New Bill to Hike Massachusetts Minimum Wage to Highest in the Country

A new wave of economic ignorance appears to be sweeping the land, with a socialist-thinker just elected mayor of NYC and a card carrying socialist elected to Seattle's city council, it appears we are very far from seeing an advancing libertarian society---even on such basic issues as harmful minimum wage laws.

The Boston Globe reports:

 Senate President Therese Murray’s push to give Massachusetts the highest minimum wage in the country drew a hostile reaction from business leaders Thursday, while Senate Democrats largely embraced the proposal as long overdue.

Murray said after meeting privately with Democrats Thursday afternoon that she would put a bill before the Senate next Tuesday to raise the state’s minimum wage, currently $8 an hour, to $11 an hour by January 2016 and to tie future increases to inflation.

Murray said the bill being released by the Senate Ways and Means Committee would be an attempt to restore the minimum wage in Massachusetts to its purchasing power if it had kept pace with inflation since 1968. The $11-an-hour wage proposed would surpass California’s move earlier this year to raise its minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2016.

“This isn’t even for the middle class; the middle class makes more than $11 an hour,” Murray said. “This is to give people something to move forward so that they can afford to stay here, particularly in the cities.”

To understand the harm that minimum wages cause be sure to read Dom Armentano's recent essay, The Truth About Minimum Wage Laws.