If You Can't Beat Them, Pander to Them

The Governator's slide continues. After getting beat up in the special election last year, and then hiring a prominent Democrat as his chief of staff, Arnold has now decided to pander to the unions who provided the vigorous opposition to his initiatives:

Wounded by his stunning loss with key ballot initiatives in November, Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may be extending an olive-branch to the unions that campaigned so hard to defeat those measures.

Gov. Schwarzenegger next week will propose raising the basic hourly minimum wage by $1 over 18 months – from $6.75 to $7.75 - according to a report in the L.A. Times.

A politically stronger Schwarzenegger had rejected similar increases over the past two years.

The governor is expected to ask the state legislature to boost the current minimum wage in two 50-cent phases – once in September and again in July 2007.

If Arnold thinks this move will put him in the good graces of his enemies, he should keep reading:

California Democrats, such as Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez of Los Angeles, said the proposal is a "good start,” but it is not enough.

Union leaders, who traditionally support Democrats, are pushing for automatic cost-of-living increases as well.

Let's not forget that the vast majority of minimum wage workers are people with no marketable skills who are trying to climb their way up the job market by gaining experience. The minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage upon which a person could feed a family, and yet that is exactly what the Dems want.

By making these unskilled workers more expensive to hire and retain, many employers will have to cut back on employees, or cut back the hours they're working if they want to stay competitive. If they can't do that, they'll have to raise prices, which of course means that you and I will be paying the higher costs associated with the increased minimum wage.

Employers are already leaving California in droves due to high work comp costs, housing costs, and other employee related expenses. This will only increase the exodus.