Wage Slaves

Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon raised the possibility of lowering or eliminating the minimum wage last week in Connecticut if elected, and now Alaska Republican Senate Candidate Joe Miller is going all in, adding the minimum wage to his long lost of things that are "illegal under the Constitution" and should be solely up to states.

Over the weekend, extremist Senate candidate Joe Miller (R) of Alaska went even further in an interview with ABC News.

We asked him, for example, if there should be a federally mandated minimum wage, something that has existed since Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938.

"That is clearly up to the states," Miller said. "The state of Alaska has a minimum wage which is higher than the federal level because our state leaders have made that determination. The minimum level again should be the state's decision."

So there should not be a federal minimum wage?

"There should not be," Miller answered.

This is, of course, the same Miller who also believes that federal unemployment benefits, Medicare, and Social Security should all be eliminated. He justifies all of this with a radical "Tenther" worldview that's popular in fringe circles.

And yet plenty of people would agree with Miller here.  Without the protection of a federal minimum wage, why wouldn't state Republicans then wove to eliminate it in state after state?  If you really wanted to draw companies to your state, why not play "How low can you go?" with a state minimum wage?

If Alaska then mandated a lower minimum wage, oh well.  I could certainly see Arizona getting rid of its minimum wage in order to try to drive illegals away.  Yes, there are states with minimum wages that are higher than the federal rate.  But under that logic, why eliminate the federal minimum?

The fact that this is catching on with Tea Party Republicans, especially in states that do have a higher state minimum wage, is no accident.  After all, laying the groundwork for "that job isn't worth $7.25 an hour" and "If we cut wages we could hire more people and lower the unemployment rate!" is important stuff if you're a Republican.

If you think $15K a year is just too much to pay people to live on, that is.  There's no reason to get rid of the federal minimum unless you plan to put your state's wages lower.