The Truth About the Federal Minimum Wage and Senators’ Salaries

*what could I possibly add? It speaks for itself. What's good for them is NEVER good for the rest of us. Ok, I can add SOMETHINGGGGG....Years ago a Vermont bank (yes, a bank doing the right thing, albeit a small, regional bank, the backbone of our society. Coincidentally, they are the ones making the loans now while our smarty pants in government continue to bail out the big BAD banks, but I digress) did a study on what would happen over a 2 year period if they raised the minimum wage to $10. Answer? Nothing. The bank didn't go belly-up, the roof didn't cave in, the world didn't come to an end. So if you, small business owner, or anyone else complaining about how the increase will hurt business (Congress), can't afford to pay hardly a living wage, $7.25, then either work harder yourself, move your business to Florida (right to work states have no minimum wage) or go do something else.

By Tom Lindmark
WallStreetPit

Here is a chart from the New York Times that shows the real value of the minimum wage over time.





And here’s another one that proves that Congress cares more about poor workers than themselves. It shows the difference between inflation adjusted senators pay and inflation adjusted minimum wage.


And from the article here is your lesson in statistics for the evening.

Of course, this comparison doesn’t tell the whole story, given that American lawmakers get very generous benefits, including health care and pensions. Plus, if you start from a different base year, you’ll get a totally different story. If you use 1968 as your base year, for example, you’ll find that the inflation-adjusted minimum wage has declined 17 percent, whereas senators’ salaries have increased 7 percent. (I arbitrarily used 1947 as a base year simply because the Economic Policy Institute had the inflation-adjusted numbers readily available as far back as that year.)

Lies, damned lies, and statistics, right?