Washington raises minimum wage, Idaho border towns feel squeeze

[superconnected]

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) - James Randall lives in Moscow and goes to school at the University of Idaho. But for 30 hours a week, he crosses the border to work as a pizza delivery driver in Pullman, Wash.

That's because Washington's minimum wage is more than $2 higher than Idaho's $5.15. And it just went up again Monday, from $7.63 to $7.93.

It applies to workers in both agriculture and nonagricultural jobs, according to the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries. And it's recalculated each year for workers age 16 and older, based on cost-of-living increases, and is expected to reach $8.14 by 2009.

"It's kinda hard to make ends meet," Randall said. "I'm just glad the state of Washington has tied the minimum (wage) to inflation. That way it's advantageous to everyone."

more...

http://www.komotv.com/news/local/5058691.html

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IMO this is a red state - blue state thing. My ex-bf was from idaho and he couldn't get over how nice the roads were in Washington state. He said the people hated taxes in Idaho and the roads were always really bad due to little funding.

Per the article, Idaho is at the federal level of minimum wage - $5.15, and hasn't seen an increase in over 10 years. They recently tried to up it to 6.15 and it was struck down. Washington state is now at $7.93.

[MichiganVote]

1. There's big money in Idaho. No excuse for their politics.

[hedgehog]

2. It's a question of how many people are dividing the big money.

Put it in the hands of a few and you'd be hearing all about how it is unfair to tax the rich at rates of 50%.

[MichiganVote]

3. In Idaho, not many. Big bucks among few people.

[2Design]

4. red states all have poorer roads and services - it really becomes

obvious that the public services are being starved when you driving around the country - going through texas on the Interstate was like driving a small red four lane highway on a map and not a modern interstate - very poor state for people - arm pit of the country from what I saw - not a very nice place

[Psephos]

10. You apparently have never been to Michigan. :-) n/t

[Diane R]

5. I'm so proud to live in Washington.

I know this will offend some Idahoans...and I apologize for that. But many new people move there because they are too stingy to pay taxes. I live in Spokane, just across the state line from Northern Idaho. I've often said the state motto is 'stupid and proud of it'. Their roads are horrible. Their main state highway is a death trap. They don't have many sidewalks. They don't pay their teachers very well and don't have very high standards. They don't fund their schools adequately and don't require many basic vaccinations. There is always a whooping cough outbreak. A few wealthy businessmen own the state and make fortunes in an area that is very poor.

Idaho is beautiful. There are wonderful people in Idaho. But they are being overrun with people who move there to live cheaply and who don't care about providing basic services.

[Celebration]

8. Washington

Doesn't pay teachers well. I know because my daughter is a teacher near Seattle. Idaho may be worse. Washington has no income tax.

[philosophie_en_rose]

11. Hooray for Washington. (mini-boo to Spokane).

I love Washington, but the roads in Spokane are nothing to boast about. There are potholes on I-90 that are bigger than my dogs.

You are entirely right about Idaho, too. A state with an income tax and a sales tax should be able to do better.

[lindisfarne]

6. An example of why the federal minimum wage needs to be increased. n/t

[Contrite]

7. Makes no sense.

Roads are something everyone uses. Seems to me everyone, red or blue state, wants decent funding for the roads. The question is what gets sacrificed for them. Here in Minnesota (a blue state with a red governor) we just passed a transportation amendment to the state constitution. However, the problem is that this is to come from general funding, without any indication what will be defunded in order to fund it. And now, it is permanent. Our minimum wage went up about two years ago, along with property taxes, resulting in a budget surplus. (It's projected to be over $2 billion by 2009 but if you adjust it for inflation it virtually disappears.) Of course, the Republican governor Tim Pawlenty trumpets this great surplus and tries to figure out what (something that will help him politically) to do with it. What does he come up with but a tax rebate for everyone, when in fact the money should be in the general fund to be used for repairing the roads. Thankfully, we have a Democratic majority in both of our houses and I certainly hope they will do something sane with it--like fix our roads! (Pawlenty actually campaigned on this but our roads are now in horrible shape.)

[NorthernSpy]

9. dontcha just love how the businessmen's point of view...

... is the only one that matters?

Washington tries to keep its poorest workers from slipping into absolute destitution -- and the result is a wave of whining from the "business community" about "feeling squeezed". I'm guessing that their idea of "squeezed" bears little to resemblance to our idea of squeezed; most of these "squeezed" businessmen probably don't have to live the trailerpark-and-soup kitchen existence of the squeezed worker.


But this is what really sticks in my craw:

A state bill to increase the wage to $6.15 an hour - and mandate yearly increases tied to inflation, like in Washington - died in an Idaho House committee this spring because some lawmakers feared it would lead to higher prices, increase unemployment rates and reduce incentives for low-paid workers to improve themselves.

Fuckin HUH? Weren't these the same whiners who spent the decades prior to the welfare reform of 1996 bitching about people on welfare? Now those poor are working -- and lacking help from the government, they have to be able to survive on their wages alone. Which means that their wages must be high enough to make that possible. And now the "personal responsibility" scolds want to bitch and moan that poverty level wages aren't as punitive as they'd like?

Fuckers. They should all go take a bath with a toaster.

[fujiyama]

12. LOL after all why would anyone with a low income

want to make more?

Damn "lucky duckies"!