Even as he’d confidently promised before television cameras in January that he would deliver an astounding increase in the minimum wage, the president knew it would be a difficult fight. Unprecedented federal debt and thorny unemployment weighed heavily on Washington, both cautioning against forcing businesses to give low-paid workers a raise. The presidents own top economic expert had told him the government shouldn’t further distort the dynamics of the free market. Big business was adamantly against the plan. And Congress? That lot of obstructionist conservatives and their “do nothing” attitude would relish any chance to get in the administration’s way, especially if its members could call him a “socialist” and once again bring up his controversial universal health care plan. So it was in 1949, when President Harry Truman (D) declared the federal minimum wage ought to be nearly doubled, from 40 cents an hour to 75 cents. Using a measure of what minimum-wage earners could purchase with that amount compared with the rest of society, the 1949 increase is roughly the equivalent of a wage today jumping to $10.70 from $5.70. huffingtonpost/2013/08/28/minimum-wage-doubling_n_3819478.html
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 02:33:12 +0000
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