When Concern For Working Men and Women Makes Strange Bedfellows

When Lou Dobbs agrees with Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy, you ought to at least pay attention. Dobbs signs on board today with the notion that if Congress is going to vote almost annual raises for itself, it ought to do the same thing for hard-working Americans trying to get by on the minimum wage. Yet, this Republican Congress has refused for years to raise the minimum wage.

As Dobbs notes, "Corporate America, the Bush administration and the national economic orthodoxy with which they're in league have consistently argued against helping working men and women at the lowest end of the wage scale by raising the minimum wage. Big business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable say it will harm the economy and eliminate jobs. As is so frequent with the faith-based economics that grips both political parties in Washington, such concerns have absolutely nothing to do with reality." Dobbs goes on to explain that, "The myth that raising the minimum wage will lead to job cuts is just that: a myth. In fact, research suggests just the opposite. According to the Fiscal Policy Institute, since 1998, states with higher minimum wages experienced better job growth than states paying only the federal minimum wage. Among small retail businesses in those higher minimum-wage states, job growth was double the rest of the country."

Dobbs quotes Rep. David Obey, a Democrat from Wisconsin, who points out that, "'We have seen gas prices go up by 140 percent since the minimum wage was increased. We have seen home heating oil go up by 120 percent. We have seen health care go up by almost 45 percent.'"

Dobbs concludes that this "administration, our Republican-led Congress and the dominant corporate interests in this country want cheap labor. And to achieve that goal they're outsourcing middle-class jobs, importing illegal labor and cutting retirement and health-care benefits."

Clinton's suggestion that raises in Congressional salaries automatically trigger raises in the minimum wage is a good one. Even Dobbs should agree.