Obviously if you earn more than the minimum you aren't going to be affected by the hike because employers have no reason to tweak your pay as long as you are above the new limit. I would dare say few if any employers are going to up someones wages when there is no specific law telling them they have to, so those of you sitting higher up on the scale are pretty much boned. But it should still help those who are earning the bare minimum right? Wrong! At the current moment I believe its set at 5.85$ an hour for those on the very bottom, which is more than the previous increment, however nobody stops to think about taxes. I personally make 6.50 an hour at a total crap job, however if I work 20 hours in a week I do not get the 130$ that works out to because of taxes, the rule of thumb that I've used for ever to keep an eye on how much I will actually get is to take off a dollar from my hourly rate, thus putting me at 5.50 which is below the federal minimum. Those who are at min wage are actually making 4.85 an hour, which obviously is also below the limit.
Once the final raise is in place in July of 2009 the new minimum wage will be 7.25$ an hour, which although it will raise my personal pay to that level for example will still make my actual wage 6.25$ which is again below the minimum. So if I'm not benefiting from it, and definitely nobody who is locked to that lowest figure then who exactly is this mandated raise supposed to help out? The answer of course is nobody that really needs the help; politicians! Those worthless weasels have conned the people yet again into believing they are working for us, when in reality their only concern has ever been themselves, otherwise they wouldn't do shit like this to bolster their sagging approval ratings. So the next time some snide yuppie who makes a 6 digit salary talks about how wonderful the raise to the minimum wage is slap them across their smug face and explain to them that its not helping a damn person except the fat cats up on the hill.
Labels: minimum wage, politics
