As usual, the entirely socialist idea is coming primarily from Socialist Democrats as the once again try to mislead voters to turn the country more to their control as we keep sliding closer and closer to a full-blown Communist Nation.
And what with the Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocking the latest effort to forcibly increase a wage minimum in America, we can expect Democrats to make the most of it they possibly can, portraying themselves as so benevolent and seeking to protect workers while they paint Republicans as demonic, evil and uncaring, as usual.
Nothing could be further from the truth, however. In fact, it is exactly opposite.
While admitting that like you, I am not a so-called “expert” on things, I do have the ability to read and reason. So, with that in mind, let’s look at the minimum wage.
It was first instituted in America in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act, setting a minimum wage at 25¢ an hour. That doesn’t sound like much today, but it was acceptable in 1938 as the country, in fact the world was still mired in the Great Depression, all previous socialist efforts lauded as saving the world now known to have actually prolonged the suffering: FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate
But, the hallmark of socialism is that it plays on your emotions and not your ability to reason, to come to a logical conclusion. So we got the first minimum wage in 1938, not long after then President Roosevelt had said in his second inaugural address, “I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day....I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to many other millions. I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”
Seventy-five years later, Barack Obama, in his 2013 State of the Union address stated, “Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families. It could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank; rent or eviction; scraping by or finally getting ahead.”
Same tune as was said in 1937 in spite of increasing the minimum wage some 30 times since it was first instituted.
Of course, we are to believe that many families are still struggling, Democrats of course not accepting one scintilla of blame for the Great Recession they say was over in 2009, but apparently is not.
Left-leaning Politifact sheds some light as they rate the claim made by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio that only about 2% of the workers in America work for the minimum wage as Mostly True. They actually came up with a 2.6% figure and took exception to his saying “Americans” instead of “Workers.”
From the same Politifact article, we also see Sen. Portman reveal that about 50% of those working for minimum wage are between 16 and 24 years old, working part-time, likely students I would believe working their way through school.
So, where is this big need? Where is the danger of “It could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank; rent or eviction; scraping by or finally getting ahead?” as Obama proclaimed?
Obviously, in spite of what Socialists are crying today, there really I no dire emergency, the overall vast majority of families earning a decent living and supporting their families. But Socialists hate that, any segment of society not being under the rule and caring for themselves, not dependent upon our growing Socialist rulers for everyday essentials.
And if you don’t believe it is linked to Socialism creeping further and further into our lives, look at history.
Shortly after overthrowing the Tsar of Russia in 1917, the Bolsheviks, as they worked towards becoming the Soviet Union, decreed a “minimum wage, limitations on workers’ hours, and the running of factories by elected workers’ committees.”
We saw the failure of that ‘Great Experiment” as the Berlin Wall came crumbling down followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991.
And, raising the minimum wage again does not make us a mirror of the Soviet Union…… yet! It is just one small step in our gradual march towards that goal, started as far back as 1919 in our country.
Now, I know Liberals are going to scoff, ridicule this as “unenlightened” and whatnot, they can’t help it, it is their nature and all they have to rely on, reasoning and logical thinking slipping away from them long ago. It is to be expected.
But stop and consider, in his June 25, 2013 testimony before Congress, James Sherk, Senior Policy Analyst in Labor Economics with The Heritage Foundation laid out, “Congress typically raises the minimum wage only during times of healthy economic growth and low unemployment. In 1990, Congress enacted a minimum wage hike that took effect on April 1 of that year, when unemployment stood at 5.4 percent. Congress voted to raise the minimum wage again in August 1996—when unemployment stood at 5.1 percent. The next vote to raise the minimum wage occurred in May 2007, when unemployment stood at 4.4 percent. Congress has not voted to raise the minimum wage when unemployment stood above 7.5 percent since the Great Depression ended.”
Why now when we know that real unemployment numbers, those underemployed or that have just given up looking, remains well into double digits?
Why now when we still see so many empty store fronts around the country, left over from many small businesses that failed during the past 5 years?
Why now when we see our sluggish economy stumbling along at a dismal 0.1 percent growth? That is one-tenth of one-percent, barely noticeable.
It is a fallacy to think that these business owners are not also struggling. Refer back to those empty store fronts I just mentioned.
And don’t forget, the majority of those working for the current minimum wage are young people, in school and unskilled.
And yes, there are others with little or no actual skills also working for minimum wage. Single parents divorced with a deadbeat spouse and working part-time trying to raise their children. But, left out of the cries for yet another increase, most of those people, as they gain skills and experience, leave minimum wage behind, gaining wage increases, especially if a very good worker.
On the other hand, forcing employers to increase wages across the board like this means their cost of doing business increases. In order to keep a reasonable profit margin, after all, they start a business to earn a profit, they will have to adjust, likely meaning laying off people they would like to keep.
It also means they can’t hire new people still seeking work.
Proponents of a minimum wage hike will point to “studies” showing this did not really happen in the past. Again, I refer you back to when those increases took place, during times of economic growth, not during a struggling economy.
The average voter won’t think about that, though, hearing only that they should receive more “profit” from their greedy employer, spoon-fed from today’s Socialist Democrat Party, seeking to place more dependence upon them as they confiscate monies from everybody, giving all a mere pittance of what they could be earning.
There is no free-ride and Robin Hood is a myth.
Pushing through an increase in minimum wage, even workers taking over factories like Kshama Sawant called for is not to lift anybody out of poverty.
It is to spread the poverty as we march more toward Socialism.
I’d rather be free to reap the rewards of my own labor and talents, not have some bureaucratic agency decide whether or not I am permitted to buy a loaf of bread or carton of milk today.
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