The Minimum Wage Took a Beating Last Night

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Nobody was in favor of raising the minimum wage last night:

Trump: Taxes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world….People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum.

Carson: My first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money….I would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I’m interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities.

Rubio: If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn’t. In the 20th century, it’s a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you’re going to make people more expensive than a machine.

So we have a billionaire who says people just have to suck it up and work harder; a neurosurgeon who doesn’t realize he got paid minimum wage for his jobs as a kid; and a senator who thinks it’s still the 20th century. But one thing is for sure: they’re in favor of cutting taxes on the rich and keeping wages low for the poor. Sweet.

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Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

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