The federal minimum wage has remained stagnant at $7.25 per hour in the United States for more than a decade, but Democrats have called for a raise in the federal minimum wage to at least $15 per hour—the bare minimum to afford basic needs in with a full time job in most states.
Republicans have railed against raising the wage, arguing that paying a livable wage would harm business owners and result in inflation. They've also insisted that minimum wage jobs were designed as stepping stones to livable wages.
In a recent interview with Fox News, conservative economist Art Laffer said that some people weren't worth $15 per hour in the first place.
Watch below.
Fox guest Art Laffer: For those people who are coming into the labor force fresh, not oldtimers -- the poor, the minorities, the disenfranchised, those with less education, young people who haven't had the job experience -- these people aren't worth $15 an hour in most casespic.twitter.com/P6R8yATW0D— Lis Power (@Lis Power) 1623179611
Laffer said:
"For those people who are coming into the labor force brand fresh, not old timers who've been around for a while—the poor, the minorities, the disenfranchised, those with less education, young people who haven't had the job experience—these people aren't worth $15 an hour in most cases."
He continued:
"And so therefore when you have a $15 an hour minimum wage, they don't get that first job, they don't get the requisite skills to earn above the minimum wage, and after a few years they become unemployable and after becoming unemployable, they become hostile."
People were amazed Laffer said the quiet part out loud.
Saying out loud what he really thinks of .@FoxNews #MAGA audience.https://twitter.com/LisPower1/status/1402343047082528778\u00a0\u2026— I\u2019m not sarcastic when I\u2019m asleep. (@I\u2019m not sarcastic when I\u2019m asleep.) 1623182980
There it is! These people just "aren't worth" $15/hr. They're saying it in the open. Can we have a General Strike yet?https://twitter.com/LisPower1/status/1402343047082528778\u00a0\u2026— Mike \ud83e\uddba\u2623\ufe0f\ud83d\ude37 (@Mike \ud83e\uddba\u2623\ufe0f\ud83d\ude37) 1623182962
OMG-those \u201cpeople\u201d? Shouldn\u2019t he have said the lower skilled jobs aren\u2019t worth it? He meant the people, but I\u2019m sure he didn\u2019t actually want to say that part out loud.https://twitter.com/lispower1/status/1402343047082528778\u00a0\u2026— SpartyGirl (@SpartyGirl) 1623182159
Yet again saying the quiet parts out loud. Laffer is just a GOP stooge masquerading as a (terrible) economist.https://twitter.com/lispower1/status/1402343047082528778\u00a0\u2026— Stacey Herring (@Stacey Herring) 1623181830
They're just saying the quiet part out loud now.https://twitter.com/LisPower1/status/1402343047082528778\u00a0\u2026— Karlo \u2665\ufe0e Takki (@Karlo \u2665\ufe0e Takki) 1623181672
They were disgusted by the diatribe.
These people are NASTY man. Disgusting rhetoric. This is what I vote against, folks who think like this.https://twitter.com/lispower1/status/1402343047082528778\u00a0\u2026— YERRRV Gotti (@YERRRV Gotti) 1623183490
Amazing that a persons central idea can be disproven time and time again and yet people still seek out his opinion.https://twitter.com/LisPower1/status/1402343047082528778\u00a0\u2026— Marcus (@Marcus) 1623181796
Conservatives: we aren't racist!\n\nAlso conservatives: Black people aren't worth $15/hour.https://twitter.com/LisPower1/status/1402343047082528778\u00a0\u2026— P\u00e9 (@P\u00e9) 1623182793
In which the father of Reaganomics, the guy who literally wrote the book "Trumponomics", says publicly that "the minorities" aren't worth $15 an hour. \n\n"THE MINORITIES," he says, "aren't worth $15 an hour."https://twitter.com/LisPower1/status/1402343047082528778\u00a0\u2026— Santa Maria (@Santa Maria) 1623181463
Democrats offered a bill to gradually raise the minimum wage by 2025 earlier this year, but it failed thanks to Republicans and moderate Democratic Senators like Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
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