Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are making a lot of hay out of a $2.00 per hour raise in the minimum wage rate...this is NOT ENOUGH. First, $7.25 per hour after taxes leaves millions of Americans lanquishing in POVERTY. Further, unless this raise in the minimum wage is coupled with a GET TOUGH POLICY on illegal aliens, and the companies who hire them, it is an very empty gesture. Cheap WAGES will remain a reality until we CULL THE HERD of those here illegally.
Wages and benefits raise and fall based on the simple law of supply and demand, and BIG BUSINESS and the National Chamber of Commerce know this...it is why they oppose a wage hike, and support Amnesty for illegals, and a liberal Guest Worker Program. The time has come for Americans to COME FIRST, time for us to TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN, and this means deporting those who illegally and wrongfully steal our jobs, and depress our wages. The battle cry of the business community is let the market drive wages...that would be fine if we DEPORTED 12-20 million illegal workers who are depressing our wage base by over $200 Billion a year. Congress and Pelosi need to make raising of the minimum wage worthwhile, by combining it with enforcement only comprehensive immigration reform that hands down harsh penalities for any one who hires illegals (eliminate the word knowingly), and eliminates access to all social services for illegals and their children including prenatal care, and education.
Dems eyeing $2 raise for minimum earners
POSTED: 6:09 p.m. EST, December 22, 2006
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/22/minimum.wage.ap/index.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Imagine what it would be like to work without a pay raise for nearly 10 years.
That's been the plight of some workers who for almost the past decade have been earning the federal minimum wage. Their last pay increase -- to $5.15 an hour -- came in 1997.
There could be some relief in sight.
When the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress convenes in early January, a top priority is boosting the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. The increase is likely to be phased in, perhaps over 26 months. (Watch why some say a minimum wage hike is long overdue )
Alice Laguerre is among the millions of workers now earning less than $7.25 an hour.
She makes $6.55 an hour driving cars headed for the auction blocks in Orlando, Florida, and says a boost in the federal minimum wage would help her build a nest egg for emergencies.
"I would be able to save more," says Laguerre, a part-time worker. "I've always been thrifty with money. When I was young, I'd take a nickel and stretch it five ways."
That can be tough these days, acknowledges Laguerre, 53, after paying the monthly rent and utilities on her two-bedroom apartment and after recently buying a car -- a blue 1994 Buick Century.
Employers could feel squeeze
On the other side of the minimum wage debate is employer Wayne Reaves, president of Manna Enterprises Inc., in Anniston, Alabama, who says he may boost menu prices and cut workers' hours at his fast-food restaurants, which serve up hamburgers, fried chicken, gravy and biscuits and other fare, if the federal wage is lifted.
The average hourly rate for his workers is around $6.39. All of his workers are paid above the current $5.15 minimum, he says. The lowest hourly rate is around $5.50, while a recently hired biscuit maker fetched $8 an hour.
Wages and benefits raise and fall based on the simple law of supply and demand, and BIG BUSINESS and the National Chamber of Commerce know this...it is why they oppose a wage hike, and support Amnesty for illegals, and a liberal Guest Worker Program. The time has come for Americans to COME FIRST, time for us to TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN, and this means deporting those who illegally and wrongfully steal our jobs, and depress our wages. The battle cry of the business community is let the market drive wages...that would be fine if we DEPORTED 12-20 million illegal workers who are depressing our wage base by over $200 Billion a year. Congress and Pelosi need to make raising of the minimum wage worthwhile, by combining it with enforcement only comprehensive immigration reform that hands down harsh penalities for any one who hires illegals (eliminate the word knowingly), and eliminates access to all social services for illegals and their children including prenatal care, and education.
Dems eyeing $2 raise for minimum earners
POSTED: 6:09 p.m. EST, December 22, 2006
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/22/minimum.wage.ap/index.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Imagine what it would be like to work without a pay raise for nearly 10 years.
That's been the plight of some workers who for almost the past decade have been earning the federal minimum wage. Their last pay increase -- to $5.15 an hour -- came in 1997.
There could be some relief in sight.
When the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress convenes in early January, a top priority is boosting the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. The increase is likely to be phased in, perhaps over 26 months. (Watch why some say a minimum wage hike is long overdue )
Alice Laguerre is among the millions of workers now earning less than $7.25 an hour.
She makes $6.55 an hour driving cars headed for the auction blocks in Orlando, Florida, and says a boost in the federal minimum wage would help her build a nest egg for emergencies.
"I would be able to save more," says Laguerre, a part-time worker. "I've always been thrifty with money. When I was young, I'd take a nickel and stretch it five ways."
That can be tough these days, acknowledges Laguerre, 53, after paying the monthly rent and utilities on her two-bedroom apartment and after recently buying a car -- a blue 1994 Buick Century.
Employers could feel squeeze
On the other side of the minimum wage debate is employer Wayne Reaves, president of Manna Enterprises Inc., in Anniston, Alabama, who says he may boost menu prices and cut workers' hours at his fast-food restaurants, which serve up hamburgers, fried chicken, gravy and biscuits and other fare, if the federal wage is lifted.
The average hourly rate for his workers is around $6.39. All of his workers are paid above the current $5.15 minimum, he says. The lowest hourly rate is around $5.50, while a recently hired biscuit maker fetched $8 an hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment