The Dems’ Plan
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in ElectionsWould you like to see the following?
…raise the minimum wage, roll back parts of the Republican prescription drug law, implement homeland security measures and reinstate lapsed budget deficit controls.
Well, that’s what the Dems plan to do in their first week.
Yes…the first week.
Frankly, I like the idea of raising the minimum wage. It’s been way too long since that’s been raised, and it certainly isn’t going to happen with a Republican led House and Senate. As for the other ideas, we’ll just have to see.
One thing that will be up for discussion is the pre-war intelligence…
“Certainly the conduct of the war” in Iraq would be the subject of hearings, if not a full-fledged House investigation, Pelosi said. Another subject for investigation could be the use of intelligence on Saddam Hussein’s alleged weapons of mass destruction to make the case for the 2003 invasion.
But will they even get a chance to do any of this? What do you think?
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May 7th, 2006 at 8:39 am
The problem with raising the minimum wage isn’t raising the minimum wage. It’s the minimum wage multiple union contracts that make raising the minimum wage a stalking horse for raising the wages of hundreds of thousands of union workers who are making more than minimum wage.
I’m in favor of giving a hand to the lowest income earners but I think the way to do it is by adjusting the Earned Income Tax Credit (basically, a reverse income tax).
May 7th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
As a general observation, the wider and more detailed the publicised plans of a political party the greater the likelihood that I would vote for that party.
Dave S, this is a path being followed by the present left-wing NZ government.
It is not a new idea, but when it is applied to perhaps 60% of the workforce (as it now is in NZ) there are likely to be economic consequences down the track. Those consequences will not be a tax backlash or anything like that. It will show more as an increasing reliance by employers on the government to “top-up” wages.
The true impact will come when (perhaps a change of government leads to…) the scheme is withdrawn, probably as the result of the fiscal imbalances being created within the economy. (It comes to mind that it would not be a right wing government that removes the scheme either. Especially as the true beneficiaries are their buddies, not the workers. Reason – pay workers less, more government top-up, gives greater gov’t “indirect subsidy” on production equals higher returns and better dividends…)
The pressure for increased wages in NZ is low at present, despite firm moves to increase the minimum wage here. NZ does not have the “multiplier clauses” in wage agreements. The relativities are usually set by more realistic processes than that.
NZ (at the moment) is at far greater economic risk from excessive household borrowing, but I reserve the right to change that assessment later this year.