Can We Afford Minnesota-Nice at the Capital?.. legislators pass a "feel-good" minimum wage hike; Pawlenty expected to sign it..

The Minnesota House & Senate agreed yesterday on raising the minimum wage, and Governor Pawlenty is expected to sign it:

"It was a reasonable increase," said Sen. Paul Koering, R-Ft. Ripley, one of eight Republicans who joined DFLers to support the increase. "It's not out of line to have an increase once in a while." (ED: In that vein, it's not out of line to go rob a liquor store, as long as it's only "once in a while")

An estimated 49,000 workers earn the minimum wage in Minnesota.

About 4,000 workers in Koering's district make $7 an hour or less, according to information from the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Senate members voted in February to increase the minimum wage to $7 an hour in two years, but agreed to the lower increase the House approved Monday because Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he would sign it.

Politically it was a given that this thing would go through, even among Republicans, so as to allow a chance for one and all to avoid the dreaded "voted against higher wages for Minnesota workers" attack line come election time. Good politics is good politics, even if the practice of "good politics" serves only to throw a wrench into a recovering economy.

At the time of the February signing (can't find the link but in my "steel trap" mind I remember) one of our esteemed legislators said that we need to raise the minimum wage because even McDonald's (voluntarily) pays higher than the minimum wage.

Do you see the disconnect there? McDonald's pays higher than the minimum wage because they know they can attract better employees that way, and that is what the labor market demands at the time.

Minimum wage is what the market will bear to obtain the quality of employees that a business desires. Minimum wage is associated with entry level, unskilled jobs. Given the amount of financial assistance for technical colleges and other venues of higher education, especially for those with very little means, there is no reason why one must forever have an "entry level" job. Government imposition of a "minimum wage" should therefore be deemed irrelevant and unneeded.

An increase in minimum wage also increases inflationary pressure, because once an increase in the minimum wage takes effect, pressure to increase wages in skilled positions also increases. Either costs of manufacturing and/or providing services increase, or businesses attempt to do more with fewer employees, resulting in fewer entry-level jobs.

As one of the few legislators (especially in the Senate) with any common sense, Dave Kleis called the legislation a "feel good measure," saying:

"It should happen at the federal level so Minnesota doesn't become an island," said Kleis, whose district includes about 5,500 workers who earn $7 an hour or less. "We don't need to put ourselves at a competitive disadvantage to neighboring states."

But State Senator Ellen Anderson actually went so far as to state that the minimum wage passage is

"...a way that we can show those who clean out the bedpans in the nursing homes, the people who make the beds in the hotels, the people who serve us eggs and coffee at the cafe, that they are going to get a strong message from us in the legislature that we value their work" and "...that's what raising the minimum wage is all about. [ED: insert music here]"

Ain't it a caution how some people can be so generous with other people's money. If Ms. Anderson values their work so much why doesn't she just leave an extra tip? Easy... because like all good liberals, she feels perfectly comfortable tipping the wait staff with other people's money (i.e. the businesses' money) rather than her own.

As Senator Kleis said,

"Senator Anderson, by passing this bill, you said you know, you're going to pass this bill so all the hard working Minnesotans are going to have this increase...so all of those people who get up in the morning and work hard, are going to make $6.15 per hour. First of all, the market dictates that and it's already above that in the market, so that's not the case

and...

"Those who vote for this will feel good and say that they raised the wage. But you gotta remember that it's private businesses that actually pay the wage---they pay the wage based on the market, not according to the government"

and (this is my favorite line),

"I almost feel like doing an amendment to say insert everything in after the enacting clause, and insert "feel good" because that's what this is..it's just "feel good" legislation-it doesn't do anything."

Kleis went on to point out how after a minimum wage hike in Washington even service jobs were outsourced, and drive through orders in Washington were taken by pimply faced teenagers in South Dakota.

Unfortunately, the substance and common sense inherent in Senator Kleis' comments took a back seat to an Anderson-injected "butt monkey", who felt the need to comment that

"...over 80% of Minnesotans think that the state's minimum wage is too low."

Err...uh.. Senator Kleis--maybe Anderson's got a point. Let's not let any common sense keep a bunch of liberals (along with a cadre of 8 spineless Senate Republicans and a Republican-led House) from feeling good, right?

Hey... a dose of reality can sure wreck a good buzz, can't it? It sure is good to have people like Kleis around to dish it out.