Democratic Priorities that scare me... Options

[Hartmann]

I'm interested in seeing what the Democrats do in power but the following stuff scares the crap out of me.

1. Military: Force an immediate drawdown of troops in Iraq and conduct oversight hearings on missteps on the war. Democrats renewed their call for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign.
   
   Definitely not a good idea.
   
   
2. Transportation: Consolidate air traffic control facilities. Allow more foreign control of airlines. Limit the number of Transportation Security Administration airport screeners to 45,000. More oversight hearings on the Federal Aviation Administration.
   
   What?! Foreign control of airlines?! I can't wait to fly "Al-Qaeda Air"!!!
   
   
3. Minimum wage. Pass legislation to raise the minimum wage from the current $5.15 an hour to $7.25
   
   This has been covered before, a basic economics course would help immensely.

Things I am glad to see happening:

1. Veterans affairs: Increase oversight with detailed budget accountings. More funding for veterans' health care, including additional mental health counseling for vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
2. Energy and environment: Increase incentives for biodiesel, ethanol and other alternative fuels as well as wind, solar, geothermal and other sources of alternative energy. Renegotiate oil and gas leases that waived royalty payments to the government. Impose a national cap on industrial carbon dioxide emissions. Resist Bush's efforts to open more public lands to oil exploration (iffy on the last part).
3. Intelligence: Increase attention given to emerging terrorist threats in Africa and Southeast Asia and devote more resources to North Korea and Iran. More oversight of terrorism and government surveillance.

I am on the fence about some of their healthcare stuff, taxes, and agriculture plans.

[Hartmann]

A decent explanation as to why increasing the minimum wage won't help as much as people think: http://ingrimayne.com/econ/AllocatingRatio...ceCeilings.html

[Billy]

A decent explanation as to why increasing the minimum wage won't help as much as people think: http://ingrimayne.com/econ/AllocatingRatio...ceCeilings.html

You only think it's good because you agree with it.

[Hartmann]

You only think it's good because you agree with it.

No, I think it's good because it follows the basic laws of economics instead of using power as the basis. You can't really argue with Smith and Mills, mostly 'cause they're dead.

[Billy]

No, I think it's good because it follows the basic laws of economics instead of using power as the basis. You can't really argue with Smith and Mills, mostly 'cause they're dead.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you're going to argue (which you have in the past) that based on "inflation" the price of gas is actually really cheap, then I'm going to take that same "inflation" and claim minimum wage is currently too low. It has not seen an increase since 1997, almost 10 years. But no doubt, "inflation" has definitely made everything more expensive.

Here's a nice historical tidbit on the last time minimum wage was raised so the anti labor class can shut the fuck up about their "the world will end" theories on if minimum wage gets an increase:

Recent history offers something of a counterargument here: During a 1996 debate about raising the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15, opponents said that the increase would cost between 100,000 and 625,000 new jobs. In 1997, the non-farm economy created more than 3 million new jobs, unemployment was at its lowest rate in 28 years, the gross domestic product expanded by 3.8 percent, and the growth in earnings took off. In addition, real average hourly earnings saw their largest increases in 21 years. And in 1999, New Hampshire ranked first in the country with a 5.5-percent increase in jobs from the previous year.

Strikingly similar argument. Yet, that didn't happen last time. Nor the time before. And won't happen now. There is definitely something wrong with your "economics". Because what you claim in theory, does not even come close to happening in the real economic world. Actually, arguably, the opposite happens.