(Likely) soon to be Ms. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has talked up an ambitious plan for the first 100 hours after the Democrats take control of the House in the new congress.  One of the things she's put high up on the agenda is -- in my mind -- a clear effort to pander to the masses and deliver on a promise to raise the minimum wage in the U.S.A.

Now, I shouldn't have to remind most readers that the minimum wage in this country is paid to only a very small percentage of the employees in the country.  In most areas the minimum wage is boosted by local standards and perhaps local requirements for starting wages or minimum wages.  Economic factors and competition for employees has pushed the prevailing wage up in many areas and kept the minimum wage from being an amount that was actually paid to most employees.  Instead, in many areas the minimum wages were already floating around $7 - $8 per hour because paying any less would result in no employees taking the jobs.

Regardless of that though, there have been cries for years that the cruel heartless Republicans that controlled the congress weren't increasing the wage and were abusing the poor employees in this country (the U.S.A.)  Now, with Democrats about to take control of the congress, and with their talkative leader laying out the ambitions to get a raise in the minimum wage through the congress, we are about see if the promises were just that, or if there'll be substance to this particular one.

Will this be an act of pandering, or will the Democrats show a long term commitment to tackling the issue of wages in this country?  I'm personally betting on pandering, but others may disagree.  Either way, I'm gonna put forth the ultimate test to determine which it really was.

Pandering will be a one time raise in the minimum wage with perhaps a promise to revisit the issue in a couple of years.  Long term commitment will be if the Democrats pass a bill that raises the minimum now, followed with another raise in a few years, followed with an indexing of future raises tied to inflation, the CPI, or some other measurable factor that would be used to keep the minimum wage from lagging behind ever again.

I hate to be offering up suggestions that might help the Democrats in the long term, but I'm not a cruel and heartless Republican.  I may be a Republican, but I'm not cruel and heartless.  I'm a thinking man, and I have a heart and great respect for the workers in this country.  I'm also pro-business because I know business is the engine that drives America (the U.S.A.) by giving people opportunity to work and earn a good living.  It is for those reasons I'm also an anti-tax person, and why I tend to lean Republican.  I want a strong and healthy economy and traditionally the GOP has delivered better opportunities for business -- less regulations, lower taxes, and generally a good environment for businesses to thrive in.

Personally, I think those that generalize and make the ridiculous claims that the GOP is nothing but cruel and heartless are just demagogueing, but that really doesn't matter to the issue at hand here.

If the Democrats really want to implement a long term solution, they'll pick a plan similar to what I've talked about here.  Lay out raises in the minimum wages that will bring the minimum up to a somewhat reasonable level over the next several years.  Don't do it too quickly lest they kill off jobs for the same people they are trying to help, and don't forget to set up a plan to automatically increase the minimum wage in the future (indexed to inflation).