Palin faces first issue on conservative “bona fides”
By JR Hoeft | Thursday, March 19th, 2009 | PoliticsThe folks at Employee Policies Institute – an organization dedicated to public policy as it relates to growing jobs – has fired what might be the first salvo challenging Gov. Sarah Palin’s “conservatism”.
Apparently Alaska has a minimum wage law being proposed that would make future minimum wage increases automatic. Here’s how EPI depicts the issue:
Sarah Palin will soon have to cross her first fiscal policy hurdle since November’s election when a minimum wage indexing bill crosses her desk. No matter how you slice it, putting mandated wage increases on “autopilot” is a bad idea. The overwhelming majority of economic studies show that minimum wage hikes cause job losses for lower skilled workers. In a bad economy that’s the last thing we need. Governor Palin needs to prove that she has the will to stand up for economic principles and oppose automatic minimum wage hikes in Alaska.
Read more about this issue at EPI.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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8 Responses to "Palin faces first issue on conservative “bona fides”"
JIm, could you actually cite some of these many studies. Actually, there have been other studies which say the opposite, that modest hikes in the minimum wage have no effect on job loss. The key word is “modest,” of course.
It could be a wash with different economists getting different results and no really conclusive evidence either way from academia.
As for Governor Palin, it will be intersting to see whether she chooses pragmatism over conservative principle.
I’m sure she’ll do whatever she thinks (or is told) is necessary to get elected…
AIAW, even “modest” hikes which are automatic will be quite substantial over time and make it even harder to expand businesses and jobs.
Ok, if you raise the minimum wage to (random amount) $6.25/hr but, almost nobody is currently employed for less than $6.50/hr a ONE TIME change will have no effect on the economy.
Indexing is a horrible idea and ignores changes in the economy. For example, Fast food is doing fairly well right now due to a poor economy. They should be better able to sustain higher labor costs as people shift their disposable income from big ticket items to Fast Food conveniences, especially since more wives work more/cook less in order to earn the family a second wage. But what happens if the economy becomes robust again and fast food loses market share to casual dining, upscale dining, and wives drop to part time and cook more? You have mandated a first hire wage for teenagers that don’t need to pay a mortgage and could really care less if your fries are cold or cooked beyond being edible. Think you get bad service now? Wait til dime a dozen jobs pay too much. Additionally, a social handicap is placed when teenagers fail to learn the value of hard work.
re AIAW: actually, the pragmatic course would be the conservative one…
Gov. Palin announced today that she was rejecting around 31% percent of the federal government’s “stimulus package.”
She has a consistent record as a limited government, fiscal conservative. In her statement she quoted Jefferson, while making the case that this “stimulus” is an infringement upon state’s rights.
I’m glad that we have some leaders left in this country who understand true Federalism.
so is that to mean that she is accepting 69% of the stimulus?
Actually yes,
I don’t believe that any Governor has rejected all of the money. She has gone throught the allotments and has cut out those funds with strings attached. Thus preserving Alaska’s freedom that would have been infringed upon.
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