American Consequences - March 2021

CLEAN-UP IN AISLE USA

class” socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) to thank for the job losses.

HIKING THE MINIMUMWAGE MEANS LOST JOBS

We’re the United States of America. We’re a massive country, with a diverse, hardworking, brilliant, and entrepreneurial population – and we need opportunities for upward mobility and yes, low- paying jobs are part of that. Driving home, I couldn’t stop thinking about it... This was a store that had cut down significantly on staff levels in just a matter of months. This is our future... The Left has been demanding an increase in minimum wage. If our federal government passes an increase in this country’s minimum wage, this transition to technology will continue at an even faster clip. Hey, it’s a good deal for the grocery companies – but what about the people who need those jobs? Instead of having the usual 25 to 30-plus workers at the various checkout lanes, this store had about 10. Why pay workers $15 an hour when customers can scan their groceries themselves? The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that 1.4 million jobs will be lost by 2025 if we raise the minimum wage to $15 dollar an hour. And those workers will have none other than those so-called “champions of the working

‘PAY PEOPLE ENOUGH TO LIVE’ The minimum-wage hike is not happening... yet. The passage of a higher minimum wage looks to be dead on arrival, thanks to the Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s announcement that a minimum-wage increase didn’t fall within the budget conciliation rules, a pronouncement met with fury. Rep. Ilhan Omar is demanding MacDonough be fired or ignored... while AOC insists it’s shameful that we’re even having this discussion. “It is utterly embarrassing that ‘pay people enough to live’ is a stance that’s even up for debate,” wrote AOC on Twitter earlier this month. “Override the parliamentarian and raise the wage.” The Biden administration, to its credit, has indicated it is not willing to override MacDonough, a non-partisan player who is simply trying to enforce the existing legislative rules. But AOC argues that McDonald’s workers in Denmark are paid $22 an hour and receive six weeks of paid vacation a year. Thus, “$15 per hour,” she tweets, “is a deep compromise – a big one, considering the phase in.” (She’s referring to the intention to phase in the wage increase over time.)

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January 2021 March 2021

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