The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - Let's Get Fiscal: America's Minimum Wage Debate

Episode Date: March 7, 2021

The Senate Parliamentarian drops a minimum wage hike from the latest COVID-19 relief bill, and Trevor examines why America's minimum wage has remained effectively stagnant since the 1980s. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second the th.. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. the th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. the the th. th. th. thi-S. the, the, thi-S. thi-S. thea-Sepepea-Sepe-Sepnipe, the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. th. th. th. There. There. There. There. There. It. It. It's th. It's th. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's th. It's th. It's the. It's the. It's the. 0e. 0e. 0e. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. One of President Biden's top priorities in his first month in office has been passing a coronavirus relief bill, which makes sense. I mean people spent an entire year having to smell their own breaths. The least they can get in return is some compensation. Unfortunately, though, to actually get the bill passed, Biden needs the support of the United States Senate.

And they're about as supportive as a YouTube comment section. Just today, Biden announced a new income limit on who will be getting those $1,400 checks, because moderate Democrats objected to the cost of the bill. And that's after one of the most popular pieces of the bill has already been stripped out. President Biden's bid to double the federal minimum wage apparently will not be part of his COVID relief package. Democrats plan to pass the president's plan through a budget process called reconciliation.

That allows Democrats to pass a big package in the Senate with a simple majority, but the trade office that the bill can only involve taxing and spending. The nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth McDonough, decided the minimum wage provision didn't meet that standard. That means it is going to be impossible for senators, the Democratic senators here to pass that bill through the Senate because there are certainly not the 60 votes necessary to do it as part of that package. Damn, who knew accomplishing nothing could be so complicated. But yeah,

apparently, thanks to the rules of the Senate and the ruling of the Senate parliamentarian, the stimulus bill can no longer contain a raise in the minimum wage. And if you're wondering what a Senate parliamentarian even is, well, they're basically the loser who actually reads all the monopoly directions before the game starts. And because of that, they get to block legislation. It's just kind of weird that America goes through this whole grueling election. Like, it's this four-year-long process. Who's it going to be? We're voting. We're debating. It's a process to choose everyone who makes the laws.

And then there's just this one unelected person who can overrule them all. You know, like, I don't remember Abraham Lincoln saying, this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, as long as it's cold with Liz. Yes, Liz? So, why is there such a bitter fight over the federal minimum wage? Well, you're about to find out in our brand new segment. Let's get fiscal. A federal minimum wage is not a new idea in the United States. In fact, America has had one since 1938, when all workers were guaranteed 25 cents an hour. It was a guarantee that no matter how menial a job you had, you could always afford to play a round of Street Fighter 2.

The problem is that while a lot has changed since then, the minimum wage hasn't changed as much as you might think. This is a chart of the minimum wage in the United States over the past 60 years. You can see how it's gone up and up and up from a dollar an hour in 1960 to $7.25 today. If you take the same line but adjust it for inflation, you'll see the problem. Every time the minimum wage has been raised, inflation has dragged it right back down. Really, America's minimum wage hasn't gone up. It's essentially stayed the same since the 80s. The current federal minimum wage hasn't moved since 2009. It's the longest time the country

has gone without raising the minimum wage. Look at this. To feed a family of four for a week in 2009, you'd have to work 17 hours hours the the the the the the the the th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi to to thi to thi to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right right to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the th. I. I. I. I. I'm. the th. I'm. I'm toe. I'm toe. I'm. I'm the. I'm the. I'm thea. I'm thea. I'm throwne. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the.. Look at this. To feed a family of four for a week in 2009, you'd have to work 17 hours on minimum wage. Now it's 20 hours. To pay your monthly rent, 116 hours back in 2009. 1,151 hours in 2019. And to pay a year of medical bills, you'd have to work 285 more hours in 2019 than you had to work in 2009. Yeah, that's right.

The minimum wage hasn't been raised since 2009. And when you account for inflation, it actually hasn't gone up since the 1980s. I mean, think about that. The last time the minimum wage had really been raised, we were all out in the streets doing Panzula. I mean, that's what we were doing in South Africa, like the 80s didn't just happen in America, you know. And while the minimum wage has remained stagnant, the prices of everything from rent to health care have gone way up. So if working a

minimum wage job in 1989 could pay for a heart transplant, now all you can afford is having one one of those candy hearts taped to your chest. and even then you've got to buy it on credits. Now, raising the minimum wage is an extremely popular idea. And 59% of Americans think that it should be at least $15 an hour. But in conservative circles, a lot of people think that some workers simply don't need any more money. It's not about who's starving and who's not. It's about the minimum wage is designed as the first rung on the ladder to get people in the workplace and then up. It was never designed for someone to feed a family on.

It was never designed to be a 40 hour a week wage. My nephew here in Cleveland, Ohio right now, he's working an $8 or $10 an hour landscaping job for the summer. That's not a living wage, but it shouldn't be. It should, it should motivate him to keep going after something more. My grandson works at McDonald's for minimum wage in Arizona. He doesn't need to make $15 an hour. The wage in place for entry-level employees is so that they can get a job. If you're supporting a family at four, you definitely shouldn't be working a minimum-wage job. Here's the thing. Opponents of minimum wage increases can pretend that the only people working these jobs are 16-year-olds just trying to save up for a bag of weed that's actually ore.

But the truth is, half of the people who benefit from a minimum wage increase are between the ages of 25 and 54, and over a quarter of them have children. I mean, it would be nice if only teenagers had to work these jobs, just like it would be nice if teenagers were the only ones who ran away from home when life got too tough. But that's just not reality. And you'd think this would be easy for politicians to understand. But the problem is a the the the the the the the the the thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi-a-a' thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the theeeeeeeeeeeeananan. toeeeeeeean. theeeeeeean. theeeeeean. theeean. theeee easy for politicians to understand. But the problem is a lot of them just aren't looking at the data. Instead, they're reminiscing about how things were when they last worked a minimum wage job. Growing up in a small town, I worked for less than the minimum wage.

I started busing tables at a dollar an hour. I went up to two and a quarter when they moved me up in the place and then I finally made it to cook, which was big time, that was six bucks an hour. My first job was also working for minimum wage at a cell barn, a dollar sixty an hour in a today. that's right, I was scooping cow manure for a dollar sixty an hour. But within a month's time I'd worked myself up, I got a dime raise. I worked with about 15 other high school classmates through high school and junior college and help me not have any debt when I finished college as well. Yeah, I used to work minimum wage, shoveling shit. And now look at me, I get a senator's salary for shoveling shit.

The irony is that without realizing it, these guys are making a great case for raising the minimum wage. If the minimum wage these senators earned back in the day had kept pace with inflation, it would be way higher than the 725 that it is now. And it's great that Senator Marshall left college debt free, thanks to his cow poop side hustle. But that's because back when he graduated, his college cococc, the, thuuuucoc, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, the, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thi. thi, thi left college debt-free thanks to his cow-poop side hustle. But that's because back when he graduated, his college cost $900 a year. That's what these old dudes don't realize.

When they tell these stories about, I had to walk 10 miles from my house, all young people today think is, God damn, you could afford a house? Man, that's bawling. So, th, th, th, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu, thu thu thu thu thu thu thu that's thu thu thu thu that's thu, thu, tho, thi, thi, thi, tho, tho-a, tho-a, tho' tho' tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thu, thu's thu's thu's thu's thu's thu's thu thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, than, than, than, than, than.e tooan tooan, tooan, toe too too too too too the thean, than, thi's a house? Man, that's bawling. So, despite how some people think of the minimum wage, there are many adults who do need to live on it. Now, that's not to say that raising the minimum wage is a magic bullet, because it turns out, it does have a few downsides.

The Congressional Budget Office finds raising the federal minimum wage would pull 900,000 people out of poverty and give about 27 million workers a raise, 27 million, but it comes at a cost. The CBO says that increase would cost 1.4 million jobs and and and raise the federal deficit by 54 billion dollars over a decade. So there's a trade off here. That's right. If the CBO projections are correct, then raising the minimum wage to 1515 an hour would help millions of people, but it would also mean fewer jobs overall. So you can't ignore that there may be some trade-offs here, but then again, that's the case

with all policies. I mean, if you ban assault rifles, it'll save lives. But then, Don Jr. would have nothing to pose with to let people know how big his penis is. So look, there is nuance there. But if you ask me, if a job cannot exist unless it pays unsustainable wages, then maybe that job shouldn't exist. Like, maybe America has to find another way to help those people losing those jobs,

or the businesses who need those jobs. But America needs to do something about the minimum wage, because the solution can't be maintaining the current situation where you work full-time and still can't make ends meet. I mean, if that's allowed to continue, America will be in such deep shit that even a senator couldn't shovel out of it. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Ear's Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app.

Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. to the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. When 60 Minutes Premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives.

But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.