How Can We Get Higher Wages?

The Politicians in Washington Don’t Care About This Issue

The Democrats and the Republicans mostly get their money from the same people, and none of those hedge-fund managers or corporate lobbyists care about raising the minimum wage.

When he was running for the presidency in 2007, Barack Obama promised to raise the minimum wage to $9.50.  Nothing happened.  Then, last January, he returned to the issue and this time he promised to raise the minimum wage to $9.00, going backwards rather than forwards after six years.

When the Wall Street casino collapsed in 2008, the politicians immediately used many TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS in cash and taxpayer loan guarantees to bail out all the big banks. But raising the wages of ordinary working Americans isn’t something they care about.

Without massive public pressure, the politicians in Washington will argue about the issue, make speeches, and do nothing.

The Politicians in California Don’t Care About This Issue

In Sacramento, the Democrats completely control the State Legislature and hold the governorship, but when they finally passed a minimum wage bill, it wasn’t high enough.

The cost of living in California is about 30% higher than the national average, among the highest in America.  The California minimum wage is set to rise to $10.00 in 2016, which would put it about where the national minimum wage is today in real terms, and far below the minimum wage in Mississippi.  Voting to raise the 2016 California minimum wage to a figure far below the current minimum wage in Mississippi isn’t much of an achievement by the Democrats in Sacramento.

Because the California minimum wage is so low, California has the highest real poverty rate of any state in America.  Raising the California minimum wage to $12.00 would be a step towards solving this problem, finally putting our state minimum wage above the one in Mississippi.

The Voters of California Can Lead the Country

One-eighth of all Americans live in California and California is the only large state in which the voters themselves can place a $12.00 per hour minimum wage measure on the November 2014 ballot.

Our Higher Wages for California Workers initiative has been filed and would raise the state minimum wage to $12.00.  We will begin gathering signatures in late January.

If enough voters sign our petitions and vote for the initiative on election day, every worker in California will receive wages of at least $12.00 per hour and American taxpayers will save many billions of dollars in reduced social welfare spending.

Many millions  of California workers would get a big wage increase and many millions of California taxpayers would benefit as government social welfare spending were reduced.  If enough of these Californians sign our petitions and vote for our initiative, this will happen.

The Politicians in Washington Would Get the Message

If voters in California and all around the country make it very clear that they want wages increased and social welfare spending cut, the Democrats and Republicans in Washington will get the message and pass a $12.00 per hour federal minimum wage, solving the problem for everyone else in the country.

Over 42% of all wage-workers in America would get a raise.  Almost 50% of black, 55% of Hispanic, and 41% of white Southerner wage-earners would see their incomes rise.  The average gain would be about $5,000 per year.  Add in the close friends and relatives of all these workers, and the total is probably a large majority of the entire American electorate.

Normally, the politicians only listen to the lobbyists.  But if a large majority of all the voters tell them to do something, they’ll probably pay attention.

So support our California initiative and tell the politicians you want them to pass something similar in Washington.

Why Do We Need Higher Wages?