Minimum wage

Colorado workers are gathering at the Capitol at noon today, calling on the state legislature to ask Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Then the workers are heading a few blocks away to continue their rally at, appropriately, a McDonald’s. No doubt, some state lawmakers will flatly oppose an increase of the minimum wage, which is $8 an hour in Colorado — higher than the federal minimum of $7.25 hourly.

It used be Molasses to Rum to Slaves and so on and so forth back in Colonial American days of old, but today we see a new version of a horrid classic. Walmart and Sam's Club love to pay their people low wages, so low that they can't possibly afford to sustain themselves and their families on them, so they end up on programs like food stamps and using local food pantries to supplement their food to survive on which Sam's Club and Walmart are all too happy to donate to the local bank that supplies these pantries.

President Obama highlights the momentum building across the country to give Americans a raise and reiterates his call for Congress to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. The President has already signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage for people working under new federal contracts.

“When you look at the respondents in the retail and restaurant industries, the support for raising to $10.10 was actually higher,” to 61 percent, said John Arsenmeyer, the executive director of Small Business Majority. Average support was somewhat higher among businesses that gross less than $200,000 a year, according to the survey.

Video of the dispute between Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy that spilled out quite publicly after a meeting with the President has emerged from the depths of the internet. From minimum wage hikes to Obamacare mandates to the Keystone XL pipeline, these two governors found a way to sneak all the jabs in just a short press conference.

The restaurant industry claims that if the minimum wage goes up employment in that industry would go down. Research for a Bloomberg article this week clearly shows this statement as bunk. The only time employment went down was during a recession. When wages rose, so did employment.

President Obama signed an executive order that, while a bit symbolic since it only reaches a few federal workers, lifts the minimum wage to $10.10 for all federal projects. Those projects, however, generally came with better wages already. Millions more are waiting on congress to act for the rest of the nation.

Watch as Kentucky Senatorial Candidate Allison Lundergan Grimes calls out Senator Mitch McConnell on his aversion to raising the state's minimum wage.

President Barack Obama's plan to raise the minimum wage for federally contracted workers is winning praise from unions and labor activists, but it could take a year or more before any hikes take place and the impact may not be as widespread as some advocates had hoped.

Last week’s massive spill of the toxic chemical MCHM into West Virginia’s Elk River illustrates another benefit to the business class of high unemployment, economic insecurity, and a safety-net shot through with holes. Not only are employees eager to accept whatever job they can get. They are also also unwilling to demand healthy and safe environments.