On July 9, 2014, Adam Peck and Bryce Covert write on ThinkProgress:
Democrats have introduced bills three times to increase the minimum wage in the last three years, and President Obama himself has called for it to be raised to $10.10 an hour. Yet Republicans have blocked the attempts to raise the federal wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for five years.
That doesn’t mean wages aren’t increasing, however. Since the beginning of the year, a number of states have passed legislation to increase their minimum wages, with more considering doing the same:
So far ten states have passed higher wages since January: Delaware to $8.25 an hour; West Virginia to $8.75; Rhode Island to $9; Michigan to $9.25; Minnesota to $9.50; Connecticut, Hawaii, and Maryland to $10.10; Vermont to $10.50; andMassachusetts to $11 an hour. They’re not alone: 22 states have wage floors above the federal minimum. The city of Seattle has gone even further, implementing a $15 wage.
While some warn that raising the minimum wage is a job killer, states that have taken action aren’t finding that to be true. Those whose wages increased on January 1 are experiencing faster job growth than the others. State minimum wage increases over the past two decades haven’t had an impact on job creation. Washington, which has the highest current minimum wage, experienced the biggest increase in small business jobs last year and has seen steady, above average job growth in the 15 years since it raised its wage.
This is a ridiculous assertion of a gradual increase to $11.00, even $15.00 per hour over a period of up to seven years. This is subsistence income. A minimum wage is not the solution to economic inequality and will perpetuate economic inequality and poverty, and thus taxpayer-supported redistribution to pay for welfare services. It will also result in an inflationary rise in prices for products and services.
If only academia, political organizations, think tanks, and the media would put as much effort into advocating for BROADENED OWNERSHIP of non-inflationary wealth-creating, income-producing productive capital expansion of the economy and empowering EVERY child, woman and man to acquire capital without the requirement of “past savings” but with the earnings of the capital assets, we could eliminate poverty and economic inequality. BUT the focus continues to be on JOBS and REDISTRIBUTION as the ONLY MEANS to an income, and then still that income is a substance income.
Americans need to WAKE UP and support and rally for a peaceful and more just Second American Revolution to unite all Americans, based on a moral recognition that freedom and political democracy must be based on a foundation of universal principles of economic justice and economic empowerment.
The JUST Third Way is a radical overhaul of the economic system (i.e., the Federal tax system, Federal Reserve policy, inheritance law, welfare and entitlement system, etc.) that will achieve genuine economic democracy, based on the Platform of the Unite America Party and its links and the proposed Capital Homestead Act. Our Platform is a call for a vision of political economy that can unite the left and the right, based on Louis Kelso’s ownership-based paradigm. Now is the time to cure America’s political cancer (Crony Capitalism) and restore America to again becoming a model for global citizens in all countries.
For a new vision see http://www.foreconomicjustice.org/?p=12331andwww.facebook.com%2Funiteamericaparty. Support the Unite America Party Platform, published by The Huffington Post athttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-reber/platform-of-the-unite-ame_b_5474077.html as well as Nation Of Change athttp://www.nationofchange.org/platform-unite-america-party-1402409962and OpEd News athttp://www.opednews.com/articles/Platform-of-the-Unite-Amer-by-Gary-Reber-Party-Leadership_Party-Platforms-DNC_Party-Platforms-GOP-RNC_Party-Politics-Democratic-140630-60.html.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/07/09/3458361/minimum-wage-increases-state-map/
