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Ted Kennedy Sets Goal of $9.50 Minimum Wage for 2009
Submitted by RepMarkBCohen on Wed, 08/01/2007 - 3:36am.
In the strongest sign yet of the growing national effort to establish a national minimum wage that will get a minimum wage worker with two dependents out of poverty, Senator Ted Kennedy has pledged to introduce a bill establishing a federal minimum wage of $9.50 for 2009.
This is the strongest proposal yet made by a national figure, trumping John Edwards' goal of $9.50 for 2012. If it is accompanied by a cost of living increase (press accounts were unclear), as the Edwards proposal was, it will also be of even greater help to low income workers than my 2006 and 2007 legislative proposal to raise the minimum wage to $8.15 in 2008, $8.75 in 2009, and $9.35 in 2010, with an annual cost of living increase thereafter.
Ted Kennedy has earned extraordinary influence in the goal setting process of the national AFL-CIO and AFL-CIO and Change to Win affiliates around the country. His decision will undoubtedly spark renewed statewide interest in raising the minimum wage in many state legislative sessions and state referenda campaigns throughout our nation.
Kennedy's decision will place minimum wage policy at the heart of Democratic Presidential campaigns as well. Ted Kennedy's support was a key factor in Mike Dukakis' getting the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1988, and John Kerry's getting the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2004. Kennedy's considerable national base of support is a major force in any camapign for a Democratic Presidential nomination.
Further, Kennedy's support of a $9.50 minimum wage for 2009 will embolden grassroots Democrats, and place Republicans on the defensive. The idea that full-time minimum wage workers with dependents should live in poverty is offensive to the vast majority of the American public, and is totally counterproductive to the goal of getting people off welfare rolls and onto payrolls.
I am proud to have led successful efforts to raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage 113% since 1987. We have stopped the living situation of Pennsylvania workers from deteriorating even more than it deteriorated during the period of Republican ascendancy from 1978 through 1986, but we have not regained ground lost during the Reagan-era surge.
Ted Kennedy's proposal appears to be the best one we have yet to help us regain lost ground. I look forward to adding it to the legislative menu of options to help speed the advancement of Pennsylvania workers.
Politics can be about important things. Getting people out of poverty is one of the most important things elected officials at any level can do. Kennedy's decision is a wonderful gift to those who--in words his late brother Robert liked to quote--"see things that never were and ask "Why not."
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WAIT!
Wait! What's that I hear? Is that... yes... it's the value of a U.S. Dollar decreasing!
$9.50 as a minimum wage is a JOKE and would destroy the present economy. As much as I would rather not see it, I do agree that we do need a national minimum wage increase in this country to at least $7.15. It's fairly low but is just enough to help everyone making less than that (which I was my entire life; $6.50 an hour, and I was happy!).
Social Welfare may be a bit more of a threat, if you ask me. It was originally started to help out people who had nothing during the Great Depression, and now we still have the Welfare system today. I'm all for helping people when they're down, but not forever! The welfare-to-work program was a step in the right direction, and we need to make sure we can make it work on a national level.
What, are we just going to allow our country to go down the tubes because some people don't want to contribute to society? It isn't even a matter of disability most of the time, it's just sheer laziness!
We need to stop outsourcing jobs to other countries! We need to stop allowing so many people to live in poverty and give them these jobs instead! We need to imrpove our education system so we can get more of these jobs back and compete again China! Hell, I know people my age, 20- 25, who are applying for SOCIAL SECURITY! Why? I know some who need it, and I know some who just want to sit around all day and do nothing. We need to stop this!
We need to re-evaluate the entire economic system in this country right now if we, as a nation, wish to see tomorrow. Right now, it looks like the wars and the debts to outside nations are going to destroy us.
Pennsylvania's Minimum Wage Is Already $7.15
Larry says he has never earned more than $6.50 an hour, and he supports a minimum wage increase to $7.15. Well, the state minimum wage is already $7.15 for employers of 11 or more people; it is currently $6.65 for employers of ten or less and will hit $7.15 for that category of workers on July 1, 2008.
So Larry, if you are doing any work for compensation while you are running for Mayor, your employer is underpaying you at least 15 cents an hour and maybe 65 cents an hour under Pennsylvania law.
A $9.50 minimum wage in 2009 will put the minimum wage back where it has traditionally been, about one-half of the average wage. It will also give a full-time year around minimum wage worker with two dependents the ability to support herself and her family without falling below the official U.S. Government poverty level.
Far from destroying the economy, it will pour extra money into the Social Security Trust Fund, into federal, state, and local taxes, and, most importantly into local businesses and repayment of credit card and mortgage debt.
It is the only anti poverty measure that IMMEDIATELY generates more governmental revenue than it costs, that IMMEDIATELY lowers welfare costs below what they would otherwise be, and that discourages the applications for Social Security Disability Income that Larry complains about.
Larry for Mayor!
So profound!
A higher minimum wage will destroy the economy? Really? How are corporate profits doing? (And yes, I know it could legitimately screw with some small biz people, but that can be mitigated.)
Your friends are collecting SOCIAL SECURITY, eh? Unless they have been severely injured, or they are kids and their mom or dad died, I sort of doubt that their application is going to be successful.
And, as for your repeating of right-wing, tired BS talking points- that people collecting public assistance are generally lazy most of the time- I promise you that you are on the wrong website.
:)
Is that Larry's argument for lowering the minimal age requirement for Mayor of Philadelphia? He's equating a higher minimum wage with welfare fraud.
Vote DEMOCRAT.
WWGjr
No, no, and... Well, no.
First and foremost, yes, Rep. Cohen, I know the state now has a minimum wage of $7.15 an hour. The amount was what I made before I stopped working in 2005. Of course, it seems you neglected to read the fact that I said I'm not working right now.
My main point, more than anything, is this:
INSTEAD of raising the Minimum Wage to what I consider a laughable amount, we need to look at our overall economic situation as a country! What, do you think throwing more money at this is going to help? It isn't entirely that Social Security itself is bad; In fact, I think it's a good thing.
More than anything, Welfare itself is more of a problem in this country, and we need to take steps toward Welfare reform. That is going to help save money in the long run. It also seems to main reasoning for raising the Minimum wage, outside of your point, Mr. Cohen (which is a good point, by the way), is also the fact that the cost of gas, and thus, the cost of living, is also rising.
I can understand wanting to raise it, and I would like to see the national level become $7.15, I would. I'm not against a hike. I AM against going that high, though.
We also need to look into how to reduce government spending waste and clean up our budgeting. Again, TRUE economic reform will help America more than simply raising wages. As I stated earlier, we need to start having more jobs at home to get people off these social-assistance programs and pump money back into our economic system.
That, and a raise of the minimum wage to $7.15, is what I want to see.
Also...
Even if this does pump more money into those services, Mark, since the price of everything would be going up, wouldn't we then see a rise in the overall cost of living over the year following this to compensate this? This is an honest question, by the way.
WOW!
Did you know that the price of consumer goods and homes have increased significantly over the past 5 years, but wages, for just about everyone, have remained stagnent.
How does that work into your argument?
I am working to elect Larry Farnese to the General Assembly. Unless otherwise expressly stated, this and every comment or blog I post on YPP and any action I take hereon is solely attributable to me and not Farnese or Friends of Farnese
Well...
It does show that:
1. The cost of oil, and gas, like I said, have effect the cost of living.
2. It shows that there is a need for the Minimum Wage to increase, like I said.
Yes, we need a rise, but NOT THAT MUCH. If inflation is bad now, what do you think will happen when the basic income is nearly doubled? If the war in Iraq and wars in other oil-rich countries doesn't work out, the price of oil will rise even more, leaving us paying more and more and more...
Your also neglecting my other perfectly valid points, such as government economic reform and ending outsourcing. I'm not against a raise of the minimum wage at in any way, shape, or form, but I am saying it needs to be done within reason.
Your "NOT THAT MUCH" is
Your "NOT THAT MUCH" is arbitrary.
I remember making $5.15 an hour as a camp counseler after high school. I thought it was great. But, I was 18 and living with my parents. I had no bills, no car, no transporation costs in order to get to work. I thought I was rich.
Then, I realized the janitor was making a dollar an hour more than me. He had 2 kids, rent and all those things I didn't.
Really fair, isn't it.
How do you prove that your "NOT THAT MUCH" is a correct statement?
I am working to elect Larry Farnese to the General Assembly. Unless otherwise expressly stated, this and every comment or blog I post on YPP and any action I take hereon is solely attributable to me and not Farnese or Friends of Farnese
Federal Minimum Wage Already Set To Rise to $7.25
Larry, the federal minimum wage is already set to rise to $7.25 on July 24, 2009, so we do not need more federal legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.15.
Raising the minimum wage does not significantly raise inflation in the modern world. There are a variety of reasons for this: the low percentage of people at any given time who get the minimum wage, the low relationship between income and spending in an era in which credit is easy to obtain, the low percentage of total employer spending that goes for wages, the low rate of maintaining people in low wage jobs when the minimum wage is not raised periodically, etc.
Today's Wall Street Journal--the Wall Street Journal of August 1, 2007--has a story on page A2 entitled "Why Inflation Fears Are Easing." It comes in a year in which many states, including Pennsylvania, have raised the minimum wage.
The story cites numerous facts demonstrating the decline of inflation. Growth in wages and salaries rost l.1% in the first three months of the year, and only 0.8% in the second three months of the year. The price index for personal consumption measures rose 0.1% in June and 1.9% compared to a year earlier. Consumer spending rose 0.1% in June before inflation, the lowest increase since September, 2006.
Meanwhile unemployment stayed at a low 4.5%, and the Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to 112.6, its highest reading since August, 2001 and the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index also rose.
All too much of economics is based on old, worn-out irrelevant statistical models that do not accurately reflect modern conditions. Minimum wage increases so far have not significantly increased the rate of inflation, and an increase to $9.50 an hour is highly unlikely to do so either.
What a $9.50 an hour minimum wage increase will do is get a lot of childrren and young wage earners out of poverty and enable many people to go to college who cannot afford it at the current time. It will quickly pay for itself in increased tax revenues, and enable individuals to get the financial base needed to realistically plan for long-term self-sufficiency and success.