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96 Percent of Dems Who Support Minimum Wage Hike Don’t Pay Their Interns

Rocketman

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Liberals are really pushing raising the minimum wage for 2014. Thirty states have put forward bills to increase it, and Democrats have made this issue part of their political strategy for this year. Yet, a new study from the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) has exposed the proponents of raising the minimum wage of their "hypocrisy." It seems that 96% of Democrats who support such measures don't pay their interns.

The abstract of the EPI study noted that "the same Members of Congress who are supporting a 40% wage hike on private sector employers are simultaneously failing to provide any wages to their own employee interns."

Last year, I wrote for Newsbusters about how the media rail about the gender wage gap, but seem to ignore that the Obama White House paid their female staffers 88.3% of what their male ones earn.

96 Percent of Dems Who Support Minimum Wage Hike Don
 
I don't really see how this is hypocritical, its comparing apples and oranges.
 
You know unpaid interns are typically college students or other young professionals seeking experience in a certain field of work, they already have a means of living which is why they can afford to work unpaid. They also aren't typically the sort of folks who will end up working minimum wage jobs and certainly not relying on a minimum wage job to survive. Comparing a young college kid going to school to a mature adult working minimum wage as their only source of income are two very different things.
 
You cited a conservative news website, which cited a website that is against raising the minimum wage, which linked to a table on its own website and not the "study's" table. Where's the list of Republicans and their internship payments? Where's the official rules of internship and specific guidelines as to when they are supposed to be paid?

I'm probably going to be criticized for my skepticism yet again. "Blah blah blah of course a liberal would say that!"
 
Liberals are really pushing raising the minimum wage for 2014. Thirty states have put forward bills to increase it, and Democrats have made this issue part of their political strategy for this year. Yet, a new study from the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) has exposed the proponents of raising the minimum wage of their "hypocrisy." It seems that 96% of Democrats who support such measures don't pay their interns.

The abstract of the EPI study noted that "the same Members of Congress who are supporting a 40% wage hike on private sector employers are simultaneously failing to provide any wages to their own employee interns."

Last year, I wrote for Newsbusters about how the media rail about the gender wage gap, but seem to ignore that the Obama White House paid their female staffers 88.3% of what their male ones earn.

96 Percent of Dems Who Support Minimum Wage Hike Don

And 96% of Republicans who disapprove of the minimum wage hike have reportedly burnt toast in the last 12 months. Whether or not it is the right thing to do has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not politicians are douchebags.
 
And 96% of Republicans who disapprove of the minimum wage hike have reportedly burnt toast in the last 12 months. Whether or not it is the right thing to do has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not politicians are douchebags.

it is not the right thing to do. Minimum wage or jobs for people with no skill or in other words entry level. Just because someone doesn't have enough sense to better themselves should not fall to the rest of us to make up the difference. That is what is wrong with NY, CA, and NJ. The cost of living in those states is ridiculous because of all the various levels of handouts.
 
You know unpaid interns are typically college students or other young professionals seeking experience in a certain field of work, they already have a means of living which is why they can afford to work unpaid. They also aren't typically the sort of folks who will end up working minimum wage jobs and certainly not relying on a minimum wage job to survive. Comparing a young college kid going to school to a mature adult working minimum wage as their only source of income are two very different things.

Not when that adult "chooses" to work that entry level job instead of improving themselves. We should not be baling out people that put out little or no effort to improves themselves.
 
You cited a conservative news website, which cited a website that is against raising the minimum wage, which linked to a table on its own website and not the "study's" table. Where's the list of Republicans and their internship payments? Where's the official rules of internship and specific guidelines as to when they are supposed to be paid?

I'm probably going to be criticized for my skepticism yet again. "Blah blah blah of course a liberal would say that!"
CNS is totally unbiased. /sarcasm
 
Not when that adult "chooses" to work that entry level job instead of improving themselves. We should not be baling out people that put out little or no effort to improves themselves.

Are you saying that people who work minimum wage put out little or no effort to improve themselves? Or that if given the choice to earn a higher wage through harder work they would decline?
 
Are you saying that people who work minimum wage put out little or no effort to improve themselves? Or that if given the choice to earn a higher wage through harder work they would decline?

there were be no reason to raise it if they were
 
Are you saying that people who work minimum wage put out little or no effort to improve themselves? Or that if given the choice to earn a higher wage through harder work they would decline?

there were be no reason to raise it if they were

Easily one of the most ignorant statements I've ever seen made.
 
Easily one of the most ignorant statements I've ever seen made.

Reading your diary again, I understand.

Common sense is not plentiful in Clarksville/Fort Campbell
 
Yeah interns tend to be unpaid because the experience they get. Most interns are still in school and it helps them build their resumes for once they graduate. Hell I had the chance to be a paid intern this summer and turned the money in exchange to going on lunch meetings and interacting more with people.
 
You know unpaid interns are typically college students or other young professionals seeking experience in a certain field of work, they already have a means of living which is why they can afford to work unpaid. They also aren't typically the sort of folks who will end up working minimum wage jobs and certainly not relying on a minimum wage job to survive. Comparing a young college kid going to school to a mature adult working minimum wage as their only source of income are two very different things.

No, we very much cannot afford to work unpaid. The transformation of entry level jobs into unpaid internships is one of the big reasons why my generation is broke and in debt. We're expected to work for years without compensation for the privilege of then doing what used to be skilled salaried jobs for the same pay as forty years ago. And we only even get the internships after taking on tens of thousands of dollars of debt. The rise of unpaid internships is a HUGE problem, but it's a different problem than minimum wage.

there were be no reason to raise it if they were

That's why there are no people with graduate degrees working minimum wage jobs. Oh wait, there are a lot. Or did you have some other kind of "improving yourself" in mind? It's always such a vague assertion. The reality is that a lot of people are more skilled than their jobs, a lot of skilled people are unemployed, and minimum wage workers work really hard. No matter how much people who have experienced good fortune want to pretend that they're special, they (we) are not. It's true of probably every person on this forum. Given the same opportunities we've had, most people would do just as well as us.

A philosophy based on blame and self-aggrandizement will get us nowhere. No one but a tiny tiny few earn squalor.
 
No, we very much cannot afford to work unpaid. The transformation of entry level jobs into unpaid internships is one of the big reasons why my generation is broke and in debt. We're expected to work for years without compensation for the privilege of then doing what used to be skilled salaried jobs for the same pay as forty years ago. And we only even get the internships after taking on tens of thousands of dollars of debt. The rise of unpaid internships is a HUGE problem, but it's a different problem than minimum wage.



That's why there are no people with graduate degrees working minimum wage jobs. Oh wait, there are a lot. Or did you have some other kind of "improving yourself" in mind? It's always such a vague assertion. The reality is that a lot of people are more skilled than their jobs, a lot of skilled people are unemployed, and minimum wage workers work really hard. No matter how much people who have experienced good fortune want to pretend that they're special, they (we) are not. It's true of probably every person on this forum. Given the same opportunities we've had, most people would do just as well as us.

A philosophy based on blame and self-aggrandizement will get us nowhere. No one but a tiny tiny few earn squalor.

So everyone takes on the chin because these highly educated and skilled workers you speak of did not do market research on demand for their educations after leaving college? You know if you are stupid enough to major in art history and then bitch about the job market, that is on you.
 
Do conservatives here support removal of minimum wage entirely?
 
Non-paid internships should be outlawed if with a for-profit business or a government entity. It is exactly contrary to minimum wage laws and is a scam that needs to be prohibited. Television shows and actors who make millions a year will use unpaid interns to shine their shoes and kiss their ass calling it being an intern.
 
And 96% of Republicans who disapprove of the minimum wage hike have reportedly burnt toast in the last 12 months. Whether or not it is the right thing to do has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not politicians are douchebags.

If unpaid internships for for-profit business is legal, then the minimum wage is invalid. Just pay less than minimum and call it an "internship." A person can "intern" at a McDonalds to learn the fast food industry, and get $3 an hour to cover any potential expenses while paying $0 salary because it's an internship.

There is no justification in free employees for a for-profit business calling it an internship.
 
Are you saying that people who work minimum wage put out little or no effort to improve themselves? Or that if given the choice to earn a higher wage through harder work they would decline?

If a person working minimum wage cared about improving themselves, they wouldn't be raising a family on minimum wage.
 
Seems to be very unchristian to talk about poverty as if being poor is a sin.
 
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