership of Ted Cruz, repeated blunders by the Republican party will continue into the new year, unless the mainstream Republican party can find a way to eliminate the tea party. Until then, the Democrats should enjoy another win for the White House in 2016, regardless of the popularity of the President, regardless of Bengahsi, and regardless of what happens with Obamacare or what happens because of it.
The Republican party has not much support from minorities, woman, the middle class, and the mainstream society who realize that the extremeist right wing party cannot hold ground on their own without the destructive nature of the tea party always getting into the way. They are just crying over spilled milk, or a leak that they cannot control. It is true that it has been nothing less than a very bumpy road for Obamacare, but the numbers now show that people are signing up to the new healthcare plan. Presently, there have been a minimum of one million people that have signed up to date. Obamacare is the law of the land, regardless of the desire by Republicans to discredit it even before it it is implemented and practiced by the people. The question here is why are the Republicans continuing to pursue the reversal of Obamacare, even at the expense of tax payer. Like it or not, the Republican party is not in control, but the Tea party now reigns supreme for the Conservative party. This party disagrees with the mainstream Republican party on many issues, and they in effect have been the number one destructive faction that is affecting the Republican party, even moreso than the Democratic party.
Evidence of the distructive nature of the Tea Party over the Republicans is the recent shutdown of the Federal government, led by a Republican from the Tea party named Ted Cruz. The confirmed cost of the shutdown rose to $24 million dollars. The Republican party still is not able to understand that being attached at the hip with the Tea Party, they do not have a chance in hell to win the next election. The Tea Party has become so destructive to Conservatives and the party they should be representing, the Republican party. They are so far to the right, that most of what they portray doesn't make sense, in the fact that what they push as their ajenda couldn't posibilly fly with the majority of mainstream voters of this country.
Evidence of the disgust of the mainstream Republican party is the response of the leader of the House, John Boehner. As members of the tea party recently voted against the recent approved budget by Congress to eliminate another government shutdown in January, the leader of the House openly voiced his disgust with the Tea party members who voted against the bill.
Actually, John Boehner did the right thing for a change, to openly protest Tea Party Senators like Ted Cruz. But he voted on a bill that did not support a primary need for many middle and lower class citizens, approximately 1.3 million people whom are now scheduled to loose their unemployment benefits right after Christmas because the Senators did not include a vote to extend unemployment benifits in their bill just passed before taking a recess over the holidays. This failure affects people of ALL ages.
Even knowing that over a million people were now about to go without benefits to live on, a figure that can double by summer, and could no longer afford to purchase the bare minimum necessities, including food, housing and clothing, the Congress chose to go on their holiday recess, which means that they all will now go home and enjoy their holiday cheer, both for Christmas and New Years, knowing that many people will have nothing to celebrate this holiday season. As of December 28, 2013, people will now go hungry, and may even loose their housing, if they cannot afford to pay their rent on time. If nothing is accomplished right after the holiday break when Congress begins again in 2014, I fully expect to see a further drop in the polls for Republicans. People will become desperite, and in my opinion, violence will become prevelant if something is not done soon. Store robberies can and may occur out of the despiration of the people who need food. Needless to say that many of these unemployed may have guns, and gun violence may take a sharp upturn. It is sad that right before Christmas that this state of the nation exists, a country such as affuent as the United States, a country who should be the model for others throught the world but forgets its own poor.
 I will repeat this statement now..... Is this something that any party can run on? It may be fact that it took both Democrats and Republicans to pass a law such as the latest budget bill, but the fact is that the Democrats will now bring up unemployment insurance as soon as they return in January. The Republicans surely do not want the Washington talk to change from what they believe is the failure of Obamacare to extending unemployment insurance. But the fact is that people with no money to live on is actually a more important subject than Obamacare at the moment. They may agree with the Democrats and happily pass a bill to extend unemployment insurance just to get the topic back on Obamacare. I have news for the Republicans if they were to do such a thing. The next order of business will be the minimum wage. They (the Republicans) just don't get it. Unless they get an agenda to run on, they are going to loose the White House once again.
Because the President and the Democrats will fully support a new bill to extend unemployment insurance for a minumum of three more months or so, the Republicans will not support it, for the mere fact that the Democratic President supports it. It is for this reason that this will be the number one subject matter for the Senators in January. The Presidet already openly stated his disgust for Congress not supporting a bill to extend unemployment insurance before their recess. The Republicans have nothing to gain, but everything to loose, if they do not side with the Democrats here. But unfortunately for them, the controlling faction of their party, the Tea Party, the group of people that had so much influence about a month ago, who were directly responsible in shutting down the government with the fractured leadership of Ted Cruz, repeated blunders by the Republican party will continue into the new year, unless the mainstream Republican party can find a way to eliminate the tea party. Until then, the Democrats should enjoy another win for the White House in 2016, regardless of the popularity of the President, regardless of Bengahsi, and regardless of what happens of Obamacare or what happens because of it.
The Republican party has not much support from minorities, woman, the middle class, and the mainstream society who realize that the extremeist right wing party cannot hold ground on their own without the destructive nature of the tea party always getting into the way. 2016 couldn't get here soon enough.

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