Florida minimum wage increase is not socialism
One of those “socialist policies,” a Florida minimumwage increase, is again in the news. This time due to the efforts of the “Florida for a Fair Wage” group which has gathered enough signatures to place the initiative on the next ballot. It would gradually increase the state’s minimum wage from $8.46 to $15 by 2026.
Our nation has more income inequality than virtually any other democracy. Further, wage inequality is now considerably worse than it was 50 years ago (using the minimum wage as a percentage of the average wage, according to the Congressional Research Service).
Only 20% of Florida voters are against raising the minimum wage. Even the majority of GOP voters (57%) support it, according to a Quinnipiac poll. But some conservative politicians are still against it.
DeSantis was narrowly elected, in part because he painted Gillum as having a “far left socialist platform” for advocating Medicare for All and a minimum-wage increase. Governor, you apparently use that rightwing catch phrase “socialist” to disparage anything you don’t agree with ideologically. And, that’s factually incorrect according to every accepted definition of the term.
According to your unique definition, we have been a socialist nation since 1938. That’s when the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which included a minimum wage, was first enacted with both GOP and Democratic congressmen voting for it.
There’s also a similar national bill (HR 582) to increase the U.S. minimum wage. Passed in the House and permanently stuck in the Senate, the bill is just a modification of the 1938 law in order to keep up with the changing economic situation. This has been done 22 times before by the Republican and Democrat socialists running our nation since 1938.
Having a reasonable minimum wage decreases inequality while encouraging those at the margins of our society to get a job. Frankly, with the constantly rising cost of living and failure of the mandated wage base to keep up, that just seems logical and entirely reasonable, especially when we consider that minimum wage legislation was last passed in 2009.
And, the HB 582 increases are gradual, only increasing to $15 a full six years after the amended act takes effect. For teenagers and the disabled, the mandated hourly base is considerably less.
As for the rural areas being hurt argument that we sometimes hear, do you believe rural people don’t work just as hard as city folks? Frankly, as a former county commissioner from a rural area, I can tell you that a lot of rural residents are leaving because cities pay more.
Among the positive aspects of both the federal and state bills is the fact that when low-income people make more money, they tend to spend that money, spurring the economy. Isn’t that going to create more jobs, not less?
As for the right’s argument about lost jobs, a recent comprehensive study by Amherst/EPI experts found that after five years, there was no loss of lower-wage jobs. The bill also includes a clause mandating that after three years the Comptroller General will report to Congress as to the specific positive and negative impacts of the law on the economy and productivity, including lost jobs (if any).
Conservatives, do you truly believe that setting a minimum wage is a socialist plot? If you do, then in your opinion many of our most revered GOP leaders were socialists. President Eisenhower, that well-known socialist, gladly signed a minimum-wage increase. So did that other far left-wing radical, George W. Bush.
I’ve always been a capitalist. I worked for several corporations, retiring as a Senior Vice President at 55. But I wasn’t always well off.
Before I got my degrees by going to night school, I remember working for minimum wage with a stay-at-home wife and two infants. I remember how hard it was.
Evidently, Governor, you never had the same experience on your way to becoming a politician. If you had, you would not be calling a bill to help the working man/ woman to avoid exploitation and poverty “socialism.”
“…a radical Democrat whose socialist policies would destroy all of the economic gains we’ve made.” — Ron DeSantis, about Andrew Gillum, when both were candidates for governor