Such an idiot to be so disconnected from reality!

from
https://houstonherald.com/2024/02/california-democrat-calls-for-50-minimum-wage/

California Democrat calls for $50 minimum wage
Rep. Barbara Lee claims residents ‘can’t get by’ on $104,000 a year
Avatar photo
by Herald Staff
February 22nd, 2024
C California Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee is defending her call
for a $50 federal minimum wage. That’s more than six times the current
federal minimum wage in the United States.

Lee is running in a competitive Senate race to fill the seat of late
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. She argues Californians cannot get
by on less than $100,000 a due to the state’s cost-of-living crisis.

Lee was asked during a Senate debate on Monday how her $50 an hour
minimum wage proposal would be economically sustainable for small
businesses. She claimed she has been a small business owner who “created
hundreds of jobs” and argued employees need to be taken care of and have
a “living wage.”

“Just do the math, just do the math,” Lee said during the debate.

The current national minimum wage at $7.25 an hour. The California
minimum wages is $16 an hour.

“In the bay area, I believe it was the United Way came out with a report
that very recently $127,000 for a family of four is just barely enough
to get by,” Lee said. “Another survey very recently $104,000 for a
family of one, barely enough to get by.”

While Lee acknowledged some calls to raise the federal minimum wage to
$20 or $25 an hour, she said she has to be focused on what Californians
need and what is considered affordable in her state.

Lee currently represents California’s 12th district which includes
Oakland and Berkeley and has been a member of the House since 1998.

She is in a crowded race for the U.S. Senate that includes fellow
Democratic lawmakers Adam Schiff and Katie Porter as well as Republican
former professional baseball player Steve Garvey.

Schiff and Porter have both signaled support for a minimum wage to
between $20 and $25 an hour. Garvey said during the debate the minimum
wage is ‘where it should be.’

The federal minimum wage has not budged since 2009 despite increases to
the cost of living. Democrats in Washington have been trying to boost
the federal minimum wage for years but have been unsuccessful in their
efforts.

The closest they came in recent years was in 2021 when Democrats tried
to include gradually raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour as part of
their COVID relief legislation, but their attempts were blocked by
Republicans and some moderate Democrats.

Even a $15 minimum wage is not considered a ‘living wage’ some studies
have found.

Researchers at MIT calculated the living wage in the United States was
$25.02 an hour or $104,077 before taxes for a family of four in 2022.

According data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income
is just over $74,000. In California, the median household income is
more than $91,000, but salaries in the state varies greatly city to
city. The median household income in San Francisco is more than $136,000
while the median household income in San Bernardino County is just over
$77,000, Census data shows.

Lee’s call for a massive boost in the federal minimum wage comes as the
US has seen soaring prices over the past several years coming out of the
coronavirus pandemic.

While inflation has eased some since peaking at 9.1 percent in 2022,
prices remain up nearly across the board including for housing and food.

Opponents to raising the minimum wage, including some Republican
lawmakers have raised concerns doing so would further fuel inflation.

But multiple polls have found the majority of Americans support raising
the minimum wage. Pew found 62 percent of U.S. adults support raising
the minimum wage to $15. Even among those who oppose raising the minimum
wage to $15 an hour, the vast majority agree it should be increased but
that the standard should be less than $15.

DAILY MAIL

On Sat, 2 Mar 2024 20:20:43 -0800, a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>California Democrat calls for $50 minimum wage
>Rep. Barbara Lee claims residents ‘can’t get by’ on $104,000 a year
>Avatar photo
>by Herald Staff
>February 22nd, 2024

Yes, in the Bay Area you can barely get by on $104,000. The cost of
living is so high that most service industry jobs go largely unfilled.
This is just the natural progression of Capitalism. We are in the Late
Stage now so soon the system will collapse and it will have to be
restarted or replaced with a different economic system.

There are tens of thousands of workers in the Bay Area that live in their
car or an old RV.

Raising the minimum wage to $50 per hour will not help because no such
service business would be sustainable.