Rick Santorum Man of Privilege, Hypocrite and Arrogant Ass

I found this little tidbit in The Washington Times:

16 years ago, Mr. Santorum pledged that he would never accept a pay raise, even a cost-of-living adjustment.

"The public is fed up with members of Congress having no limits on their ability to increase their salaries," the Associated Press quoted Mr. Santorum saying in 1990. "And members do not seem willing to voluntarily limit their salaries like I have, vowing never to accept any more salary than what is provided upon taking office."

Today, Mr. Santorum has come down from the ramparts.

"I believe that members of Congress should, by and large, receive cost-of-living adjustments," he said when asked about Mr. Casey's charges. "If we'd left the salary what it was when I first took office (1990), we'd be getting a third of the value of the dollar than what I got when I came in."

You can read the article in its entirety, here.

He's got a point about his salary keeping pace with inflation. We all want that, don't we? Whether rich or poor or somewhere in between, we all want to gain financial ground not loose it. We would hope that our elected officials have the same aspirations for us, and some of them do. BUT here is Mr Santorums voting record on the minimum wage - which hasn't been increased since 1996.

-He voted NO on raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over a two year period. (June 2006)

-Although he did vote yes to increase the minimum wage to $5.70 per hour six months after enactment and up to $6.25 after a year - this proposed legislation was tied to a tax cut for the wealthy and went down in defeat as predicted. (June 2006)

- He voted NO on raising the minimum wage to $7.25 rather than $6.25. (Mar 2005)

- He voted YES on killing an increase in the minimum wage. (Nov 1999)

So, let me try to sum up this complicated set of facts, dear reader.

-It's OK that the poorest segment of society gets less bang for their buck and sees no increase in their earnings for 10 years.

-It's NOT OK for Rick Santorum's buying power to be reduced. So he must vote not once, not twice but THREE times to insure that his public servants salary keeps pace with inflation.

-It's OK with the Christian Coalition that poor folks get the shaft as well. The Christian Coalition - that bastion of family values - has given Mr Santorum a 100% rating for his pro-family voting record. I guess paying a fair /living wage is not a family value in certain circles of Jesus People. Food and housing are apparently not deemed to be as important as preventing abortions and gay unions. Silly me. All this time I thought Jesus was the champion of the poor and down trodden. Must have read THAT in another book.

Here are some minimum wage facts for your digestion

• The effect of the last minimum wage increase in 1996-97 has been completely eroded by inflation.

• The inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage is 30% lower in 2006 than it was in 1979.

• $5.15 today is the equivalent of only $3.95 in 1995 — lower than the $4.25 minimum wage level before the 1996-97 increase.

• Since September 1997, the purchasing power of the minimum wage has deteriorated by 20%. After adjusting for inflation, the value of the minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1955.

• Wage inequality has been increasing, in part, because of the declining real value of the minimum wage. Today, the minimum wage is 31% of the average hourly wage of American workers, the lowest level since the end of World War II.

• The earnings of minimum wage workers are crucial to their families' well-being. Evidence from an analysis of the 1996-97 minimum wage increase shows that the average minimum wage worker brings home more than half (54%) of his or her family's weekly earnings.

• An estimated 1,395,000 single parents with children under 18 would benefit from a minimum wage increase to $7.25 by 2008. Single parents would benefit disproportionately from an increase — single parents are 9% of workers affected by an increase, but they make up only 7% of the overall workforce. Approximately 3.9 million parents with children under 18 would benefit.

• Adults make up the largest share of workers who would benefit from a minimum wage increase: 80% of workers whose wages would be raised by a minimum wage increase to $7.25 by 2008 are adults (age 20 or older).

• Over half (54%) of workers who would benefit from a minimum wage increase work full time and another third (30%) work between 20 and 34 hours per week.