By Erich Wagner
Alexandria Times (VA), April 4, 2014
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) visited the Arlandria branch of MOM’s Organic Market on Monday to laud the company’s practice of paying workers above the federal minimum wage.
Kaine toured the Mount Vernon Avenue store with MOM’s CEO Scott Nash in advance of heated debate in Congress this week over a bill raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour in the next several years. He said that MOM’s shows opponents and other companies that raising the wage is not a so-called “job killer.”
“Scott has a great business, and it has huge fans everywhere,” Kaine said. ...
Raising the minimum wage doesn’t reduce the supply of jobs, but rather means increased spending, Kaine argued.
“The recession was because of a drop in consumer demand,” he said. “They will spend more with extra money [from wages] and that, in turn, helps businesses.”
Better wages are good for the government’s bottom line too, increasing tax revenue and reducing spending on public assistance programs like food stamps, Kaine argued ...
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