{"id":24084,"date":"2007-01-04T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T06:15:03","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T06:15:03","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T06:15:03","slug":"the_truth_about_minimum_wage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/","title":{"rendered":"The Truth About Minimum Wage"},"content":{"rendered":"<section>\n<p><BR\/>RUSH: Now, let\u2019s move on to something really exciting, shall we, like the minimum wage. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/01\/03\/AR2007010301619.html\">George Will<\/a> has a column today. This is the Democrats\u2019 agenda. This is utopia, folks! There\u2019s no poverty anymore today; we\u2019re going to cure all these diseases with embryonic stem cell research; we\u2019re going to bring Big Oil to its knees; we\u2019re going to kick out all lobbyists, and we\u2019re going to get everybody to college by lowering tuition tax deduction and lower interest rates for college loans &#8212; and minimum wage? I\u2019m going to go through this anyway, even though it\u2019s pointless. We have lost the argument when the president of the United States wants it and when Republicans in the House want it, it means we have lost the argument. It\u2019s a bad idea. <\/line><BR\/><strong><emphasize>Any minimum wage above zero is a bad idea. <\/emphasize><\/strong><\/line><BR\/><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/institute.Par.0006.ImageFile.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"199\" class=\"alignright\"\/> As George Will points out here in this piece, which I will shortly excerpt for you, labor is a commodity. When the government starts setting prices on commodities, rather than letting the market do its natural work, then you end up with all kinds of problems. But the reason we\u2019ve lost the argument is because we\u2019ve become a nation of wimps and passive people that, you know, we just can\u2019t deal with the thought that there might be pain, suffering anywhere in this country. So enough people have bought the lies about the minimum wage, that most people earning it are trying to support a family of four, that it\u2019s inhumane, all these things. None of the suppositions about it are true, but if you\u2019re pro-minimum wage in raising it, it\u2019s much easier to convince people by tugging at their heart strings, than it is the way the conservatives have done it with these dry, intellectual economic arguments. They\u2019re never going to stand a chance, especially when economic education in this country is so woefully inept. <\/line><BR\/>If your main way to defeat an idea is to argue it intellectually and economically, when the libs and the Democrats are out there, ?Can you believe we\u2019re letting these people starve out in the world?? ?Oh, I don\u2019t want to do that! I don\u2019t want anybody to starve.? Let me give you some statistics. Statistics, I know, are tough to keep track of on the radio. That\u2019s why we will link today to the George Will column from which I now quote. ?Most of the working poor earn more than the minimum wage, and most of the 0.6 percent (479,000 in 2005) of America\u2019s wage workers earning the minimum wage are not poor.? Get this, 0.6% of the workforce is earning minimum wage, and they are not poor. ?Only one in five workers earning the federal minimum lives in families with earnings below the poverty line.? Meaning 80% of people who earn the minimum wage live in families who earn more than the poverty line. <\/line><BR\/>All of these statistics just put the lie to the myth that has been used, because the Democrats\u2019 and the liberals\u2019 version of America is soup line America. They believe that there are two groups of people: the super ridiculously filthy rich, and the poor and those that are just one paycheck away from losing everything and becoming homeless and so forth. So they\u2019ve created three groups, the middle class, and then the minimum wage earners. They want people to believe that there are these millions and millions and millions of minimum wage earners. Here\u2019s another thing. ?Forty percent of American workers are salaried. Of the 75.6 million paid by the hour, 1.9 million earn the federal minimum or less, and of these, more than half are under 25 and more than a quarter are between ages 16 and 19. Many are students or other part-time workers.? Something I have always pointed out with statistics to back it up. <\/line><BR\/>Most of the people earning minimum wage are in their first jobs, they\u2019re students, they\u2019re teenagers, early twenties, they\u2019re not supporting a family of four. It falls on deaf ears. ?The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 1997, so 29 states with 70 percent of the nation\u2019s workforce have set minimum wages between $6.15 and $7.93 an hour. Because aging liberals, clinging to the moral clarities of their youth, also have Sixties Nostalgia, they are suspicious of states\u2019 rights. But regarding minimum wages, many have become Brandeisians, invoking Justice Louis Brandeis\u2019s thought about states being laboratories of democracy.? <\/line><BR\/>Anyway, the thing goes on to describe how pointless raising the minimum wage is in terms of actually affecting anybody\u2019s life other than raising prices and affecting small business who have to come up with new ways to pay these new required minimum wages, and not stated in this column by George Will is the real dirty little secret. The purpose of the minimum wage is to raise the threshold of union negotiations. If you raise the minimum wage significantly, federal minimum wage, union thugs in their next contract negotiations, can say, ?Look it, you just raised the wages of a bunch of unqualified schlubs to five seventy, whatever it is, we are qualified, we are the backbone of America, we are American labor! If you\u2019re going to raise their wages, we need a compensatory raise on our next contract.? That\u2019s the dirty little secret. It\u2019s not being done out of compassion for the little guy, because there, frankly, aren\u2019t that many little guys earning minimum wage and using it to fully and totally support their lifestyle as the left and the Drive-By Media would have you believe.<\/line><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RUSH: Now, let\u2019s move on to something really exciting, shall we, like the minimum wage. George Will has a column today. This is the Democrats\u2019 agenda. This is utopia, folks! There\u2019s no poverty anymore today; we\u2019re going to cure all these diseases with embryonic stem cell research; we\u2019re going to bring Big Oil to its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Truth About Minimum Wage - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The Truth About Minimum Wage - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: Now, let\u2019s move on to something really exciting, shall we, like the minimum wage. George Will has a column today. This is the Democrats\u2019 agenda. This is utopia, folks! There\u2019s no poverty anymore today; we\u2019re going to cure all these diseases with embryonic stem cell research; we\u2019re going to bring Big Oil to its [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/institute.Par.0006.ImageFile.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/institute.Par.0006.ImageFile.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/institute.Par.0006.ImageFile.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/\",\"name\":\"The Truth About Minimum Wage - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-19T06:15:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-19T06:15:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Truth About Minimum Wage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Truth About Minimum Wage - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"The Truth About Minimum Wage - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: Now, let\u2019s move on to something really exciting, shall we, like the minimum wage. George Will has a column today. This is the Democrats\u2019 agenda. This is utopia, folks! There\u2019s no poverty anymore today; we\u2019re going to cure all these diseases with embryonic stem cell research; we\u2019re going to bring Big Oil to its [&hellip;]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/institute.Par.0006.ImageFile.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/institute.Par.0006.ImageFile.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/institute.Par.0006.ImageFile.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/","name":"The Truth About Minimum Wage - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2011-05-19T06:15:03+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-19T06:15:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/01\/04\/the_truth_about_minimum_wage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Truth About Minimum Wage"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24084"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}