WV DEMS EXEMPT STAFF FROM MINIMUM WAGE HIKE

Last week, the Democrat controlled House in West Virginia passed legislation raising the state's minimum wage to $8.75 an hour, $1.50 higher than the federal minimum wage. The action is part of a nation-wide effort by Democrats to make a minimum wage increase central to their platform for the midterm elections. The increase didn't effect all workers, though. Democrats exemptedmany of their own staff from the wage hike. Businesses may have to pay the higher wages, but the legislature will avoid many of the consequences. 

From the legislative text, the wage hike doesn't apply to:

(18) any person employed on a per diem basis by the Senate, the House of Delegates, or the Joint Committee on Government and Finance of the Legislature of West Virginia, other employees of the Senate or House of Delegates designated by the presiding officer thereof, and additional employees of the Joint Committee on Government and Finance designated by such joint committee;

In other words, the legislative leadership can designate employees whom won't qualify for the minimum wage increase. If only small businesses had such an option.

In fact, the Democrat's minimum wage hike carves out exemptions for 19 different classes of employees. The wage hike doesn't apply to handicapped workers, seniors, state fire fighters, movie ushers, newspaper deliverymen, summer camp workers, college students, etc. 

There are economic reasons for exempting these workers from a wage hike. That the Democrats would push these exemptions, though, is at least tacit acknowledgement that minimum wage increases have negative economic consequences. The Democrat legislators themselves recognize that they would have to reduce employment if they had to comply with the wage hike. 

These 19 exemptions betray the political aspect of the Democrat's push for a wage hike. Businesses should do what they say, not what they do. 

Via: Breitbart

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Extolling the Faults of Minimum Wage Makes Liberals More Dense

I have no idea how many columns I have written exposing the down sides to enacting and constantly increasing the minimum wage; but it has only created more density in the gray matter of Liberals, that is, if in fact, Liberals actually do have some gray matter.

A raise in minimum wage has proven to be a huge albatross around the necks of young workers trying to get a foothold on the ground floor of industry. Just when they are beginning to show signs of improved performance at the entry wage level of employment some dunderheaded politicians who are struggling to make an impression on some of the lesser-learned voters cry poor-mouth and pity for those “lowly paid hard working novice employees”. 

Actually this is a lot akin to the also dunderheaded politicians who cry and bleat about the global temperature’s fluctuations which cause excessive warming, but when these weather gyrations start to cause global cooling these same know-nothings change gears and start calling it “climate change”, comically and foolishly and accidentally getting the term more precise and in agreement with normally intelligent people but they still don’t really know what in the h-e-2-sticks they’re talking about.

But one thing rarely ever changes and that is these trolls of society are always politically Liberal and can’t wait to get started spending your taxpayer monies to worsen any harebrained scheme that strikes their feeble mental acuity regions.

Via: Canada Free Press

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[VIDEO] Obama Weekly Address : Americans Deserve A Minimum Wage Vote, Saturday February 22, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says hardworking Americans deserve a vote in Congress on a minimum raise hike.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says six states have already raised their minimum wage and more are considering it. Obama says he's taken action, too, by raising wages for federal contractors.

He says now it's up to Congress to finish the job by passing legislation raising the federal minimum to $10.10 per hour.

Obama is praising retailer The Gap for deciding to pay its employees higher wages. He says the move will benefit about 65,000 workers and help the economy.

Via: Huffington Post

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[VIDEO] White House Weekly Address: Calling on Congress to Raise the Minimum Wage, February 15, 2014

Via: You Tube

The Intentional Buffoonery of the Progressive Left

Goldilocks wrote: So how are beginning workers and poor people supposed to advance economically?Obama Wage Hike is Obamacare by 'Other Means'

Dear Comrade Goldi,

I can tell you one way to make it more difficult for “beginning workers and poor people” to advance. If you raise the minimum wage, they’ll be likely to be hurt worst, first.

People advance economically by gaining experience and thus bringing more value to an employer, not by passing capricious laws.

According to a BLS survey done in 2011, only 5 percent of workers who make hourly wages are at or below the federal minimum wage to begin with. Of the 1.7 million people who receive minimum wage salaries, 54 percent are aged 24 or below even as 80 percent of the workforce is 25 and above. So despite accounting for only 20 percent of the workforce, we see that minimum wages are more concentrated in those “beginning workers and poor people.”

When you are younger and lack skills you make less money.

Only a liberal would have difficulty understanding this obvious fact.

Powerful or Pitiful?

Curiously-- and damningly too-- 2.1 million of the 3.8 million at or below the minimum wage are accepting wages below the federal minimum.

Via: Townhall

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The Minimum Wage and the Rise of the Machines

After you heard President Obama’s call for a hike in the minimum wage, you probably wondered the same thing I did: Was Obama sent from the future by Skynet to prepare humanity for its ultimate dominion by robots?

But just in case the question didn’t occur to you, let me explain. On Tuesday, the day before Obama called for an increase in the minimum wage, the restaurant chain Applebee’s announced that it will install iPad-like tablets at every table. Chili’s already made this move earlier this year. 

With these consoles customers will be able to order their meals and pay their checks without dealing with a waiter or waitress. Both companies insist that they won’t be changing their staffing levels, but if you’ve read any science fiction, you know that’s what the masterminds of every robot takeover say: “We’re here to help. We’re not a threat.”

But the fact is, the tablets are a threat. In 2011, Annie Lowrey wrote about the burgeoning tablet-as-waiter business. She focused on a startup firm called E La Carte, which makes a table tablet called Presto. “Each console goes for $100 per month. If a restaurant serves meals eight hours a day, seven days a week, it works out to 42 cents per hour per table — making the Presto cheaper than even the very cheapest waiter. Moreover, no manager needs to train it, replace it if it quits, or offer it sick days. And it doesn’t forget to take off the cheese, walk off for 20 minutes, or accidentally offend with small talk, either.”

Via: NRO

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Obamacare’s effective minimum wage hike will cost jobs in 2015

Will President Barack Obama be discouraged if his plan to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour doesn’t pass the House? Probably not — Obamacare is already effectively raising the minimum wage to $10.30.

Obamacare’s employer mandate, which requires businesses to provide health coverage to full-time workers, raises the cost of employing a single person by $2.24 per hour. Job cuts and small business-downsizing can be expected, according to a significant new report by the Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk and Patrick Tyrrell.

This effective minimum wage hike is strictly enforced under Obamacare. Small businesses of at least 50 employees will have to pay hefty fines for each worker not insured — fines that essentially add up to the cost of providing all workers insurance.

Via: Daily Caller

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The Editor's Blog: Scolds Attack Local Business for Treating Employees Fairly

Earlier this week I noted that a bunch of busybodies with too much time on their hands decided to wage a social media campaign against a local drinking establishment that had dared to point out that a massive increase in the minimum wage for tipped employees would hurt their business, hurt their workers, and hurt their customers. But the scolding scolds were not deterred from their scolding. Indeed, they’ve now penned an open letter to demonstrate just how much they love the restaurant and care about the plight of the working man.

Their letter kicks off by noting their bona fides:

First off, we want to thank you for being an anchor to the Bloomingdale community. Quite simply, we love what you guys are doing. As residents of Bloomingdale, Truxton Circle, Shaw, Logan Circle and other nearby neighborhoods, we have enjoyed being regular patrons of your establishment. We’ve never had a poor experience. Your food has always been tasty, your staff always friendly, your drinks always stiff. We have no reason to doubt your assertion that you pay your staff well, and yours is an example for other establishments to emulate.

Hm, they seem like big fans. Odd that they’d go after a business for pointing out that a new regulation would be hugely detrimental. Perhaps they have some sort of problem with the way Boundary Stone treats its staff?

We understand your employees are well taken care of.

Oh, guess not. Then what’s their beef?

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case at all establishments.

So … they are excoriating a business they love because other businesses are shady? That makes a ton of sense, boyos.

Via: WFB

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Dems Propose Outrageous Minimum Wage Hike

Though it sounds good in theory, many conservatives view minimum wage laws as an impediment to the free market system. Nevertheless, Congress continues to demand that employers pay unskilled workers at an increasingly high rate.

Since 2007, the national minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour. A group of Democrat legislators recently advanced plans to address the issue, including a proposal by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin that would raise the hourly rate by almost 40 percent to a staggering $10.10.

Furthermore, wages would be directly influenced by the rate of inflation under Harkin’s proposal.

Not only would this cut deeply into the already thin profit margins of small businesses; it would force companies to make cutbacks and curtail hiring in many cases.

The Democrat senators met Thursday to kick around a few ideas, emerging from the conference with plenty of reasons to further besiege the private sector.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin called a rate spike “long overdue” as fellow senators touted the fact Barack Obama is on board with the initiative.

Via: The Western Center for Journalism

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A $15 Minimum Wage

Union organizers are counting on it big time in Washington state.

A small suburban Washington city of 27,000 has recently taken center stage in the national debate over living wages. Voters in the City of SeaTac will soon decide on Proposition 1, a ballot initiative to establish perhaps the most draconian employment standards in the nation, complete with a $15 minimum wage requirement.

Labor leaders are thrilled, and it’s not hard to see why: Labor support of Prop 1 appears to be part of a growing trend to promote union organizing through local ballot initiatives.

Though small in terms of geography and population, the City of SeaTac is economically significant because it hosts Sea-Tac International Airport and surrounding travel and hospitality businesses.

Prop 1’s roots go back to 2005, when Alaska Airlines replacedunionized baggage handlers with non-union contractors. Six years later, Unite Here Local 8, the hospitality workers union, spent historic amounts of money to successfully finance three city council elections.

Local unions are now marching in lockstep behind Prop 1. So far, labor unions have provided 95 percent of the campaign resources supporting the initiative — over $1.2 million, according to the statePublic Disclosure Commission. While the labor-backed campaign has decried the influence of “deep-pocketed greedy big corporations,” unions have outspent businesses 2-1, making Big Labor the biggest special interest in SeaTac.

Via: American Spectator

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Maher Tears Into GOP on Minimum Wage: Paying People ‘Unfortunate Expense of Running a Business’

Bill Maher ended his show Friday night going after Republican opposition to the minimum wage, calling them out for opposing something that would make people less dependent on government handouts. He targeted McDonalds in particular, saying “until Ronald McDonald starts paying his employees a living wage, he has to wipe that fucking smile off his face.”

On the charge minimum wages cut into profits, Maher mockingly explained, “Paying workers is one of those unfortunate expenses of running a business, like taxes or making a product.”

He asked, “When did the American dream become a pathway to indentured servitude?” and made the argument that the GOP can have a “smaller government with less handouts” or a low minimum wage, but they can’t have both.

And Maher doesn’t even eat fast food anyway. He said, “If I want to talk into the face of some red-nosed clown, I’ll debate John Bohener.”

Watch the video below, via HBO:

Via: Mediaite.com

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Minimum Wage Hike a Blow to Young Job Seekers

Governor Brown has indicated he will sign a two-dollar increase in the minimum wage, which he brokered in the Legislature. This is unfortunate news for young and unskilled workers, who will be hardest hit by the mandated 25% hike over the next two years. (In 2012, the California minimum wage was $8.00/hour, compared with the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour.)

According to the US Department of Labor, minimum wage workers tend to be young. Although workers under age 25 represented only about one-fifth of hourly paid workers, they made up about half of those paid the federal minimum wage or less. Among employed teenagers paid by the hour, about 21 percent earned the minimum wage or less, compared with about 3 percent of workers age 25 and over.

Our youngest residents are also those who are finding it most difficult to find work, even as the economy is in recovery. Young adults face an unemployment rate north of 15 percent, while teenage unemployment is nearly 35 percent.

According to UC Irvine economist David Neumark, we can expect an increase in the minimum wage to be followed by a decrease in youth employment, as much as a 3.75% drop in employment as a result of this legislation. This mandated wage hike will make a terrible situation even worse.

Noted economist Robert Samuelson has written:

Companies that think themselves condemned to losses or meager profits won’t expand. Not surprisingly, a study by two economists at Texas A&M finds that the minimum wage’s biggest adverse effects are on future job growth, not current employment. To this defect must be added another: An excessively high minimum will attract more skilled workers, denying the less skilled an entry point to work and on-the-job training.

Last year, California public high schools graduated fewer than 79% of the 12^th grade cohort that began in the 9^th grade. The graduation rate for Hispanic and African American students was even worse: 73.5% and 65.9%, respectively.

Via: California Political Review

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What’s Next For Business In California?

It’s too early to assess all the bills of concern or hope for the business community given the last minute flurry of action as the legislature closed down for the year.

With bills whipping through the legislature in the closing day of session, small businesses are always on edge but there were minuses and some pluses for the business community.

The most high profile measure of concern to small business was the bill to raise the minimum wage. It’s out of the legislature and endorsed by the governor. John Kabateck, executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business, thoroughly examined the position of small business on this bill in yesterday’s Fox & Hounds while beseeching the governor to veto it. Sorry, John, that’s not going to happen.

While the emphasis here is the concern the minimum wage bill will have on small businesses’ economic calculations as many struggle to sustain their enterprises, there is also a direct affect on entry level workers who may miss an opportunity to get into the work force or see their hours cut back.

On the plus side for small business, AB 227 flew through the legislature. The measure is intended to protect small businesses by reforming potential minor Proposition 65 violations against predatory lawsuits.

The 1986 environmental law intended to protect consumers from exposure to toxic chemicals by requiring advance warnings has often been abused. Lawsuits have been filed against small businesses if a posted sign is the wrong size or the list of products in question at a business establishment is not all-inclusive.

AB 227 takes a sensible approach allowing business owners a short period to fix any defects before the business is subject to legal action.

While more time is needed to assess the influence of this legislative session on business and small business in particular, it must be noted the disappointment in not getting real CEQA reform out of the legislature. Yes, Sen. Steinberg got his CEQA exemption for a Sacramento arena project but statewide CEQA reform is an important issue to improve the state’s economy. The governor was behind substantial reform and much time was spent over the last few months urging the legislature to act in a responsible way.

Via California Political Review

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DC MAYOR VETOES WAGE BILL AFFECTING WAL-MART

Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed a bill Thursday that would force Wal-Mart and other large retailers to pay their employees at least $12.50 an hour, calling it a "job killer" that would not advance the goal of a living wage for District of Columbia workers.

The bill put Washington at the center of a national debate on how far cities should go in trying to raise pay for low-wage workers _ and whether larger companies should be required to pay more. Supporters _ including unions, clergy and other labor advocates _ said Wal-Mart could afford the higher wages, while opponents said the bill unfairly singled out certain businesses and would have a chilling effect on economic development.

Wal-Mart fought the legislation vigorously, pledging not to build three of the six stores it has planned for the nation's capital if the bill became law. But Gray, a Democrat, said the bill would have a much larger impact than many people realized.

"The bill is a job-killer, because nearly every large retailer now considering opening a store in the district has indicated they would not come here or expand here if this bill becomes law," Gray said, citing Target, Home Depot, Wegmans and others.

The D.C. Council approved the bill in July on an 8-5 vote, one short of a veto-proof majority. It will consider overriding the veto on Tuesday.

Councilmember Vincent Orange, a lead sponsor of the bill, said Wal-Mart's threats had prevented the mayor from standing up for the working poor.

"Wal-Mart put a gun to the mayor's head, and the mayor capitulated," said Orange, a Democrat. "Wal-Mart and the mayor should be ashamed that they're going to provide poverty wages to people who get up every day and go to work."

Via: Breitbart

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Rousing workers to seek higher wages

The union organizer found Naquasia LeGrand on her lunch break, sipping coffee and wearing a hat emblazoned with the logo of her employer, KFC.

She was about to return to boxing coleslaw and chicken tenders when he introduced himself and asked how she was doing, how she was surviving on $7.25 an hour, the minimum wage. The organizer, Ben Zucker, wanted to know whether she might want to join a group of workers trying to get higher pay.

It wasn't something she'd thought much about. The job was a detour between high school and that computer degree she was hoping to get someday. A way to help support her aunt, grandmother and cousin, who lived with her in a cramped apartment in one of the most expensive cities in the country.

She didn't think of herself as someone who needed to join a union or someone who would be a fast-food worker for long.

Still, the two exchanged numbers in front of the restaurant, across the street from tire shops, a bodega and a Latino church. Without knowing it, LeGrand had begun a process that would change her from an apolitical fast-food worker to one of the most vocal members of a growing labor movement.

LeGrand, 22, is the kind of convert unions desperately need as they try to reverse a decades-long decline in membership. The new front in that effort is fast-food restaurants, and union leaders, although they are optimistic, know that unionizing these workers won't happen overnight.

Via: LA Times

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Obama's GDP Magic

Magic is the art of illusion.  The same can be said of the Obama administration's recently revised second-quarter GDP figures.  There's a lot less there than meets the eye.

On Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis issued a report that revised second-quarter GDP numbers up from 1.7% to a more robust 2.5%.  Not exactly a colossal number, but respectable -- that is, until you look up the magician's sleeve.

In reality, much of the upward revision resulted from improving balance of trade numbers, which are factored into GDP.  It wasn't that more Americans were working, producing more, or earning more -- it was that they were importing less and exporting more.  As a result, second-quarter GDP shot upward, making it look like the economy has turned around.  It has not.

The BEA report itself made it clear that the Obama economy continues to limp along.  Key elements of GDP related to wage growth remain anemic, including real personal consumption expenditures, nondurable goods, and spending on services.  All of these declined in the second quarter.

No wonder personal consumption declined.  More than 80% of jobs created year to date are part-time, low-paying jobs.  No wonder fast-food workers are striking.  Not that striking will do them much good -- they should be marching on the White House.

An unprecedented number of Americans are still laboring at minimum wage, and in most cases part-time, and the reason is Obama's hostility toward business.  Increased regulation, higher taxes on small business owners, and ObamaCare have stalled economic growth in the U.S.  Given the number of Americans who are still looking for employment, the idea of $15 an hour for fry cooks is laughable.  A vote for Obama was a vote for $7.25 an hour.  Get used to it.   

Via: American Thinker

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Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.): Raising Fast-Food Industry Wages to $15/Hr. Would Lead to 'Millions of Jobs Created'

HOW DOES LAYING OFF PEOPLE CREATE JOBS???

Illinois Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky added her ignorant voice to the cacophony of economic confusion Thursday on the low-rated MSNBC show hosted by Chris Hayes. If a Republican congressperson made a statement as breathtakingly ignorant as the one you're about to see, it would get wider media play. Schakowsky's "brilliant" suggestion almost certainly won't.

Why has nobody thought of this fantastic idea? Here it is as "articulated" by Schakowsky in response to a question from Hayes (HT Bridget Johnson at PJ Tatler; bolds are mine; click on the "transcript" tab at the link to see the full text of the discussion; the original transcript has no caps and is missing some punctuation, but yours truly has added them where needed):

HAYES: What do you say to the people watching this and saying, "look, this is between the employees of Mcdonald's and their employer? This is a private market encounter that happens between people seeking work and those who are looking to hire folks, and it's not really any of your business, respectfully, Congresswoman, what they pay their workers"?

SCHAKOWSKY: Look, this is an entire industry that is paying poverty wages in this country, and thousands and tens of thousands, maybe millions of people who simply can't make it on those kinds of wages. And i think that forming a union, getting $15 an hour, which makes a modest income of about $31,000 a year, if you get to work full time, is something that is a proper demand. And actually these workers are acting -- are going to the employers, are going to these companies. I'm standing with them because i think we need it for our economy. If they got paid more, we're going to see millions of jobs created because there are going to be consumers in the marketplace.

On that basis, I'm going to support an across-the-board minimum wage increase to $25 per hour. Everyone with a full-time job deserves $50K. (/sarc)

Given that the workers granted $15 or $25 per hour will at best be marginally more productive — the only argument I see is that some will be more focused on their work if they're under less financial stress, which may be true in some instances but won't be in many others — what Schakowsky is essentially arguing for is an employer-sponsored "stimulus" program. The trouble is that arbitrarily and hugely increasing wages across the board to way above market value, which is what Schakowsky really wants to do, will lead to inflation which will gobble up a significant portion of the just-obtained pay increase. It will also cause McDonald's and other employers to take a harder look at automating more of the processes, causing them to need fewer employees.

I'm pretty sure that the period in the parenthetical which usually follows the congresswoman's name is a typo. She would more correctly be described as "(D-Ill)."

SEN. BOXER: RAISE MINIMUM WAGE TO $10 AN HOUR

On Monday, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said she wants the federal minimum wage raised to $10 an hour. The current minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. 

“We need to raise the minimum wage. That will make a huge difference. …People are struggling,” she said to Ed Schultz on The Ed Show, according to Politico. 

 “The difference between the very wealthy and the working poor has grown. We raise that minimum wage and we move forward with the vision of this president that we have, which is everyone pays their fair share" of taxes.

Boxer spoke about "fairness" and added, “I’ve spoken to people in California who earn a lot who were very anxious to help the country and their state. We’ve proven the point, you know, a rising tide lifts all boats.”

Via: Breitbart

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