At a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting in Washington, Chris Christie went on the record saying that he is “tired of hearing about the minimum wage.”
“I don’t think there’s a mother or father sitting around a kitchen table tonight in America who are saying, ‘You know, honey, if my son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, my God, all our dreams would be realized,” said Christie. “Is that what parents aspire to for their children?”
The comments showcase how misinformed Christie is on who benefits from minimum wage. Study after study confirm that increasing the minimum wage will have the effect of raising people out of poverty. It also should be noted that according to information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2013, 3.3 million individuals had incomes at or below that of the federal minimum wage.
Raising the minimum wage won’t cure the ails of the economy but it’s certainly not something a governor should be saying he is tired of hearing about. It’s worthy of discussion, to say the least.
