Democrats are a not so rare and very ignorant breed. They seemed to be ruled by a rather twisted philosophy centered around the bringing about the end of America. Policies are to be implemented with nary a thought being given to any unintended consequences that may be made to arise. And no blame is ever to be accepted for any that actually result from their liberal/progressive policies. After all, their hearts are in the right place and that’s all that should really matter. But more often than not, their effort to ‘help’ people results in nothing more than hurting those who the intent was to help. And, of course, nothing proves that better that the most recent example of that screwed up mentality, Obamacare.
Next on their agenda is their politically motivated desire to hike the minimum wage. And again they refuse to recognize the unintended consequences that will be the direct result from doing so. They claim that there exists no ‘real proof’ that doing will have any adverse effect on an already weak employment situation. However, a recent report by Congress' nonpartisan budget analysts seems would seem to have thrown Democrats onto the defensive after it concluded that the party's drive to boost the federal minimum wage could cost at least a half-million jobs by 2016. But since they reside in some weird alternative universe, Democrats either ignore such findings or simply try to discredit them.
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report released just yesterday concluded that a gradual increase to $10.10 hourly wage by that year, which is what Barry and congressional Dumbocrats are now seeking, would increase pay for roughly 16.5 million people, mostly those earning low wages. But while, as to be expected, Democrats hailed those findings, Democrats from the White House to Capitol Hill chose to refute another of the report's conclusions: that the increase would reduce jobs in 2016 by roughly 500,000, or 0.3 percent. And it could actually be far more jobs that would be lost, possibly as many as 1 Million jobs. For whom, besides these Democrats, does this make any sense?
The figure presented in the report was described as being the ‘midpoint’ of a range of job losses the budget office estimates that would be somewhere between negligible and 1 million eliminated positions. And, needless to say, it was a rather unpleasant number for Democrats, who plan to make their long-shot effort to raise the minimum wage this campaign year a centerpiece of their focus on correcting income inequity between haves and have-nots. But this entire theory would seem to run counter to the claims repeatedly made by Democrats that job creation is their number one focus. And yet all they really seem to be interested in, from the White House on down, is the killing of even more jobs.
Now of course it comes as a surprise to no one that Jason Furman, chairman of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, and council member Betsey Stevenson were quick to respond to the report’s findings in a blog post by again referring to a statement by more than 600 supposed economists who, they claim, have cited recent academic findings that "increases in the minimum wage have had little or no negative effect on the employment of minimum-wage workers, even during times of weakness in the labor market." Academic findings? So, in other words we’re to rely on another nice piece of liberal propaganda put together by a cadre of leftist academics, and supported by faux economists?
And in discussing the CBO estimates with reporters, Furman said, "There's some respectful disagreement on the emphasis and certainty around that magnitude of employment loss." He added, "Zero is a perfectly reasonable estimate of the impact of the minimum wage on employment" based on research by other economists. These clones are always more than a little selective when it comes to whom they choose to listen to. They simply choose to ignore the facts, and go about creating their own facts, and then repeat them ad nauseam. And if you dare disagree with them then you’re attacked, accused of not caring about the "less fortunate." It’s all pure propaganda!
And of course among those in enthusiastic agreement with this boob Furman was none other Little Tommy Harkin, Democrat and devout socialist, who, as it just so happens, is the author of the current minimum wage bill the Senate plans to debate as soon as next month. It’s his cockamamie measure that seeks to boost today's $7.25 standard in three steps to $10.10 by 2016, with annual increases reflecting inflation after that. Citing "the newest economic research using the most sophisticated methodologies," Harkin said, "since the first minimum wage was enacted more than 75 years ago, opponents have argued that a wage floor would cause job loss. But this is a myth." No, Tommy, fraid not!
Republicans have always solidly opposed a minimum wage boost, pointing out, and rightly so, that is was nothing but a job killer. And they wasted no time in using the budget office report to buttress their case. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made the argument, "Today's CBO report shows that raising the minimum wage could destroy as many as 1 million jobs, a devastating blow to the very people that need help most in this economy." And it was Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, who said, "With unemployment Americans' top concern, our focus should be creating — not destroying — jobs for those who need them most."
So once again Democrats firmly oppose something that ought to be seen as being a no-brainer, ignoring completely the fact that a minimum wage boost will cost jobs because employers will be forced to compensate for their higher wage costs by raising prices. Which will, most likely, then prompt consumers to purchase fewer goods and services and, in turn, encourage companies to hire fewer workers. A minimum wage increase also encourages some businesses to trim the number of low-paid workers. It’s basic economics, and yet Democrats, in their continuing assault on our struggling economy, seek only to work toward getting even more people addicted to government and choose to ignore that which many see as being simple commonsense.
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