Scott Walker Eliminates Living Wage, Calls Minimum Wage "Lame Idea"

Performing as the plutocrat's puppet that he is, "national disgrace" (h/t AFL-CIO) Gov. Scott "Koch Head" Walker (R-Kochland) is again going after the most vulnerable in his state:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed the new state budget into law on Sunday with a last-minute change that strips the words "living wage" from state laws and replaces it with "minimum wage."

The change means minimum-wage Wisconsin workers will earn nearly $6,000 per year less than what the Massachusetts Institute of Technology calculates is a living wage in the state. And they will have no recourse, according to the Center for American Progress. MIT says a living wage would be $10.13 an hour.

The new law eliminates the ability of low-wage workers to appeal for a living wage. Previously, Wisconsin law stated that employee pay "shall be not less than a living wage," defined as "adequate to permit any employee to maintain herself or himself in minimum comfort, decency, physical and moral well-being." Wisconsin's living wage was tied to the state minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour.  (our emphasis)

Perhaps these moochers need to work more hours?

In an interview with Fox "News'" Sean "Heil" Hannity (living proof of the banality of evil), Walker let his Koch brothers John Birch Society freak flag fly:

“The left claims they’re for American workers, and they’ve got lame ideas, things like minimum wage,” Walker said. “We need to talk about how we get people skills and qualifications they need to get jobs that go beyond minimum wage.”  (our emphasis)

What gibberish, and what a contrast to the Democratic Party's fight for a living wage across the country to address the plight of the middle class and income inequality.

(Photo:  Scott Walker - "Look out moocher America, I'm comin' to gitcha!")

Democrats Introduce The Raise The Wage Act

Today, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) will introduce the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the Federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020.  Jared Bernstein outlines the main components:

1) Raise the minimum wage in increments to $12 an hour by 2020.
The Raise the Wage Act would raise the federal minimum wage $0.75 in 2016 to $8.00 an hour and raise it an additional $1 per year for the next four years.  The Economic Policy Institute estimates that 37.7 million workers would benefit from the cumulative five-year increase.  As shown in the infographic above, the family of the average person in this group relies on the earner for more than half of its total income.

2) Tie minimum wage increases to increases in the median wage after 2020.
Historically, inflation has eroded the value of the minimum wage between legislated increases.  The Raise the Wage Act would prevent future erosion by indexing the minimum wage to the median wage after the full phase-in.

Past proposals would have indexed the minimum wage to inflation instead of the median wage, but prominent minimum wage analyst Arindrajit Dube offers a compelling rationale for why the median is appropriate.  Keeping the minimum-to-median ratio around 50 percent, which this proposal would do, would put it “in line with the international average and with the U.S. historical average during the 1960s and 1970s.”

3) Gradually eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers.
In many states, tipped workers (for example, waiters and waitresses) currently have a minimum base wage of only $2.13 an hour.  These workers are still supposed to make the regular minimum – employers are required to make up the difference if adding tips to the base wage doesn’t get a tipped worker all the way there – but this requirement is difficult to enforce in practice.

Republicans and their Koch-supported minions are expected to use the same shop-worn excuses for why this shouldn't happen (and given the makeup of Congress, it won't), but it should be one of the main issues Democrats at every level should run on in 2016.  It's one of those bright line issues that separate the party of the 1-per-centers from the party that's fighting for the middle and working classes.  It's also a political winner since, as Bernstein notes, 75 percent of Americans support raising the minimum wage even higher than this proposal, including 53 percent of Republicans.  Democrats would be smart to promote it at every opportunity.

John Ellis "J.E.B." Bush Doesn't Want A Federal Minimum Wage

Millionaire son and grandson of millionaires John Ellis "J.E.B." Bush had something to say yesterday about the federal minimum wage:

“We need to leave it to the private sector,” Bush said. “I think state minimum wages are fine. The federal government shouldn’t be doing this.”

The "smart Bush" made his remarks yesterday to a collection of yahoos in South Cackalacky Carolina. Bush's race to the bottom approach on wages is perfectly in line with the right-wing social Darwinist ethos, which includes "right to work (for less)" laws that have popped (pooped?) out in a number of Republican-led states, the latest of which was signed in Wisconsin by Koch brothers employee of the year Gov. Scott "Koch Head" Walker (R-Kochland), who also doesn't want to raise the minimum wage.

At the same time, these grifters want people to believe they're concerned about income inequality, which raising the minimum wage would address directly. Why?  Not for philosophical reasons, of course:

- 75 percent of Americans support raising the federal minimum wage to $12.50 by 2020

That's right.  As usual Republicans are on the wrong side of public opinion and want to fudge their positions as much as possible. (This is a Hart Research Associates poll, but similar results have been seen by Pew Research and others.)

This is Bush the "moderate conservative" that the "mainstream media" is so desperate to sell to us, when he's same old reactionary Republican in the same old reactionary Republican party that gave us the "slumlord budget" the other day.  Nice try, though.

Today's Read: Raising The Minimum Wage Means Economic Justice

Steven Perlstein on the benefits to be gained from raising wages:

As we launch into 2015, there’s something other than an 18,000 Dow to celebrate. Thanks to increases in state minimum wage levels, nearly 4 million hardworking Americans in 21 states are getting a raise this year, according to the Economic Policy Institute — from 15 cents an hour in Washington state to $1.25 in South Dakota. The leadership of the Republican Congress and its allies in the business community continue demonizing these initiatives as job-killing government price controls. Most of the rest of us see something simpler: economic justice. [snip]

In the end, that may be the most important rationale for raising the federal minimum wage. Fairness matters. Decades of stagnant incomes and rising inequality have so torn the social fabric that we can see its impact in higher costs for business and government, diminished engagement of workers and a dysfunctional political process. A reasonable increase in the minimum wage would be a small step in restoring social capital. 

Indeed, the robust economic recovery that has begun needs to be a recovery shared by all, not just the top one percent.

Today's Cartoon

(click to enlarge)

(Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle)

We're not naming any names, of course (=cough= McDonald's =cough= Walmart =cough=).

They're (Not) Lovin' It

McDonald's workers in 100 cities are striking the mega-fast food corporation today, protesting McDonald's failure to pay a living wage to its workers.  Workers making $7.25 an hour (or $15,000 per year full time, just barely above the Federal poverty line) are not able to sustain a decent living for themselves or their families.  McDonald's corporate profits in 2012 were $5.5 billion, so throwing their 760,000 U.S. employees a few extra dollars per hour wouldn't bankrupt them.

With mega corporations like Walmart facing increasing pressure to give their employees a living wage, and with such unexpected but welcome support from Pope Francis regarding income inequality, the pressure won't let up, either against the corporations paying poverty wages or the politicians that refuse to consider an increase in the minimum wage.

(photo: L. Nicholson, Reuters/Corbis)