Obama to Raise Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors - CNN

Well, well, well...we have done an end round around Congress and who do the People being discriminated against need to direct inquiries for fair treatment? www.dol.gov... is a good place to start. Because unless the language of the EO was very specific as to re-categorize those Federal Contractors Minimum Wage Jobs to a higher level (GS-1 to GS-3 for example), then there is going to be some problems. Especially if it just granted Step Increases without review.

Oh, and this would be the second pay raise this month by the way. www.opm.gov...

Minimum wage workers account for 4.7 percent of hourly paid workers in 2012
March 25, 2013

In 2012, there were 3.6 million hourly paid workers in the United States with wages at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. These workers made up 4.7 percent of the 75.3 million workers age 16 and over who were paid at hourly rates. In 2012, 6 percent of women who were paid hourly rates had wages at or below the prevailing federal minimum, compared with about 3 percent of men.

www.bls.gov...

So this is all about raising the pay of less than 5% of federal employees salaries.

Does the military see an increase?
No.

Will this simply come out of our taxes?
yes.

matafuchs
So, if the president does not like the checks and balances he simply acts as if the rules do not apply to him. This is WHY there are checks and balances. I am tired of people blaming 'Boner' or the Tea Party. That is basically what you are agreeing too...

That sums it up pretty well. Separation of Powers is something this President has absolutely no respect for. Hopefully, he steps too far for even a corrupt Congress to tolerate. After all, the power the King is assuming is their power. They may realize they'll never likely get back what they give up here. At least I hope that occurs to them before they'r reduced to a rubber stamping side show to a new Monarch for effective rule and control methods.

*BTW.. How many Tea Party people are there out of the 500+ Congressmen, anyway? It was a handful the last I knew. Still being blamed for so much... (sigh) It'd be silly and laughable if it weren't really happening.

reply to post by darkbake


I hear ya, and maybe it is, i mean i HOPE it is, but i personally doubt that our government and/or Obama really cares about the middle class that much let alone any class besides their own.

Now on a side note i must say that i don't think that everyone in the government is evil or in cahoots, but i do think that nearly the entire system is so obviously flawed that anyone who would willingly take part in the perpetuation of such a system is nurturing the problem; An old broken down economic and governmental system that was originally based on keeping the poor poor and making the rich richer which is fraught with moral, ethical, economical, and judiciary inconsistencies, and full on errors.

reply to post by ketsuko


My opinion on the matter is that way over in Europe, economists ran the numbers and figured out how to solve the wage problem in the U.S. - but I don't think European translates well into American. I could see this being a fairly overbearing step by Obama - especially because $10.00 just seems high.

I honestly see all sides of who is posting on this thread - like Beezer just mentioned, this could be a pretty major step towards Obama being impeached.

I also think that there are some serious problems facing the poor and middle-class right now, as Vic is saying -

reply to post by matafuchs


The school district i went to from elementary to high school is deffinatly very liberal, and i remember specifically the way that they portrayed the tea party of Boston; as working class heroes. Now im not saying that's how it is, but its interesting that the name tea party is used today in major conjunction with socialist and or extremist views(as if thats so much worse than the "democracy" we have here)Anyway its amazing how things can be demonized nowadays

Wait, the party that has people complaining how hard it is to live off of $120,000 a year is outraged over minimum wage being increased for some employees making $15,080 a year? Perhaps if the house raised the minimum wage instead of trying to bring back the old plantation days where a few lived in excess luxury while the majority lived in absolute poverty, the president would not have needed to do this.

beezzer

Minimum wage workers account for 4.7 percent of hourly paid workers in 2012
March 25, 2013

In 2012, there were 3.6 million hourly paid workers in the United States with wages at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. These workers made up 4.7 percent of the 75.3 million workers age 16 and over who were paid at hourly rates. In 2012, 6 percent of women who were paid hourly rates had wages at or below the prevailing federal minimum, compared with about 3 percent of men.

www.bls.gov...

So this is all about raising the pay of less than 5% of federal employees salaries.

Does the military see an increase?
No.

Will this simply come out of our taxes?
yes.

And Veterans benifits are still getting a 1% decrease as well. They haven't repealed that part of the budget bill yet.

Bastadges!

reply to post by darkbake


10.00$ too high? i was thinking it was too low. There are groups out there pushing for 15$ an hour, i believe that's where the bidding should start

btw im just curious how much money do you make?

reply to post by victhebutcher


I think $10.00 is fine. I have been hearing other people freaking out because $10.00 sounds super high to them. I am dirt poor at the moment. I am not even earning minimum wage yet. I do stuff like tutoring for $20.00 an hour when I can, it's a bit complicated.

I am not really even fully-integrated into the system yet. I did graduate from college a few years back but honestly I am expecting and experiencing shock / a hard time integrating into society.

Right now I am getting help from my parents and some government aid while I try to work through some legitimate issues. If it wasn't for the help I was able to get from my parents and the government, I would not have been able to recover to the point I am at - and I plan on recovering further.

Issues like this do scare me, because I literally am on the verge of homelessness, I even was listed as homeless in November, even though I am highly educated - I was a member of the National Honor Society in high school, for example, have high ACT and SAT scores -

But due to circumstances outside of my control, like autism, P.T.S.D. from a mass shooting, etc. - I could literally be homeless at any time. I just have to take a lot of deep breaths and bide with my anxiety while I work on moving forward to the point where I can make minimum wage.

I often day dream about what it's like to live in fantasy land where you can just raise wages and do whatever you want and ignore all the side effects that come along with it. But I live in reality (with you) and these side effects do matter.

It's to the point where the Obama administration has wrecked the country so bad I don't think it will ever recover. I now say let them make minimum wage whatever they want. Make it $50k a year. Or better yet why make anyone work at all? Just hand out minimum income of $50k. But let the Democrats own it. All they do is blame other people. They need to own the Obamacare disaster and whatever disaster happens from fiddling with minimum wage.

1. HIs agenda
2. This is NOT retroactive, only for new contracts, so anyone already working for the FED will see no difference and since there is a freeze on much of the hiring there will be no change

But hey....it sounds like we are helping!

“The President has embraced the idea in the past that he can use his authority as President and the powers available to the President to advance his agenda on behalf of the American people,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at his briefing on Monday. “What we have said is that he views 2014 as a year of action and that he has tasked his team to come up with new ways in which we can - he can - advance that agenda.”

An administration official confirmed the action will only apply to new contracts, and the White House believes contractors will have time to factor the new wage requirements into future bids.

I'm not overly worried about it. After all, Matt Drudge did tell everyone to have an exit plan.

reply to post by darkbake


Yes sorry not to intrude on your private life but it was just for the sake of the debate. I am personally in a similar situation where i can only find work as it comes to me. But trust me applying for jobs constantly doesnt seem to work as efficiently as it used to 4 years ago even.

reply to post by matafuchs


So those with existing contracts will be earning less than new hires in new contracts. LOL, nice one.

reply to post by victhebutcher


No problem Vic - I had to think a bit to answer that question and it was kind of relevant - it's kind of worse than earning minimum wage, also it explains a lack of hands-on knowledge on this. If it wasn't for my parents, I would be very much out of luck. I kind of wanted to find my place in this discussion anyway, so it was good.

I have other friends from college in similar situations. I don't think many of us talk about it much, but it seems to be a scary issue how many college graduates I know are close to homelessness. Two of my friends are living with their grandmas, for example, both are taking care of them as they age in order to partially pay for rent they cannot afford.

Those two friends of mine are doing better than me in the sense that one of them does earn a bit over minimum wage - but even so, he can't afford to pay rent and can't even afford to keep his car in good repair -

And we aren't stupid people, that's the thing - there is definitely something holding people in my generation back. It could be more than minimum wage - but the opportunities are hard to come by -

And in a lot of cases, minimum wage jobs are honestly what are available when there is something available. I think that is what this is trying to address -

But there is a larger problem of why are only minimum wage jobs available? And if there are other jobs available, why doesn't the government invest in programs to help bring qualified people (who exist and are out of work) through training programs and into the real work force?

See Vic - you got me thinking. That's good I was so distressed about my situation that I'd given up on it being relevant.

reply to post by camaro68ss



I'm afraid you are right.

Raise the wages everything else goes up to compensate.

So what on earth are people going to do?

reply to post by Stormdancer777

So what on earth are people going to do?

People at the level to be impacted by all the min. wage hikes, as if that solves something in isolation...will simply be equally broke with larger numbers to 'feel' better about while being there.

Its amazing to see the 'magic wand' mentality at work here. As if ..just..one...more stroke of the wand to enact one more big social change and the clouds will part for sunshine to spread over the land again.

Er...the light at the end of the tunnel is a train, not salvation and it's got a big Obama logo on the front on the engine.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


I just figured it out in the post above yours - the government should be investing in programs to help qualified individuals get training and help them find work that isn't minimum wage.

For example, in my case - I have a hard time figuring this sort of thing out, as do a lot of people my age, but with some help, I could reintegrate into society more effectively - this is the kind of program we need.

I would much rather participate in something like this and start getting real work skills than rely on minimum wage and food stamps.

This isn't on the table.