Minimum Wage Wars

Shortly after Senate Republicans blocked a plan last week to hike the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour, our Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill of Kirkwood fired off an email to the news media:

“Partisan politics have once again gotten in the way of strengthening our economy. Instead of lifting millions of Americans out of poverty and boosting the economy, my Republican colleagues have chosen to sit on the sidelines,” McCaskill declared.

“It’s past time to stop the bickering, deal with this important issue, and give the American people the raise they deserve.”

The logic of raising the minimum wage is a no-brainer. Especially when one considers that when inflation is factored in over the past 20 years, this hike is not an increase at all over that period — it’s a parity issue.

The hike is also a no-brainer for the majority of Americans, with 62 percent in support of the hike, while 26 percent are opposed.

Unz says if you want Republicans to get on board with the hike, you have to make it a taxpayer issue. For too long, he says, taxpayers have been subsidizing big businesses by paying for food stamps and social services for their underpaid workers.

So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Tea Party faithful! Isn’t it about time to get millions of poor working stiffs off the dole and to give them a living wage? And lets give struggling, middle-class taxpayers a break in the process. The GOP’s Unz has it right!