If you talk about inequality in America, and if you want to read about it,听The New York Times聽columnist Paul Krugman and聽are a safe bet for you. The economics Nobel laureate regularly writes about issues such as unemployment, minimum wage and social mobility 鈥� as in one of his most recent columns,听聽聽He also published a variety of books, including his most recent one,听A few days ago, Krugman provided his followers with two presentations he gave at Princeton University 鈥� one on, and the other on聽.
Just recently, it seems, the Republican Party started to revise its strategy on how to help workers. In the Washington Monthly鈥檚 blog 鈥淧olitical Animal,鈥� Ed Kilgore posted an聽, depicting an essential part of the Republican strategy for economic recovery. He wrote about how it took the GOP years to realize that solely focusing their efforts on 鈥渏ob-creators鈥� wasn鈥檛 going to pay off 鈥� neither in electoral success, nor in economic recovery. He quoted Republican House majority leader Rep. Eric Cantor, saying that 鈥�90 percent of Americans work for someone else.鈥� In an early-February briefing, Cantor was reported to have 鈥渞allied his troops on how to talk to people who don鈥檛 own their own businesses, and [those who] don鈥檛 view themselves as second-class citizens for working for somebody else.鈥�
How tough a job Republican leadership is facing to unite聽its party behind a consistent approach to nourishing the economy shows the latest statement of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal after a meeting of state governors at the White House. In its,听NBCNews.com聽paraphrased Jindal鈥檚 words as follows: 鈥� 鈥楾he Obama economy is now the minimum wage economy,鈥� Jindal said, accusing the president of 鈥榳aving the white flag of surrender鈥� on job growth.鈥� The column immediately follows up with a reaction of Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, who, according to聽NBC News, said something as little judgmental as: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the most insane statement I鈥檝e ever heard.鈥�
The minimum wage debate continues to rage, and will likely set the tone for the upcoming midterm campaign season. As both parties try to shape their profiles, a speedy solution is utterly unexpected. As the聽Washington Post鈥檚 Greg Sargent wrote in his聽, House Democrats are expected to try to force the Republican majority into a corner, filing a discharge petition to get a House vote on the minimum wage hike. Sargent attributes the information to a 鈥淒emocratic leadership aide.鈥� House Republicans are most likely not going to sign the petition, but could still become pressured, Sargent writes in his story headlined 鈥淒ems ramp up pressure on minimum wage.鈥�
Meanwhile Senate Democrats have pushed off a vote on raising the minimum wage to late March or early April,听, citing scheduling conflicts and obstruction from Senate Republicans as reasons. Originally, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had wanted to hold a vote in early March.
On the聽Forbes Magazine聽website, staff writer John Tamny offers聽聽on job safety, an issue that is at the center of the minimum wage debate. First, he declares it 鈥渟ure鈥� that the mandatory pay-raise would render some unemployed as 鈥渓abor is a cost like any other.鈥� But just a couple of lines further into his piece, Tamny opens up: 鈥淲here the right get it comically wrong is in their commentary about how minimum wages will force automation on companies as though this is a bad thing. No, it鈥檚 something we should embrace. Counterintuitive as it may seem, economic growth is all about the聽destruction of work聽鈥� doing more with less labor inputs 鈥� on the way to higher profits.鈥�