This is easy. Raise minimum wage and then tie it to inflation NOW.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

Go ahead.It makes sense. It will make a real difference.

[Clio the Leo]

1. Great! Now.....

... explain to all of the dumb blondes (and that would be me) what in the heck that means. The "tie it to inflation" part.

[DJ13]

2. COLA

Not Pepsi, but a cost of living adjustment that increases every year to match the rate of inflation like Social Security (and Congress's pay).

[Clio the Leo]

3. gotcha ... yes, very good idea. NT

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. Social Security recipients (as an example) get an automatic increase commonly referred to as a COL

which means "Cost of Living". Many employers also give their employees an automatic rasise every year based on COL. In other words, it's not a raise, it just keeps you equal with what is happening around you.

Many places of employment have the automatic COL raise and then anything above that is a "merit" raise - we're paying you more, because doggone, it, you deserve it.

[shraby]

5. It would be nice if the cost of medicare wouldn't

eat up a lot of the cola social security recipients get. Sometimes it turns out to be a negative "increase" in other words a loss.

[Lugnut]

14. Exactly.

It's not limited to health care costs. The .058 increase for 2009 was welcome but the paltry .023 for 2008 was devastating. The methods used to calculate the increase don't reflect reality. The 2008 .023 SS/COLA increase left SS recipients in the hole with regard to energy and food prices. And don't even get me started on Medicare Part D.

[sandnsea]

6. It goes up to $7.25 this year

Which is $1425 for a 40 hour week.

Yet somehow, that will help families but the $500-$1000 tax credits won't. :crazy:

Yes, we need to tie minimum wage to inflation, although not sure what happens if our economy goes the other way.

[Psephos]

7. Would you support the wage dropping in times of deflation? n/t

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. No. In deflation there is no rise. Happy? nt.

[Psephos]

9. No need to be rude. That was a neutral question about something that might happen in 2009.

I'm still weighing the pros and cons. Not everyone has given the issue as much thought as you have yet.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. Sorry, I did not mean to be snappish - but I have heard that response before

and generally find it to be disingenuous, even if you did not mean it so.

If you get a cost of living wage increase in your job this year and we have deflation next year, do you really expect that your boss will come to you and say, "Sorry, Bob, but we're gonna have to deduct $40 a week from your wages due to deflation. You're not paying as much for gas and sour gruel this year, ya know?"

[Waiting For Everyman]

10. Should've been done long ago. An idea I'd like to see too...

Require ALL government jobs and subcontracts to be done by American citizens HERE... local, state, and federal. There is no reason why our taxes should be used to hire foreign workers.

[Norrin Radd]

12. kr

[babylonsister]

13. Easy? Wasn't minimum wage raised last year, after about 9 years

of fighting the rethugs for it? I don't even know if that went into effect. "They" won't allow anything to be 'easy'.

[hedgehog]

15. Do it now. This economy needs some inflation in it to get things moving,

so the argument against raising the minimum wage becomes a reason to do it!