Republican millionaire comes out in support of minimum-wage hike to $12/hour in California

by Ben Reilly Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:26 pm

California voters may get the chance to vote a $12 minimum wage into law this November thanks to the efforts of an unlikely champion: conservative multi-millionaire and former Republican candidate for office Ron Unz.

Unz is pushing to get a referendum on a two-step minimum wage hike, first to $10 an hour in 2015 and then to $12 an hour in 2016. That represents an acceleration over the minimum wage hike Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed into law last fall, which will bring the state’s pay floor up from $8 to $10 over the next two years.

Unz is also pushing against his own party and political movement. Unz, who used to be the publisher of The American Conservative and sought the state GOP’s nomination for governor in 1994, could be signalling the start of a conservative push to end poverty wages.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/13/3153521/rich-republican-minimum-wage-california/

by Beekeeper Tue Jan 14, 2014 7:44 pm

LIFTING the "minimum wage" level to AT LEAST $15/hour, with a $20k tax-free threshold, in ALL 'First World' countries would do MORE to lift the economic health of those countries, than ALL bailouts and corporate tax breaks combined...

ALLOWING the average consumer to spend more each and every week would SURELY be much more beneficial than constantly reducing their "spending power", while driving more people into poverty in the process ! Idea

MOST "conservatives" won't even condone such notions, as they go against their central 'class warfare' anti-worker principles..

by Ben Reilly Tue Jan 14, 2014 8:03 pm

I know, this is pretty amazing, right? It's still not very good pay, but it's a damn sight better than $8/hour.

The fact is that a nation has to look at the employment picture (as many here have pointed out) with a more nuanced view than just unemployment; wages, hours, and total earnings are more important than just "who's got a job and who doesn't."

If the vast majority of the the jobs that our capitalist betters can offer are crummy, low-paying jobs you could train a chimpanzee to do, it's in the national interest to make those jobs pay at least a bit better. And you're right, it will help the economy to put more money in the hands of people who will spend most or all of it right away -- it always has.

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Republican millionaire comes out in support of minimum-wage hike to $12/hour in California

Republican millionaire comes out in support of minimum-wage hike to $12/hour in California

Re: Republican millionaire comes out in support of minimum-wage hike to $12/hour in California

Re: Republican millionaire comes out in support of minimum-wage hike to $12/hour in California

Re: Republican millionaire comes out in support of minimum-wage hike to $12/hour in California