Tag: Minimum wage

GOOD NEWS TO START THE NEW YEAR

2025 was a horrible year for American democracy. However, many good things did happen; here are some of them. Let’s keep up the activism and resistance in 2026. And let’s get out to vote and get everyone we know out to vote. That will make it a much better year than 2025 was. Happy New Year!

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

2025 was a horrible year for American democracy. However, there were glimmers of hope and many good things did happen. Let’s start 2026 by looking at some of the good things that happened in 2025.

Many increases in the minimum wage, put in place in 2025 or earlier, will go into effect in 2026. On January 1, 19 states will increase their minimum wage, on average from $13.90 to $14.57. (Note: The federal minimum wage is $7.25.) Over eight million workers will benefit. Three more states and D.C. will increase their minimum wage later in 2026. Furthermore, roughly 50 counties and municipalities will increase their minimum wage in 2026. [1]

Bob Reich presents his 2025 top ten biggest wins in domestic politics in a 3.5-minute video from Inequality Media. They include the growing pushback and protests against Trump and his administration from the public at the No Kings rallies and through other actions. He notes Democratic election wins for Governor in New Jersey and Virginia, for Mayor in Miami, New York, and Seattle, and for supreme court seats in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, among others. He highlights positive actions by voters and legislators in several states in support of school meals and universal child care, in opposition to huge data centers and consumer price manipulation, and in blocking junk fees and private equity firms’ ownership of health care providers. He also celebrates the resurgence of unions and worker solidarity, including the strike by Starbucks workers.

Medea Benjamin at Common Dreams identifies “10 good things that happened in 2025” in the arena of justice and peace here in the U.S. and abroad. They include the growing protests against ICE and support for immigrants, which have led to the release of a number of ICE detainees. The growing resistance to war and the use of the military by theTrump administration also make the list, along with the growing opposition to the horrors of the ongoing war on the Palestinians.

Jess Craven, in her Chop Wood, Carry Water blog, posts good news at a very granular level every Sunday. In addition to touching on many of the topics mentioned above, her 12/28 edition also highlighted the Supreme Court ruling disallowing the Trump administration’s deploying of the National Guard in Chicago, the growing resistance to ICE, and increasing opposition to the Trump administration’s military actions. She also notes the freeing of Abrego Garcia from ICE detention and Arizona’s elimination hundreds of millions of dollars of medical debt for its residents. And much more. In her 12/21 edition, she highlighted the growing production of clean energy (despite the Trump administration’s opposition), resignations at the Heritage Foundation (the source of Project 2025), the success of a discharge petition in the U.S. House requiring a vote on extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies, a judge blocking the corrupt sale of a private equity-owned nursing home chain (to escape liability for patient negligence claims), and a judge’s nullification of the Trump administration’s termination of some federal employees. And much, much more.

Let’s keep up the activism and resistance in 2026! And let’s get out to vote and get everyone we know out to vote. That will make it a much better year than 2025 was. I’m raring to go and I hope you are too!

Happy New Year!

[1]      Wilkins, B., 12/31/25, “‘A national disgrace’: 19 states to raise minimum wage but federal rate stuck at $7.25,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/minimum-wage-increase-2026)

WHAT EVERYDAY AMERICANS WANT FROM GOVERNMENT

Many Americans are worried about being able to afford the cost of living. Government policies can increase the amount of money they make and the benefits they get, as well as reduce the cost of everyday expenses. If Democrats or others want to garner support and votes, they should unequivocally advocate for policies that would improve the affordability of day-to-day life. Some examples are presented below.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

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Polls have shown for some time, and elections results on Nov. 4 underscored, that many Americans are worried about being able to afford the cost of living. This has two components: 1) the amount of money they make and the benefits they get from their employer, and 2) the cost of everyday expenses from food to housing to health care to utilities.

If Democrats, or another party such as the Working Families Party, want to garner support and votes, they should focus on the affordability of day-to-day life. They need to promote a vision of a more economically secure future for working Americans. They should embrace economic populism, including reducing economic inequality. [1]

Workers’ wages haven’t kept up with inflation over the last 45 years. The value of the federal minimum wage is 60% of what it was 45 years ago. Similarly, workers’ wages have not kept up with their increases in productivity. The result has been that investors and corporate executives have gotten rich, very rich, billionaire rich, off the big profits companies make on the backs of underpaid workers. Meanwhile, workers’ standard of living has been falling, and, for many, their economic security is gone. Government has helped, but its safety net is fragmented and full of holes. It prevents some workers, some of the time, from becoming destitute. Nonetheless, many workers are anxious, distraught, depressed, and even suicidal. Meanwhile, the government safety net is in effect subsidizing large companies that don’t pay their employees enough to live on. However, these big companies and their owners and investors don’t want to pay a fair share of the taxes needed to fund even this limited safety net.

Here’s an overview of some government policies that would increase workers’ compensation, including both wages and benefits. [2]

  1. Increase the minimum wage. Government officials and candidates at all levels, national, state, and local, should work toward increasing the minimum wage. If Democrats want to continue the winning momentum from the recent elections and want to win back one or both chambers of Congress, they should run hard on increasing the minimum wage and put questions to do so on the ballot wherever they can. (Note: An enormous body of research on the effects of higher minimum wages has shown that past minimum wage increases have meaningfully raised pay for low-wage workers without causing significant increases in unemployment. Moreover, increases in the minimum wage often lower worker turnover, a major cost savings for employers, and can attract  better workers.)
  2. Support unions and unionization. Unions built the American middle class, but Republicans have been undermining unions and the ability to unionize for 45 years. (See Story #2 in this previous post and also this previous post for more background.) Democrats weren’t actively supporting unions either and were complicit in expanding global trade and the off-shoring of jobs, which undermined unions and workers’ wages here in the U.S. Elected officials and candidates need to stand up for unions and strengthen federal laws and agencies that support and protect workers right to unionize. For example, federal laws and regulators should not allow companies to do what Starbucks has done. It has been stonewalling its workers since the first votes to unionize in December 2021. It has refused to meet with union representatives and has failed to engage in any serious bargaining. It has shut stores where workers voted to unionize. While its workers face low pay, rising health care costs, and working conditions that are not worker friendly, Starbucks’ CEO made $96 million last year.
  3. Other ways to increase workers’ incomes. The federal and state governments should take action to enforce labor laws and reduce wage theft. Wage theft occurs when employers don’t pay overtime as they’re supposed to, don’t pay workers for some of the time they spend on the job or in job-related activities, etc. It adds up to billions of dollars a year. In addition, overtime rules should be strengthened so employers can’t dodge overtime pay by claiming that low-level, low-pay workers are members of management who aren’t eligible for overtime pay.
  4. Ways to increase benefits. The federal and state governments could increase unemployment benefits, strengthen regulations on employer offered health insurance, and enhance requirements for employer-supported retirement savings programs. They could require minimum amounts of paid sick leave and vacation time.
  5. Enhance public supports and the safety net. The federal and state governments could expand food, heat, and utility cost assistance programs. They could also enhance subsidies for early education and child care, as well as implement paid family leave. They could increase support for renters and first-time home buyers, while also better regulating private owners of large rental properties and single-family homes, which are increasingly being bought up by investors. They could help alleviate the student debt crisis. Perhaps, most importantly, they could make health insurance and health care more affordable and accessible. Over half of Americans support creating a Medicare for All type universal health insurance program. These public supports and the safety net are underfunded today because wealthy individuals and corporations are not paying their fair share in taxes. More on this in my next post.

My next post will discuss policies that would tackle the cost of goods and services. It will also discuss economic inequality.

[1]      Reich, R., 11/3/25, “What the Democrats must do. Now!” (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-the-democrats-must-do-now) /

[2]      Dayen, D., 7/28/25, “Greg Casar is organizing to win,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/2025/07/28/2025-07-28-organizing-to-win-greg-casar/)