Democrats believe they've hit on the perfect issue
to distract from the horror of Obamacare in the 2014 elections: the
minimum wage.
Apparently, increasing the minimum wage was not important for American workers during the first five years of Obama's presidency -- least of all his first two years, when Democrats controlled Congress and could have passed anything. (And did!)
No. The minimum wage did not become a pressing concern until an election year in which the public's hatred of Obamacare is expected to be the central issue.
As The New York Times explained, Democrats see the minimum wage as an issue that "will place Republican candidates in a difficult position," and also as a tool "to enlarge the electorate in a nonpresidential election, when turnout among minorities and youths typically drops off."
(Unlike Republicans, Democrats consider it important to win elections.)
To most people, it seems as if the Democrats are giving workers something for nothing. But there are always tradeoffs. No serious economist denies that increasing the minimum wage will cost jobs. If it's not worth paying someone $10 an hour to do something, the job will be eliminated -- or it simply won't be created.
The minimum wage is the perfect Democratic issue. It will screw the very people it claims to help, while making Democrats look like saviors of the working class, either by getting them a higher wage or providing them with generous government benefits when they lose their jobs because of the mandatory wage hike.
Of course, the reason American workers’ wages are so low in the first place is because of the Democrats' policies on immigration. Republicans might want to point that out.
Since the late 1960s, the Democrats have been dumping about a million low-skilled immigrants on the country every year, driving down wages, especially at the lower end of the spectrum.
According to Harvard economist George Borjas, our immigration policies have reduced American wages by $402 billion a year -- while increasing profits for employers by $437 billion a year. (That's minus what they have to pay to the government in taxes to support their out-of-work former employees. Of course, we're all forced to share that tax burden.)
Apparently, increasing the minimum wage was not important for American workers during the first five years of Obama's presidency -- least of all his first two years, when Democrats controlled Congress and could have passed anything. (And did!)
No. The minimum wage did not become a pressing concern until an election year in which the public's hatred of Obamacare is expected to be the central issue.
As The New York Times explained, Democrats see the minimum wage as an issue that "will place Republican candidates in a difficult position," and also as a tool "to enlarge the electorate in a nonpresidential election, when turnout among minorities and youths typically drops off."
(Unlike Republicans, Democrats consider it important to win elections.)
To most people, it seems as if the Democrats are giving workers something for nothing. But there are always tradeoffs. No serious economist denies that increasing the minimum wage will cost jobs. If it's not worth paying someone $10 an hour to do something, the job will be eliminated -- or it simply won't be created.
The minimum wage is the perfect Democratic issue. It will screw the very people it claims to help, while making Democrats look like saviors of the working class, either by getting them a higher wage or providing them with generous government benefits when they lose their jobs because of the mandatory wage hike.
Of course, the reason American workers’ wages are so low in the first place is because of the Democrats' policies on immigration. Republicans might want to point that out.
Since the late 1960s, the Democrats have been dumping about a million low-skilled immigrants on the country every year, driving down wages, especially at the lower end of the spectrum.
According to Harvard economist George Borjas, our immigration policies have reduced American wages by $402 billion a year -- while increasing profits for employers by $437 billion a year. (That's minus what they have to pay to the government in taxes to support their out-of-work former employees. Of course, we're all forced to share that tax burden.)
Or, as the White House puts it on its website promoting an increase in the minimum wage, "Today, the real value of the minimum wage has fallen by nearly one-third since its peak in 1968."
Why were wages so high until 1968? Because that's when Teddy Kennedy's 1965 Immigration Act kicked in, bringing in about a million immigrants a year, almost 90 percent of them unskilled workers from the Third World.
Our immigration policies massively redistribute wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest. It's a basic law of economics that when the supply goes up, the price goes down. More workers means the price of their labor plummets.
Unfortunately, politicians spend a lot more time talking to rich employers than to working-class Americans. And the rich apparently have an insatiable appetite for cheap labor.
Having artificially created a glut of low-wage workers, now Democrats want to artificially raise their wages.
It's win-win-win-win-win for Democrats.
-- Employees who get a higher minimum wage are grateful to the Democrats.
-- Employees who lose their jobs because of the minimum wage hike are grateful to the Democrats for generous government handouts.
-- Poor immigrants who need government benefits are grateful to the Democrats.
-- American businesses enjoying the deluge of cheap labor are grateful to the Democrats.
-- Democratic politicians guaranteed re-election by virtue of ethnic bloc voting are grateful to the Democrats.
Do Republicans have any principles at all? Why isn't the GOP demanding an end to this dump of unskilled workers/Democratic voters on the country?
Democrats show how much they love the poor by importing a million more of them to America each year. But then they prevent the last batch of poor immigrants from getting decent, well-paying jobs by bringing in another million poor people the next year.
You want a higher minimum wage? Turn off the spigot of low-wage workers pouring in to the U.S. and it will rise on its own through the iron law of supply and demand.
In response to the Democrats' minimum wage proposal, Republicans should introduce a bill ending both legal and illegal immigration until the minimum wage rises naturally to $14 an hour.
Australia has a $15 minimum wage for adults -- more than twice the U.S. minimum wage. Meanwhile, their official unemployment rate is lower than ours: 6 percent compared to 6.6 percent in the U.S. -- and that's with a lousy $7.25 minimum wage.
Sound good? Try immigrating there. Australia has some of the most restrictive immigration policies in the world. Their approach to immigration is to admit only people who will be good for Australia. (Weird!) Applicants are evaluated on a point system that gives preference to youth, English proficiency, education and skill level.
Similarly, New Zealand will soon have an official minimum wage of $14.25 for adults. Even our Democrats aren't proposing that! New Zealand's minimum wage hit $10.10 -- the Democrats' current proposal for us -- back in 2006. Their unemployment rate is also 6 percent -- up from several years of 4 percent unemployment a few years ago.
Like Australia, New Zealand's immigration laws are based on helping New Zealand, not on helping other countries get rid of their poor people, which is our policy.
Instead of training the citizenry to look at the government as our paternal benefactor, distributing minimum wage laws and unemployment benefits in important election years, why don't Republicans put an end to the artificial glut of low-wage, low-skilled workers being imposed on the country by our immigration laws?
Republicans could guarantee a $14 minimum wage simply by closing the pipeline of more than 1 million poor immigrants coming in every year.
Businessmen will gripe, but maybe the GOP could explain to their Chamber of Commerce friends that they will help them by slashing oppressive regulations, reining in government bureaucracies, passing tort reform, etc. They'll also be able to cut taxes because the welfare state will shrink, a result of Americans going back to work.
But if the plutocrats insist on admitting another 30 million Democratic voters in order to get ever-cheaper labor, then, soon, Republicans won't be in a position to help them at all.
COPYRIGHT 2014 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL UCLICK
1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106; 816-581-7500
Really TS reduced to citing Ann Coulter. Ann Coulter is an elite, yes an elite. She is so far outside of reality and so deep in the bubble she knows not what she talks about. Here's the first thing wrong with her synopsis here. illegals don't... no can't apply for govt benefits. That takes a legitimate social security number. If you have one of those well then you probably aren't illegal. If you don't well you ain't gonna go to the govt for a hand out, 'cause hell you are caught.
ReplyDeletenow I will agree we need to seal the southern border, but this thought of the right that these people are running around to various govt offices scooping up benefits with illegal paperwork? Laughable. See you believe this Ann Coulter crap because you probably don't know any or many illegals. I know tons of them. They ain't doing these things TS. They are mostly scared shitless about being caught anyway. They don't do things to increase that chance.
Oh yeah and there's another reason for you to hate me. I know illegals I don't turn them in. They are good people wanting the same things our forefathers wanted. They work hard (oh and they don't work cheap). Why they are here how they got here how to get them to leave, not my problem.
DeleteWe hold these truths to be self evident.....
DeleteThe messenger is irrelevant(except for posting credits)... the message is what I posted.
Nothing said in this article can be refuted. You read and interpret it the way you what you want to but the fact is, references to benefits were clearly covered by her comments regarding repeated amnesties.
I don't hate you... I just think your thought process is rather convoluted and illogical. You complain about income inequity demanding that hard working Americans distribute their money to fund the poor and at the same time support a glut of unskilled labor that undermines that price of labor. You pontificate about the virtues of creating an equal society while protecting people who pay no taxes to support that society.
I worked in Mexico almost exclusively with Mexican workers... They are fine people with a good work ethic... When I went to Mexico, I did so with a valid work visa. The character of these peoples work ethic is not an issue.... the law is the issue. I would love one day for the world to have no borders where ambitious people can move about the world creating their own life free from government meddling and odorous rules and regulations that stifle a person’s life, liberty and pursuit of happiness but as long as people in one part of the world can severely undercut our wages and the standard of living create in the US by them, some controls must be in place or the tax prosperity you seek to rob will soon look like a central African country. You talk about the multinationals removing jobs from America and taking them to places of lower labor cost and then support the importation of the same into our country.
I notice with liberal arguments on this subject that they play two sides of this story…. If the right complains about the overuse of benefits by illegals, you guys will trot out the fact that they have no social security number and can their fore cannot be accused of taxing the benefits system …. But it is interesting how many times I here that these people are hard working and pay taxes. Now while it may be true that they pay sales tax on what they buy, much of their earnings are wired back to Mexico and since they have no SSN… they can’t be paying taxes… now can they.
While this has nothing to do with illegal aliens… it has everything to do with the convoluted and illogical reasoning behind the way some people want to redistribute money of hard working Americans…
http://www.mrctv.org/videos/planned-parenthood-northern-new-england-promotes-video-bdsm
Yes Rick, many illegals are nice people.
DeleteTo bad your not over run to the point where your teens cannot find work. True justice, But no your fine so let's keep them all here. It doesn't matter that this will not be the end as the border is only a name and imaginary line. No matter Mexico has some of the harshest punishment for crossing their border illegally.
To bad you cannot think beyond the party mantra and see what 11-30 million illegals are doing to our country, school system, safety net.
Yes, I'll have more please.
When a politician doesn't want to enforce a law, it broken and needs to be fixed. And of course, your attitude, it's not my problem As it doesn't directly affect you.
That's the way I feel about the broken ACA, it's not my problem.
Scott,
DeleteThe biggest scam in the world discovered here. Illegals use the SS number of their anchor babies. The family hopes for a male and a female. Both parents can then work. Both parents receive a 100% refund of Federal income taxes while building SS credits for their child.
Another is to use an ITN.
Rule of law is laughable unless your a citizen.
The author says "Unlike Republicans, Democrats consider it important to win elections." I wish to refute that. All politicians consider it important, no, crucial, to win elections, including Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians and any other politician. That one statement is ridiculous, as well as being an outright lie. You can do better than that.
DeleteWhile it is certainly true that every individual who runs and indeed the parties that they represent want to win, I don't see republicans or libertarians selling the 'vote for me and I will give you something' mantra. If the self reliance/responsibility message is a vote getter... its only to those who are self reliant and responsible.
DeleteLouman,
Delete"Rule of law is laughable unless your a citizen."
Well.... I would say... a certain class of citizen. I don't see to many banker, corporate or government types having to answer much for their behavour.
I understand what you mean about the ITN's and dubious social security numbers but what I wanted to point out to Rick was that she didn't mention the world illegal once except in her explanation of a proposed law. Liberals look for anything to discredit the truth... even if it isn't their to read.