Two Guys Who Will Never Be President

Today's conservative eye candy for the ladies. Rick Scott and Chris Christie both get hot and bothered every time voters ask them about the minimum wage. Never mind that wages haven't kept up with economic growth in America. #eyecandy #RickScott #ChrisChristie #BringingUnsexyBack #minimumwage #poverty #funny #humor #comedy #Florida #NewJersey #economy #wages #incomeinequality #wingnuts #liberal #progressive #politics #elections #corruption #jerks

A photo posted by Michael Hussey (@pushingrope1) on Oct 10, 2014 at 11:55am PDT

Rick Scott campaigned today with fellow minimum wage increase hater Chris Christie today. Scott's idea of a secret weapon is a Governor under a massive corruption investigation.

Must See Video: Rick Scott Loses His Cool

It is almost refreshing to see Gov. Rick Scott behave like an actual human being. Scott has been a robotic talking points machine for 4 years and has refused to answer questions. Scott's evasiveNess and secrecy borders on Nixonian level paranoia.

Scott has been pressed by voters on why he doesn't support raising the minimum wage. Scott lost it and shouted over his own constituents. It is obvious the pressure of the campaign is taking a toll on him.

The worst part is Scott still stuck to attack talking points on Charlie Crist. What Scott may not be aware of is these voters aren't asking about Crist. They are asking for Scott to give an explanation on why he doesn't support raising the minimum wage. You would think that the campaign would have come up with a lame talking point for Scott to use. Maybe they did and Scott didn't remember the talking point because he went into panic mode.

Paul Ryan: Portrait of An Unserious Man

Rep. Paul Ryan's remedy for man made climate change is to do nothing. Literally. This is what he told the media.

"Climate change occurs no matter what. The question is, can and should the federal government do something about it? And I would argue the federal government, with all its tax and regulatory schemes, can't. And all it will do is end up hurting our country, our people, and especially low income individuals."

What Ryan didn't tell the media is the $181,299 he has received from the oil industry during this campaign cycle.

Ryan talked about his poverty program.

"In many cases, the federal government, in its war on poverty, has inadvertently displaced civil society, prodded out good things that are happening in our communities, when it should be supporting them. It should be manning supply lines, not dictating the front lines."

"And the other point, it has given the notion in our society that this isn't your problem. Pay your taxes. The government will fix this. The government fixes poverty. That's not true. We need to break those notions that so that everybody gets involved and does something in whatever way they can to make a difference in this area. And that is one of the messages we need to pound over and over and over if we are going to be successful in reintegrating the poor and getting them from where the are to where they want to be."

Ryan does not have a basic understanding about poverty. Naturally, Ryan is against raising the minimum wage. Ryan previously made the hysterical claim that raising the minimum wage will keep teenagers from getting jobs.

“The majority of these workers are younger people just getting into the workforce,” Ryan said. “What we don’t want to do is support ideas, especially in this kind of economy, which will reduce the availability of jobs, number one, but more importantly reduce the availability of jobs from the very people we want to get into jobs so they can start climbing that ladder of life, so they can get in and start working their way up and get the skills they need to earn a better job.” He added that his time working at McDonald’s as a young man helped “give me better training to keep moving on in life.”

The New York Times had the actual numbers.

Climbing above the poverty line has become more daunting in recent years, as the composition of the nation’s low-wage work force has been transformed by the Great Recession, shifting demographics and other factors. More than half of those who make $9 or less an hour are 25 or older, while the proportion who are teenagers has declined to just 17 percent from 28 percent in 2000, after adjusting for inflation, according to Janelle Jones and John Schmitt of the Center for Economic Policy Research.

Today’s low-wage workers are also more educated, with 41 percent having at least some college, up from 29 percent in 2000. “Minimum-wage and low-wage workers are older and more educated than 10 or 20 years ago, yet they’re making wages below where they were 10 or 20 years ago after inflation,” said Mr. Schmitt, senior economist at the research center. “If you look back several decades, workers near the minimum wage were more likely to be teenagers — that’s the stereotype people had. It’s definitely not accurate anymore.”

The Chamber of Commerce doesn't want a minimum wage increase. The Republican Party heeds the word of the Chamber. The Chamber of Commerce represents businesses that will fight tooth and nail not to pay their employees more. The Chamber of Commerce released an article on their website titled "A Better Approach Than the Minimum Wage Distraction."

The minimum wage debate is misplaced as part of the income inequality debate simply because raising the minimum wage by $1 an hour, for example, adds about $2,000 to the pre-tax income of those few full-time minimum wage adult workers. (Most minimum wage earners are either teenagers or are working part-time). A $2,000 increase would make a difference to the worker, assuming he or she still has a job, but it doesn’t do much for income inequality when stacked against the incomes of those at the very top of the income scale.

Ryan cited the CBO report. The truth is states that have raised the minimum wage have found no adverse effects. The wage increases were needed to keep up with inflation. What Ryan and other Republicans refuse to mention is cost of living increases. From the Associated Press:

"In the 13 states that boosted their minimums at the beginning of the year, the number of jobs grew an average of 0.85 percent from January through June. The average for the other 37 states was 0.61 percent.

"Nine of the 13 states increased their minimum wages automatically in line with inflation: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Four more states — Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island — approved legislation mandating the increases."

Republicans constantly say that unemployment will increase if the minimum wage is increased. At some point the minimum wage must be raised. Millions of Americans having less spending power will be a drag on the economy. It also costs the federal government money. Forbes reports that WalMart workers $6.2 billion in public assistance. WalMart employees simply do not make enough to survive.

Ryan is against raising the minimum wage because he doesn't want to cut into the bottom line of companies like WalMart. Ryan's war on poverty should be treated like the nonsense it truly is.

Mitch McConnell Will Not Raise Minimum Wage

This is inexcusable. I hope working class white people in rural communities realize that Mitch McConnell doesn't give a damn about them.

Quote of the Day: Dubious Rubio Edition

"I don't think a minimum wage law works."

Sen. Marco Rubio

Rubio made this statement when he proposed his bogus war on poverty.

Apartments and Minimum Wage

Upworthy has an interesting chart of how many minimum wage hours does it take to afford a two bedroom apartment. In Florida a couple needs to work 98 hours or more to afford an apartment. We definitively need to raise the minimum wage.

Rick Scott Dodges Minimum Wage Question

Gov. Rick Scott serves the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Don't think for a second he backs raising the minimum wage. Scott was forced to answer the question to the Tampa Bay Times.

"When I hear a politician say that we have to raise the minimum wage so working families can make ends meet, I cringe, because I know that statement is a lie," Scott said via email. "Even if we did raise the minimum wage, working families will still not be able to make ends meet on those jobs. We need good jobs that lead to good careers for our families and that's what I am focused on."

Governor, you know what could help these people make ends meet. A higher wage. Low wage workers aren't begging their employers and political leaders for even lower wages. How is it "a lie" that Floridians need a higher minimum wage. A report by the Alliance for a Just Society found that their are now less high paying jobs in Florida.

“Jobless Recovery” Masks Loss of Higher-Wage Jobs, Replacement with Low-Wage Jobs: The number of jobs in occupational categories with median wages above $15 an hour dropped by 4 million from 2009 to 2012, masked by an increase of 3.6 million jobs with median wages below $15 an hour.

The job recovery that Scott has been touting has been mostly McJobs.

Quote of the Day

"Yeah, well the minimum wage makes no sense whatsoever to me. I mean, honestly, it's just the teenage --black teenage unemployment act and this is the very groups that we need to have jobs not be put out of work because of the minimum wage so I'm really very much in favor of at least for teenagers getting rid of the minimum wage so we can bring them back into the labor force, get them the skills they need to continue being productive members of our society for years and years. I mean, that's the way I'd go on minimum wage."

Economist Arthur Laffer

I knew Laffer was an economic hack. I didn't know he was a racist.

America Needs to Stop Austerity

Ezra Klein reports that the federal deficit went down by 37 percent in 2013. The deficit fell to $680 billion. That translates into 4.1 percent of the GDP. In 2012, the deficit was 6.8 percent of GDP. Contrary to the supply side nonsense from Republicans, increasing taxes on the top income bracket and getting rid of the payroll tax cut (which Republicans supported) is a reason why there is more tax revenue.

Most of all, there was more revenue. Government receipts totaled $2.774 billion, up $325 billion from 2012, and rising to 16.7 percent of GDP from 15.2 percent. That reflects in part a stronger economy that increased income and payroll taxes. It also includes the expiration of a payroll tax holiday that increased tax receipts, and higher rates for upper-income Americans agreed to for this calendar year.

I support getting rid of the payroll tax cut and raising taxes on top income earners. The payroll tax cut. It endangers the Social Security trust fund and the Treasury Department had to pay the difference to make up lost revenue to the trust fund. It was neither fiscally wise or did much to stimulate the economy. A better way to help workers is to raise the minimum wage. It is shameful that President Barack Obama hasn't used his political capital to raise the minimum wage. Wages are not keeping up with cost of living. Mother Jones had these numbers for 2011.

Increase in real value of the minimum wage since 1990: 21%

Increase in cost of living since 1990: 67%

One year's earnings at the minimum wage: $15,080

Income required for a single worker to have real economic security: $30,000

Obviously, there has been no minimum wage increase since MoJo posted these numbers. Income inequality is a far more important issue than the federal deficit. Austerity could lead to long-term economic problems. You can't fund the government if the majority of Americans are overworked and underpaid.

Natacha Seijas Slams Charlie Van Zant

Former Miami Dade commissioner Natacha Seijas (R) lit into Florida Rep. Charlie Van Zant. At issue is Van Zant's legislation HB 181. The bill would take away counties rights to impose a living wage for employees of government contractors.

The Miami-Dade laws require major contractors to offer a minimum wage higher than the one set by the federal government and offer their employees health insurance, and to provide victims of domestic violence up to 30 days off without pay to get their lives in order. The county also gives employees who have not been paid for their work a venue to denounce their employers for wage theft.

It is a good law. Which is exactly why Van Zant is trying to have working class people make less money during economicly difficult times. Seijas points out that Van Zant has been doing a poor job of taking care of his constituents in Palatka.

"I don't know how many of you have been to Palatka -- I've been to Palatka," Martinez said. "Palatka happens to be one of the poorest cities in the state of Florida."

There is more.

"Rep. Van Zant from Palatka doesn't think we need any local wage ordinances. Well, God bless Rep. Van Zant," Seijas said, pointing to Van Zant's legislative biography, which says he earned a doctorate in theology from the Western Baptist Theological Seminary in Havana from 1999 to 2001. "He probably thinks everybody in Miami-Dade County should live in poverty just like all those people he saw in communist Cuba."

Seijas really worked Van Zant over in this press conference.

Gallup Poll Shows Support For Raising the Minimum Wage

Via GottaLaff: the Gallup poll finds 71 percent of Americans support raising the minimum wage.

Raising the federal minimum wage is typically a crowd pleaser when it comes to policy prescriptions, and Obama's proposal to push the rate from the current $7.25 to $9 is no exception. The 71% vs. 27% balance of U.S. public opinion in favor of passing it is convincing, particularly when considering that even half of Republicans are in favor.

In fairness, the Gallup poll has been off the last two presidential elections. However, a USA Today/Pew Research Center showed support for raising the minimum wage at an identical 71 percent. A You Gov poll had a lower number of 62 percent.

President Barack Obama is advocating raising the national from $7.25 to $9.00. House Speaker John Boehner is unsurprising against raising the minimum wage.