Liberal thinkers believe a hike in the federal minimum wage would help get people out of poverty. Conservatives believe that the free market should be able to dictate what people are paid and even consider abolishing a federal minimum wage.
Here are five quotes from liberal thinkers on the issue:
1."We see very few — if any — studies that provide convincing evidence of positive employment effects of minimum wages, especially from those studies that focus on the broader groups (rather than a narrow industry) for which the competitive model predicts disemployment effects." - David Neumark, Department of Economics at the University of California, Irvine
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2. "More women are affected by the minimum wage than men are affected by the minimum wage. I have been the most aggressive — in fact, I would challenge every Democrat on this stage today to commit to raising the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by the year 2012." - Former Sen. John Edwards in a 2007
debate on CNN.
3. "I have not heard almost anybody suggest that raising the minimum wage to the level we have in Vermont has been an impediment to our economy which is doing reasonably well ... If somebody is going to work that person has got to receive at least a wage that they can go out and live with dignity on. That's an extremely important point." - Sen. Bernie Sanders.
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4. "The last thing we need to do, relating to teachers, is the key to a good education in this country is a strong teacher. I would have a minimum wage for all our teachers, $40,000 per year." - Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
5. "I live in the same house I purchased in 1971 for $22,500. I think we need to increase the minimum wage and so all my neighbors can get an increase in their wages'." - Dennis Kucinich, 2007 Democratic Primary Debate.
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