To Be Announced...

We may have a winner...

I am looking forward to giving up my $100 and CornBeltway Boys' $50 dollars to an eventual winner in the Minimum Wage Challenge now that Governor Culver has signed the bill into law...raising Iowa's minimum wage.

Contest Note: The contest ends when THE PRESIDENT signs a federal increase, so there still some time to find a winner.

I'm sure in the pomp and circumstance of signing the increase, we'll have story after story about how this wonderful piece of legislation is "touching so many lives" considering how many people will be getting a raise.

85,000...oops, old number. Sorry. 100,000 breadwinners...nope. That's not right either. It's 125,000...wrong again. 130,000.

Oh, pardon me...it's actually 260,000 Iowans. I think.

Man...it's hard to nail down an exact number, isn't it? Anyway...my hopes were dashed a little after reading the first "impact" story on the increase...

Culver signs minimum-wage bill

At the Capitol complex, it's not easy to find anyone who makes the current minimum wage, locked for the last 10 years at $5.15 an hour. Even the pages, all high school juniors and seniors, earn $8.08 an hour. Most of the cafeteria workers earn about $10 an hour.

Culver hasn't earned minimum wage since he was a teenager, pumping gas and working with the rental houseboats at a marina in McGregor.

If it's hard for a newspaper with a staff of hundreds, I can understand how difficult it is for many of you to find one. Culver doesn't qualify, but this guy might:

Brandon Chanas, 24, of Des Moines, who has Down syndrome, attended the bill signing to show support. He said he has worked at McDonald's and is now looking for a new minimum-wage job. "I will put the money in my wallet ... and take my family to Las Vegas,"

I could be wrong, but considering he has Down Syndrome, I doubt the family he's taking to Vegas is his wife and kids. My concern is about his investment idea. Why take all that money to another state when you can waste a whole lot more of it here in Iowa...we have any number of casinos within a 100 mile car trip.

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Labels: minimum wage