- A Cape Cod restaurant closed for breakfast Thursday morning after customers berated staff to the point some employees cried.
- Reports of disruptive behavior on aircraft have shot up since the new year, and flight attendants are the ones on the front line dealing with rude and sometimes violent customers.
- Retail workers have had to break up fist fights to deal with patrons not wearing masks.
- Transit workers have been attacked for trying to enforce rules.
As Michael Sandel points out in The Tyranny of Merit, the dignity of work, most notably the work not requiring a college degree, has been eroding in the USA since the 1950’s and 1960’s with the rise of the meritocratic mission of higher education. Want a job with good wages, respect, a feeling of dignity? Go to college!
Sadly, we now see the other side of this coin. People who work in restaurants or a wide range of service positions not requiring college degrees are not just paid poorly, they are denigrated by the public.
I see this as an opportunity for Democrats to seize as more and more ordinary working class Americans are experiencing a loss of dignity as they work. Sure, go ahead, push for free college, free child care, and all the other bennies for what the right call the “liberal elite” but there is a substantial number of voters who just want a fair wage and a measure of dignity.
It’s really too bad that some people can’t take a breath and just follow the rules. Violent confrontations are never the way to go.
We are associating wealth with merit in the USA. “Those people” did not acquire the proper “skill sets” as I did. They are lazy. They have no ambition, no interest in improving themselves. They are not successful. Why should we grant them any compassion for a job that a high school dope smoking dropout can do?
Even if all that were true (It very much isn’t and nobody is saying that it is.) they are still human beings. Even the local panhandler should never be treated that way.
Our Democratic Party fights for free college, free childcare, but cannot raise the federal minimum wage. What message does this send to minimum wage workers who want jobs that do not require a college degree – but are still vital and essential to our way of life?
Our party IS fighting to raise the federal minimum wage. Our party created the federal minimum wage. Our party successfully drove the last increase in the federal minimum wage. Our party is closer to raising the federal minimum wage than it is to accomplishing any of the other also necessary items you mention.
It is the OTHER party that blocks an increase in the federal minimum wage, as that other party has for as long as there’s been a federal minimum wage.
The most immediate and effective way to increase the federal minimum wage is to increase the Democratic majority in the House and Senate in the upcoming 2022 midterm election. Had we done that in the 2020 election, a $15/hour federal minimum wage would be law today.
Do you think your commentary helps or hurts our ability to increase the Democratic Party majority in the 2022 midterm elections?
On Soapblox this would be a “6 6s” comment!
Pathetic. The Democratic Party can’t do anything because the Republicans won’t let them. The Democrats have majorities in both houses an the Presidency, which means that their are 50 Republicans in the Senate the the President can put the screws to. What do you think LBJ would do to those Republicans?
FDR said it as quoted by Fred recently, if something happens in politics, it’s not an accident, but the result of planning. I don’t buy the excuses.
“. . . our ability to increase the Democratic Party majority in the 2022 midterm elections” On what planet is that going to happen?
More constructive commentary.
On what planet does this comment help accomplish anything other than assuring GOP control of the House and Senate in 2022?
The Democrats in Massachusetts, with full control, took away time and a half pay on Sundays and Holidays for low wage retail workers.
Workers at Stop & Shop had to go on strike to regain what the Massachusetts Democratic Legislature took away.
Massachusetts has one of the widest degrees of wealth disparity in the USA.
On what planet does the Democratic Party stand for the working class with full force?
This thread is about the federal minimum wage. It is currently $7.25/hr. The minimum wage in MA is currently $13.50/hour and will be $15/hr starting on January 1, 2023.
The elimination of Sunday overtime for some workers was a price paid in exchange for early adoption of the dramatic increase in the Massachusetts minimum wage. That complaint has been beaten to death here over the past several years — additional blows will not resurrect that dead horse.
There is no minimum wage that will EVER address the wealth concentration issue. I think you know and agree (at least when we’ve discussed wealth taxes).
Working class households in Massachusetts already have MANY more protections and benefits than in most other states.
As I recall that legislation was a net plus. Sometimes you need to compromise.
Telling voters to shut up about the minimum wage, and to have a more positive attitude until after the midterms won’t work on any level. It’s a con and everybody knows it.
Midterms are hard to win in any case, but whatever chance the Democrats have depends on accomplishments, not on whining about the Republicans and pouting when you think criticism isn’t constructive enough.
Nobody is telling voters to shut up about the minimum wage.
Spreading disinformation about Democrats is expected from today’s Republicans. It is repugnant from those who claim to be Democrats.
FDR and LBJ both had overwhelming Democratic majorities to work with.
Just to set the record straight. LBJ needed 66 votes to end a filibuster and and no reconciliation workaround available. And a lot of his Democrats were Dixiecrats who were on the verge of going Republican.
Not on stuff like this. Social programs they were on board and for civil rights he got help from the Republicans. The point stands – LBJ had a lot more Senators either loyal on spec or open to helping on an ad hoc basis.
I appreciate the clarification. So you agree with Christopher that LBJ had or could muster an overwhelming Democratic majority to work with.
The Senate is split 50-50 with one member from an overwhelmingly Republican state. What do YOU think LBJ would have done that Mr. Biden is not already doing?
I see. Do you believe that the 50-50 split is “fake news”? Do you assert that the Democrats actually won an overwhelming majority of the Senate and House and that the deep state stole the election?
Other than stamping your foot because you’re unhappy, do you have any actual suggestions about what Democrats should do differently?
The President of the United States can do more than stamp his foot when a Senator is not responsive to his agenda. The list of things he can do or not do to help or hurt a Senator is endless. That’s what politics is.
That’s such an obvious point that I am almost embarrassed to have to say it. That you and Christopher say you don’t know it suggests that you are spending too much time staring off into the sky where the Confederate monuments used to be and feeling good about yourselves.
Christopher really thinks LBJ had an overwhelming majority? And he teaches history? His poor students! LBJ’s Overwhelming majority consisted of a large contingent of segregationist Dixiecrats, who controlled most of the key committees. But Johnson got what he really wanted when he decided it was worth the price.
No Johnson could not just snap his fingers and get any senator to jump whenever he wanted. But for something he really wanted he could find a majority.
That’s the whole point about Biden. He’s been around the Senate forever and ran on being the guy who who could be bi-partisan and get things done. If the minimum wage was important enough he could find a way to get it through Congress. But he isn’t getting it done.
Raising the minimum wage isn’t enough of a priority for Biden. That’s what I am complaining about
Please stop lying about my commentary regarding confederate monuments. You know full well that we are on opposite sides of that question.
In other words you don’t know.
LBJ took office with a 68 to 32 super-majority in the Senate. Like it or not, that DOES make a difference. The political world of 1964 was different from the political world of 2021.
With Democrats holding 68 of 100 seats, I would certainly hope so.
I am quite sure that if today’s Senate had a 68-32 Democratic majority, a great many things would have already happened. The filibuster would not be an issue, and both Mitch McConnell and Joe Manchin would be insignificant footnotes in our grandchildren’s history books.
Raising the minimum wage, along with virtually every other aspect of the Democratic agenda, is opposed by EVERY Senate Republican and by at least 74 million US voters. Those are more rightful targets of your hostility.
Your energy would be better spent attacking willfully ignorant, racist, and seditionist Republicans — never mind the few remaining voices on BMG.
Plus, I had no idea there were Confederate monuments in the sky! 🙂
“Please stop lying about my commentary regarding confederate monuments. You know full well that we are on opposite sides of that question.”
I supported tearing down Confederate monuments. I don’t assume that it makes me morally superior.
But I see that we are drifting off into hurt-feeling territory (again). So let’s go back to the top.
I say that Biden does not give raising the minimum raise the priority it deserves. I don’t buy his excuses Hardly anyone does.
Enough of these failures will doom any chance the Democrats have of keeping majorities in Congress. If being constructive means pretending these failures aren’t failures and hoping nobody notices, then I guess I’ll have to add “not being constructive” to my long list of character defects.
Nobody “drifted” anywhere, you made a direct and false statement about me.
I suggest you look in the mirror before saying very much about assumptions of moral superiority.
That very much depends on who you’re talking about and to.
You seem to be under the delusion that trash talk accomplishes anything except worsening an already bad situation.
I have not suggested that you or anybody else pretend anything. I’m instead suggesting that you’ve confused the players. The guys wearing the blue hats are working to increase the minimum wage. The guys wearing the red hats are doing all in their power to freeze or even decrease the minimum wage (they, after all, opposed it from the beginning as a sign of “communism”).
I grant that Mr. Manchin’s hat is much closer to purple than I like. He also comes from state that is VERY red. Would you prefer a 51-49 GOP senate led by Mitch McConnell so that you can be rid of the irksome Joe Manchin?
However you want to look at it, Joe Biden’s hat is clearly blue for any willing to see.
Suppose any person of your choice was in the Oval Office — we might contemplate President Bernie Sanders, but any man or woman will do.
Let’s stipulate that this man or woman views raising the minimum wage as his or her very top priority (above dealing with the pandemic, putting down an insurrection, dealing with the literal collapse of our infrastructure, dealing with the here-and-now impacts of climate change, and of course unprecedented wealth concentration).
What would your ideal president do differently from Mr. Biden? Do you think Mr. Manchin or Ms. Sinema would take a different posture on raising the federal minimum wage if it had been pursued by ANY of the other candidates in the 2020 campaign?
None of us like the current situation. Some of us recognize who makes things better and who makes things worse.
So far as I can tell, your commentary not only refuses to make such a distinction but actively attacks those who do.
“What your ideal president do differently from Mr. Biden? “
Mr Biden should make raising the minimum wage a priority and get a bill passed which does so.
We didn’t hold our noses and vote for him so he could wear a hat.
That’s so cute, Bob — a pretty little circular argument. 🙂
You know as well as the rest of us that the reason that there is not yet an increase in the federal minimum wage is that GOP opposition in the Senate is uniform and disciplined.
My prediction remains that an accommodation will be made with Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema so that the present filibuster practices are reformed. The Senate will then pass the increase in the federal minimum wage that we all want.
That outcome will happen because of, rather than in spite of, Joe Biden.
The federal minimum wage has not risen since 2009. Is it your contention that Republicans have been in full control of this issue for the past twelve years? I seem to recall a period in this span when Democrats controlled the White House, Senate, and Congress.
The last successful legislation to increase the federal minimum wage was in 2007, when a newly-elected Democratic majority drove three increases over a three-year period. That legislation was opposed by the GOP and ultimately passed only because the Democrats succumbed to a GOP demand for yet another tax giveaway to the wealthy — even while their irresponsible policies were causing the Great Recession of 2008.
That successful effort took Democrats ten years. As a result, the federal minimum wage increased from $5.15/hr in 2007 to $7.25 in 2009.
The 2007 increase was overdue after the prior increase was driven through Congress by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Mr. Clinton successfully galvanized public opinion to overcome steadfast GOP resistance in a GOP-controlled House and Senate.
Then-president Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2014 raising the minimum wage for federal workers from $7.25/hr to $10.10/hr. He called on Congress to do the same. The Republican Congress with John Boehner as Speaker refused to comply.
Democrats held the House from 2007 to 2012. Raising the federal minimum wage was among their first acts. During the first term of Mr. Obama, they passed the ACA — an even greater benefit for working-class Americans.
The Democrats held a thin majority of the Senate from 2007 to 2015. The GOP used various procedural methods to block Democratic legislation.
The GOP held the Senate during the entire Donald Trump administration.
I agree with you that it is a travesty that the federal minimum wage has not been increased since the Democrats raised it between 2007 and 2009. It was a travesty that it took until 2007 to raise the federal minimum wage after Bill Clinton accomplished the feat in 1996.
I profoundly disagree with you that this sad fact is the fault of Democrats.
I share your frustration with the utter dysfunction of our political system today. I categorically reject your contention that this is the fault of anybody except the GOP.
There aren’t any Democrats who are willing to force a minimum wage increase or torpedo the infrastructure bill. There are plenty of Democrats who are will to torpedo that bill, and say so publicly, if they don’t get a tax break (ie. repeal of the SALT cap) that only benefits the already wealthy.
That’s all you have to know about the Democrats.
It sounds as though you’re saying that Democrats should hold the infrastructure bill hostage to increasing the minimum wage.
Is that really what you mean?
If so, then I stand by my contention that your commentary does more to help the GOP than anybody else.
I agree that this comment is all I have to know about some who claim to be “Democrats”.
The rotten center of the infrastructure debate | The Week
The Democratic party is full of hacks who are willing to torpedo the infrastructure bill in order to benefit wealthy contributors. Just like BMG is full of bloggers who shrug their shoulders at the prospect of people working for $7.50 an hour, but grow faint at the plight of those who are limited to $10,000 in income tax deductions for state and local taxes.
“Please, please, don’t mention the minimum wage–that only helps the Republicans.”
I wish I could locate the FDR quote the Fred posted a while ago, that in politics nothing happens by accident. It’s worth repeating because it’s true, And a lot of people, even the person who posted it, seem neither to remember or understand it.
There you go again — please stop lying about my commentary. I invite you to offer any quote from BMG from anybody who “shrug[s] their shoulders at the prospect of people working for $7.50 and hour”. I’ve never said that we should avoid talking about the federal minimum wage.
I’ve instead said repeatedly — including in this thread — that I enthusiastically support increasing the federal minimum wage to $15/hr. My objection is to blaming Democrats in general and Joe Biden in particular for GOP intransigence. Bank employees who give a robber money because the thief aims a gun at their head are NOT responsible for the loss.
The federal minimum wage was raised in 1996 because President Bill Clinton successfully worked a feat of magic by creating a massive wave of public support that overwhelmed GOP resistance in a GOP-held House and Senate. It was raised again ten years later (in 2007) by a newly-elected Democratic House majority who again overcame stubborn GOP resistance.
You lie about my own comments and ignore or distort history in order to advance your own private passions.
I object to commentary that is knowingly and willfully false. I object to commentary that blames Democrats in general and Joe Biden in particular for the fact that the much-needed increase in the federal minimum wage hasn’t happened yet.
Tom, stop willfully lying about your own comments. You have repeatedly said that my support for a fight for a higher minimum wage “does more to help the GOP than anybody else.” You’ve consistently made excuses for the Biden administration’s failure to more this issue. You’ve extended your excuse making to cover previous administrations.
Did you read the article I linked to? You must know that Democrats have already threatened to hold up the infrastructure bill, because they want a special tax break for upper income voters. Yet only when someone as insignificant as me hints that maybe progressives should use similar tactics for better ends–only then do you worry about helping the GOP.
The only “enthusiasm” you display about the minimum wage is that you enthusiastically want people to wait politely and not rock the boat while the wealthy grab back their special tax breaks.
Not wanting to double tax income by both state and federal governments is hardly a special break for the wealthy. That impacts every one of us whose taxes are largely based on our W2s.
Christopher, 56% of the SALT cap repeal go to the top 1%, of earners. If that’s not a special tax break for the wealthy, then what is?
That’s not the least bit surprising since they have more money that would be taxed otherwise, but it does not negate what I said. I for one certainly don’t want to pay taxes twice on the same pot of money.
“ I for one certainly don’t want to pay taxes twice on the same pot of money.”
This is about as silly as it gets. Every tax you pay is paid with money that has already been taxed. Property taxes, sales taxes, water and sewer bills, gas taxes—-everything.
You keep going around in circles, when I suggested before that you seemed not to believe in progressive taxation, you were insulted. But here you are coming to the defense of a regressive tax break, on this flimsy pretext.
Do you understand that being for progressive taxation is the opposite of being for regressive taxation. Have you thought this out?
Every tax you pay is paid with money that has already been taxed. Property taxes, sales taxes, water and sewer bills, gas taxes—-everything.
For most homeowners in the affected areas, property taxes are far and away the largest of those and have always been deductible. State sales taxes are similarly deductible.
The property tax is indeed the most regress ive tax most of us face. The best way to solve this issue in MA is to increase state funding to cities and towns so that they are not dependent on the property tax.
State taxes have always been deductible from federal taxes for just the reason that Christopher states.
Many or most small landlords include property tax in the cost basis that they use to set their rent. When property taxes increase, rent increases. That’s one of the reasons why property taxes are regressive — because they are passed on to tenants.
None of this is relevant to the fact that the repeal of the SALT deduction cap is wildly regressive, but will be part of the infrastructure bill. How did this regressive provision get into the bill?
The Republicans refuse to participate in this bill, and you dismiss as “grandstanding” the statements of Gottheimer and Suozzi.
So who did it?
This thread is about the federal minimum wage. It will pass the House with or without the votes of Mr. Gottheimer or Suozzi.
If you want to talk about SALT, start a different thread.
The opposition of Senate Republicans is why the federal minimum wage has not been increased.
No amount your attempted misdirection will change that.
In other words, the Democrats did it. They are perfectly able to pass legislation without any help from Republicans, as long as it benefits the 1%. On the other hand, they have failed for 14 years to increase the minimum wage. That tells you everything about their priorities.
@In other words, the Democrats did it:
You’re just trolling.
I believe both in not paying taxes twice on the same pot of money and that the more you make the greater portion you should pay.
That’s a sound tax policy but the corrupt politicians (both parties) in Washington have made convoluted loopholes for years which spawned a whole industry (tax prep). One of the reasons Trump was popular was his increase of the “standard deduction” (12,000 to 24,000) for a married couple. Argue about regressive vs progressive taxation, wealth tax, etc, most economically disadvantaged couples sitting in their doublewides saw the amount they had to pay drop and they were happy. 2025 will be interesting.
People in states with no income tax also saw the ability of other people to deduct state taxes from their income then pay their federal taxes on that income as unfair. Obligations to the federal govt should be separate from obligations to their respective states, is the thinking on that. Can’t even imagine living in a city that has their own income tax.
Not looking to argue about it, the discussions deteriorate, just thought you might appreciate another perspective.
The net balance of federal dollars in those “states with no income tax” tilts strongly negative — those people RECEIVE far more in federal tax benefits than they pay in federal taxes.
The people in that big city that has its own income tax and shares the name of its state pay FAR more in federal tax dollars than they receive.
The people screaming the loudest are the people who already benefit the most from this imbalance.
I invite you to visit a map that shows the federal balance of payments by state (https://rockinst.org/issue-areas/fiscal-analysis/balance-of-payments-portal/).
I suggest a “money-where-your-mouth-is” policy — the first step towards lowering federal spending and the deficit should be to limit the federal spending in each of the 50 states to the federal payments received from that state.
I note that top 3 state free-loaders are, in order, Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida.
The top three states that support those freeloaders are New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
Those people living in their double-wides would do well to face actual facts — including what actually happens in the states they live in — rather than whine about their various bogeymen.
Tom’s elitism is never far below the surface. The SALT cap repeal would do nothing to even out the federal tax burden among the states. It does not return tax money to the states; it returns tax money to rich people. There’s a world of difference, to coin a phrase. If you want to discuss the varying tax burdens of the different states, you should start your own thread.
I invite you to reread my comments.
My objection is to you placing the blame on Joe Biden and the Democrats.
So now describing uncontested facts about who passed prior legislation increases in the federal minimum wage is “excuse making”.
Your commentary is both false and completely disconnected with reality.
From the article I linked to above
“Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) not only fretted about tax hikes, but also demanded a big tax cut for the rich — namely, the restoration of the federal deduction for state and local taxes (or SALT), which was capped in the Trump tax cuts. “No SALT, no dice,” said Gottheimer. (Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been asking for this as well for years.)
In short, Democratic moderates are holding climate policy hostage to get a tax cut for the rich.”
See any Republicans mentioned, Tom?
The “Raise the Wage Act of 2021” (H.R.603) — https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/603/ — was introduced in the House on Jan 28, 2021. It has 199 co-sponsors, all Democrats. It will pass the House with or without the votes of Mr. Gottheimer or Mr. Suozzi.
They, and you, are grandstanding.
It is its Senate counterpart that cannot pass without 60 votes for cloture. It is the Senate Republicans that are blocking that vote.
Joe Biden will sign the bill when it is eventually passed (and it will be).
GOP opposition in the Senate is why the federal minimum wage is not already $15/hour.
The Democratic Party is driving this legislation, as the Democratic Party drove the two prior successful increases in 1996 and 2007.
In short, you are either lying to yourself or to us (or both) about who is stalling this legislation.
“Eventually” for the minimum wage hike. “No SALT no dice” for a regressive gift to the top 1%.
Which is going to happen first?
It will happen when the Senate Democrats bring Joe Manchin and Krystin Sinema onboard enough to get a minimum wage bill passed using a reform of the Senate filibuster rules.
Failing that, it will happen if the Democrats can gain 10 or more seats in the Senate in the 2022 election so that the 60 vote cloture threshold can be reached.
None of this has anything to do with your two cherry-picked representatives. They are irrelevant to this.
The Dixiecrats were segregationists, but also largely New Dealers.
I enthusiastically agree.
Those things are not happening because the GOP is currently blocking them.
The Democratic Party is fighting for all of these things. The GOP is blocking EVERYTHING that the Democratic Party supports, regardless of its merits.
The Democratic Party did not turn the GOP into a bunch of raving racist bigots, thugs, and lunatics.
Sooner or later, the Democrats will get around to those four things. But right now they are busy giving a multi-billion dollar tax break to the 1%. First things first.