Hello Everybody,   
      
   The federal minimum wage in the USA is currently $7.25 per hour.   
   In 2013, there were 19 states in the USA that had set minimum wages   
   higher than the federal standard.  On New Year's Day, 2014, that   
   number rose to 21 states.   
      
   New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Arizona, Colorado,   
   Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, ...   
      
   The community of Sea Tac, Washington decided to up the ante   
   to $15/hour, but a judge decided to step in the way putting an   
   end to that.   
      
   U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren wanted to raise the federal minimum   
   wage to $22 per hour for everybody, but U.S. Senator Ted Cruz started   
   shouting "Remember the Alamo!" in the Senate chambers, scaring anybody   
   who dared to listen, including Santa Claus, forcing Sen. Warren to   
   table her bill.   
      
   With Washington state now having the highest miminum wage in the   
   country at $9.19 per hour, and California planning to raise its   
   minimum wage to $9.00 per hour in July, why aren't Republicans   
   eager to jump on the bandwagon?  President Obama's call to raise   
   the federal minimum wage to $9.00 per hour is beginning to sound   
   very conservative, given the number of states which have already   
   raised their own minimum wage.   
      
   Liberals like to think that raising the federal minimum wage   
   is a good thing.  Conservatives like to think that raising the   
   federal minimum wage is a bad thing.  Some conservatives even   
   think there should be no minimum wage at all, the whole idea   
   of a minimum wage being evil (socialist or communist).   
      
   Who is right?  Who is wrong?   
      
   Sweden is regarded as being the most socialistic country on earth.   
   And yet Sweden has no minimum wage as we do in the USA.  An employer   
   and employee negotiate an agreement, and that is that.  None of those   
   rules and regulations stipulating how much an employer must pay to   
   employees.   
      
   Republicans simply want to give Americans the same freedom as Swedes.   
   Let employers and employees negotiate their own contracts without   
   government interference.  Contract America will set us free as we have   
   never been free before!   
      
   There is no minimum wage law in the state of Louisiana.  As such,   
   the minimum wage defaults to the federal rate of $7.25 per hour.   
   Just think of the benefits we are missing due to this anachronistic   
   wage.  Why should taxpayers be subsidizing corporations who use it   
   (the federal minimum wage) as a basis to pay their workers?  I call   
   it wage theft.  Democrats keep it going by deceiving people into   
   believing they are getting a good deal by raising the federal   
   minimum wage by trivial amounts once a decade or so.  Republicans   
   are no better, going along with this scam since the days of FDR.   
      
   This is our current policy, which has been going on for decades -   
      
   Low Wages + High Profits + Escalating Government Subsidies =   
   Fat Profits for Corporations   
      
   Liberals will argue that raising the federal minimum wage by $2   
   per hour will force corporations and other employers to use part of   
   their profits to improve the salaries of their minimum wage workers.   
   This is Reaganomics (trickle down economics).   
      
   Ronald Reagan is not dead.  He came back to life as Barack Obama.   
   The New Coke for a New Generation.  But its the same old Coke folks   
   have always had before.   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.06.00.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)