‘Not too many people work at minimum wage anymore’

July 28, 2006

What drives conservative opposition to a minimum-wage increase? Occasionally, a Republican offers a glimpse into their motivations.

Barry Bennett, chief of staff for Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, said, “Of all the things we get mail about from our district — immigration, the pension bill, Iraq — we don’t really hear a lot about the minimum wage. Not too many people work at minimum wage anymore. I don’t think it gets you anywhere politically.”

As CAP noted, nearly eight million workers stand to get a raise if the minimum wage is raised to $7.25/hour.

Maybe Schmidt’s office meant not too many of the right people work at the minimum wage?

Helluva Organization, that Jean Schmidt Machine.

  • He’s not entirely wrong – if you don’t speak up and get out and vote, it’s absolutely certain you won’t get heard. The more people give up and don’t get involved in politics and say things like “there’s no difference between the parties”, the more easily the Republicans win.

  • “I don’t think it gets you anywhere politically.”

    Now how about a big tax cut of say $100,000 per year for you that returns to me in the way of, lets say, $2000 per year in campaign donations. Now, that is getting somewhere, politically.

    So, you see, we don’t waste our time on anything unless it does something for us, politically.

    Wow, this democracy stuff really works, politically.

  • So if only a few people work for minimum wage why is it so expensive and damaging to business to raise it?

  • There was a time when you did things because they were right. Expecting anyone to live, let alone by a house and pursue happines on $7.25 an hour is not right; it’s cruel. Trouble is that most of these cruel people also call themselves Christians. Makes no sense.

    Where’s that TeeVee clicker again? There’s gotta be a NASCAR race or an Extreme Sports show to watch. Yawn. Zzzzzzz.

  • Even bright third-graders could see the problem with having a high minimum wage while at the same time allowing anyone to enter your country whenever they want. Yet, that’s the Democratic Party’s position.

    Could someone explain – in realistic terms – exactly how that is not a disaster?

    Partly because the Democratic Party supports illegal immigration, the Bush administration is able to avoid enforcing our immigration laws. So, I don’t expect the immigration laws to be enforced unless either the GOP leadership or the Dem leadership is replaced with pro-American politicians.

    So, we’d have a high minimum wage, together with millions of new, low-wage illegal aliens.

  • Why must Congress raise the minimum wage? Maybe you should try working at the state and local levels to raise it.

    Hey Ed, I’m not expecting someone to buy a house if they only make $7.25 an hour. It’s called living within your means. Perhaps we should make the minimum wage $30/hour, would that make you happy?

    People do not have a right to a “living wage,” they don’t have a right to own a house. Not every job warrants a high salary. deal with it.

  • #7:

    I am giving you the benefit of doubt that you want a serious response to you inquiry. First, the Democratic party does not support illegal immigration–it is illegal. The party position (to the extent there is a consensus) is that we should enforce current laws on immigration, but there should be a path for citizenship when people meet certain conditions.

    Second, the Bush administration doesn’t even pretend that it is yielding to pressure from Democrats with respect to illegal immigration. The very suggestion is laughable. There was an article in, I think, the Washington Post about a month ago that pointed out that the imposition and enforcement of fines against employers for hiring illegal immigrants is way down over the Clinton years. Republicans are yielding to their pro-cheap labor corporate base by both refusing to increase the minimum wage and by failing to impose and enforce employer fines.

    Finally, there is no statistical evidence that I have seen showing that increasing the minimum wage increases illegal immigration. I don’t know why this might be, but I suspect the immigration is more due to lack of opportunity in their homeland or the presence of family here than it is to the amount of wages per se. Increasing the minimum wage does reduce employment of certain groups, such as students, but the increased disposable income of the beneficiaries has been historically a boost to the economy due to the increase in consumption.

  • That district encompasses an area that is highly stressed economically, not unlike a great deal of the rest of the state of Ohio. How can it be that there are no calls for an increase of the minimum wage? Is it that they only talk to white folks that can afford to donate political dollars to an insane person? That boneheads of the like of J Schmidt and her political cronies refuse to listen to those who are requesting an increase in the minimum wage is not surprising. Those boneheads will follow the script to the end. There isn’t an original thought in the group. Losers.

  • The 8 million minimum wage workers who are of voting age probably have the lowest voter turnout of any demographic in the country. Get them to figure out that it’s in their self-interest to vote and we wouldn’t need to have this conversation.

  • Fecking idiot. What does he those that make his lattes at Starbucks make? Or those people that working behind the contracted out food service areas in the House office buildings? etc. So out of touch with planet earthy NASA should be alerted.

  • Not too many people work at minimum wage anymore.

    Not too many people wear Evel Knievel track suits anymore, either.

  • Steve (#8*),

    The fact is that during the late ’40s and all through the ’50s, factory workers (one income) could expect to buy a home, car, vacation and put all four kids through college.

    That wasn’t due to the minimum wage, but it was due to something akin to it (better, in fact). Labor Unions.

    It could be done. It can be done. Why is it that union organizing stopped with factory workers (so called “blue collar” workers)? Mostly it was the unions themselves. The original organizers died off and were replaced by the the unions’ business agents — the ones who had kept the books now took over union presidencies. These people had no interest in disrupting the flow of capital — how many decades has it been since there was shut-down-the-country major strike?

    What ought to have happened is that the unionization movement should have spread into the “white collar” jobs — professional, technical, managerial sectors. Peter Drucker wrote gobs of this stuff for half a century or more. Just when this was structurally possible the Democrats went all mooshy and sentimental (around 1972). It’s been downhill for everyone (except the obscenely rich) ever since. Too bad.

  • I think he meant: “Not to many of the people we actually give a damn about.”
    I think Katrina made it pretty clear how much they care about the poor.

  • 8 million of close to 300 million.
    That’s less then 3%. And there are a great many people making minimum in the service industry where tips are customary. Does a delivery person/carwash dude/mover making minimum really count when after tips he might be making $15/hr ?? Is that going to make him/her vote differently ?? Maybe.

    I think it should be raised, but as far as votes, it really is a pretty small faction. I would bet as far as pure votes, it’s less then 1%, so politically it’s not the albatross we are trying put around their necks. Which is the point he seems to be making.

    It would be really interesting to see what percentage and what party minimum voters vote for. My point is that we spend all this effort and time for a really good cause, but the political advantage created is next to nothing. Dems are already for it and Reps are against it and the actual workers don’t have any political clout because they are such a small faction.

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