Compare And Contrast
By Mitch Berg
Governor Messinger Dayton signed an increase in the state’s minimum wage today.
What Governor Messinger Dayton Said: “People who work hard should be paid enough to achieve the American Dream”.
What Governor Messinger Dayton Actually Meant: “I have now found a way to force the private sector to buy votes for the DFL”.
Personal note: One of my kids is working for more than the current minimum wage, but less than the new one. I hope it’s the children of the sitting DFL legislators who lose their jobs when the wage rises, and not my kid.
But I’m going to guess there’s not much chance of that.
April 14th, 2014 at 4:48 pm
Most wages have been stagnant for far too long; the invisible hand of the free market does not work.
The wages at the top have, on the other hand, far exceeded any justification for merit pay.
This is fantastic for the economy; the doom and gloom predicted by the right consistently does not happen with raising the minimum wage.
Too bad it was not increased even more – it should have been.
And if that was your female child then doubly a good thing, as women suffer from being chronically underpaid more than men.
But of course, conservatives believe things that are not true – like the myth of the waiters who earn $100,000 a year, LOL. Remember that hilarious gaffe by Emmer? (I can’t wait to see what new ludicrous gaffes and goofs he makes in his CD6 run; SO entertaining.)
This should mean that you will need to help her less — other than helping her to get health insurance by staying on your policy.
I predict that NEITHER la Belle Bun NOR Dayton will lose their jobs, LOL.
Unlike all those POOR people in Wisconsin who see their jobs disappearing left and right under the terror of a Republican legislature and a corrupt Republican governor, Minnesota is doing very well in job growth, thank you very much.
http://www.iseek.org/news/fw/fw6835FutureWork.html
Comparative unemployment rates, from the most recent figures:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm
MN seasonally adjusted = 4.8
WI seasonally adjusted = 6.1 — although that does not reflect their most recent HUGE loss of jobs. WE don’t have that happening here in MN.
Look where WI was roughly a year ago:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/wisconsin-private-sector-job-creation-ranking-declines-799bcsa-200435291.html
Minnesota ranks 5th in Gallup Job Creation index
http://mn.gov/governor/blog/the-office-of-the-governor-blog-entry-detail.jsp?id=102-115063
Nobody should trust conservative economic policies; they are epic failures. You may want to rethink that compare and contrast challenge. Your politics don’t do well.
April 14th, 2014 at 9:38 pm
If what you write is true, Dog Gone, why would anyone oppose raising the minimum wage?
The state of MN can raise the minimum wage as high as it wants. It is a political matter, it will be interesting to see how it works out. But the increased costs to business will have to come from somewhere. It certainly will not come from the “rich”.
“Rich” seems to mean something very differently than it has historically. Through most of human history it has meant that you did not work for a living. These days it seems to mean that you have to work, but you are paid better than most people.
April 14th, 2014 at 10:49 pm
PM
every thing she “knows she learned before 1986, do you really think you can reason with this dolt?
April 15th, 2014 at 12:02 am
DG-“The gloom and doom predicted by the right consistently does not happen with raising the minimum wage.” I see. But the gloom and doom predicted by the right from your first two paragraphs (“wages have been stagnant for far too long”) does happen consistently under Obama economic policies (backed up by your words, no less!) Thanks for helping us make our point. “Women suffer from being chronically underpaid more than men.” Confusing-Are you saying women make less than men or that they “suffer” more than men? Complete BS if it’s the former, which you already know, and if it’s the latter, data, please. But thanks for your reasoned, detailed, and well thought-out arguments and especially for the absence of over-generalized statements.
April 15th, 2014 at 7:56 am
I’m home sick today or I’d do it myself, but can some please drive through McDonalds and take a photo of the menu board? I want to see if the price of fast food goes up in the wake of higher wages.
April 15th, 2014 at 9:38 am
And never explained is why anyone ever is paid more than the minimum. Since business owners are greedy SoBs you know. Penigma’s Chihuahua? You have an economic theory or fact check for that?
April 15th, 2014 at 10:00 am
OK, Minnesota hasn’t been doing bad prior to a hike in the minimum wage, hence raising the minimum wage is a good idea? I think Doggone invented a new logical fallacy; “pre hoc, ergo propter hoc”, before it, therefore because of it.
And yes, Wisconsin–having had Democratic governors in the span when Minnesota had responsible, Republican governors–is still feeling the pain of its former mismanagement. However, that is not an argument for making Minnesota more like what Wisconsin used to be.
Rather, it’s an argument that incentives matter, which is why the unemployment rate is sky-high where it costs a lot to employ people. For example, Minneapolis had, as last I heard, a 32% unemployment rate among teens. Doggone forgets that the true minimum wage in any society is zero.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:27 am
There are robotic companies chomping at the bit to automate the burger-making process. They claim they can serve 400 burgers/hr with just a kiosk. Of course, the Left will probably petition for competitive wages for the machines – then, unionize them.
April 15th, 2014 at 10:29 am
If business owners were greedy SOBs and women are paid less, then why hire any men at all? Women would make the payroll lower and the fat cats fatter!
April 15th, 2014 at 10:49 am
DG; UVB
April 15th, 2014 at 11:08 am
DG – you’d be a much better “fact checker” if you actually checked…well, facts. Incuding the ones that are inconvenient to your premise.
Most wages have been stagnant for far too long; the invisible hand of the free market does not work.
No, the invisible hand IS working. It’s just giving us bad news:
April 15th, 2014 at 11:09 am
The wages at the top have, on the other hand, far exceeded any justification for merit pay.
OK. So what? It’s irrelevant to any discussion of MN’s minimum wage.
Unless you want to increase the minimun wage to $200K a year.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:17 am
This is fantastic for the economy; the doom and gloom predicted by the right consistently does not happen with raising the minimum wage.
“Doom and Gloom” is a bit of a strawman. But it HAS hampered job growth at low income levels.
Example (not that I think DG cares about facts, but to show the vacuity of her premise): While kids used to be able to get “burger flipper” jobs for $5.25 an hour, when the minimum wage crept up toward $7, it became cheaper for fast food chains to pre-cook their patties at the factory, reheat them in microwaves, and eliminate the entire “burger flipper” classification.
And this has repeated in many other job classifications, as labor got more expensive but technology got cheaper.
But burger flippers have no voice in the media, so their “doom and gloom” didn’t really cross anyone’s radar. Neither will the stories of anyone else whose job disappears as a result of this increase.
Because it’s not about “lifting individuals out of poverty” – raising the minimum wage does almost none of that. It’s about buying votes.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:19 am
And if that was your female child then doubly a good thing, as women suffer from being chronically underpaid more than men.
Well, no – you missed the point. The child in question is paid the same as others; the wage is, let’s say, $8.50; higher than the old minimum, lower than the new one. Will the job survive?
We don’t know.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:23 am
But of course, conservatives believe things that are not true – like the myth of the waiters who earn $100,000 a year, LOL.
DG, I don’t suspect you’ve ever waited a table. But the “waiter” thing actually reinforces my point and undercuts yours.
Lots of waitstaff make terrible money. If you’re working at a truck stop in Kandiyohi County, you might do well to get into five digits. But if you develop your skills and get hired at better establishments, there IS a lot of money out there. At one mid-scale tavern I frequent, in 2010, three servers made six figures. And there are waiters at high-end steakhouses in Minneapolis that take home over $150,000.
Not because the government mandates it, but because they developed their skills and found a place with a demand for their level of talent.
And that supports my point; hard work and developing marketable skills, not government mandate, is the road out of poverty.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:28 am
Unlike all those POOR people in Wisconsin who see their jobs disappearing left and right under the terror of a Republican legislature and a corrupt Republican governor, Minnesota is doing very well in job growth, thank you very much.
And again, you seek out the “facts” only as far as they reinforce your narrative.
Wisconsin is having a slower recovery because their economy was heavily focused on manufacturing. Perhaps you’ve heard; manufacturing is pretty slow these days. And the state is recovering from decades of Democrat mismanagement.
Meanwhile, Minnesota is largely focused on service businesses, especially financial *(banks, etc) and health-related (clinics, insurance, medical devices) – all of which are booming (thanks in part to a flood of federal subsidy money). That is a huge benefit to existing Fortune 500s in those industries – but MN is dead last in new business creation.
So, again, your narrative fails you.
April 15th, 2014 at 11:34 am
Dog Gone is like a little slice of Democratic Underground that comes to you.
When did she experience her TBI?
April 15th, 2014 at 12:04 pm
“Because it’s not about “lifting individuals out of poverty” – raising the minimum wage does almost none of that. It’s about buying votes.”
Raising the minimum wage is also a stealth tax increase (if you pay more FICA that’s an increase) levied entirely on the low income / low skilled because people like DG believe the poor should pay “their fair share”.
April 15th, 2014 at 12:58 pm
I have several friends that own restaurant/bar businesses and what they are concerned of is that they’ll need to substantially raise the cost to their customers on everything they serve in order to cover the increase in minimum wage. They and friends I know that work for them are terrified what the increase in cost will do to the amount of tips they make (that’s where there real income comes from). They believe that the amount of tips as a percentage will go down and not come back until everyone’s income also rises, pretty tough for those on fixed incomes. Welcome to the government mandated inflationary spiral.
April 15th, 2014 at 1:26 pm
I know my wife and I went out to eat Saturday night. I left the guy a $7 tip on a $31 tab. If he waited one more table like me (and I know he did at least 3 tables if not more), then the whole minimum wage argument is irrelevant to him. The hour we were there, he probably made at least $20/hr if not more.
In this day and age, and even in this down economy, if a server is making less than minimum wage TOTAL after more than a year, then I’m pretty sure their problem is not the economy, not government, and not evil rich fat cat restaurant owners. I’m pretty sure their problem is THEMSELF.
April 15th, 2014 at 2:38 pm
I’m pretty sure their problem is THEMSELF
Well, I’m nothing if not fair – and working in bars, I knew a zillion waitstaff and barkeeps.
Sometimes it’s the venue. Clienteles at some places are just lousy tippers. People outstate tend not to tip as well. If you’re a waiter in Erskine, MN, you can work as hard as you want, but you’re not going to get a job at a high-end steakhouse like a Ruth’s or a Manny’s, short of driving a long way. Which is true in many fields; if you want to be a screenwriter, you don’t move to Omaha, you move to LA (and make sure you’re good enough). If you want to make six figures as a waiter, go where six-figure waiter gigs are (and make sure you’re good enough).
April 15th, 2014 at 7:06 pm
Bill C; and I’m betting that anything that any cash tips that he received during his shift, did not get declared on his income taxes.
In the 38 years that I’ve know him, my father in law, an 87 year old WWII vet, former small business owner and Obama supporting Democrat, has never tipped any server more than 10%. Even the servers that regularly served him, only received 10%. By his logic, they got raises from the increases in the menu prices. I haven’t had a chance to ask him how he would handle paying his employees more than minimum wage, but when he owned his business, most of his employees fit into that category.
I also find it real funny that no one pointed out to Governor Babbler that both his and Messinger’s families, got rich and funded their trust funds by screwing minimum wage workers. Several of my friends from high school worked for the Dayton and later Target stores and were never allowed to work more than 30 hours in a week.
April 15th, 2014 at 7:10 pm
What’s frustrating is how the Labor theory of value continues to infect Liberal thinking without them realizing it’s antithetical to Pay Equity. Dog Gone and her breed have trouble believing two impossible things before breakfast – they believe them simultaneously!
PS – Dog Gone, I was a Certified Rater in the Edward N. Hay and Associates Chart-Guide Profile Method of Job Analysis, back when the State of Minnesota implemented Pay Equity. Throw down on me on this issue. Please.
April 16th, 2014 at 6:15 am
JD; I know that you won’t be holding your breath waiting for the little piss ant to respond.