Going local

Bad news:  In a move that surprised absolutely no one in the entire United States of America, republicans in the Senate blocked a vote on increasing the minimum wage to the mind-blowing sum of $10.10 an hour ($21,000 a year for a full-time job).

Good news:  The state of Hawaii this week joined Connecticut and Maryland in raising its minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, including both tipped and non-tipped workers.

Bad news:  44% of the jobs created over the past 49 consecutive months of job growth have been in low-wage industries (26% in mid-wage industries and 30% in high-wage).  There are 1.85 million more jobs in low-wage industries since the start of the Great Recession, and 1.9 million less jobs in mid-wage and high-wage industries.

Good news:  The city of Seattle this week announced a proposal to raise the minimum wage for its citizens to  $15 an hour.  Crikey--there'd be no low-wage industries in a major U.S. city.  Folks there could actually have a decent standard of living.

Former Speaker of the House and Liberal champion Tip O'Neill was fond of saying that "all politics is local" and if the above good news/bad news tidbits show anything it's that if we want to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 the best way to do it (short of 60 Democratic U.S. Senators and a Democratic House majority) is state by state, and city by city.  Likewise for a living wage.

At least in many states and cities the general idea of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people stands a chance.

Peace,
emaycee