Robert Reich via Facebook.com
Carly Fiorina – the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard who drove its stock into the ground, fired 30,000 workers, and left with a severance package of $21 million -- held forth today on the minimum wage. She made 3 arguments you'll hear again and again from Republicans. Here they are, accompanied by the truth:
1. "The minimum wage should be a state decision, not a federal decision because it makes no sense to say that the minimum wage in New York City is the same as the minimum wage in Mason City, Iowa."
Nonsense. We don’t have lower worker-safety standards in Mason City than in New York, even though worker safety costs businesses money. We don’t allow children under 14 to work in Mason City but not in New York, even though a ban on child labor costs businesses money. We’re a single society, and minimal decency means the same thing in Mason City as it does in New York or any place else.
2. "If we raise the minimum wage, young people who are trapped in poor neighborhoods will have less opportunities to learn skills and move forward."
Rubbish. By raising the minimum wage, people in poor neighborhoods receive more money for their work – and that money ricochets through such neighborhoods and encourages businesses to expand. Raising the minimum doesn’t cause job losses, as the attached research paper shows (the co-author is no relation).
3. "Small businesses are being crushed under the weight of a federal government that advantages the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and is crushing the small and the powerless. Every time we destroy a small business or we destroy a community bank, we are destroying the opportunity for someone to get that first job, learn skills, and get a better job."
Bonkers. Small businesses are being crushed by big corporations like Hewlett-Packard, and community banks are being put out of business by Wall Street. The federal government heaps advantages on big corporations and Wall Street banks because they're spending fortunes lobbying, contributing to campaigns, hiring fleets of lawyers, and paying platoons of "experts" to come up with answers the corporations want -- all with the goal of rigging the game.
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