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Boomerang: Ocasio-Cortez Accidentally Slips and Explains Why Minimum Wage Hike Is Terrible Policy

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  February 10, 2021 6:00 AM

When it comes to media manipulation and messaging, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a perennial playoff favorite. I will admit she knows what she’s doing. When we venture into public policy, well, she still gets ahead of her skis. Will that matter, given that she has a cohort of voters that will not be swayed no matter what? Let’s wait until her eventual presidential run. For now, she went on a bit of a lecture that exposed why hiking the minimum wage is a bad idea.

This proposal, a key item on the progressive agenda, is already being trashed for the phased-in approach. By 2025, the minimum wage will be $15/hour. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has already said he will not support a minimum wage hike in the pending $1.9 trillion COVID relief package that will be taken up after the sham Trump impeachment trial. That is earning him the ire of the progressive Left. But remember, Manchin can afford to anger these people; there aren’t enough of them in his home state for him to worry. Also, the Biden White House made a serious boo-boo in sending Kamala Harris, a California liberal, to do an interview with a local West Virginia station, where she referred to the state’s coal mines as land mines. No one told Manchin she was dropping by — and the miscalculation even had CNN saying that something has to be done to smooth this over; Biden cannot afford to have Manchin as an enemy (via Daily Caller):

CNN’s John King criticized the White House … over its undercutting of West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin after Vice President Kamala Harris gave an interview to a local TV station in his home state without notifying him.

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He is essential because Joe Biden cannot afford to lose any votes in the Senate 50/50 even divide. So, he will be in the mix of it,” King continued. “This was bad politics by the White House. They should at least have given him a heads up and they should have said we’re doing this to help you. We’re doing this to create a climate in your state where people will vote for big, so they’re going to have to smooth some feathers there.”

Right now, there is talk about lowering the income thresholds regarding those eligible for relief checks. If that were to pass, more working people under Trump would have received COVID aid than under Joe Biden, so expect that to change. AOC decided to air her thoughts on this bill, which opened the way for those to point out this is exactly why a minimum wage increase is a garbage policy. Our friends at Twitchy captured all the fun.

She aptly noted the differences in the cost of living, which should also be factored into this minimum wage hike talk that is projected to nix some 1.4 million jobs. It’s long been a job-killer, but the spin on this is amazing. It will cost jobs, but it will raise 900,000 people out of poverty. How does that math even work? So, let’s go with the government figure here. It’s a lowball estimate, I think, but let’s say unemployment increases, over a million jobs are lost, and 900,000 people are taken out of poverty. That latter part doesn’t mean they’re rich or in the middle class. They’ve just earned one cent more to no longer be counted as living below the poverty wage. Is that smart policy? No, but it’s how Democrats govern — with the feelings. It feels good that 900,000 are out of poverty, but leave out the fact that 1.4 million could be living under those conditions thanks to raising the minimum wage. Even in West Virginia, Manchin noted that no one will be living high off the hog with a $15 increase. So, you know it’s even worse in New York. Oh, wait; that’s already happened. Before COVID hit, the minimum wage hikes in the state were already taking their toll, especially among restaurants in the Big Apple. The wage is higher, but these workers see their hours cut or they’re laid off completely to save overhead.