Catching up Part 5 – Paul Hodes had Cognitive Dissonance again. - Granite Grok

Catching up Part 5 – Paul Hodes had Cognitive Dissonance again.

Democratic candidatre for U.S. Senate, Rep. Paul Hodes arrives to vote in Concord, N.H., Tuesday, Nov. 2,2010.(AP Photo/Jim Cole)
Democratic candidatre for U.S. Senate, Rep. Paul Hodes arrives to vote in Concord, N.H., Tuesday, Nov. 2,2010.(AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Concord Monitor (the ink-stained den for Progressives who have hard times stringing two coherent thoughts together) – on Jan 21, former CongressCritter Paul Hodes said that NH has to raise its entry labor costs in order to attract new businesses to NH (Yeah, as a former business owner, that gets my motor started on that idea again).  In his Op-Ed, he’s taking a slap at Sununu for using the Federal minimum wage instead of upping NH’s costs to all the other New England (Democrat) States.  But this is what caught my eye:

New Hampshire is the only state in New England that does not have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage dictates. Gov. Sununu opposes setting a higher state minimum wage, which is set to remain at $7.25 through 2018. For a full-time minimum wage worker in New Hampshire, that means $15,080 per year, which is slightly above the poverty line of $14,570 per year for a family of two. Gov. Sununu accepted a bigger pay raise than a New Hampshire minimum wage earner makes in a year. That’s not just bad politics. It’s bad policy.

Yeah, sure thing, Paul. No, that line is just Stupidity writ large.

Democrats can’t let go of the fact that minimum wage is an ENTRY level wage – think high school kids breaking into the labor force on a part time basis.  It was NEVER meant to be at a level to support a family (which Hodes conveniently points out IS above the poverty line – nice touch for puncturing your own balloon).

BTW, Paul?  For the vast majority of folks, being a State Governor is NOT an entry level job – it does and should pay much better. But here’s the money line (kinda split up:

New Hampshire needs a well-educated, healthy, motivated and productive work force and energy innovation to attract business, keep young people in the state and stay competitive in the modern era. A poverty level minimum wage is bad for economic opportunity.
If New Hampshire is to stay in front as a business friendly state, we need more than tax cuts to attract and keep business. We need state policies that truly value work and workers. If the governor deserves a pay raise, then why don’t the hard working people of the state? If it’s time for a pay raise for the governor to live on, then it’s time for a living wage for New Hampshire’s lowest paid workers.

So, tax cuts aren’t enough but more expensive workers are going to just have employers streaming into NH?  Yeah, that’s the ticket – right to the unemployment line. Hodes hasn’t learned one of the fundamental Laws of Economics is that if you raise the price of something, less of it will be purchased – including people.

(Paul Hodes lives in Concord. He represented New Hampshire’s Second Congressional District in Washington for two terms.)
[glad to see that the operative word is represented – past tense]

>