Democrats Turn to Minimum Wage as 2014 Strategy

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NY Times

By JONATHAN MARTIN and MICHAEL D. SHEAR

WASHINGTON — Democratic Party leaders, bruised by months of attacks on the new health care program, have found an issue they believe can lift their fortunes both locally and nationally in 2014: an increase in the minimum wage.

The effort to take advantage of growing populism among voters in both parties is being coordinated by officials from the White House, labor unions and liberal advocacy groups.

In a series of strategy meetings and conference calls among them in recent weeks, they have focused on two levels: an effort to raise the federal minimum wage, which will be pushed by President Obama and congressional leaders, and a campaign to place state-level minimum wage proposals on the ballot in states with hotly contested congressional races.

With polls showing widespread support for an increase in the $7.25-per-hour federal minimum wage among both Republican and Democratic voters, top Democrats see not only a wedge issue that they hope will place Republican candidates in a difficult position, but also a tool with which to enlarge the electorate in a nonpresidential election, when turnout among minorities and youths typically drops off.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/us/politics/democrats-turn-to-minimum-wage-as-2014-strategy.html?partner=EXCITE&ei=5043

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Demonstrators outside a Wendy’s restaurant in New York this month called for a higher minimum wage for fast-food workers.

[Laelth]

1. Good. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[yeoman6987]

30. Minimum Wage

I still don't know after all these years, nobody thought to attach the minimum wage to the annual COLA that Seniors for Social Security get. Seems like the perfect solution to me.

[Laelth]

31. I agree.

The Federal minimum wage should be adjusted for inflation yearly. As Elizabeth Warren has shown, if the 1962 minimum wage were adjusted for both inflation and increases in productivity, it would be about $22.00/hr. now ($44,000/year). It's no wonder families could survive on just one income in 1962.

-Laelth

[FreakinDJ]

2. About time

[KG]

3. a belated response prompted by popular demand and a looming election.

otherwise, rest assured the dems would ignore the issue.

[RBInMaine]

6. Must you piss on this? Please, take a happy pill. This Debbie Downerism really gets old.

[Wilms]

36. No. It's not "Debbie Downerism".

It's a reasonable critique. You want "old"? Try DLC, Third Way, DINO, "I feel your pain" Clintonism. THAT'S old.

[KG]

44. Debbie Downer LOL n/t

[swilton]

37. Thanks for summarizing one of the (many) causes for my

apathy.

[Demeter]

4. When all else fails...

I didn't think I could get this cynical.

[RBInMaine]

7. All else hasn't failed.The campaign is just getting started. Must the ultra left crap on everything?

[jtuck004]

22. We are just re-gifting what we have already been given. n/t

[sendero]

48. LOL.....

..... if only the minimum wage was even in the top ten of what is facing the poor and middle class.

I sometimes wonder if I'm living in the same country as some of these retarded politicians.

[adirondacker]

55. Hurry! get your bucket out to catch some of the trickle down!

[adirondacker]

54. Ultra left? Try finding, what used to be, the center just a few decades ago. nt

[beachbum bob]

5. democratic 2014 strategy should be simple

>>>federal min wage hike
>>>extended unemployment federal benefits
>>>pentagon spending
>>>taxcode reform


place all GOP candidates on defense against each and everyone of those

[RBInMaine]

9. Also include IMMIGRATION REFORM and STUDENT LOAN reform. Go on OFFENSE on these, and you CRUSH the

GOP.

[1StrongBlackMan]

15. I think this has been the plan ...

for a while now; but (strategically) the time is just now getting right for this to be acted upon. The truth is, a vast majority of the electorate was not ready to support these moves ... that's why we got the teaparty/modern gop.

That said, I doubt pentagon spending will make the list because too many people have jobs directly tied to pentagon spending. So I suspect that will be replaced with immigration reform and veteran retirement restoration.

[Auggie]

8. It's a start. It needs to be more encompassing and focused ...

and it needs a name -- our name -- before the conservative spin doctors label it for us.

Something along the likes of "New Deal."

[RBInMaine]

11. How about: "Renewing The American Dream" or "Rebuilding The Middle Class", or something like that?

[Auggie]

28. Yes, something like that. n/t

[sendero]

49. That's fine..

... but if you are working for minimum wage you are no where near the middle class.

[RBInMaine]

10. Here is the ENTIRE agenda the Dems should pursue which would CRUSH the GOP:

* Income Inequality / Minimum Wage Hike

* Extended Unemployment Benefits

* Comprehensive Immigration Reform including THE DREAM ACT

* Tax Code Reform To Eliminate Measures That Help The Rich And No One Else

* Comprehensive Student Loan Reform And Measures To Help Make College More Affordable

* Staying On Track To End The Afghanistan War

* Staying On Track To Create A Peace Agreement With Iran IF Possible

[RBInMaine]

16. Why are you reading out of the right wing playbook? It is about a PATH to citizenship for people

ALREADY here. It is also about better securing the border and harsher penalties for those who hire illegals.

"So what if Republicans took control of the Senate"? Are you serious? Are you sure you shouldn't actually be on Free Republic?

Some REPUBLICANS even favor comprehensive immigration reform as it has already passed the Senate. Boehner won't take it up in the House. My goodness, this is favored by a majority of the people of the nation. It should be done. The Dems need to use this to CRUSH the GOP and further destroy them with Latino voters.

[grantcart]

39. because the poster failed to take the "don't make an ass out of yourself" primer

that most right wing trolls take before they get here. Usually the bs doesn't seep out until around post 200.

[1StrongBlackMan]

24. No, it wouldn't ...

I live in a border state, less than 60 miles from the Mexican border, so I am familiar with your anti-immigration myths.

Truth is ... Amnesty would INCREASE wages ... since the undocumented workers that are already working in the economy will no longer be under-paid; the schools will not see an increase (in attendance) because the children of the undocumented are already in the schools; but they will recognize an increase in funding (under current state formulae) because the school systems would be able to claim the children of the undocumented; Amnesty would not destroy neighborhoods, as immigrant neighborhoods tend to be some of the more stable, self-reliant communities, even without the communities trust of law enforcement that comes with undocumented status; and finally, studies indicate that legal status actually reduces reliance on the social safety net ... particularly the use of emergency rooms for healthcare, as this is the only social safety net mechanism that the undocumented routinely utilize.

[Victor_c3]

35. Good points

I'm going to have take those points for my next confrontation with the vocal republicans I work with.

[1StrongBlackMan]

46. Good luck with that ...

myths are more powerful than facts.

I suspect the anti-amnesty crowd is more concerned with their having to compete on a more equal footing with a new class of workers, previously locked out due to their legal status.

[1StrongBlackMan]

18. BINGO ...

funny ... that looks a lot like what President Obama has been promoting since 2009!

Yes ... I know ... "But what about TTP and Keystone and ... Bengazi!"

Maybe the Democrats are finally catching up to that corporatist wall-street lackey in the whitehouse

[swilton]

42. This should be the beginning

add to that investments in public education and not the charter schools and endless testing programs we're getting from Arne Duncan.

[RBInMaine]

12. Also, ATTACK the GOP for the SHUTDOWN and as the "MOST DO-NOTHING HOUSE OF REPS EVER!"

[Cryptoad]

13. We need long term solutions......

The Middle Class needs more than a band aid of minimum wage.... We need Government Policy that rewards companies for a structured business models which pays their employees a fair living wage in correlation to the Company's total outlays , profit and executive salaries! All the while, penalizing the companies that continue to rape the Middle Class and working poor by denying them their tax loopholes and low tax rates!

[RBInMaine]

17. Yes, in the longer term. But in the short term, PUSH LIKE HELL for the higher minimum wage.

[Cryptoad]

27. True dat! nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

26. I suspect that is coming ...

but we need a majority in the House to accomplish any of that ... and this is a drip, drip, drip of progressive politics that can get us there.

[seabeckind]

19. Oh hogwash

Nowhere in this thread did I hear one thing about getting totally behind unions and worker rights.

NOFUCKINGWHERE!!!

If we had collective bargaining we wouldn't need to work so hard for minimum wage.

Next change fiscal policy to push for some nice healthy inflation. Not runaway but gradual. Make those f'ers sitting on their investments in money put it where it can do some good. Make them shelter their holdings in real stuff.

Repeal that f'in Taft-Hartley.

[seabeckind]

20. Addendum

Exhume Reagan and bury him deeper and face down.

[Fuddnik]

25. Still waiting for card-check.

All we get is lip service and broken promises.

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

21. It should be 21.00!

If it had kept up with inflation! DO that Dems! And also - raise the wage of our military! There are over 5000 families on food stamps! Pay the military a living wage!!!! Let the Repugs vote against that!

[Kingofalldems]

23. I would expand that to include raises for all workers.

'America Needs A Raise' should be the campaign slogan.

[On the Road]

29. I Am Really Happy This issue is Rising to the Top

It is by far the simplest and most effective way to assist regular working people. Raising the minimum will even help those making somewhat higher wages, since those will need to keep pace to stay ahead of the minimum.

[seabeckind]

40. I don't think it works that way.

No employer has any incentive to change their current wage unless they are forced to. You can't drive wages up by pushing from the bottom, it has to be pulled from up above.

What made the midde class advance was that big employer in town who had positions at tiers from common laborer clear thru skilled up to mgmt levels. There was an established career path and people could advance inside the company.

The bottom tier was usually more than the prevailing wage in the area because the employer valued loyalty and paid for it. There was quite an investment in even the lowest worker.

Add in the deferred compensation in pensions and benefits and that one large employer drove the whole economy of the town. Any other employer had to offer similar benefits to retain their better people.

Then there were the unions that guaranteed that the big employer couldn't start lowballing and use the threat of terminations. That union also guaranteed that the employer couldn't point to the next town over that was offering non-union job at a lower wage and using that as an extortion threat to force the lower wages at the current location.

(Picked up the economic model name the other day for that...beggar-thy-neighbor or race-to-the-bottom).

Then we lost the unions as the outsourcing took away the town's big employer and blamed the union (f'in lie).

So now, where's there to go? Our labor is like the battered wife who has no alternative.

That's wht the democratic platform should be fighting to fix. Get rid of that disgusting right-to-work at the federal level by using the NLRB and NLRA. That's what was promised long ago when that Taft-Hartley screwjob happened.

[On the Road]

51. In Addition to Minimum-Wage Jobs,

there are other jobs that require a slightly more skilled or educated workforce. Typically this is done by pricing $X above minimum wage. If a warehouse forklift operator position pays $12/hour now and minimum wage is raised to $12/hour, they will not be able to attract and retain the same employees. The effect shrinks with higher wages, but the point was that raising the minimum affects many more employees than those currently making the minimum.

[wilsonbooks]

32. Also the legalization of medical marijuana.

That would mobilize young voters like no other issue.

[4dsc]

33. Don't forget expanding Social Security too.

I hope enough democratic party members jump on board to help expand SS this election cycle.

[intaglio]

34. The Chairman of the Confederation of British Industry

(a sort of UK version of the BBB) has issued the following call (Via the Independent )

The head of the CBI will today call for companies to start paying their staff more, saying the large number of people working for the minimum wage is a “serious challenge” that business and the Government must address.

[Nobody You Know]

38. Also jobs.

Or set a living wages for every American. Guaranteed.

[seabeckind]

41. I'd like to see another thing

Every corporate charter for a public company should include implicit ownership by the employees in that company at a level commensurate with their longevity.

With voting rights and representatives on the board. Executive compensation for public companies should be set by the stockholders and implicit owners...not the board.

If I remember, that particular bill was killed in the HOR a few years back. There is no binding rule.

[Ash_F]

43. Sounds like a winning strategy.

Winning would be nice, if that's not too much trouble.

[Pterodactyl]

45. I don't know if that's a good area to focus on. Many minimum wage earners aren't old enough to vote.

Maybe we should focus on health care or something.

[1StrongBlackMan]

47. But MOST minimum wage earners ...

ARE of age to vote. There was a graphic to that effect yesterday. I'll try and find it.

[Pterodactyl]

50. Thanks, 1Strong!

[Springslips]

52. To what level?

It has to be 11 per hour or above. Otherwise it is just a paper tiger. 8p/h won't do nothing, and won't GOTV.

[Ash_F]

53. YES YES YES!

That is a winning strategy!

[reddread]

56. Alms, alms for the poor?

Fuck that. COLA's, regulation and real economics would take of the minimum wage.
What kind of fools beg for scraps as a campaign issue?
MAXIMUM WAGE.
DECENT JOBS.
REAL CHANGE.
If you are gonna swallow this shaft, hope for a good tip, and pray they use a rubber.

[FiveGoodMen]

57. Strategy

Damned shame they don't back it because people need it.