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BumRushDaShow

(145,331 posts)
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 04:57 PM 8 hrs ago

Trump's billionaire Treasury chief nominee says minimum wage should stay at $7.25 per hour

Source: Raw Story

January 16, 2025 1:42PM ET


Billionaire businessman Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Treasury Department, argued that the federal minimum wage should remain at $7.25 an hour.

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) asked Bessent about raising the federal minimum wage.

"Right now in America, we have over 22 million workers who are making less than $15 an hour, and nearly 40 million people in our country earning less than $17 an hour," Sanders explained. "Shamefully, the federal minimum wage, despite the efforts of myself and other people here, have not been raised since 2009 and remains an unbelievable $7.25 an hour."

"Will you work with those of us who want to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage to take millions of Americans out of poverty?" the senator asked. "Senator, I believe that the minimum wage is more of a statewide and regional issue," Bessent replied.

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/scott-bessent-minimum-wage/

26 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Trump's billionaire Treasury chief nominee says minimum wage should stay at $7.25 per hour (Original Post) BumRushDaShow 8 hrs ago OP
Oh shit.............. Lovie777 8 hrs ago #1
Well Rebl2 8 hrs ago #5
We need to slam those idiots... 2naSalit 5 hrs ago #19
Surprised they don't want to lower it or completely eliminate it. yourout 8 hrs ago #2
They're just getting started. nt TBF 5 hrs ago #17
how very christian of them rurallib 8 hrs ago #3
F him Rebl2 8 hrs ago #4
Because Biden defeated inflation, right? Nope, he's a sycophant who will lose his husband if tRump has his way. . nt Bernardo de La Paz 8 hrs ago #6
Well...if you live in a red State you'll never see a MW wage increase in the next four years... Bengus81 7 hrs ago #7
Remember when that CEO guy got shot? twodogsbarking 7 hrs ago #8
I said from the day this guy was announced - he is very bad news. Wiz Imp 7 hrs ago #9
Breathtaking, absolutely astonishing that this is where America has come to. What would FDR have said? C0RI0LANUS 7 hrs ago #10
How can billionaires become trillionaires if they pay people more than $7 an hour? Irish_Dem 7 hrs ago #11
I will give him my direct deposit kacekwl 7 hrs ago #12
I'm sure he'd reduce the minimum wage if he could. patphil 7 hrs ago #13
They ALWAYS defer to state rights when it suits them purr-rat beauty 7 hrs ago #14
Anyone Who Opposes (Automatic*) Increases... GB_RN 7 hrs ago #15
That's $15,080 per year working full-time, BEFORE taxes JoseBalow 6 hrs ago #16
I know folks on that wage--they visit the soup kitchen and grocery kitchen frequently. riversedge 4 hrs ago #20
They pretend minimum is maximum. GreenWave 5 hrs ago #18
A state issue? jayschool2013 4 hrs ago #21
Sarcastically I say, Pennsylvania Alice B. 52 min ago #26
Otherwise, there can't be more billionaires. dchill 4 hrs ago #22
Showing what assholes we already know they are. OverBurn 1 hr ago #23
Another reason for a spending boycott. They're counting on us to go on spending like crazy under Biden .... Hotler 1 hr ago #24
Great! BurnDoubt 54 min ago #25

Bernardo de La Paz

(51,817 posts)
6. Because Biden defeated inflation, right? Nope, he's a sycophant who will lose his husband if tRump has his way. . nt
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 05:07 PM
8 hrs ago

Bengus81

(7,574 posts)
7. Well...if you live in a red State you'll never see a MW wage increase in the next four years...
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 05:21 PM
7 hrs ago

Who better to make that decision than a few BILLIONAIRES..................

Wiz Imp

(2,681 posts)
9. I said from the day this guy was announced - he is very bad news.
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 05:29 PM
7 hrs ago

He's yet another incompetent sycophant. He has no background in Economics and his public statements show he has no clue how economics works either. He's a hedge fund manager. Absolutely the worst kind of guy to be in charge of the Treasury.

C0RI0LANUS

(2,369 posts)
10. Breathtaking, absolutely astonishing that this is where America has come to. What would FDR have said?
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 05:32 PM
7 hrs ago

An oligarch with zillions of dollars who couldn't spend it all in ten lifetimes is going to be in charge of the US Treasury and doesn't give a sh#t about us hoi polloi. This is bewildering.



21st Century America is behind Denmark where pay starts at $15.57 per hour and Trumpf wants to annex Greenland.

Irish_Dem

(61,025 posts)
11. How can billionaires become trillionaires if they pay people more than $7 an hour?
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 05:39 PM
7 hrs ago

Down right sad that they have to stay billionaires.

purr-rat beauty

(610 posts)
14. They ALWAYS defer to state rights when it suits them
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 05:59 PM
7 hrs ago

oh hey, here's a state's right card I can play to get out of any pro-citizen thinking

GB_RN

(3,259 posts)
15. Anyone Who Opposes (Automatic*) Increases...
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 06:00 PM
7 hrs ago

In minimum wage, should be forced to live on it for at least a year, with no access to their normal income/assets.

*It should be pegged to inflation, so that we don’t keep doing this, over and over, while telling poor people “Fuck off.” Just not in so many words.

FYI, if minimum wage had kept pace with inflation, it would have been about $21 an hour back in ‘14. Wanna know what I was making in ‘14, as a new grad RN on a cardiothoracic surgery ICU at a major, and prestigious university medical center? A shade over $21 an hour. A four year degree, taking care of the sickest of sick
cardiac patients, making the equivalent of minimum wage. It would be closer to $30, today, which is about what a new RN makes at my hospital (thanks to market adjustments over the last two years).

riversedge

(73,752 posts)
20. I know folks on that wage--they visit the soup kitchen and grocery kitchen frequently.
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 08:14 PM
4 hrs ago

Alice B.

(250 posts)
26. Sarcastically I say, Pennsylvania
Fri Jan 17, 2025, 12:17 AM
52 min ago

Which aligns with the federal minimum wage.

It was in the news recently that many state officials, including our governor, got a raise while neighboring NJ and Delaware raised their minimum wage… but here we are.

https://northeasttimes.com/2025/01/07/philly-area-2025-laws/

Hotler

(12,464 posts)
24. Another reason for a spending boycott. They're counting on us to go on spending like crazy under Biden ....
Thu Jan 16, 2025, 11:35 PM
1 hr ago

For a spending boycott example see Blu25 in DU's Activist forum.

BurnDoubt

(81 posts)
25. Great!
Fri Jan 17, 2025, 12:15 AM
54 min ago

He can have the job... for $7.25 an hour. Maybe he'll get a pat on the head from (F)Elon and his side-kick for helping to eliminate Waste In Gubmit!!!!! The uglyarchy is forced to grudgingly "compensate" the "bloodsucking help" until the "work" can be done by machines. And in the meantime, H1B workers can make up the difference in technical expertise, saving more money by letting foreign governments train the labor we need... more savings!!! And a bigger tip for The First Felon.

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