Minimum Wage Workers Lose Political War

This wasn't a war it was a demonstration of the corrupt process of lawmaking where package deals cost everyone but the insiders.

It's just sad that the Cons had to make this about tax cuts for the rich.

Just look at that guy's sign. He says he "deserves" it, but me thinks he means "needs". So the employee drops into the world another mouth to feed and suddenly we're expected to believe he "deserves" more money for his labor? "Need" does not equate with "desert". Everybody cries "be fair", each proclaiming his own version of "justice", which is, of course, just around the corner. Fair is letting employers pay as little as it takes to hire and retain the workers they require to deliver the product. How about endorsing the freedom of the market? How about leaving both employer and employee free to determine their own contract? Too much freedom for you, socialists? But they have a "right" to a "living wage", now don't they? And if we don't agree on the nature of "rights", you'll just force us to accept your definition and call it "fair" and "just"? Go ahead, have your day and your wage, until you destroy the prosperity that provides the luxury of this "debate".

I will never understand how it's okay for Congress to vote themselves raises every year but deny raises to the very people who voted them in to office in the first place.

Yes, it's very sad that about 2% of the population, most of whom work part-time and are under 26, will not be getting a raise they did not earn. It's very sad that more minimum wage jobs will not be lost. Very Sad. And it's sad that we will not be punishing the very people this is supposed to help by lowering job chances, raising prices or laying them off.

Learn about the negative consequences of the minimum wage before you start the pity party for the teenagers (25% of minimum wage earners are between 16-19) and others who supplement their income with a minimum wage job (btw, most get a raise after six months, but most don't last six months.)

Also, tell me where the Constitution authorizes the Federal Government to tell a private business what they "have" to pay their employees? Not covered, therefore it is a state issue.

The legislative process is horrifying.

Bodhi, my main issue is the political gaming that went on with this "legislation" but perhaps you could provide me with an answer to a question I've been asking in various parts of cyberspace.

If the negative consequences are so great to raising the minimum wage, what then did the willingness of the Republican leadership to do so say about this crowd? If it hurts the economy, threatens jobs and so forth, why would they vote for it? Have they no integrity or accountability to the long term well-being of this country? Or did one of their corporate lobbyist buddies pickpocket these so called representatives of their responsibility as well as their morals while pushing for the estate tax cut?