I’ve not paid real close attention to the U.S. Senate race being waged between Democrat Robert Menendez, who was appointed to fill the governor’s unexpired Senate seat, and state Sen. Tom Kean Jr., a Republican. Granted, I have been leaning toward Sen. Menendez but without much conviction.
Two recent votes by the Hudson County Democrat, however, have me feeling a bit better about him.
The minimum wage:
Sen. Menendez voted in favor of increasing the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour this week, announcing on the Senate floor that “nine years is far too long” for low-wage workers to wait for the federal government to boost the wage, which currently stands at $5.15 an hour.
Nine years is too long for those who work round the clock, hoping to save a little extra for groceries, for those working so they can buy schools supplies or clothes for their children, or for those saving so one day they can live in a place they are proud to call home. I ask members of Congress who receive a cost-of-living adjustment, how can they vote to not give those hard working Americans earning minimum wage the first increase in nine years?
The Senate defeated the wage hike, sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and cosponsored by Sen. Menendez.
In Contrast, state Sen. Kean voted against New Jersey legislation increasing the state’s minimum wage to $7, legislation that passed and was approved by then-Gov. Richard Codey in 2005.
Iraq:
The senator is backing legislation calling for American troops to leave Iraq.
Here’s what he said on the Senate floor (from a release issued yesterday):
Clearly, it is time to change the course,” Menendez said. “We need a new direction in Iraq. That’s why I am supporting the Levin and Kerry amendments today.
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki supports a transfer of responsibility for 16 out of 18 provinces by the end of this year and his security advisor believes that we can reduce coalition forces to less than 100,000 by the end of this year with most of the multinational force gone. The Iraqis are clearly saying that they are ready for this transition to happen. If the Iraqis are to be respected as a sovereign government, as many argued on the floor of the Senate a few days ago, shouldn’t we respect their knowledge and wishes on the future of their country?
I voted against the Iraq war when many on the other side tried to falsely characterize those of us who didn’t believe the evidence that the administration presented, who thought we should work through the international process, who didn’t believe the administration had done any post-war planning. For standing up for what we believed in, they tried to mischaracterize us as anti-American and unpatriotic. I was willing to take a difficult stand, and stand up for what I believed was right for the country and for the people of New Jersey. That’s why I voted against the war.
Today, with over 2,500 lives lost, almost $320 billion spent in national treasure, with $8 billion used each month, I know I made the right decision.
The Senate has an opportunity to act now, to enact a policy worthy of the sacrifice of our soldiers.
The South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
Hank Kalet 
Can we talk? Minimum wage? The minimum wage isn\’t for the poor hard working Joe six pack. Minimum wage laws really benefit a very interesting group. First, the highly paid government \”workers\” get raises. A rise in the minimum wage jacks up the bottom of the pay table. So all the higher and highly paid \”workers\” all get a raise.Second, all the union workers who have a pay table in their contracts gets a bump up.Third, the politicians get the \”moral high ground\” as champions of the \”little people\” while rewarding the government and union workers. Basat\’s Law tells us to look for the silent hidden losers in any \”economic problem\”. SO who loses here?Everyone loses because now they have to pay higher prices. Taxpayers lose because government workers now have to be paid more and, of course, pensions are keyed to that higher rate. People on fixed incomes get a double whammy in higher taxes and higher prices.So, ANY politician, regardless of flavor, who advocates a higher minimum wage, shouldn\’t be elected. You shouldn\’t EVEN consider voting for them. Either that politician is: too stupid to understand the minimum wage is a bad idea OR too dishonest to admit what the truth of the minimum wage. Is he dishonest or just dumb as a stump?By the way, minimum wage jobs are the bottom rung on the economic ladder. People don\’t work at minimum wage jobs for life. They don\’t support households on them. But they are the training ground for the future great jobs.The little businesses, the typical employer of minimum wage employees, are hurt by the raise and either have to fore go hiring, layoffs, or downsizing.So raising the minimum wage is like pulling up the economic ladder to a better life. And, just a little side effect, an unintended consequence, it impacts the young and the minorities disproportionately. Oh, and by the way, this law, like all law, is the use of force on a peaceful market transaction. The worker doesn\’t have to work at that lower rate. With this law, the government puts its guns at the head of the workers and the employers.Sigh. It seems so obvious!
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/olson8.htmlThis fellow takes Lou Dobbs for a similar opinion.***Begin Quote***Here are some other pesky facts that Dobbs failed to mention in his op-ed:* According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2002 report, of the 72.7 million hourly-wage workers in the US, only 2.2 million, a mere 3%, received minimum wages. While that\’s bad for them, it\’s not a national crisis.* Only 5.3% of minimum-wage workers come from families below the poverty line.* The highest proportion of minimum wage workers were in the retail trade (8%), whereas agriculture only claimed 2%.* The vast majority of minimum wage workers either have second jobs or live with other family members and are not sole-source providers of income.* Minimum wages provide artificial barriers to those seeking their first job experience. Unemployment among 16–19-year-olds was 17.3% in 2005, as opposed to 5.6% overall. When split out by ethnicity, Hispanic and black teens had unemployment rates of 25% and 40% respectively. Analysts have been railing for decades about the social effects of youth unemployment, without even considering as a potential causative factor the ever-increasing minimum wage during all that time.While the idea of raising minimum wages may provide a feel-good sound bite, it does nothing to address economic issues in specific sectors of our population that are affected most by unemployment. A productive employee won\’t be getting minimum wage for long, as it\’s in the employer\’s best interest to retain productive talent, and they know have to pay more for it or lose it to the competition. And, as many have argued at Mises.org, Cato, and elsewhere, if minimum wages were an economic panacea, why stop at $7.15? Why not $12, $20, or $100? ***End Quote***A much better more cogent job of explaining it.My solution is for the government to gradually reduce the minimum wage to ZERO over say 10 years. The peaceful exchange of the labor marketplace. So do you media guys get marching orders from some headquarters of bad ideas.