A recent Pew poll finds that, by a significant margin, 71% to 26% of Americans are in favor of raising the federal minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $9.00 an hour. This is one of several proposals laid out by President Obama in his State of the Union address.
The same poll reveals that 50% of Republicans were also in favor—but don’t count top GOP lawmakers among them. Immediately following the president’s address, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., got mic’ed up for TV, and explained why they weren’t fans of the raising the minimum wage.
Both men prefaced by saying they’d love all Americans to make more money, but raising wage limits was not the answer and would not work. Their argument: it would be “inflationary” and “counter-productive”, and would cost the jobs of the very people it’s supposed to help.
We’ve been covering this issue for a little while now, and several of our viewers have reached out seeking out more on details on the argument to increase the minimum wage.
Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and msnbc contributor, was kind enough to send us some notes, with empirical evidence, why one of the GOP’s most common theories against raising the minimum wage is unfounded. Here you go: Watch Martin’s conversation with Dr. James Peterson and Jared Bernstein on why austerity ideas like this should raise red flags for voters.
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