Hike The Minimum Wage?

It seems there's always some proposal at some level of government to raise the minimum wage. The Sacramento Bee, in this commentary, supports the latest effort do raise the minimum wage at the state level. Minimum wage has never been an issue I lay awake at night over although I'll admit that, being self employed, the prospect of raising the minimum wage is troubling as it's not as easy for me to raise my income, as it is for some others, to make up for the increase in the minimum wage and its inflationary effects.

There are a number of arguments, for and against, minimum wage requirements. I tend to agree more with those against the minimum wage. I won't go on to debate the merits or lack thereof of a minimum wage. It just seems to me that, once the minimum wage goes up, everyone else gets a pay raise and the minimum wage earners are back to square one. What's the point? It would be best if minimum wage earners just look at their jobs as entry level positions and move on, as quickly as they can, to other things. Most minimum wage earners do that, as did I, many years ago.

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I mentioned yesterday how I don't understand how anyone could oppose the redistricting initiative, Prop 77, on the November ballot. The Sacramento Bee's, Dan Weintraub, writes today about why Prop 77 is worth supporting. Dan's points are well made but I'm not as optimistic about the results of having more competitive districts. Nonetheless, the situation we have now should be intolerable to most anyone who's paying attention.

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So much happening with the Libertarian Party as of late, both at the state and national level. Mostly organizational change related chaos. Kind of makes me want to get away from the LP for a while. The National LP will be switching to a non dues related membership structure- just sign up and sign what they call the Pledge and you're a member. The Unified Membership Program, which allowed LPers to be members of both state and national, rather than having to seperately join both has been scrapped and the State LP will resume it's own dues paying member structure but are raising the dues from the current $25.00 to $50.00 per year. Good luck with that, but I think they'll lose in the long run.

Not sure how I'll deal with it. I used to be a pledge member of both State and National: $10 a month going to both state and national parties. When the Unified Membership Program started some years ago, I continued my monthly pledge to both State and National. Stopped the $10 pledge to State when the wife got cancer and I needed to cut back on expenses. The $10 to National kept my membership current with both. My credit card that I had them charge my pledge to was reissued, so National can't automatically deduct my pledge every month until I give them the new card info. Hmmm... what to do? I suppose I'll just wait until National calls for my card info and stay with them. Of course, I could always look for some other party to join. This Guns and Dope Party caught my eye. Maybe I should check them out? They look like bona fide libertarians. I would think they'd fit in perfectly with Humboldt County.