CA: Deal Reached to Raise Minimum Wage to $15/hour

[Antonio the Sixth]

All hail our Overlord, Governor-For-Life Jerry Brown!

[Antonio the Sixth]

But the Republicans assure me that a $15 min wage will make businesses go under and crash the economy!

If probably would in places outside New York City and coastal California.

Oh, so you're one of those Democrats. LOL

[Antonio the Sixth]

Half assed decision because it doesn't go into effect for years and it exempts like half of all business because they're small businesses.

Also important to note, the main reason they exempted small businesses is because if they didn't, basically every bodega and Chinese restaurant would go out of business.

Open borders make a high minimum wage impossible.

$15 is not "high".

[Antonio the Sixth]

Half assed decision because it doesn't go into effect for years and it exempts like half of all business because they're small businesses.

Also important to note, the main reason they exempted small businesses is because if they didn't, basically every bodega and Chinese restaurant would go out of business.

Open borders make a high minimum wage impossible.

$15 is not "high".

Okay. You're not disproving my point. We can't even maintain a $15 dollar minimum wage because of immigration. How could we maintain one that you would actually consider high for real?

By cracking down on employers who cheat and giving citizenship to undocumented immigrants (sane).

[Antonio the Sixth]

Half assed decision because it doesn't go into effect for years and it exempts like half of all business because they're small businesses.

Also important to note, the main reason they exempted small businesses is because if they didn't, basically every bodega and Chinese restaurant would go out of business.

Open borders make a high minimum wage impossible.

$15 is not "high".

For agricultural workers?

Also, the median income in California comes out to ~$20/hour. Raising the minimum to 75% of the median is...not something that's really viable.

Uh, yes. Agricultural work is exhausting and I don't see why it shouldn't be compensated appropriately.

For a full-time worker to make at least 1.5 times the poverty line is not an idea I find particularly shocking, no.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Inflation is not a bad thing per se. Sure, nobody wants to go back to the levels of the 70s and 80s, but inflation in the West has been moribund since the 1990s and that's what contributed to the widening inequality.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've seen this often - progressives will present an idea and complain that conservatives aren't with it. Conservatives are inherently, um conservative, so it takes them a while to come around. By the time the conservatives get on board, even if only in a couple of years, progressives have sometimes pushed the original idea beyond the point of reasonableness. They are then so far apart that the sides can't talk about the original, reasonable request.

In the US, more often that not what happens is the exact opposite (see Obamacare, which is used to be the GOP's alternative to single-payer).

[Antonio the Sixth]

Uh, yes. Agricultural work is exhausting and I don't see why it shouldn't be compensated appropriately.

So why wouldn't supermarkets start ordering even more of their produce than they already are from Chile and Argentina? The importation costs would be more than offset by the labor savings.

If a Chilean strawberry is retailing 29 cents cheaper than a Californian one in a supermarket, the consumer's going to pick it every time.

I'd rather have Chile gradually move to American working conditions than the opposite.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Inflation is not a bad thing per se. Sure, nobody wants to go back to the levels of the 70s and 80s, but inflation in the West has been moribund since the 1990s and that's what contributed to the widening inequality.

We've been through this before, Tony.

Since that thread concluded with the idea that even 70s levels didn't qualify as "hyperinflation", it only strengthens my point.