Gov. Schwarzenegger Proposes Raising Minimum Wage

[Frodo]

Schwarzenegger proposes dollar hike in minimum wage

By TOM CHORNEAU, Associated Press Writer
Friday, December 30, 2005
(12-30) 16:49 PST SACRAMENTO, (AP) --

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to propose a $1 increase in the state's minimum wage after vetoing similar legislature this year, a further indication that he is cultivating a more moderate image as he begins his re-election year.

An aide to the governor said Friday that the proposal will be included in Schwarzenegger's State of the State speech on Thursday.

Under the plan, the hourly wage would rise from $6.75 to $7.25 in September and to $7.75 in July 2007.

Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill last September that would have provided the same wage increase but also mandated automatic hikes to keep pace with inflation. In his veto message, the governor said he believed it was time to raise the minimum wage but did not support the annual increase.

The new proposal does not include an automatic yearly increase.

California's minimum wage was last increased in 2002, when it rose by 50 cents an hour. The state's lowest-paid workers already get more than the federal minimum of $5.15 per hour, but are paid less than other West Coast states. Oregon's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, while Washington's is $7.35.

source

[A18]

Price controls are horrible.

[opebo]

Ridiculously inadequte.  It should either be $15/hour, or sufficiently generous Welfare should be in place so that corporations would have to pay at least $15 to tempt the poor off of it.

[Dave from Michigan]

bad idea, of course things do cost more there than elsewhere but raising minimum wage won't help.

[A18]

Didn't he hire some Democrat advisor to help him out?

[The Duke]

I'm fine with this.  In California, the difficulty comes from having two eceonomies at once.  One is a hi-tech, industrial, internationally connected urban and suburban economy that exists in areas with a high cost of living.  The other is a the farm economy of the interior, which has a much lower cost of living.  Calibrating a minimum wage that is low enough to not to be an imposition on the economies of the interior while also high enough to sustain those in the coastal cities is not easy.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Another weak attempt to move to the center. Sucks for him it won't do him any good. He's still going to lose.

[Sam Spade]

Nearly all illegals in California and legal Hispanics make a decent bit higher than minimum wage in California, unlike some other states (Texas) where that tends not to be the case. 

Largely for show, imo, and will always hurt small businesses more than anyone else.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Desperate election year politics. He'll resume screwing people over after the election.