Bernie Sanders: A $15/hr minimum wage ‘is not going to do it’

Bernie Sanders went on MSNBC…

MSNBC anchor: For better or for worse the tight labor market has caused [higher minimum wages] to happen among some of the country’s major employers. Are you okay with the market having addressed some of the things that you were hoping to address through legislation?

Bernie: No, the reason that Walmart has raised the minimum wage is because you can’t find labor in many parts of the country for $10 or $12 an hour. So they have said in their own self-interest that ‘hey we need workers, let’s raise it to at least $14 an hour,’ but that is not enough! A couple of years ago we fought to raise the minimum wage to $15. As a result of inflation that should be at least $17 right now.

I find it odd that they’re lamenting over how America’s largest employer raised their minimum salary to $14 an hour. It’s like how leftists are lamenting over how Mr. Beast helped cure thousands of blind people.

How dare the market improve conditions with prices that the government could theoretically improve with taxes!

Bernie now says the minimum wage should be $17 an hour, but why so cheap with other people’s money? Why not $20 or $30?

Millionaire Sanders gave about 1% of his income to charity and pays the minimum amount of taxes he’s required to, which again I find odd given how his whole shtick is attacking rich people for not contributing more to the state in service of the poor.

And for the record, Walmart and Amazon lobby for a higher federal minimum wage because the higher it is then the more their small business competition is priced out. Economics 101.

Bernie continues: Here’s the bottom line you got over 60% of the people in this country living paycheck to paycheck. Tens of millions are working at starvation wages. It is not too much to ask in the wealthiest country on Earth where we have massive income and wealth inequality with people on top doing phenomenally well to say that in America if you’re working 40 hours a week you’re not living in poverty. $14 an hour is not going to do it. We got to raise the minimum wage to a higher level than that and I’ll do my best to make sure that happens.