I wanted to go back and address the minimum wage increase vote by Rep. Gillmor since I went to all the trouble of calling him out on it... Here is the response from the Congressman's blog:I have received a fair amount of phone calls and emails regarding the House vote last week to raise the minimum wage.I would think so... Raising the minimum wage is never a good idea as it abandons the free market in favor of socialist styled controls on business. Not exactly Reaganite conservatively...
In July of 2006, I joined 230 of my colleagues voting to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour by 2009. In order to ease any burdens a raise in the minimum wage would have on businesses, I also supported legislation to extend tax cut provisions similar to those that were integral to helping our economy quickly rebound from a short period of recession during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Unfortunately, the bill stalled in the U.S. Senate.I'm okay with the reasoning, really...there were offsets to help those businesses who needed it. I'm still not thrilled with the government intrusion in to the world of business, but at least there was some thought put in to the impact to employers who drive our economy.
Last week, the House passed H.R. 2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. This act will raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in 2009. While I was disappointed that this legislation did not have what I believe to be enough safeguards for small businesses, I did feel it was time to raise the minimum wage. My feelings were confirmed in November when Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the Ohio Constitution to raise the minimum wage.If Ohio voters told you to jump in to the Ohio River, would you? If Congressman Gillmor really felt so strongly about the offsets, he should have voted against the minimum wage increase here. But he didn't...
In addition, I hope that as the 110th Congress continues, we will quickly move to offset the cost of the minimum wage increase with tax cuts for small businesses.I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry at the naivete on display here. Congressman, here's a newsflash for ya: Socialists are now at the wheel of the United States Congress. There will be no offsets for business. You chance to do the right thing has passed...
At least he has posted something addressing the issue... Still waiting to hear something from the Jean Schmidt camp...
UPDATE: By the way, Congressman, the AP reports that unemployment is down, payrolls are growing, and wages are up...and here is the best part...all of that occured WITHOUT government interference in the market value of someone's labor. Thanks for helping the labor unions, Congressman, consumers everywhere will thank you when they see just how much of a price increase this will cause...
