Roscoe Bartlett: “I would like us for a few moments to think about what raising the minimum wage means. What we are doing is telling a…”

“I would like us for a few moments to think about what raising the minimum wage means. What we are doing is telling a business that certainly they are prosperous enough to pay a dollar more an hour to their employees. This is clearly, then, an attempt on our part to mandate something, which clearly we cannot mandate; and that is prosperity. If we can mandate prosperity, then there are some other things that I would like us to mandate. How about happiness? It is just as reasonable that we can mandate happiness as we can mandate prosperity. If we can mandate prosperity and happiness, then I am particularly interested in mandating longevity. If we really can mandate prosperity, then why should we stop at a small dollar an hour increase? Why do we not make the minimum wage $10 an hour or $20 an hour. See, if we really do have the power to mandate prosperity, why should we be so miserly in the delegation of this power. Let us make it $10 an hour or $20 an hour. The minimum wage is not an issue in the district that I have the honor of representing. I see signs out at sheet stores $7.25 an hour. But I will tell my colleagues where it is important. It is important in those areas where we are cutting off the bottom rung of the economic ladder for those who need it most. Who works for minimum wage? Young people living with their parents count for 37.6 percent of those on minimum wage.”