HB 1444Â proposed by Delegate Sam Rasoul (11th District) would increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.00 in the summer of 2017, to $12.50 in the summer of 2019, and then to $15.00 in the summer of 2021. Thankfully the legislation stops there, or else we could be looking at some rather astronomical wages by 2050. That said, the six or seven people still employed in Virginia would be making serious bank.
Minimum wage laws amuse me, primarily because I understand why so many Democrat politicians propose them. On the one hand, uneducated people working low wage jobs who possess little to no understanding of economics, believe that such legislation will positively impact their bottom line. On the other hand, union members, whose wages are tied to the minimum wage would get a quick boost in pay. The legislation makes sense.
Republicans are forced to oppose the legislation, making them look heartless to the poor and unfriendly to the interests of union members; as well as strengthening the stigma of the Republican Party’s ties to wealthy and insidious corporate interests. It’s these minimum wage laws that allow Democrats, who compete with Republicans for corporate dollars, to maintain the pretense of still being for the little guy.
What does surprise me is that there isn’t a stronger reaction from the media, whose real interest should be the overall health and vigor of the economy, as opposed to shilling for the Democrat minority. As Virginia continues to drop from being one of the most business-friendly states in the nation, the last thing we need is to artificially increase the cost of labor. Oddly, the media rarely, if ever, reports that.
Looking over the bills to be considered in 2017, it has become apparent that Delegates and Senators are all getting behind popular partisan legislation meant to serve as the foundation for their campaigns. Republicans will force Democrats to come out against a 20 week abortion ban and Democrats will try to force Republicans to come out against the poor. The Democrats know they’ll never get their legislation out of committee and the Republicans know that they’ll never get their bills passed the Governor.
So, there’s a small part of me that wonders whether or not we shouldn’t skip this exercise in futility all together. Maybe a great place to start would be to reject all bills written by anyone other than the elected officials themselves. That would get rid of about 99.73% of the legislation right there. However, I am certain, that somewhere within all these hyper-partisan pieces of legislation are real bills leadership actually intends to secure the Governor’s signature to; we’ll just have to keep looking.
The gridlock in Richmond looks a lot like the gridlock in Washington D.C. between 2011 and 2016. That gridlock looks to become a thing of the past, as the Republicans now control both houses of Congress and the White House. This is what we need to accomplish in 2017 in the Commonwealth. We need to give our Republican General Assembly a Republican Governor so that we can start rolling back regulations and putting Virginians in “ROVA” back to work.
8 comments
I hope the Dems use this legislation to drag the complicit Republicans to the table to combat payroll fraud through the mandated employee misclassification legislation and they need to be dragged just like the woman in June 2012 in the attempted abduction at Va. Tech by the illegal alien that was working in Virginias underground labor market.
FACT ; currently Dems are the only political party willing to combat illegal employment.
Yep dead to rights in a nutshell. “Looking over the bills to be considered in 2017, it has become apparent
that Delegates and Senators are all getting behind popular partisan
legislation meant to serve as the foundation for their campaigns.” Wait till you see the crap from the cable lobby which would forbid counties from having their own internet authority unless we have a referendum. I have dibs on that one Steven. I was reading up on it while Jeff was in surgery yesterday and it was making my head explode.
How about a bill number for the cable crap? Thanks
Nobody can see it, because nobody can find it in all that BS legislation, because you do not give a bill number or which Republican is the chief patron?
I can’t help but laugh at your mention of rejecting all bills not written by elected themselves. Did you ask Jim Beamer at Dominion Power just what he thinks of that? Raising minimum wage or more abortion legislation, both have a far greater chance of passing in the GA than anything Dominion says “No” too. Are you nuts? Just why do you think Dominion literally makes it rain money down on Virginia $awmakers?
You need to come up with another excuse for not raising minimum wage. Places like Seattle have not suffered one bit thus far from legislating a higher minimum wage. One wonders what lie you and those who sign your paycheck will come up with next.
The residents in the city of Richmond should lobby Richmond city council for a higher minimum wage in the city. That may be the easiest way to peel the onion on the power company.
Once again you fail to inform about the required food stamp, welfare, and Medicaid costs for those who work for minimum wage. Nothing but back door govenment subsidation via the taxpayer. Let the employers pay employee’s salary, not the taxpayer.
Another anti-American, low intelligence article designed to deceive the low info Limbaugh type. When do you have to start giving away iPhones just as Limbaugh does, just to get people to comment? iPhones that are made in China, and finance the 23 million abortions performed in China each year.
George Soros and Donald Trump have been paying me tens of millions of dollars to stay silent on the China issue (Trump wants it all for himself, the greedy bastard). Gates came up with the clever strategy of pretending like I’m pro-life whilst turning a blind eye to China, but all he gave me was a lifetime subscription to Starbucks. I have no idea how much of my soul I’ve lost drinking those triple shot grande caramel macchiatos with soy, but I suspect quite a bit. Limbaugh is cheap, so no financing from him.
I’d like my free iPhone 7 to be a plus in black please.
While you blow your anti-American, anti-middle class, anti-populism trumpet???? Your elitists buddies create billion-aires by robbing the taxpayer with BS like this;
http://usuncut.com/politics/how-the-f-35-could-provide-23-years-of-free-college-for-everyone/
The F-35 is a flying turd, when it can even fly. Israel did not want it, and had to be basically “paid off” to agree to purchase this flying turd, even using the money that the US gives them.
Oh, and saying Obama is anti-Israel? Then why did he just sign a new 10 year agreement to give them $38 billion in aid? A major increase.
No, you would rather pick on the poor.