Rand Paul: Middle-Income Wage, Not The Minimum, Needs To Be Raised

[jct74]

Middle-Income Wage, Not The Minimum, Needs To Be Raised

By SEN. RAND PAUL AND STEPHEN MOORE
Posted 05/07/2014 06:46 PM ET

The average salary in the U.S. is not $7.50 an hour, as Mr. Obama seems to think, but $23 an hour — or triple the minimum wage.

The jobs report told us something else that is crunching the working class. Workers are having a harder time than ever finding a full-time, 40-hour-a-week job. Employers we talk to tell us this is partly due to ObamaCare rules that are holding many new positions below 30 hours a week. (Since when is 30 hours a week a full-time job anyway?)

The White House's new proposed overtime rules are another misdirection play: Mr. President, the problem is that workers are getting too few, not too many, hours on the job.

Mr. Obama's tax increases have also held down wages. It has been a truism for at least 100 years — and probably for time immemorial — that worker pay rises with worker productivity. It's simple: the more widgets or potato chips or microchips a worker produces, the more the employer will pay her.

In last week's dismal GDP report, business spending on investment in plant, equipment and technology fell. That drop matters to workers because with less capital to improve their workplaces, they aren't as productive, and they can't command higher wages.

...

read more:
http://news.investors.com/ibd-editor...nimum-wage.htm

[angelatc]

Ooooh - I can almost hear the left starting to howl!

[CaptUSA]

Rand teaming up with Stephen Moore? Has he done this before?

I like this.

[francisco]

Rand teaming up with Stephen Moore? Has he done this before?

I like this.

I like this too. Moore is a good writer and has pro-Liberty views. Because he has in the past contributed to the WSJ, could be a route to soften their views on Rand.

Also, this could be a model for future collaborations with other respected writers to gain further exposure to, and hopefully acceptance by, other factions within the GOP.

[Vanguard101]

He should use this as a slogan. Raise the Middle-Income wage

[brandon]

Raising minimum wage would also raise the average, if other factors remain constant.

[Brian4Liberty]

[NoOneButPaul]

Why is a supposedly Austrian minded person like Rand even saying something this stupid?

[r3volution 3.0]

Ooooh - I can almost hear the left starting to howl!

Indeed.

Capital investment increases productivity and therefore wages?!

But but but, capitalist, evil, Che T-shirt, my professor said...

Why is a supposedly Austrian minded person like Rand even saying something this stupid?

What did he say that was stupid or un-Austrian?

[specsaregood]

Why is a supposedly Austrian minded person like Rand even saying something this stupid?

Hey, do us dimwits a favor and go through the article and quote all the sections that are anti-Austrian minded. TIA!

[helmuth_hubener]

Why is a supposedly Austrian minded person like Rand even saying something this stupid?

I sounded pretty good to me. What problem do you see with it? He is not calling for an actual law mandating that employers raise the wages of middle-income workers, of course.

[CaptUSA]

...if other factors remain constant.

Impossible. You change one, it changes the others. Always with unintended consequences. Only the most evil of men intends them.



The problem is that most of those men are writing the laws.

[Crashland]

The minimum wage is one thing I probably deviate from compared to most Paul supporters or even establishment Republicans. In my opinion there is a lot more to consider than the raw efficiency of the market. Everyone agrees the minimum wage is not a living wage. The fact that you aren't supposed to stay in a min wage job forever, I don't see how that really changes things during the time you *are* on minimum wage. People will get enough to scrape by either way. Whatever they don't get from their minimum wage, they will get from other government handouts. I wouldn't care if the minimum wage was raised, if it helped working people earn enough to depend less on government programs. Some of the pain from increased minimum wage would be fewer jobs, because of the slowed growth. But most of the pain would come out of the pockets of consumers as the costs are passed down to them. It is redistribution of wealth. It is going to happen either way, but since that is a foregone conclusion, I'd rather have the minimum wage increased (and have it determined at the local or state level), than have people more dependent on federal handouts.

But that's just me. I expect everyone here to disagree :-P

[AlexAmore]

Why is a supposedly Austrian minded person like Rand even saying something this stupid?

He said all the stimulus and bailouts have hurt the middle class coming out of the recession. He's advocating that we allow the market to recover itself.

[CaptUSA]

I wouldn't care if the minimum wage was raised, if it helped working people earn enough to depend less on government programs.

The problem is that the exact opposite of what you said really happens.

[NoOneButPaul]

I jumped to a hasty and ignorant conclusion based on the title of the thread. What he's saying makes perfect sense.

[Crashland]

The problem is that the exact opposite of what you said really happens.

It would happen if they no longer qualify for existing programs or if we reduce or eliminate the programs.
The poor will always be subsidized. Being on government programs means you qualify for more subsidies by working *less*. Increasing minimum wage and not qualifying for as many programs means you have to work to get the subsidy.

[anaconda]

Raising minimum wage would also raise the average, if other factors remain constant.

But one important factor will not remain constant: unemployment, since a minimum wage creates unemployment for workers with a marginal revenue product that is less than the minimum wage. So everyone losing their minimum wage job will now add zero to the calculation of the average.

[CaptUSA]

It would happen if they no longer qualify for existing programs or if we reduce or eliminate the programs.
The poor will always be subsidized. Being on government programs means you qualify for more subsidies by working *less*. Increasing minimum wage and not qualifying for as many programs means you have to work to get the subsidy.

Come on... For every person who falls into this category, there are more that fall into the other.

[Crashland]

Come on... For every person who falls into this category, there are more that fall into the other.

Sorry I'm not sure what you mean. explain?

[CaptUSA]

Sorry I'm not sure what you mean. explain?

What if you are one of the ones who loses your job? What if you are one of the ones who wants a new job?

[Crashland]

What if you are one of the ones who loses your job? What if you are one of the ones who wants a new job?

I am not convinced that the effect on unemployment is quite as devastating as claimed - there are quite a number of studies on this and taken as a whole the evidence either way is pretty underwhelming. I think the biggest chunk of it gets passed down to consumers in the form of higher prices, which slightly lowers demand and slows growth. Slower overall growth is a bigger effect than unemployment. That's the part where I disagree, respectfully :-P

[jct74]

‘Who thinks like this?’ Busybody Brad Woodhouse’s shot at Rand Paul is truly lame

Posted at 4:44 pm on May 8, 2014 by Twitchy Staff

Former DNC comms director Brad Woodhouse has a problem. Namely, he’s a Democrat and therefore has nothing better to do than try to stir up trouble where there isn’t any.

Just how desperate is he? Have a look:

Because sandwich hypocrisy or something.

Good. Lord.

...

read more:
http://twitchy.com/2014/05/08/who-th...is-truly-lame/

[ghengisconrad]

I am not convinced that the effect on unemployment is quite as devastating as claimed - there are quite a number of studies on this and taken as a whole the evidence either way is pretty underwhelming. I think the biggest chunk of it gets passed down to consumers in the form of higher prices, which slightly lowers demand and slows growth. Slower overall growth is a bigger effect than unemployment. That's the part where I disagree, respectfully :-P

Sure, employment may not go down "very much" as a whole; but have you ever seen the % of people who go from self-employed, or working for a small business to working for a corporation?

And don't even get me started on the oodles of money shipping the products from China that are no longer profitable to be made in the U.S. thanks to the minimum wage. YISH. Why don't we just bring the chinese over here to live, pay them more, and f**ing f*** the oil companies?

Minimum wage is the most pro-corporate pro-oil thing out there. Makes me sick.

[anaconda]

I think Rand here is attempting to expose one of the deflection tactics used by the left, which is to pontificate about raising the minimum wage rather than addressing the real structural problems in the economy.

[MRK]

"Why don't we just bring the chinese over here to live, pay them more, and f**ing f*** the oil companies?"a

Because 'immigrants taking jobs' and 'giving people unfair wages' are things both sides of the spectrum can be rallied in support against.

[ghengisconrad]

"Why don't we just bring the chinese over here to live, pay them more, and f**ing f*** the oil companies?"a

Because 'immigrants taking jobs' and 'giving people unfair wages' are things both sides of the spectrum can be rallied in support against.

I know right? Immigrants "taking our jobs" and working for "unfair wages" is totally fine, as long as we don't have to see it?

I mean this to actually say, its totally fine, and I would be happier if the manufacturing was closer to my proximity so I don't have to pay so much for oil.

Wanna cut down on international CO2 emmisions? Open the borders and eliminate the minimum wage.