Hillary's stance on the minimum wage is still . . . . evolving. Still waiting for that hard number.
From the June 10th Washington Post :How the 15 dollar minimum wage could become a new dividing line in the Democratic primary
(Background - HRC phoned her support to a rally of "activists and union members" who were meeting specifically to rally for a federal $15 minimum wage.)
The former secretary of state did not endorse a $15 minimum wage. But she suggested her allegiance is with the efforts of the rallying workers. "All of you should not have to march in the streets to get a living wage, but thank you for marching in the streets to get that living wage," she said.
Two of her rivals for the Democratic nomination, Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders, have already embraced a $15 minimum wage. And so Clinton's decision to call the fast-food workers shows not only the potential power of organized labor in the 2016 campaign, but the way that the $15 minimum wage may become a kind of litmus test for Democratic candidates.
Asked about Clinton's position, the campaign provided the following statement: "She strongly supports workers in the fast-food industry in cities across the country mobilizing to fight for a living wage. In the coming weeks, she will lay out her specific plans for increasing wages."
Skip to yesterday when we had another breadcrumb thrown out to help us understand where she is on the $15 minimum wage issue:
Hillary Clinton declines to support a national $15 dollar minimum wage
Hillary Clinton on Thursday wouldn’t commit to supporting a $15 national minimum wage but said she is working with Democrats in Congress who are determining how high it can be set.
“I support the local efforts that are going on that are making it possible for people working in certain localities to actually earn 15,” Clinton said in a response to a question from BuzzFeed News during a press availability in New Hampshire on Thursday.
Okay, we'll count that as a "No" on the $15 dollar Federal minimum wage. Still waiting for that specific dollar amount Hillary.
Another perspective from Elizabeth Warren:
Elizabeth Warren: Minimum wage would be $22 an hour if it had kept up with Productivity
"If we started in 1960 and we said that as productivity goes up, that is as workers are producing more, then the minimum wage is going to go up the same. And if that were the case then the minimum wage today would be about $22 an hour," she said, speaking to Dr. Arindrajit Dube, a University of Massachusetts Amherst professor who has studied the economic impacts of minimum wage. "So my question is Mr. Dube, with a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, what happened to the other $14.75? It sure didn't go to the worker."
Dube went on to note that if minimum wage incomes had grown over that period at the same pace as it had for the top 1 percent of income earners, the minimum wage would actually be closer to $33 an hour than the current $7.25.
Because it's all relative, right? Insupportable and outlandish wage and income growth is only insupportable and outlandish when applied to the 99%. When it comes to the 1%, nothing is outlandish or insupportable.
IMO $15 is a no-brainer. It begins the movement towards a "living wage" as opposed to a minimum wage.
So far the only concrete wage proposal I've heard from Hillary is her profit sharing proposal in which companies are bribed to do the right thing or what they should be doing anyway with a 10-20 billion dollar tax credit paid for by the government.
Here's How Hillary Clinton Thinks Corporate Profit Sharing Should Work
Companies would get a tax credit of 15% of profit-sharing distributions or greater, and profit-sharing would be capped at 10% of an employee’s wages, the campaign explained in a fact-sheet Thursday. The campaign said the cost to the government would be between $10-$20 billion over 10 years, a budget hole that would be “fully paid for through the closure of tax loopholes.” She did not outline which loopholes she would close Thursday.
It seems to be a two-year program? What happens when the two years ends?
Raising minimum wage and indexing it to inflation is a permanent long-term fix that will go a long way to begin righting the upside down pyramid of wealth distribution that exists in this country, IMO
What's the number, Hillary?