$12 would be the highest inflation-adjusted minimum wage ever. By almost $2.

[DanTex]

It would also be the largest percentage increase since 1950. I have no idea how people think that Hillary is somehow selling out the working class by advocating for $12. Or calling her "GOP-lite", given that the Republicans want to freeze, cut, or even get rid of the minimum wage.

I guess it's because there are other numbers that are bigger than 12. You know, like 13. The strange thing is, there are also numbers that are bigger than 15, but that doesn't stop the same people from worshipping Bernie...

[JackInGreen]

1. How's that stack up to cost of living?

[DanTex]

4. Depends which part of the country. Hillary wants $12 to be the floor, with states and cities going

higher if they have higher cost of living.

[JackInGreen]

7. I'm checking cost of living for several states

And that 12.00 would be great in the cheapest states, rural areas, with only your solitary self to care for. Not a bad step, but still to low for a living wage imo.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

11. Rediculously low...$15/hr should be the bare minimum as Bernie has rightly advocated...the higher the better.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2016!!!

[JackInGreen]

13. I'm using this

http://livingwage.mit.edu/

The cheapest I've found so far is Mississippi, and that's a minimum wage of 9.49 would get one adult the requirements with minor disposable income. Have a kid and it jumps to needing 19.39 an hour.
Can someone cross check this for me? It seems like 12.00 will be enough in the cheapest locations to get people off of assistance, and into the fire of not having enough on their own to live, while making too much to qualify for further help. Am I wrong? The 12.00 even as a 'floor' seems low end in the extreme unless you're determined to be one of two incomes and have no children.

[cherokeeprogressive]

27. Okay, how 'bout California?

[Recursion]

24. That's what "inflation adjusted" means (nt)

[cosmicone]

2. Also, Hillary is not opposed to a higher minimum wage

in localities where it makes a difference.

The minimum wage as it stands varies from state to state and local governments where it is increased for local conditions.

If the federal wage is set at $12, it makes it easier for high SOL localities to raise it to $15 or even $18.

[DanTex]

3. Yes, good point. Hillary wants $12 to be the floor, and higher in areas with higher cost of living.

[BlueJazz]

5. If people settle for less than 15 per hour, they'll be waiting many years before it ....

...rises again.

[DanTex]

6. Unless it's indexed to inflation, like the Murray bill that HRC supports.

[BlueJazz]

8. That's true.

[Warren Stupidity]

9. Shut up you little people. Be happy with these crumbs.

Ingrates!

[JaneyVee]

10. $12/hr should be the floor as...

It is a good compromise between metro areas and suburban/rural areas, and it allows metro areas to go higher.

[pinebox]

21. No it isn't

because it will go down to $9.75.
$12 is the high number, that's how negotiations work.

[Autumn]

12. And it's still not enough.

Big fucking deal.

[panader0]

14. By 1968 rates-adjusted-it should be around $21.00

http://inequality.org/minimum-wage/

[DanTex]

17. Does that make Bernie a corporatist sellout?

[LiberalArkie]

18. No, but by setting out for a minimum of $12 per hour I think the people would probably

be seeing $10 per hour after it got out of the committees and reconciled in the house and senate bills. I don't think that $15.00 comes close the the $1.25 I was paid at 18 in 1966.

[AZ Progressive]

15. Remember that after the necessary expenses, there are surprise expenses...

Anything from a doctors visit, dental work, to car repairs, parking tickets, etc... People need some savings to cover surprise expenses.

Also consider how fast rent has been increasing in large cities.

[AZ Progressive]

16. Hillary advocating for $12 highlights the modern Democratic Party's feebleness...

and unnecessary compromising.

[angrychair]

19. "Real World Solutions"

You hear that said a lot, "real world solutions". You hear "compromise" a lot too. Yes, as a nation, we are doing better than we were 8 years ago. Our president did an amazing job. There is still a lot of potholes in this 'road to recovery'.

A few, less than 1%, are doing a great deal better. We have 53% of all wages earned in America are owned by.08% (yes, point zero eight percent). That is wages alone. Not counting those that don't live on a paycheck. A disappearing middle class is a systemic issue that dramatically impacts all other issues, from student loan debt to crime. It is not the only issue, it is an issue.

No snark or disrespect to you or your preferred candidate, just my opinion. I have read other canidiates' policy positions from their campaign websites plus politics is kind of my thing so I am very aware of what is happening around me in the real world.
Far to many other candidates "real world solutions" don't actually fix the problems or address the actual systemic causes for those problems. They "compromise". So tired of me, people like me, getting told that the "real world solutions" or "compromise" means I get shit on (just work a little harder) while the rich get richer. I am being "compromised" into the God damn poor house.

To be fair, I am not saying that Bernie Sanders has all the policies or systemic fixes laid out to cure all the problems in our country (he is a man, not a mythical being sent to heal the sick or make it rain money) either but his starting point, on almost every issue, is far closer to "righting what is wrong" that other candidate's positions do.
Bernie Sanders and a lot of hard work and protesting from ALL OF US (no one, alone, can fix our issues) is how we start making the system work for us and not against us.

[pinebox]

20. You're advocating for a non living wage....

on all days today when thousands of fast food workers are on strike demanding a $15/hr living wage?
Really Dan? Really?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/11/10/fast-food-strikes-begin/75482782/
http://6abc.com/business/fast-food-workers-to-walk-off-the-job-in-phila-other-cities/1077117/

[mike_c]

22. it isn't nearly enough....

No one who works a full time job should live in poverty or make less than a LIVING wage. Where is $12/hr a living wage in America?

[Cassiopeia]

23. Sure

As long as you leave food, rent, and fuel out of the calculations.

Add in real world cost of living and the MW should be around $22/hr.

[Recursion]

25. $22 is double the median wage in most of the deep South

That's going to be a hard sell down there.

[Cassiopeia]

28. It's not what I'm asking for.

However the idea of starting at $12 and hoping to come up with $9 is just not going to do it.

We did that with the ACA. Sure, it's helped, but we started the process with a really weak opening bid and got what we fought for.

[bobbobbins01]

26. I keep hearing Bernie isn't a Democrat...

But if this is what being a democrat has become, I don't want any part of it either. Fuck this noise.

[reformist2]

29. I'd love for Hillary to campaign on this "don't ask for too much" idea!

As if $15 an hour was asking for too much. As if Oliver was asking for too much when he asked for more gruel.