Susan here. This is another bullshit article about Obama being a “lefty socialist”:
http://nypost.com/2014/02/15/barack-obama-makes-up-his-own-rules/
If Obama had intended to redistribute wealth to from the “haves” to the “have-nots”, then he would have done so on January 20, 2009. Executive orders are nothing new; past presidents have used them.
Frankly, Obama has had five years to deal with the problem of inequality, and hasn’t done so. He said he will raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour. We’re still waiting for that “stroke of his almighty executive pen”.
And waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting . . . . . .
10 Comments.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/24708598/obama-signs-federal-minimum-wage-executive-order
Although it doesn’t take effect until September 2015, that executive pen raised the minimum wage for federal contract workers, in the hopes that other employers will follow suit.
Oh, we know. And it does so little as to be scarcely more than symbolic. As a capitalist, I still have to admit that the minimum wage should have retained its buying power. It is not asking for a handout or even a raise. Workers just want back what inflation has taken.
Adjusted for inflation, minimum wage should be around $22 an hour. Or so I’ve read. Maybe at this website.
Actually, according to the site below, it would be $25 per hour:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/13/raising-the-minimum-wage-old-shibboleths-new-evidence/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
@derlehrer
So it should be $25 an hour adjusted for inflation? Then $10 an hour isn’t really too much to ask for for every worker, instead of a token measure of govt employees. Still waiting, Obama.
It’s not that the rich are playing by different rules, it is that most people are unaware of the rules. Fiat currency systems are destructive to ordinary workers and savers. Their meager means are slowly robbed with little notice or understanding. It seems pretty obvious to me that if one is saving cash, he is losing money. Most people I’ve explained this to cannot compute. They are so programmed to save and focus on dollar amounts. Each dollar won’t go as far as it used to when real inflation is at least 5%. That’s the difference in considering value over nominal figures.
Also, it would seem that many managers and pundits (admittedly not really capitalists in the investor or entrepreneur sense) don’t understand requests for minimum wage increases are valid. Do they really not know how infrequent raises have been? How many years do they think this can be neglected? Inflation doesn’t wait for years…In 2006, the Green gubernatorial candidate for IL wanted to raise the minimum wage to $11 I think. It was attacked as unreasonable even though it was the living wage then. Same as $15 is assaulted today. I know some people who think they’re doing really well $15-$25/hr. Sad really. Still, I wonder about corporations’ ability to pass on these wage costs to consumers. Will this spur inflation to greater heights? Will the higher wages really mean anything? It seems that at least some union activity has hurt American jobs as in Detroit. In the era of globalization, wages cannot stay as high as they historically were.
@ Susan Stark –
“Then $10 an hour isn’t really too much to ask for for every worker, instead of a token measure of govt employees. Still waiting, Obama.”
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I agree, absolutely. However, I’m not certain if an executive order can force private employers to raise wages; I’m not an attorney, nor a constitutional scholar, but it appears to me that such is not within his power.
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On the other hand, I’m still waiting for the promised closure of Guantanamo. I’m not a big fan of Obama’s.
🙂
And once again, a “progressive” castigates a Democrat for not delivering the impossible, immediately; instead of celebrating and thanking him for doing what he could, when he could.
“Progressives” have no concern with how realistic what they want is- they just know that the best way to get what they want is to not support Democrats, thereby putting Republicans in charge. And then they wonder and whine why Democrats no longer listen to them, when the answer is obvious- look in the mirror.
So, $25 an hour. Kind of depressing to realize that means most people are not earning a “living” wage.
@ alex_the_tired –
I spent about six years in Germany during the 1970’s. Although I was earning wages in Deutschemarks and converting them to U.S. dollars when I needed, I was able to remember U.S. prices from the time I left. The price for eggs, the price for bread, etc. When I brought my family back, I read all the “official” reports about how wages had kept pace with inflation and so forth. What a bunch of damnable lies!!! Those prices had doubled or trebled, and wages had nowhere near kept up. U.S. citizens didn’t have the foggiest notion that they were being told lies. I did, but was powerless to do anything about it.
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Here we go again….