New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani forcefully defended his call for a $30 minimum wage during the final debate of the race Wednesday night, warning that under the status quo, the expensive metropolis is at growing risk of becoming “a museum of where working-class people used to be able to live.”
The inability of many New Yorkers to make a livable wage in the city, Mamdani said, “is pushing them to live in Jersey City, to live in Pennsylvania, to live in Connecticut, because they can’t afford to live in New York City.”
Under Mamdani’s proposal, which would have to be approved by lawmakers, New York City’s wage floor would rise incrementally before reaching $30 an hour by 2030. The minimum wage would then be tied to either cost-of-living increases or worker productivity jumps.
I don’t think that’s right. The average voter wants the minimum wage raised by quite a bit. Capital voters paint nightmare pictures no matter how small the increase is.
There is a pretty good It’s Always Sunny joke about how they are pro mental health but anti taxes an it more or less loops around until they decide the important thing is a new stadium for the Eagles. It is a disingenuous comparison but it also kind of sums this up.
People are, by and large, pro minimum wage because even the chuddiest republican knows how much those jobs tend to suck. Just like people, by and large, want to get rid of tipping and just bake a cost of living into the price itself.
Then you put it up for a vote (either just as legislature or as a proposal for the general public). And you suddenly see all the people who realize that money comes from somewhere will lose their god damned minds and start finding excuses.
There are definitely ways to sell it but it is always an uphill battle.