To Be Announced...

UPDATE BELOW

I have a very simple question and I honestly don't know the answer to it, so I'm seeking your help.

While re-reading my excellent post on the minimum wage and following up with a progress check on the legislation...

House and Senate members disagree on a cost-of-living adjustment.

Differences between House and Senate Democrats over whether the state minimum wage should be automatically adjusted for inflation have slowed the push to pass a bill raising the base wage.

While both sides agree that the minimum wage should be increased in two stages from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour by next January, only the Senate version provides a mechanism for annual cost-of-living increases in future years.

And that's my question.

If an increase in the minimum wage is so desperate...(so many "breadwinners" are counting on it)

If an increase in the minimum wage is so needed...("working families" haven't had a raise in 10-years)

Then...

Why "phase" it in? Why do it in "stages" over time? Why not just raise it to $7.25 starting tomorrow?

Any answers?

---updated---

State29 has a good point today over something else in the Des Moines Register story today:

Labor activists offered a different perspective at a Statehouse rally Wednesday to urge support for the proposed minimum wage increase.

"As a nurse, I've seen many families talk about how raising a family on the minimum wage of $5.15 is next to impossible," said Mike Glynn, a Des Moines nurse and member of the Service Employees International Union.

Again, it's a language thing. Read his comments literally and they mean the exact opposite of what you might think he said.

Mike Glynn didn't say he knew of any families being raised on the minimum wage - that's because there aren't any - he only said he heard talk about how raising a family on the minimum wage is next to impossible.

There's a difference, isn't there?