When states or local governments pass minimum wage increases, they typically structure the laws so the increases phase in over several years, often starting on Jan 1. With 2022 officially underway, minimum wage increases will take effect in 25 states, 58 cities/counties, and Puerto Rico, according to a new report from the Employment Policies Institute (EPI), a fiscally-conservative think tank that generally opposes minimum wage hikes. 

California leads the way among state-wide minimum wages, with a $15/hour minimum wage now in effect for large employers. Washington similarly increased its wage to $14.49, followed by Massachusetts at $14.25, Connecticut at $14, Oregon at $13.50, New York at $13.20, New Jersey at $13, Arizona at $12.80, Maine at $12.75, and Colorado at $12.56. 

Some places are raising the minimum wage even more sharply at the local level. West Hollywood, California is leading the way in 2022, with a $17.64 minimum wage specifically for hotel employees. Emeryville, California is also enacting an estimated $17.64 minimum wage this year, while in Washington, SeaTac is implementing $17.54 and Seattle is requiring $17.27 among large employers. 

Next up are more California localities, with Berkeley and San Francisco implementing a $17.16 minimum wage, while Mountain View and Sunnyvale go for $17.10 and Palo Alto and Milpitas enact minimum wages of $16.45 and $16.43, respectively. 

At first glance, this might all sound like good news. After all, doesn’t everybody want higher wages? Yet the truth is these mandatory wage increases will hurt businesses and employees alike. As EPI’s report notes, these increases would harm the economy in the best of times. And we are not, in fact, living in the best of times. 

“We know the damage that sharply rising minimum wage mandates have caused prior to the pandemic,” EPI Managing Director Michael Saltsman said. “Now, despite the track record of past harm, minimum wage advocates are instead moving the goal posts without assessing the extent of losses created by minimum wage hikes despite the hardship of the last two years.”

While some workers will see their wages go up as a result of these increases, many others will lose their jobs entirely or have their hours reduced and see a net reduction in earnings. Why? Well, because the real minimum wage is always zero: unemployment. 

“Making it illegal to pay less than a given amount does not make a worker’s productivity worth that amount—and, if it is not, that worker is unlikely to be employed,” famed free-market economist Thomas Sowell explained. “Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage, because they either lose their jobs or fail to find jobs when they enter the labor force.”

Minimum wage increases can eliminate millions of jobs and lead to lower overall compensation, but that’s not it. Studies have also shown that mandatory wage hikes can lead to higher prices for food and childcare, more than negating any benefit.  

Of course, many of the minimum wage increases taking effect across the country are gradual. But their consequences are still very real—and they’ll still be felt by families already struggling with crippling inflation and a faltering recovery. 

WATCH: AOC’s 5 Worst Economics EPIC FAILS (Reaction)

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

Image: Employment Policies Institute

The post 84 Places in America are Raising Their Minimum Wages for 2022 appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Thomas Catenacci on November 16, 2021

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez confused a number of facts about fossil fuels in a video to her followers explaining why pipelines are bad for the country.

The congresswoman mistakenly asserted that the Keystone XL and Line 3 pipelines were proposed to increase U.S. natural gas exports in the video she posted on her Instagram account Saturday. The two pipelines would transport crude oil, not natural gas, from Canada into the U.S. as an import, according to their operators.

“When you look at Keystone XL, and when you look at a lot of these other pipelines, people say, ‘Oh, this is for energy, you know, independence in the United States,’” Ocasio-Cortez stated during the video which has garnered more than 180,000 views. “We actually already produce enough to power our own country, whether you agree with it or not.”

“A lot of these pipelines are being built so that the United States can export and sell natural gas abroad,” she continued. “And, you know, people make geopolitical arguments as to why that should be the case.”

Line 3 has transported crude oil into the U.S. through Minnesota since the 1960s. Enbridge, the company that operates the pipeline, is currently constructing a $2.9 billion Line 3 replacement, but the company has faced intense resistance from environmental activists.

Ocasio-Cortez said that she believes Line 3 “should not exist.”

The Keystone XL pipeline would have similarly taken crude oil into the U.S. from western Canada. However, the pipeline — proposed as an extension to an already existing line that stretches from North Dakota to Texas — was canceled by its operator TC Energy after President Joe Biden revoked its federal permit.

More than 20 states have accused the president of overstepping his constitutional authority in an ongoing federal lawsuit challenging the permit revocation.

“The President has certain prerogatives to act on behalf of the United States in foreign affairs,” the lawsuit stated. “But as far as domestic law is concerned, the President must work with and abide by the limits set by Congress—whether he likes them or not.”

Republicans and fossil fuel industry advocates have argued that ensuring the U.S. has a steady, reliable supply of oil and natural gas protects national security. They also argue that the U.S. should leverage its own natural resources to be a net exporter of oil and gas rather than rely on foreign powers for energy.

But the Biden administration has hamstrung the U.S. fossil fuel industry, canceling pipelines, abandoning large drilling projects and introducing sweeping regulations, while asking Middle Eastern countries for more oil and Russia for more gas.

The post AOC Confuses Natural Gas For Oil In Video Explaining Why Pipelines Are Bad appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

The Congresswoman from New York wore a white dress with the words “Tax the Rich” written in large red letters across the back.

Tickets for the Met Gala cost $30,000 per person with tables start at $200,000, according to The New York Post.

A reporter for NewsMax, Benny Johnson, also claimed that AOC’s choice of attire for the event had a price tag of $1,000.

AOC must think she is the progressive counterpart to outspoken conservative singer/model Joy Villa, who first gained national attention with her “Make America Great Again” dress that she wore to the Grammys in support of former President Donald Trump in 2017. Villa, I might add, has shown much more dignity and grace than AOC ever dreamed of.

The problem lies not in making a political statement at a big event like the Met gala. In fact, I do not think it is out of place for a sitting member of Congress to make a political statement.

The issue at hand is the blatant hypocrisy of AOC’s message. It’s highly ironic that a sitting congresswoman would attend an event that costs $30,000 and wear a $1,000 gown, and then have the audacity to talk about taxing the rich!

AOC, you are the rich! Do you think middle-class Americans have the kind of money to attend high-class balls, wearing clothes that cost thousands of dollars? Do you think they have the connections or money to rub shoulders with the who’s who of the entertainment industry?

What would you say to your constituents about your decision to attend the Met Gala when so many are likely scraping by just to make ends meet? You are not a woman of the people. If you really cared, you would be fighting in Congress to keep the American economy open and removing regulatory burdens placed on the American people instead of trying to be a Progressive Cinderella.

This behavior is all too typical of progressive politicians and they whine and complain about people they call “rich elitists” while refusing to acknowledge their own arrogance. People like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are no different than the kings and queens of old who wined and dined, getting fat and living easy off of the backs of people who suffered in poverty.

In spite of the congresswoman’s decision to attend the Met Gala, it’s not out of line to ask about her abuela’s  home in Puerto Rico that she claimed was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria back in June. AOC blasted former President Donald Trump for blocking relief to the island in the aftermath of the hurricane. If the congresswoman can afford to be at an event as prestigious as the Met Gala, surely she can afford to at least help take care of her grandmother’s home repairs.

Unless of course, she doesn’t really care about her grandmother and was just using her as a political prop in an attempt to increase government spending. Perhaps it is old-fashioned of me to think that if you genuinely love someone, you should help them when they are in dire circumstances if you have the means to do so. I hope that AOC’s grandmother is in a much better state of living these days—especially since her granddaughter thinks it is appropriate to live the lifestyle of the rich and famous while claiming to serve the common people of New York.

If AOC lived according to her principles, she would be appalled at the idea of attending the Met Gala while so many of her fellow Americans are suffering as businesses struggle to get by or have closed
due to government restrictions under the guise of a pandemic.

Tyrants of the past and present would be proud of the progressive darling who is living up to the mantra, “Do as I say and not as I do!”

The post Tax Me: The Hypocrisy of AOC’s “Tax The Rich” Dress appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

The post Ocasio-Cortez Calls for ‘Full Investigation’ into Cuomo Nursing Home Scandal appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

In the last hours before a final vote on the second COVID stimulus bill, two members of Congress had the same principled reaction to a very important point. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Representative Justin Amash both tweeted their disgust that mere hours before a pivotal vote on the omnibus COVID stimulus bill, the text had not yet been delivered to legislators for them to read. When it did arrive, just over an hour before the vote, it was over 5,500 pages long.

That these two Representatives are on the same side of an issue should tell you how universally disliked these kinds of unreadable omnibus bills are. AOC is a progressive leftist who has pushed for the Green New Deal, defunding the police, and socialized medicine. Amash is a fiscal hawk, a man known for rooting out extra spending and his anti-war libertarian stances. He left the Republican party on July 4th of this past year, finding the GOP a bit too “big government” for him.

Even these dramatically different Representatives, AOC and Amash, can agree that something is rotten. Every member of Congress was faced with the task of deciding whether to vote to pass a broken bill they hadn’t read, or vote against it.

It’s worth mentioning here that Justin Amash will not be returning to Congress next term. After leaving the Republican Party, he decided that he would not run for reelection and the seat was won by Republican Peter Meijer in November. Amash will return to his life as an attorney, or perhaps rejoin the family business.

It is a true shame that he is leaving Congress. Because when it came time to vote on the omnibus COVID bill, Amash took the high road. He did not vote to pass that corrupt bill.

As details about the bill start to come out, it seems like Amash made the right choice:

Not only is just a small 30% of the $2 Trillion bill going to help individuals and families, much of the other 70% is going to big business handouts, defense spending, private corporations, and pet projects of various politicians. There is also a salary increase for Congress. And that’s just what we’ve learned about in the first two hours since the bill passed.

In other words, it’s a bad bill. And like the Patriot Act, the Affordable Care Act, and so many other omnibus bills that congress has voted for without reading or understanding, we may feel the impact of this unread stimulus bill long into the future. Voting to kill the bill was a wise choice by Representative Amash.

In contrast, when principles were needed most, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voted to pass the bill. She flip-flopped and put political convenience over principles and sound governance. There are a lot of politicians like her in Washington D.C. right now who prioritized political convenience instead of the American people.

Amash’s vote against the bill was no surprise. His vote against the stimulus bill was a principled stand against something bigger than this temporary moment. He is working to ensure future generations can still enjoy American freedoms. He’s been doing it for a long time already. He has been working for years as a Representative in DC to protect our rights and help our economy. That he walked away from a job in the swamp is part of why we need him in leadership.

We need more leaders like Justin Amash because his ideas offer a real and tangible path to a better future for all Americans. He has been consistent and moral in his duties to the people while serving as part of our government. When he hopefully runs for President in 2024, you should vote for him. He has been working quietly and diligently as a public servant in a time when most Representatives are merely politicians. We could use someone like him in the White House.

Image Composite: Amash photo courtesy Amash For America

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Mary Margaret Olohan on November 6, 2020

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested Friday that “Trump sycophants” should be held accountable for their “complicity in the future.”

The recently reelected congresswoman tweeted asking whether anyone was keeping track of comments made by “Trump sycophants.” She was likely referring to supporters of President Donald Trump who are alleging that voter fraud is causing the president to fall behind 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Trump has not provided evidence that voter fraud is costing him the election.

“Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future,” she asked. “I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future.”

“Lol at the ‘party of personal responsibility’ being upset at the idea of being responsible for their behavior over last four years,” she added.

Ocasio-Cortez’s comments come as other high profile social media users announced the start of a “Trump Accountability Project” that will “make sure anyone who took a paycheck to help Trump undermine America is held responsible for what they did.”

We’re launching the Trump Accountability Project to make sure anyone who took a paycheck to help Trump undermine America is held responsible for what they did.

Join us and help spread the word.https://t.co/wtVxGIlYOK

— Emily Abrams (@emabrams) November 6, 2020

“We must never forget those who furthered the Trump agenda,” the Trump Accountability Project website says. “We should welcome in our fellow Americans with whom we differ politically. But those who took a paycheck from the Trump Administration should not profit from their efforts to tear our democracy apart.”

The website description continued: “The world should never forget those who, when faced with a decision, chose to put their money, their time, and their reputations behind separating children from their families, encouraging racism and anti-Semitism, and negligently causing the unnecessary loss of life and economic devastation from our country’s failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The post Ocasio-Cortez Suggests ‘Trump Sycophants’ Should Be Held Accountable ‘In The Future’ appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

However when one reads the actual words of the Left, there is a disconnect between promises and intent. The Left manipulates words such as “green” (referencing environmentalism, a positive concept to many), to cover up its ‘red’ or socialist agenda (a negative concept to many). The manipulation of words is a proven political approach used to diminish freedom.

George Orwell noted, “Political language…is designed to make lies sound truthful…and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Thus, necessity, many times, requires those seeking power over us to corrupt words so we believe something other than the advocate’s true purpose.

My new book, The Left’s Little Red Book on Forming a New Green Republic, is a collection of quotes from the left that advocate “capitalism must go,” “truth is not relevant,” “humans must go to save the planet,” and that without following its mandates, “the world will end in twelve years.” In the day of Covid-19, it is frightening to read the words of Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh – “If I were reincarnated, I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.”

Jacques Cousteau, one of the world’s most noted conservationists, using precise numbers, proposes, “World population must be stabilized and to do that we must eliminate 350,000 people per day.”

The reference to a “Little Red Book” alludes to Chairman Mao’s book of quotations: words proclaiming “truth” and a vision of utopia. His book educated the masses on politically correct thinking. Mao’s actions, however, were some of the most brutal in all of history.

The Left emulates Mao’s tactics. It preaches utopia and correct thinking while seeking domination. In 2020 America, The Left’s Little Red Book on Forming a New Green Republic describes how the political left use concern for the environment (Green New Deal, climate change) to attack capitalism and scare the country into socialism.

The Left’s Little Red Book captures the complex interrelationships between the radical Left, socialism, and environmentalism in under a half-hour, easy read. These small books are called “chapbooks.” They have been around since the 16^th century, initially used as educational books. The Left’s Little Red Book is an educational effort to expose the words of the Left so citizens can compare the actual spoken words against the promises of “utopia.”

There is no substitute for understanding the Left other than reading its actual words. General descriptions of their words would not be believable in a society that protects the rights of citizens. Reading the actual words of the Left equips one to recognize how the Left is misleading the American people with a promise of a Green New Deal, and claims this is the moment “when the rise of oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal…”

The reader will quickly appreciate where the Left wants to take this country. The New Green Republic will be a perfectly designed political state with a well-functioning regulatory machine that ensures “politically correct-thought” by the “masses.”

Of the literally millions of statements by the Left on the benefits of their Green New Deal and the regulation of society to “reduce the impacts of climate change,” there is not one utterance about the rights of people in a society. Every statement by the Left “puts us in our place,” “tells us how to live,” and “what to think.” The quotes from the Left merely confirm its goal of creating a country where free people cannot live.

To quote Peter Berle, president of the National Audubon Society, 1985-1995, “We reject the idea of private property.”

Welcome to the New Green Republic!

The post The Left’s Little Red Book on Forming a New Green Republic appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

On Monday, Amy Klobuchar ended her campaign, leaving Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Mike Bloomberg as the most prominent candidates remaining. Biden just scored a massive victory in South Carolina to give him 54 total delegates heading into Super Tuesday. The combination of Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg dropping out cast him as the main alternative to Sanders, who sits in the lead with 60 delegates.

Bloomberg, on the other hand, has zero delegates; yet, that’s because he hasn’t appeared on any ballots thus far, which will change Tuesday. The billionaire has been spending heavy amounts of money on advertising in Super Tuesday states, and could see it pay off with some big results.

There are two other candidates still in the race: Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard. Warren hasn’t won a single delegate since Iowa, and could even lose her home state of Massachusetts on Tuesday. Gabbard has won zero delegates, no doubt tied to her lack of inclusion in the debates for months. Both candidates would have offered Democrats a chance to back a minority as their nominee, as would Klobuchar and Buttigieg. But Democratic voters made it clear that they prefer the likes of Biden and Sanders.

It’s also worth noting that, with Klobuchar out of the race, Gabbard is now the only candidate who’s been a lifelong member of the Democratic party. Biden was an independent in the late 60’s and Bloomberg didn’t register as a Democrat until 2018. Warren was infamously a Republican for the first 29 years of her adult life, and Sanders, of course, has always been an independent.

So why does any of this matter? On a pragmatic level, it doesn’t. However, Democrats spent a good chunk of the past four years clamoring for young, progressive candidates that were minorities. It’s part of the reason why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar have gained such a following in the party. Some have accused Democrats of virtue signaling, and with the way things now look in the primary, that accusation appears to hold water.

Gabbard would’ve been the first female president, first Hindu president, first American-Samoan president, and the first active service veteran president since George HW Bush. Warren would’ve been the first female president and, (if you ask her) the first Native American president. Buttigieg would’ve been the first openly gay president. All would have been historic moments for the alleged Party of Progress, but voters soundly rejected all of them.

The candidates they have embraced? Biden, Sanders, and to an uncertain extent Bloomberg. All of them are old. Biden is the youngest at 77 years old. They are all white. And Sanders is the “poorest” of these three with a reported $2.5 million fortune. For Democrats hoping for some sort of progressive purity test in 2020, this has to be a stark disappointment.

For all the grief that Democrats (appropriately) give Republicans for being monochromatic and predominantly male, it seems incredibly likely that they themselves will be offering up an old, rich white man to oppose fellow old, rich white man Donald Trump. Perhaps the Democratic party needs to assess their own diversity problems before casting stones at others.

Image Compilation: Gage Skidmore

The post The Party of Progress and Diversity Looks Like Old, Rich, White Men. appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Mary Margaret Olohan 

The boyfriend of Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explained how to combat racism as a white person Friday.

Riley Roberts, 30, chatted with his girlfriend, Ocasio-Cortez, about “combating racism as a white person” Friday night on her Instagram story, the New York Post reported. Roberts, who works as a web developer, met Ocasio-Cortez while the two were studying at Boston University.

“So, Riley, what has been helpful to you in combating racism?” Ocasio-Cortez asked Roberts in the Instagram story video.

“I think it’s helpful and important to talk to other white people about racism, and I think a lot of people, they don’t want to be racist,” Roberts said. “They don’t think that they’re racist, but they also don’t know some of the things that they believe or say are and can be racist.”

WATCH:

AOC and boyfriend Riley Roberts discuss tips for “combating racism as a white person”https://t.co/LahjyfZs5X pic.twitter.com/SQrTtVHiOd

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) February 8, 2020

Roberts also suggested telling racist friends that they are “wrong” rather than “racist.”

“One of the effective ways is just to talk and kind of help teach them about why some of the things they believe or say or think are wrong — not necessarily racist — but that they’re wrong and that will sort of chip away and contribute to some development in this area but not necessarily take somebody from being a racist to not being a racist in one conversation,” he said.

Ocasio-Cortez added: “And it’s just always being open to learning about racist things that we may have said or done without judgement, defensiveness.”

This article is republished with permission from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Peter Hasson 

Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused legendary radio host Rush Limbaugh of faking his reaction to President Donald Trump awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.

Limbaugh, who announced Monday that he has advanced-stage lung cancer, grew visibly emotional while receiving the award during Trump’s address. Ocasio-Cortez accused him of faking it.

“Rush Limbaugh is a virulent racist,” she said in an Instagram video Tuesday night.

“But even just on top of that, to do it in the middle of the State of the Union and not even dignify it with its own ceremony as it has, there’s all sorts of norms that are being violated and not just for people’s humanity but also it truly just cheapens the value of it,” she added.

WATCH:

“Also him pretending to be surprised was such a joke,” she continued.

“This has been news all day, there have been multiple reports from multiple outlets, saying that Rush limbaugh was going to receive the Medal of Freedom, and then Trump announced it and he had to pretend like this was some kind of Oprah moment,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

WATCH:

, AOC

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This article is republished with permission from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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