A couple of days ago I noted that Hillary Clinton was prepared to make the relatively trivial issue of paid leave the centerpiece of her campaign, that being yet another example of the Democrats propensity to try to bunt their way on base. To extend the analogy (or is it metaphor?), if you know the ump is going to call you out anyway, you might as well swing for the fences.
So, in the words of St. Ronald, “[here] they go again”:
WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress are uniting around a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour.
Within the next several days, Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate committee that deals with labor issues, plans to introduce a bill to increase the minimum wage, in steps, from its current level of $7.25 to $12 by 2020.
The measure has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled Congress in the near future, but it is the latest indication of Democrats’ rising ambitions for lifting the wage floor, an issue with considerable popular support in an era of increasing income inequality. The party is determined to elevate the issue in next year’s congressional and presidential elections.
So, with full knowledge that the ump will call them out, the Democrats go for the bunt. It is widely acknowledged that a $15.00 per hour minimum wage would be equivalent to the minimum wage of the late 60s, when you could actually live on the minimum wage. Why, pray tell, are the Democrats pushing for a minimum wage that is still woefully inadequate? If you’re looking for political advantage, push for what people ought to get, not what you might get by way of compromise if you were dealing with rational people, which you are not in any event. The Republicans throw red meat at their base; the Democrats throw cold turkey.
Post a Comment