With Focus on Income Inequality, Albany Bill Will Seek $8.50 Minimum Wage

[ProSense]

With Focus on Income Inequality, Albany Bill Will Seek $8.50 Minimum Wage

By JOHN ELIGON

The Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park is no more, but the focus it brought to income inequality is having an impact in Albany and beyond.

The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, plans to introduce a bill on Monday to raise the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour, a 17 percent increase. The bill also calls for the minimum wage to be adjusted each year for inflation.

Mr. Silver’s action follows similar steps by lawmakers across the country: Delaware recently passed a minimum wage increase, and raises are being considered in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri and New Jersey.

And Mr. Silver’s proposal comes just days after President Obama, in his State of the Union address, described the growing gap between the rich and the poor as the “defining issue of our time.”

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/nyregion/albany-bill-would-raise-the-new-york-state-minimum-wage-to-8-50.html

[teddy51]

1. $8.50 an hour is not anywhere near where anyone can live as a wage. I realize that he is

must have a starting point, but sorry that sucks. Why is it that CEO's can demand millions, but minions can only get $8.50 per hour?

[ProSense]

2. No

"8.50 an hour is not anywhere near where anyone can live as a wage."

...it isn't enough. It should be at least $10.

1.4 Million Workers To Benefit From Minimum Wage Increase In 2012
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/100255082

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Whoopie fuckin do. $8.50 after taxes won't even buy you a happy meal.

Maybe if you could defer your capital gains but since you have no capital, maybe you could get $50,000.00 a pop in speaking fees? No?

When I was working, $22.00 per hour was deducted just for my medical insurance. You can't live on $8.50 per hour.

[ProSense]

4. You know

"Whoopie fuckin do. $8.50 after taxes won't even buy you a happy meal."

...what else can't buy a happy meal: $7.25 an hour.

Yeah, it sucks that the minimum wage is less than $10 an hour across the country, but for people about to earn an extra $1 per hour, this is something.

You may think another $35 to $40 a week is no big deal, but it means a lot to those earning about $250 per week.

Still, who's pushing these legislatures to do more?