The Minimum Wage Index: Why the GOP's Filibuster Will Hurt Workers

[ProSense]

The Minimum Wage Index: Why the GOP's Filibuster Will Hurt Workers

Richard Kirsch

Opponents of a higher minimum wage claim it would have a negative impact on the economy and workers. The numbers tell a different story.

This week, a minority of United States senators blocked a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour from coming to a vote, overruling the 54 senators who supported the bill. If the bill had passed, it would have been only the fourth time the minimum wage was raised in the last 30 years. The Republicans who led this filibuster effort will claim a higher minimum wage would hurt the economy, but don’t let them fool you: American workers are the ones left hurting as a result of their actions. Here are the real dollars and cents of the minimum wage debate.

$7.25: The current federal minimum wage, established in 2007.

725%: The increase in CEO compensation from 1978 to 2011.

$10.86: How much the federal minimum wage would be if it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years.

$21.72: How much the federal minimum wage would be if it had kept up with productivity since 1968.

$16.62: The hourly wage needed to meet the basic needs of an average person.

$32.19: The hourly wage needed to meet the basic needs of one adult with two children in Philadelphia.

$2.13: The federal minimum wage for tipped employees, established in 1991.

$5,915,186: Average net worth of U.S. Senators who blocked a vote on the minimum wage.

http://www.nextnewdeal.net/minimum-wage-index-why-gops-filibuster-will-hurt-workers

CEO pay at top companies now 331 times that of average worker, 774 times that of minimum-wage worker



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/16/1292207/-CEO-pay-at-top-companies-now-331-times-that-of-average-worker-774-times-that-of-minimum-wage-worker

Look at the jump from 1983 to 1993.

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. The comfort of the rich depends on a abundant suppy of the poor. - Voltaire

[sheshe2]

3. Republicans lie as the middle class dies.

They are only out to line their own pockets and those of the powerful corporations. It's all about them. To hell with the American worker. What an ugly, greedy unAmerican position.

Thanks ProSense, the playing field needs to be leveled.

[ProSense]

4. Kick! n/t