minimum wage shenanigans
Mood: unsure
Posted on 2006-08-04 09:36:00
Tags: politics
Words: 116

So the House passed a bill a few days ago that would increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25. What the hell, you say? Did the Republicans see the light? Well, no. That bill also included a permanent cut in the estate tax, which would cost around $753 billion over 10 years (and affect fewer than 10,000 people). It failed in the Senate when most Democrats wouldn't support it.

Guh. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Had I been voting, I would have been very tempted to vote for the bills. I'm surprised the Democrats were able to hold the line so well...

Man, I can't wait to live in a blue state!

5 comments

Comment from djedi:
2006-08-04T11:10:02+00:00
Yeah, the sad thing is that it's a slightly complicated issue and most news outlets aren't doing a good summary of it. Headlines include crap like "Min wage bill fails" or "Dems sink min wage hike".

Comment from gregstoll:
2006-08-04T11:15:13+00:00
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Democracy simply doesn't work.

Comment from wonderjess:
2006-08-04T12:23:12+00:00
yeah, it's the worst political system, except for all the others. :)

there is some game theoretic evidence that democracy is a positively (not just normatively) good idea -- condorcet's long theorem says that have a group of three or more make a decision by majority vote is better than an individual making a decision as long as each individual has at least a 50% chance of being "right." and that's not the craziest assumption ever.

Comment from medryn:
2006-08-05T19:06:26+00:00
Man, I can't wait to live in a blue state!

But Howard County is slightly more conservative than Travis County...

Comment from gregstoll:
2006-08-05T22:02:14+00:00
Well, they're around the same. But very little I'm interested in passes at the county level, and Maryland and Texas aren't even close.

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