Comment on Opinion: Increasing the minimum wage comes at too high a price for workers | CNN
BobaFuttbucker@reddthat.com 4 months agoQuite a stretch to argue because minimum wage didn’t fulfill its intended goal on day 1 that wasn’t the intention….
jimbolauski@lemm.ee 4 months ago
Minimum wage never fulfilled its claimed goal. FDR had opportunities to make minimum wage a living wage but never did, the very next year minimum wage was raised to $0.30 per hour, still below a living wage.
BobaFuttbucker@reddthat.com 4 months ago
I’ll agree with you there.
Politics are gonna politic, and there’s always going to be someone against something, even if I’d seems like a no-brainer.
In the case of minimum wage though, that’s all the more reason to push to expand it, not just give up because FDR didn’t get it perfect the first time.
jimbolauski@lemm.ee 4 months ago
If the intent was a living wage then why did FDR champion the $0.25 bill instead of the AFL backed $0.40 bill? He had veto proof majority for its passing. The politics was pretending minimum wage wage was intended to be a living wage.
BobaFuttbucker@reddthat.com 4 months ago
Because politics is just as much about cooperation as it is about getting as much passed as you want.
What you’re leaving out is the veto-proof majority he had was a result of compromises due to opposition from Southern States and previous attempts at similar bills being struck down by the Supreme Court.
$0.25 is more than half of the AFL backed $0.40 figure you gave, so considering he had to compromise to appeal to the minority AND Supreme Court it’s actually not a bad floor.
Once again, just because it wasn’t the ideal amount on day 1 doesn’t mean the original intent was a lie.