Larry Kudlow, one of Donald Trump’s top economic advisers, took some time the week before Election Day to call the federal minimum wage a “terrible idea.” Y’see, when it comes to the cost of living, “Idaho is different than New York. Alabama is different than Nebraska.” No! You don’t say! And in none of those places does working full-time at the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour allow a person to afford rent.
In fact, lots of states and cities have increased their minimum wages. Nebraska voters raised their state’s minimum wage in 2014—it’s now $9. New York’s minimum wage is now $10.40 an hour and slated to go up to $11.10 at the New Year. Idaho and Alabama are at that federal poverty wage of $7.25 an hour, but Republicans in Alabama stepped in to stop Birmingham from raising its minimum wage to $10.10.
Local control is not what Kudlow is advocating, though:
“I would argue against state and local [increases],” Kudlow said. “But that’s up to the states and localities.”
Big of him, I guess, but if it’s something he’d grudgingly allow rather than something he’s arguing for, then the position that the federal minimum wage is a “terrible idea” boils down to “I don’t like the minimum wage at all and think companies should be able to pay as little as they can get away with.”
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In January, the fired workers in Sumas sued Munger. In affidavits filed in federal court, 36 former Munger workers contended an abusive attitude pervaded the company. Workers claim they were fed meals contaminated with insects and human hair, provided too little water during the summer harvest and threatened if they didn’t reach unreasonable picking quotas. “It was common practice among Munger’s managers to tell any H-2A foreign worker that complained about working conditions, ‘Para Mexico,’ ” said Giovanna Sierra, a Munger office manager fired following the Sumas dustup, in court papers, meaning, “if you don’t like it, go back to Mexico.”
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