Republican Lawmaker Tells Worker Wanting Higher Minimum Wage to ‘Get a Job’

[Swede Atlanta]

10. I am not insensitive to the challenges of small business owners...

and by that I mean those truly small businesses with less than say 30 or 40 employees, owned and run by a family or a couple of partners. I do not mean huge family-owned businesses that the Republicans call small businesses because they have two or three owners. As such I know that wages consume a significant portion of their cash flow. Raising the minimum wage to $10.00 could have a profound affect on some businesses. They would have a choice to lay off workers, reduce goods and services and overall shrink their business. The other option would be to increase the price of their goods and services to customers. That would likely reduce the volume of business and similarly result in reductions in force.

But at some point we have to also realize that in very few places in this country, if any, can someone earning minimum wage pay for a two-bedroom apartment. So if they have a family, they might be able to rent a one-bedroom or a studio.

So either we raise the minimum wage so that it is a living wage or we accept that those minimum wage jobs are really for our youth and maybe a second income in a family.

As that young person ages and wants to move out on his/her own, get married, have a family, etc. they have to be able to move to a job that actually pays something. The ways to do that are to get them in a UNION job where collective bargaining assures them a chance or we educate them and position them for success.

Young parrots Bush. I recall a public event where a woman told him she was working 3 jobs and still struggling to make ends meet. His response was that only in America could someone actually get and work 3 jobs. He was totally clueless as to what she was trying to get across.