Minimum Wage Increase?
On August 1, 1995, right before their Summer Break The US Senate rejected a bill put forward by Sen. Teddy Kennedy to allow a vote on raising the minimum wage. Teddy didn't want to raise it right then and there, he only wanted to get this item confir med for debate after his vacation. His proposal lost 48-49, but no record was kept of who voted how. We can assume it was Republicans who voted it down since they are the majority and hate Big Teddy.
Why is this significant? Unless you earn the minimum wage, currently $4.25 by Federal law, you cant understand. Minimum wage sucks. After taxes it isn't enough to pay the rent on an old refrigerator box. Consider these quotes, stolen from Congress On-line records, to get some perspective:
"The average American earning minimum wage has to work from January 1 until May 18 to earn $3,500. A member of Congress has to work from January 1st until January 11th to make that same $3,500." (Representative Guiterrez[Ill.], in his speech to the Ho use 2/9/95)
"In 'A Profile of the Working Poor, 1993' the Bureau (the Dept. of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics) found that in 1993, 1 in 5, or 8.2 million of the 40 million people in poverty in this nation, had a job." (Representative Clayton [N. Carolina] in h er speech to the House 8/1/95)
"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 63% of minimum wage earners are adults over the age of 20."- Senator Kennedy[Mass.] from his speech to the Senate 7/35/95)
Sure it sounds like more crap from your local fat politician, but at least somebody is trying to get this done. Clinton proposed raising the minimum wage back in February, but of course it hasn't gotten done. I'm happy Sen. Teddy is trying to help o ut, but since he got shut down I think it might be time to start encouraging all of you minimum wage workers to call your local politicians.
There are approximately 11 million Americans who make the minimum wage. I don't know if this includes waitresses, who typically earn less because of their tips or not, but 11 million is the official number. If Congress had continued to raise the m inimum wage in accordance with the Consumer Price Index, the minimum wage would be $6.85. That's $2.60 more for every hour worked. Clinton's proposal in February only would have raised the minimum wage to $5.15/hour, which still leaves a purchasing gap of $1.70/hour.
When Sen. Teddy made his proposal in August, which if you forgot, only called for a promise to vote after the summer, he was shut down because the Democrats aren't in power, and the Republicans can't stand a Democrat looking better. Most of the floor debate about Sen. Ted's proposal centered around the fact that Bob Dole, makes the Senate's agenda, not Teddy. Not too many Congressmen are willing to go on record, or C Span, bitching about how minimum wage workers are over paid, beca use they know they aren't. Some however do have interesting things to say about the subject.
The first Congressman I could find willing to really step up to the podium and slap minimum wage workers around is Representative Longley from Maine. In a speech he read entitled "Tax Cuts Needed, not Minimum Wage Increase," Longley gives us the old one-two to the head with the following bullshit:
"If I go out and buy a can of beer I will pay four taxes. But if I do the right thing and go out and create a job for a working person at the minimum wage in this country, I am going to pay or manage nine different taxes. I am tired of the nonsense we are hearing about the minimum wage and how we can increase it, and how we are going to do wonderful things for people. I want to focus on the fact that those nine taxes at the minimum wage exceed 1.00/hour."
Sounds like the man had a few of those over-taxed Maine beers on his way to the floor, doesn't it? It sounds he'd rather drink beer than create jobs. I don't think that's why the people of Maine elected him, but you never know.
It looks to me like he's really just looking out for business men, who give much more money to political campaigns compared to minimum wage workers. He's more concerned with the taxes your boss has to pay, than how much your check is every week. Oh, he'll claim that if your boss had to pay less taxes that prices would be lower, and your shitty pay would buy more, but when was the last time Congress lowered business' taxes and prices went down? Nothing ever goes down in price. Therefore, the esteem ed man from Maine should be forced to find his ass a new job.
I suggest Maine voters give Mr. Longley plenty of time to figure out the tax on his daily consumption, and vote his ass out. The rest of you can call him at his office, (202) 224-3121.
Next on our list of rouge fools in the Congress would be Representative Ron Packard, form California- land of opportunity. On March 30th, 1995 he gave a little speech with some truly bizarre reasoning.
"Mr. Speaker, the minimum wage should be eliminated. Government has no business determining a person's worth in the job market. If you force a business to pay more than a person is worth, somebody else is going to be paid less than they are worth to compensate for that person's job. Worker wages should be determined by competitive market forces, not Government imposed mandates President Clinton's proposed 21% wage hike represents a powerful blow to the low skilled and young wage earners of America- the bulk of the minimum wage population. Legislation to raise the minimum wage is no answer to poverty. Instead, it will increas e poverty. Economists agree that raising the minimum wage would instantly eliminate tens of thousands of jobs. The minimum wage is a tax on labor, and more importantly a tax on hiring."
Apparently Representative Packard is very in touch with the people. Imagine a high school dropout having to negotiate his/her own wage down at the local 7-11. Jesus the whole country would become a sweat shop if this fool ran things.
In today's economy, where there are thousands of unemployed people who have degrees, and thousands of underemployed people schlepping away their lives in McJobs, needs a minimum wage. If Congress did away with the minimum wage they would essentially be telling the American worker to "Fuck off and beat your own way to the top, we could care less about you."
Rep. Packard also stands for big business. He should be forced to work for the minimum wage. His logic is stupid, and I pity anybody who voted for him. Should you like to call him his phone number isthe same as listed above for the Senator from Maine. I really think you should give him a call. Other people have hopped on his bandwagon to eliminate the minimum wage, like Representative Saxton from New Jersey.
If these guys are able to ever gather enough support we'll all soon be working for a pack of butts and two cold beers a day, and nothing more. Lucky people won't have to sleep on the street because they'll demand space on the broom closet floor. "S ir, I demand you give me two pieces of pizza per shift, and one coke." Get real, the minimum wage keeps guys like these greedy big-business-whipping-boys out of the loop because they'd screw us royal.
Part of the reason that raising the minimum wage doesn't get much air time on the evening news is that Republicans have lumped the measure in with their Welfare Reform crap. They all say that fixing welfare should come before fixing wages, end of s tory.
Your Congressman is more worried about the people getting a free ride than the guy/girl out there working every day. They are obsessed with "getting people off Welfare", but don't want to give them a decent wage to strive for. Politicians make tons of money compared to minimum wage workers. This is strange because politicians are supposedly doing their job as a "public service", because they really care about us and out lives. Minimum wage workers aren't pretending to be doi ng service for anybody but themselves, yet they get paid less than these so called "public servants."
We allow these morons to vote themselves a pay-raise whenever they want. Nobody else can do that. Can you imagine getting to vote your own raises? "Yeah, I vote I should get more fucking money." The system is stupid. Nobody should get to vote th emselves a raise. I think Congress should be punished.
Lets vote every member of Congress a new salary - the minimum wage. Congress men would be allowed space at a YMCA, or a YWCA, depending on sex, if they couldn't afford to pay rent in both their "home State" and Washington, DC. Not that it would matt er, since most politicians already have big bucks. Even on the small scale, it still costs big bucks to get elected, so these guys have money.
We have to pull the rug out from under these guys so they'll understand where it is we live, and leave us alone. Everybody agrees that we need to cut government spending, so let's start with the salaries of these rich bastards. They have refused to help out by directly putting money into out pockets, so lets take some from them.
