Democratic and Liberal political analysis and commentary

The new federal minimum wage rose $.70 Tuesday, from $5.15 an hour to $5.85. It will only affect workers in 20 states, since the other states have already enacted laws providing a higher wage. But for folks in states like Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, this is a welcome raise. Some have waited since 1997 to get one.

There is no public outcry from big business because.. Guess What??? Those people know that the raise is long overdue. They know the minimum wage is pitiful. And they know that they already got some sweet deals in the minimum wage bill, like exempting training periods, so essentially summer workers are paid even less.

I found a great excerpt that includes the best reasoning for increasing the minimum wage that I've ever read:

Everyone should have the opportunity to earn a decent wage. No American should be compelled to work at a rate that, assuming full-time labor, every weekday, all year long, amounts to the $10,712 that the current minimum wage provides. This is equally as true for a middle-class youth working to raise money for college as it is for a single mother supporting a family. The minimum wage is not just about helping the impoverished. It is about fairness, the value of work, and the opportunities that work provides.

Furthermore, no employer should be allowed to unreasonably profit by exploiting the lack of negotiating power of low-wage workers. The free market fails to set a fair price when one side holds all the bargaining chips. In another context, this is why laws exist against monopolies. If only one supplier supplies a good, it can charge more than the good is worth because the purchaser is powerless to obtain it elsewhere. Low-wage workers are in the opposite position of the monopolist. They lack the skills that command higher wages, but, because they need to work to survive, they cannot withhold their labor from the market. The monopolist can set the price at almost whatever level it wants, while the low-wage worker must take almost whatever is offered for his or her labor. Minimum wages exist for the same reason that laws against monopolies existthey deal with situations in which the market fails to set fair prices.

I sincerely hope the next minimum wage increase law will include a modest cost of living increase. The last time the minimum wage increased, gasoline was at about $1.35 per gallon, and bread only cost about $1.05. That certainly is not the case now.

Thanks to the new democratic congress for getting this done. By the way, the only reason George W. Bush signed the minimum wage into law was because it was attached to an Iraq war spending bill. Just in case you needed another reason to know how pathetic he is.