Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
 

Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
Sun Jun 8, 2014, 07:28 PM Jun 2014

Wall Street Journal Editor: Don’t Hike Minimum Wage Because Workers ‘Learn’ From Poverty

By David Edwards
Sunday, June 8, 2014 15:41 EDT



Wall Street Journal Editor Paul Gigot argued on Sunday that the minimum wage should be kept low because it would teach workers that they did not want to work low-wage jobs.

During a panel discussion on ABC’s This Week, Gigot predicted that a decision in Seattle to hike the minimum wage to $15 an hour would eventually backfire.

“I think what [Mayor Ed Murray] is going to find out is he’s pricing a bunch of people out of the labor market,” Gigot opined. “Particularly the young, the least skilled, teenagers, people who want to go in and gen in on that basic, bottom rung of the economic latter and move up.”

“Look, I worked for the minimum wage,” he explained. “Two bucks an hour back in the 1970s. I had jobs that — what did I learn? I learned to show up on time, I learned certain skills, and I learned I didn’t want to make the rest of my life so I better get an education.”

The Nation‘s Katrina Vanden Heuvel pointed out that only one out of 10 minimum wage workers were teenagers in today’s economy.

more...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/08/wall-street-journal-editor-dont-hike-minimum-wage-because-workers-learn-from-poverty/

15 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

Archae

(46,261 posts)
9. Only time this clown worked $2 an hour...
Sun Jun 8, 2014, 07:39 PM
Jun 2014

Was the $2 an hour allowance he got from Mommy and Daddy.

And that was just money for candy for this fathead.

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
13. Yeah, I worked for minimum wage when I was a teen too.
Sun Jun 8, 2014, 08:29 PM
Jun 2014

It didn't feel like a pittance to me. But then again, I didn't have to find a place to live or feed a family, or feed myself for that matter. And I have no doubt that IF he did have a minimum wage job, it was for gas money at the worst.

People who act like they know what "poverty" is, but have never been hurting, piss me off.

nomorenomore08

(13,324 posts)
5. Even in good economic times, when people have more options, this would be a spurious argument.
Sun Jun 8, 2014, 07:35 PM
Jun 2014

In times like these, it should have this stupid fuck looking over his shoulder. But he says it because he knows nobody will do anything.

Laelth

(32,017 posts)
7. I defer to FDR on this one.
Sun Jun 8, 2014, 07:37 PM
Jun 2014
“No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.” (1933, Statement on National Industrial Recovery Act)

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/f-d-r-makes-the-case-for-the-minimum-wage/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0


Pay living wages or close up shop. At one point in our history, this was the mainstream opinion, and it should be still.

-Laelth

jwirr

(39,215 posts)
8. I don't even have words. These people are so stupid. Maybe they could use a few years of poverty
Sun Jun 8, 2014, 07:38 PM
Jun 2014

themselves.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
11. Such class.
Sun Jun 8, 2014, 07:47 PM
Jun 2014

How did his family make it out of the middle ages?

By letting the lessors do the labor, the debt peonage, the starving and the dying.

VMA131Marine

(4,124 posts)
15. $2 an hour in 1970
Sun Jun 8, 2014, 08:43 PM
Jun 2014

is $12.22 in 2014 dollars. This is significantly more that the President's proposed hike to $10.10 an hour and i'd bet that by the time the full $15/hour takes effect in Seattle it won't be worth much more than $2/hour was in 1970.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Wall Street Journal Edito...