President Obama calls for the minimum wage to be set at $9 dollars an hour. What moron beside this president thinks you can raise a family on $9 an hour?

Any day that I can prompt the Stiff to slobber all over himself and spew out the McCarthy-esque bull like a Gatling Gun spews out bullets , is a pretty good day! Say "thank you, Fred!"

@BeRight - If you own or operate any kind of business that deals on a daily basis with the general public, you might be grateful if low-income workers had more money to spend ... "A Mark, a Yen, a Buck, a Pound, it makes the world go 'round" ~ "Money" song from "Cabaret:

I see that Stiff never found that dictionary! Some here forget (or perhaps never knew) that one of the jobs of a REAL teacher (as opposed to the biased propagandists that "teach" in some of the private-schools that folks like Stiffy plugs) is to root out lies and replace them with facts ... Judging from the typically-rabid reaction from some of the local rightwing reactionary fratboys and cowgirls here, I'd say that my work here has been sucessful!

obama) really cared about the working poor and middle-class, why not let the additional income be tax-free?

beright, a possible answer to your question...it appears that he did not mention that according to federal and state assistance programs, many folks that get $9.00/hour will/may be eligible for housing assistance, food stamps, day care and many other services that you or i pay for out of pocket. doing some rough guesstamation and applying the "secretary" federal tax rate of 15%, a single worker will net about $306.00 per week. with many of the basic bills partially or fully covered, they are left with that amount to spend as they wish. this is just for a single person and not a family of four (they would receive more btw). since it is all about location, it can be quite expensive in some areas to live. however, managing one's resources and making wise decisions are the cornerstone in assisting one to have a less stressful existance. armybrat, you are correct when you say that the increase in pay will net the government more revenue. my question would be.... if you (president

Don't know> I thought it was odd that this was in a news story.

So what does the Chicago Fed have in it and why ?

Look at this and do the math: Based on the Chicago Fed estimate, raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour would increase spending by low-wage households by an average of nearly $5,000 a year. Those boys are awful smart aren't they?

the minimum wage is another tool to wring some more money from the business community and the public. Goes along with unemployment comp, medicare, business operating license, property tax, higher rates for sewer service, mandatory inspection fees, income tax, UC tax. The gov't collects more in fees and taxes than the small business owner gets to keep after he pays all the required stuff. Before you cheer more money from business, remember someone has to risk his money. When its easier and just a lucrative to throw it into idle, why exert the effort.

This is what Obama said when he announced the $9 an hour: “no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty”. He lives in la la land if thinking that if you live in poverty now that $9 an hour is your ticket out.

Again more horsesh%t and propaganda from wrongriki ! It is ironically named "The Center for Union Facts" as there is very little "facts" posted !

Research Brief:

“Political Payback: Facts Behind Organized Labor’s Push to Raise the Federal Minimum Wage”

(The Center for Union Facts)

And stiffy , just what have you done to shape young minds ?

The problem is, most on the left look at the employers most likely to be paying minimum wage, fast food places, as rich. And yes, the corporation brings in huge profits. The people working at the counter of your local McDonalds are not paid by the corporation. They're paid by the local franchise owner.

And anyone who knows the slim profit margins the local owner is working with, understands that any raise in the minimum wage will impact their business severely. Raising the wage will result in one of 2 scenarios, neither good for the minimum wage employee. Either they'll face being let go to meet budgeted payroll, or they'll keep their job, and be expected to work a lot harder, because their "crew" numbers will be reduced.

Or, the business owner will decide owning the franchise, and employing local people, is a losing proposition, and they'll close down.

By the way, if the Stiff ever finds a good dictionary, he might check out the definitions of terms like "nepotism", "plutocracy". or "oligarchy" that have more relevance to the current condition of American society than do the muddled McCarthy-era terms that Stiff casually employs against others in his daily diatribes ... Also, I hear that some movie-outfit is in the area to film a remake of the 1930s Bela Lugosi film, "White Zombie". Stiff ought to check it out so he can discover the true definition of a "working stiff"! LOL!

Finally, in the real world (as opposed to the fantasy-world inhabited by the Stiff and his playmates) the REAL "makers" are those who work - sometimes at one or more low-paying jobs - who spend their hard-earned money at places like Krogers, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Dollar General, or other businesses, and thereby keep the local economy running ... The REAL "takers" are those who hoard their money, stash it in secret (or offshore) bank accounts, stiff their employees, try to dodge the IRS via "creative-accounting", waste a lot of dough in wild investment schemes, rip-off their investors and competetors, and grab every federal dollar they can from block-grants and subsidies - all the while endlessly whining about the "tyranny" of government ...

Also - based on his numerous pronouncements about alleged "makers" (those who run businesses they probably inherited from their daddies and spend their days yelling at their employees or yapping online) and "takers" (those who have to actually work for a living to support their families) - I would say that Stiffy has read too many Ayn Rand potboilers ...

Is it possible that the Stiff knows quite a bit about the schemes used by some Republicans to discourage some people from voting in this area? Hmmm!

direct ancestor of mine) was forced to sign the Magna Carta. John ceded power to the barons in 1215, and the English nobility ceded power to the American people in 1776. With the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828, the common people gained power over the American aristocracy. Slavery was abolished at the end of the Civil War. Women gained the vote in 1920. The 20th century saw a long struggle wherein American workers fought to achieve items like workplace equality and a living-wage. Universal voting rights in the U.S. was achieved in 1965 ... In 2008 and 2012 some Republican state legislators tried (unsuccessfully) to block voting in some places ... If the Stiff wants examples of what might be termed "fascism", he might check out those "block-the-vote" efforts in states like Ohio and Florida!

Does the Stiff even know what he's talking about? I doubt it! Once again, he tosses around labels without consulting a dictionary. "Fascism" is defined as "radical authoritarian nationalism". It promotes militarism and blind obedience to the state. If Stiff thinks that "fascists" would promote anything like a "minimum-wage", he is deluded ... He needs to read a REAL American history text to discover that the story of this nation has been about upward mobility of classes, from the time when the founders broke away from British repression, to the abolition of slavery, to obtaining votes for women and minorities, to the RIGHT of ALL citizens to secure a decent job that pays a living wage. The system that Stiff seems to be touting in his daily rants is called "feudalism" - where peasant-workers were secured as free or cheap labor by the lords of the manor ... I think that system began to crumble about the time that King John (allegedly a d