On Aug 7, 2007, at 11:10 AM, ravi wrote:
> On 7 Aug, 2007, at 9:50 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>> On Aug 7, 2007, at 9:33 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:
>>
>>> There has never been an attempt
>>> in Congress to _raise_ the minimum wage in real dollars.
>>
>> Every time it's raised in nominal dollars, it's raised in real
>> dollars.
>
>
> I don't understand your response. Carrol's emphasis is on the word
> "raise" not on "real" i.e., it's a raise in the sense that it is
> higher than it was before
When it's raised, it's higher than it was before. When it's raised in nominal dollars, it's higher than it was before in real dollars. If you mean/he meant to a level higher in real terms than it was right after the previous increase, then you/he should say that. And in fact when the minwage was raised to $5.15 in 1997, that's $6.70 in 2007 dollars; when it was raised to $4.25 in 1991, that's $6.60 in today's money. Which is higher, though only slightly so, and the same percentage of the average hourly wage.
Apropos difference between the parties, on the 1996 vote to raise the minwage, 93 Reps voted for and 138 against; 187 Dms voted for and 6 Dems against <http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/vote.asp? year=1996&rollnumber=195>. There are a lot of Reps who'd abolish the thing entirely, and I'll be almost no Dems who'd support that. Of course what they do support is the occasional increase in the minimum to a still-preposterously-low level. That's not no difference, it's just not big enough.
Doug