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?

Freddie, what part of "minimum wage=entry-level worker don't you get? Granted, in the economy your buddy Barry has us mired in, with near 8% unemployment, minimum wage jobs are at times the only ones available to those seeking work.

The bottom line is, if you don't have skills to get higher paid jobs than those that involve asking "do you want fries with that", maybe you should wait to get married and have dependents.

Entry level jobs are supposed to be those that high school/college kids get to supplement their income while attending school, not a career for a father or mother trying to maintain a household. Or for retired people to get to supplement their retirement income. Jobs paying minimum wage were never planned to support a family.

Those fast food jobs out in North Dakota pay a lot more than minimum wage. Then again, everything increases in dollar value when a boom hits an area. They're begging for workers out there!

lts -armybrat ?

@Stiffy - Bazinga!

In keeping with the Constitutional mandate to "promote the general welfare", it is sometimes necessary to restrict the abilities of some corrupt or greedy business entities to pollute air and water that all citizens use, or to prevent them from cheating their customers and treating their employees like crap by denying them living wages and fair benefits ... "To secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." But the Stiff wouldn't know that, because Ayn Rand didn't mention it in "Atlas Shrugged"!

@Stiffy - Is your outfit related to the "Glenn Beck Institute for the Proliferation of Paleolithic Paranoia"?

point has to do with training. Yes, many low-income workers are untrained. THAT is why the President and other "progressive" leaders have been plugging spending more on training programs (i.e. vocational schools or private, business-sponsored training programs) that increase workers' abilities to earn living wages, AND increase customer-satisfaction and profits for small-businesses ... For example, in dealing with a bank or other local business, which do YOU prefer - talking with an actual customer-service person from your local business, OR trying to deal with some anonymous, automated voice eminating from Mumbai or Karachi?

I'll have to admit that Stickhauler (of all people) makes a valid point. While companies like McDonald's and Wal-Mart have (enen during recessionary times) been making record profits, they still might want to lay people off or cut hours to keep from paying their workers an extra $1.50 an-hour. Franchise-holders are a nervious lot, and fear that ANY change will take a bite of their precious "bottom-lines". IOW, they are greedy! Here's the catch! If they cut employees (i.e. cut the number of cashiers at stores like K-Mart), many customers (including me) simply go shopping elsewhere, and, after a time, these outfits stop doing business. Some companies (i.e. COSCO) realize that they need to treat employees right to keep their cutomers satisfied. Some (i.e. Wal-Mart) want to keep stiffing their workers - sorry, I mean "associates" - and, in the process, their customers. After their precious profits diminish, they might notice the error of their ways ... Another valid po

BTW - I watched the Presidnt's SOTU speech in its entirety (which the Stiff probably didn't) and I saw NO call for authoritarian measures. In fact he said that this is a diverse (I know the Stiff hates that word) society with many opinions. Unlike Senators McCain and Graham and the NeoCons who gave us the Iraq War, Obama did NOT call for America to unilaterally invade or attack Iran or Syria. The President said that "Gabby Giffords" and "the families of Newtown deserve a vote" on gun-law-reforms. Duh! Does the Stiff have anything against "voting"! It seems that what I and most rational Americans call "democracy", the Stiff regards as "fascism"! If the Stiffer wants to see "fascism" defined, all he needs to do is re-read some of his own posts, or merely look into a mirror!

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.

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.

Research Brief:

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

(The Center for Union Facts)

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!