On this issue, we must lead with our progressive values to rebuild the American Dream.”'

I guess business likes this.

...I guess we'll have to wait for Bernie to weigh in before it gets their attention

Ben Jacobs ?@Bencjacobs 9m9 minutes ago
Martin O'Malley says "I think we should raise the minimum wage to $15 wherever we can however we can"

Thanks for being here with me/us, bigtree.

...thank you, elleng, for being a vocal and persistent leader in that important support for Martin and the progressive values and initiatives he's advocating in this campaign.

Set it at $25/hour and be done with it.

Sure, the 1%'ll bitch about it, but it'll rebuild the middle class.

ROBERT B. REICH: WHY THE MINIMUM WAGE SHOULD REALLY BE RAISED TO $15 AN HOUR

Here are seven reasons why:

1. Had the minimum wage of 1968 simply stayed even with inflation, it would be more than $10 an hour today. But the typical worker is also about twice as productive as then. Some of those productivity gains should go to workers at the bottom.

2. $10.10 isn’t enough to lift all workers and their families out of poverty. Most low-wage workers aren’t young teenagers; they’re major breadwinners for their families, and many are women. And they and their families need a higher minimum.

3. For this reason, a $10.10 minimum would also still require the rest of us to pay Medicaid, food-stamps, and other programs necessary to get poor families out of poverty – thereby indirectly subsidizing employers who refuse to pay more. Bloomberg View describes McDonalds and Walmart as “America’s biggest welfare queens” because their employees receive so much public assistance. (Some, like McDonalds, even advise their employees to use public programs because their pay is so low.)

4. A $15/hour minimum won’t result in major job losses because it would put money in the pockets of millions of low-wage workers who will spend it – thereby giving working families and the overall economy a boost, and creating jobs. (When I was Labor Secretary in 1996 and we raised the minimum wage, business predicted millions of job losses; in fact, we had more job gains over the next four years than in any comparable period in American history.)

5. A $15/hour minimum is unlikely to result in higher prices because most businesses directly affected by it are in intense competition for consumers, and will take the raise out of profits rather than raise their prices. But because the higher minimum will also attract more workers into the job market, employers will have more choice of whom to hire, and thereby have more reliable employees – resulting in lower turnover costs and higher productivity.

http://robertreich.org/post/82134788482


Why Portland Teachers Support a $15 Minimum Wage

Forty-five years ago the minimum wage was worth more in today’s dollars than our current state minimum of $9.25. In fact, if the federal minimum wage had kept pace with productivity over this same period, it would be more than $20 an hour.

So it’s no surprise that after two generations of stagnation workers across the country are taking matters into their own hands, organizing and even striking for $15. What seemed like pie in the sky three years ago is now the law of the land in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and is under consideration in a dozen other cities and states.

According to the Oregon Center for Public Policy, almost 600,000 working Oregonians would directly benefit from a $15 minimum wage, and 350,000 children in Oregon have at least one parent who would get a raise if we implement $15 statewide.

This is why Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) has joined with parents, and over 100 community and union allies here in Oregon to push for a statewide minimum wage of $15. The state legislature did not pass HB 2009, which would have implemented a $15 minimum wage over the course of three years. But even though the Democratic majority in Salem didn’t do it, the people still can thanks to a ballot measure filed by Oregonians for 15.

http://15noworegon.org/why-portland-teachers-support-15/

now in support of $15 minimum wage!