Commentary: The Democrats' first 'affordability' remedy should be raising the federal minimum wage

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Set us as preferred The newly Democratic Congress faces a lengthy agenda once it’s sworn in on Jan.3 — reversing cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, reestablishing premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, holding President Trump’s incompetent cabinet members to account, investigating the self-dealing and corruption of this White House, etc., etc.But there is an obvious initial fix for the economic pain suffered by ordinary Americans that falls into the issue of “affordability,” which drove much of the pivot away from Republicans in last week’s midterm voting: raise the federal minimum wage.Illinois Gov.

JB Pritzker named that reform as “an easy way to start” in advancing the Democrats’ economic agenda during a post-election appearance on CNN.You can’t survive on $14,000 a year with a single full-time job.— Illinois Gov.

JB Pritzker calls for a higher minimum wageHe’s right.The federal minimum has been frozen at $7.25 an hour since June 2009.

Accounting for inflation, that figure has shrunk to $4.64 in buying power; putting it another way, if it were adjusted for inflation, it would be $11.33 today.“You can’t survive on $14,000 a year with a single full-time job,” Pritzker told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins.

(Actually, $7.25 an hour at 40 hours a week would be about $15,000 over 52 weeks, but of course minimum wage laborers are especially vulnerable to lost working hours through furloughs and layoffs and generalized stinginess of employers.)Commentary on economics and more from a Pulitzer Prize winner.By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver.

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