Death Tax and Minimum Wage

Well, once again, things get ugly. The minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 for about fifteen years now -- and as anyone knows, you simply can't live on that and expect to eat. Lawmakers are perfectly happy to vote themselves pay raises and cost-of-living increases without any qualms whatsoever..but suggest that they do something to actually help the little guy and they start doing their political dance at high speed:

Republican leaders are willing to allow the first minimum wage increase in a decade but only if it's coupled with a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates, lawmakers said Friday.

...

The maneuver was aimed at defusing the wage hike as a campaign issue for Democrats while using the popularity of the increase to achieve the Republican Party's longtime goal of permanently cutting taxes on the estates of millionaires and small businessmen

So, basically,they want to pad things for their cronies, and make sure that they get "credit" for raising wages (and no one will remember that the Republicans did not pass wage hikes back in june, even as they increased their own salaries). And they want to pander to the enormous number of people in the US who really do think they are going to be affected by the "death tax". Most of the people out plumping for the tax repeal are never going to be affected...they just want to be.

When I rule the world? Every single piece of legisltation will have ONE topic and ONE topic only. Every line in the bill has to relate to exactly the same concept and you won't be able to tack on ridiculous things (in an attempt to make them look back because they vetoed the bill on funding orphanages, for example, when you added a rider that also funded Apache helicopters for Sudan). When I rule the world!