In Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli lost to union money. Narrowly.
In New York, Marxist Democrat Bill De Blasio won. Unopposed [basically].
In Boston, Martin Walsh’s win was awash in union money. [Flooded, in fact.]
In New Jersey, Chris Christie won re-election. Handily.
None of the above outcomes are really surprising.
What is somewhat surprising, however, is the overabundance of economic stupidity ambivalence residing in the Land of the Sopranos.
Already plagued with the highest property taxes in the nation, extortionate tolls on pot-hole plagued highways, a manufacturing base took flight decades ago, and a shrinking pharmaceutical industry, the New Jersey AFL-CIO and the Working Families United for New Jersey convinced the voters of New Jersey to increase the minimum wage to $8.25 per hour.
If it ended there, perhaps the New York suburb would be able to survive based on its ability to siphon off of those who commute in and out of New York.
However, the unions didn’t just settle with a minimum wage increase.
The Democrat-led state Legislature put the constitutional amendment on the ballot after failing to strike a deal with Republican Gov. Chris Christie on the changes.
The wage is to go up by $1, to $8.25 hourly on Jan. 1. It also calls for automatic increases every Sept. 1 based on cost-of-living changes.
Business owners say they’ll be forced to lay off workers, cut employee hours or raise prices to compensate for having to pay a higher minimum wage. They also say they’ll be hamstrung by the constitutional amendment if there is another economic recession. [Emphasis added.]
Apparently, no one has contemplated the initial wage compression (lower tenured or skilled workers making close to more experienced or senior employees).
Nor have they, apparently, contemplated the resultant wage inflation (having to raise more tenured employees’ wages to combat the aforementioned wage compression) that will occur in the coming years as a result of the automatic COLA increases now built into New Jersey’s constitution.
And, no, Chris Christie did not campaign against the wage increase…nor did he campaign to help Ken Cuccinelli for that matter.
However, he does call himself a ‘conservative.’ Emphatically.
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“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)
Image: Ceekay
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