Feel Bad News: Manchin undercuts Biden on $15/hr minimum wage

[hal]

If they DO attach it to an index and Manhattan gets a $20/hr min and WV gets $8/hr - how happy will his constituents be then?

[Acer]

The states are free to set their minimums above the federal. The federal rate is then a floor. Maybe the $15 floor is too high a floor for every state. But is there a state in the union where $7.25 an hour is not an insult?

Really odd how dirt-poor WV's representation is so worried about too high a minimum wage, and just about every other remotely liberal policy. Coal and Steel were all union shops back in the day--they'd never settle for no raise for 12 years even for the guys sweeping the floors. Are only the rich allowed to vote there?

[sekker]

If this is the only bottleneck, let's do it.

[Pam]

Incrementalism is racist, sexist, and xenophobic. If min wage had kept up it'd be $24. So $15 is a cut. Manchin is testing his power. That could come back to bite his rear end.

[hal]

Acer wrote: Really odd how dirt-poor WV's representation is so worried about too high a minimum wage, and just about every other remotely liberal policy. Coal and Steel were all union shops back in the day--they'd never settle for no raise for 12 years even for the guys sweeping the floors. Are only the rich allowed to vote there?

I imagine these days when there is talk of raising the min wage in poorer states, the employed say 'YAY - more money for us!'

But employers tisk, tisk about yes, there will be higher paying jobs, but there will be many fewer of them.

The unemployed just wanna a fucking job - they want ANYTHING that pays more than $0/hr so I can see them being against a high min wage.

[Lemon Drop]

https://www.epi.org/blog/dont-be-fooled-...imum-wage/

The federal minimum wage is meant to be a national floor to prevent poverty and do what states and localities refuse to do to protect the most vulnerable workers. It is nearly always southern states that refuse to raise the minimum wage and racism is the reason. A regional approach just allows them to continue this.

The last time we had a decent min wage, 1968, thousands of people were lifted out of poverty.

High cost cities will have to pay what their markets require to get workers. Generally that's over the federal minimum.

[mrbigstuff]

Buzz wrote:
They really oughta just tie it to a regional Cost of Living Index, within reasonable limitations. You could buy the whole of Looneyville, WV for the price of one NYC home. Not that the disparity is justified, but Manchin does have a valid point.... I think the disconnect is adversely affected by the disparity in population relative to the cost of living; the more peeps ya get in one place, the more the price of everything seems to go up. Heck, $11 in Looneyville probably has more worth than $15 in the Big Apple.
==

Correct, and the federal agencies that deal in wages for federal grants already ascribe these minimums (and maximums) to eligibility requirements. So, they understand this discrepancy. A possible solution would be an across the board percentage increase. Because even 15 around here don't mean jack.

[Lemon Drop]

mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=Buzz]
They really oughta just tie it to a regional Cost of Living Index, within reasonable limitations. You could buy the whole of Looneyville, WV for the price of one NYC home. Not that the disparity is justified, but Manchin does have a valid point.... I think the disconnect is adversely affected by the disparity in population relative to the cost of living; the more peeps ya get in one place, the more the price of everything seems to go up. Heck, $11 in Looneyville probably has more worth than $15 in the Big Apple.
==

Correct, and the federal agencies that deal in wages for federal grants already ascribe these minimums (and maximums) to eligibility requirements. So, they understand this discrepancy. A possible solution would be an across the board percentage increase. Because even 15 around here don't mean jack.

No.
There's really a misunderstanding of what/who the federal wage is for.
Please see my comment above.

[deckeda]

That Hill article is short on reasoning, including why $15 is too much. Maybe Joe thinks his constituency is better off fighting for coal jobs.

Now, if Manchin is saying the relief bill should focus solely on Covid and not the general poverty index I won’t disagree. In my perfect world Congress never combines unrelated legislation issues and just stays in session 24/7 and hits one issue after another, considered on the merits separately.

Omnibus bills? Pork bills? AMATEUR HOUR. Bring in pros and get shit DONE.

[pdq]

deckeda wrote:
Now, if Manchin is saying the relief bill should focus solely on Covid and not the general poverty index I won’t disagree. In my perfect world Congress never combines unrelated legislation issues and just stays in session 24/7 and hits one issue after another, considered on the merits separately.

Agreed. But that perfect world is one where Republicans don’t routinely filibuster every bill.

Which is not the world we live in.