Romney supports automatic hikes in Federal minimum wage to keep up with inflation

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney renewed his support Wednesday for automatic increases in the federal minimum wage to keep pace with inflation, a position sharply at odds with traditional GOP business allies, conservatives and the party's senior lawmakers.

"I haven't changed my thoughts on that," the former Massachusetts governor told reporters aboard his chartered campaign plane, referring to a stand he has held for a decade. He did not say if he would ask Congress to approve the change if he wins the White House this fall.

Congress first enacted federal minimum wage legislation in 1938 and has raised it sporadically in the years since. The last increase, approved in 2007, took effect in three installments and reached $7.25 an hour for covered workers effective July 24, 2009. It has never been allowed to rise automatically, as Romney envisions.

Romney's chief rival for the nomination, Newt Gingrich, criticized Romney for the stance, pointing to previous periods of hyperinflation and saying it would end up costing way too much money. "That would be a very dangerous idea," Gingrich said. Romney also drew criticism from the anti-tax Club for Growth. "Indexing the minimum wage would be an absolute job killer," the group's president, Chris Chocola, said in a statement.

He called the proposal "anti-growth." Organized labor generally supports increases in the minimum wage, and Romney's position could give him cross-over appeal among blue-collar Democrats in a general election campaign.

Romney supports automatic Federal Minimum Wage hikes to keep up with inflation
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After everything I've read the last 2 days about "i'm not concerned about the poor" comment, i stumbled upon this.

This goes against everything the GOP stands for.....I can't believe they aren't calling for his head. This is either Romney trying to help back off his statement about the poor, or he's now moving towards the middle to woo moderates...feeling that he has already pretty much won the nomination.

What do you guys think? He also could be doing what Mitch Daniels did to Indiana...essentially promising not to change labor laws...and then destroying them and making Indiana a right to work state yesterday.

I find it strange...everyone is concentrating on his comments about the poor...but this is going completely unnoticed....at least as far as I can tell.

Just imagine if Obama had proposed this...it would be everywhere.....EVERYWHERE!!!

(BTW...I would absolutely support this measure)

reply to post by David9176


Romney supports anything he thinks will get him a vote. He didn't get as rich as he has by worrying about the little man.

reply to post by David9176


Romney is a Politican, he will say anything.

If he was giving a speech to a room full of Lesbian's, he would promise them

free AA batteries for life.

It's probably damage control. Someone got to him before he had the next chance to open his mouth and gave him something to say that wouldn't ruin his chances of winning independents.

It looks like Rush hates him, which means that he's pretty much lost that far-right. His only hope now is to try and appeal to moderate Republicans and Independents.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck

It looks like Rush hates him, which means that he's pretty much lost that far-right. His only hope now is to try and appeal to moderate Republicans and Independents.

Well, Romney is actually right to do this....he's not going to win with only hardcore Republican votes...simply not gonna happen.....he's now moving towards the center (at least in rhetoric) to get independents/moderates....and in the process hoping he will get all the anti-obama voters by default.

Also, does this mean that Romney is a radical revolutionary, marxist, communist, socialist?

Joking aside.....still completely surprised to see this. Is it getting any play in the corporate media? I haven't watched any news tonight so I have no idea personally.

reply to post by David9176


Oh yeah! It's all over the MSM.

Nothing about the F&F Holder trial yet though. Maybe tomorrow.

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
It's all well and good to promise automatic minimum wage hikes, but how is that going to help small businesses and employment?
When I worked fo a small business, those hikes often equaled fewer hours for those employed and less new hires.

It also causes price increases for products and services.

Sounds like an empty promise to me

I am suprised this site is still operating since it is so deep in bs. Price increases mean higher margins and more profits for business. As such wages should rise as well. Or is the business owner the only one who is suppose to benefit from inflation? That is exactly one reason why we are where we are. Had businesses returnef a good piece of increased profits to employees all along, the economic discussion on this board would have never had the need to occur.

This is one thing Mitt Romney has never flip-flopped on. His position has always been in support of indexing the minimum wage. It does surprise me however to see him come out and advocate for it when all of the GOP candidates are attempting to sound the most laissez-faire. This policy position, mixed with his self-deportation immigration program, is the strongest offered in the current field for recreating, or at least saving, the Middle Class from destruction.

While I recognize that sometimes wages are higher than what the skills required for the job should result in. One must also recognize that by indexing the minimum wage if inflation skyrockets then it would cripple business so this would necessarily mean that our strategic economic interests would be in keeping inflation low. For all those who love gold this would be a perfect step on the path back to such a currency standard; businesses would be rallying for it.

reply to post by David9176


No, this does not make him a Socialist in any way; writers at The American Conservative had already urged Romney to take this position. They are the staunchly anti-war group of the Conservative Right. Think more along the lines of Patrick Buchanan rather than George Bush. Those of us in this right-wing area are more inclined to despise the welfare state but support things such as minimum wage, tariffs, environmental laws, etc…

The American Conservative

I dont think this would ever happen. Its nice talk and rhetoric but not gonna happen, It would hurt job growth in the short term imo but would defo help the poor. A one time .75 cent raise too 8.00 an hour would be good but an auto increase policy would hurt this struggling economy IMO

Originally posted by pez1975
I dont think this would ever happen. Its nice talk and rhetoric but not gonna happen, It would hurt job growth in the short term imo but would defo help the poor. A one time .75 cent raise too 8.00 an hour would be good but an auto increase policy would hurt this struggling economy IMO

This is about right. One of the major problems with minimum wage is it wasn't tied to the cost of living to begin with. But right now isn't the right time to do it because it would make a short lived drag on the economy at a time when you don't want to add that burden. As to it leading to inflation, it makes business reconsider just raising their prices to offset the cost thus leading to another minimum wage increase.