July 12, 2006 -- "Sen. Hillary Clinton was in Ohio this week, pushing a plan to block congressional pay hikes until lawmakers boost the federal minimum wage.
Says the senator: "I believe we should tie the minimum wage to congressional pay raises. If we in Congress can give ourselves a raise, surely we can raise the pay of working families struggling to make ends meet."
Clinton describes the struggle as a kind of solidarity with the working class - the bill's called the "Standing with Minimum Wage Earners Act."
Democrats are wrong that minimum wage hikes eradicate poverty - actually, a 10 percent raise has been found to boost unemployment among the intended beneficiaries by upward of 9 percent. But their theme of solidarity is politically savvy.
It's so good, in fact, that we'll offer a few of our own ideas that Hillary & Co. can incorporate into a larger general-election strategy.
Taxes: Clocking in at more than 16,500 pages and 5.6 million words, the U.S. tax code is an ungodly mess. In 2005, taxpayers were forced to spend $265 billion on tax preparers to keep them in good standing with the IRS.
In a show of solidarity, Democrats could go a long way toward impressing the public by pledging to personally do their own taxes. Meaningful tax reform and simplification wouldn't be far behind.
Pensions: Unlike average Americans, forced into the poorly performing Social Security system, members of Congress take part in the Federal Employment Retirement System, which outperforms Social Security. As of 1998, the average annuity for retired members of Congress was $50,616 - more than five times as much as the average Social Security recipient's.
Why don't Democrats pitch ditching FERS in favor of Social Security? It probably wouldn't be long before Social Security participants would be allowed to redirect a portion of their payroll taxes into better-performing, private IRAs.
Truth in advertising: When a company's ads are found to have made unsubstantiated claims or promises about a product, the firm is liable to lawsuits from consumers who were defrauded. Why not expand truth-in-advertising to politicians? If a candidate knowingly fibs to voters (ahem, Gov. Corzine), why shouldn't voters have similar recourse?
Right, Hillary?
Go for it."
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How simplistic can this witch get? Sure our elected representatives make too much money, although a case could be made for attracting the youngest and the brightest with such largess, but how does that translate into putting the folks needing the money the most out of work by making them too pricey? Ahhhhh...I see now. If the minimum is maximum'd then employers will be forced to turn to even MORE illegal immigrants in order to stay afloat, and we all know just how dearly RodHam loves illegals.
Psst, Hill? While you're at it, why not have another go at reforming health care?
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