At yesterday’s discussion, I mentioned that I had made my first request to The Fact Checker at the Washington Post. And it was, in fact, checked.
Here’s the text of my original form:
Impact of Minimum Wage Hike
| Made by | Joe Biden | |
| Statement | “All the economics show that if you do that [increase the minimum wage to $15], the whole economy rises.” | |
| Source for Statement | Video clip (this comment at 01:17) https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/02/05/biden-covid-relief-bill-minimum-wage-hike-cbs-interview-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/ | |
| Comment | Joe isn’t specific about what “the economics” are, but “All” is pretty specific. Here’s a link to a July 2019 CBO report on minimum wage effects: https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-07/CBO-55410-MinimumWage2019.pdf As I read Table 1 (pdf page 7) of that report, a $15 minimum wage would increase the “real income” (see definition below the table) of families up to three times the poverty threshold, but would decrease the annual real income of “All families” by $8.8 billion (2018 dollars). I don’t consider an action that costs Americans $8.8 billion per annum to support his statement that “the whole economy rises.” And “all” is a very strong statement, that would lead viewers/listeners to believe that there is really no doubt as to the overall economic effect of a $15 minimum wage. |
And here’s a PDF of the WaPo article. I would have given it three Pinocchios, but reasonably people may differ.
I also sent (in the same email) a request for fact-checking the hourly wage corresponding to the “poverty wage level.” Here it is:
Poverty Wage Level
| Made by | Joe Biden | |
| Statement | “Look, no one should work 40 hours a week and live below the poverty wage. And if you’re making less than $15 an hour, you’re living below the poverty wage.“ | |
| Source for Statement | Video clip (this comment at 01:32) https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/02/05/biden-covid-relief-bill-minimum-wage-hike-cbs-interview-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/ | |
| Comment | Joe’s math is wrong. See the table below. Sen. Joe Manchin, in a recent interview, took the position that someone working 40 hours/week, 50 weeks/year should be able to support a household of three at the poverty level, and that he thought $15.00/hour was too much. By the math below, to meet his standard, a $10.86 minimum wage would meet the test. | |
. Poverty guidelines source: https://aspe.hhs.gov/2020-poverty-guidelines; actual worksheet (above) attached. |
Although I recognized that my second request (whether $15/hour is the cusp of the “poverty wage”) is closely related and may be getting stale, the [I believe incorrect] statement was reiterated yesterday by Jen Psaki, so I’ll bring that to Mr. Kessler’s attention as well. Repetition breeds belief…(or something like that).
