After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) chastised Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough for ruling that a minimum wage could not be included in the COVID-19 relief package, conservatives slammed her, including author Candace Owens, who said, “We should award her the Nobel prize in economics.”
“It is completely embarrassing that ‘pay people enough to live’ is even up for debate,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Tuesday night. Overturn the parliamentarian’s decision and increase the pay. McDonald’s employees in Denmark are paying $22/hour plus six weeks of paid leave. $15 per hour is a significant compromise, particularly given the phase-in period.”
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It is utterly embarrassing that “pay people enough to live” is a stance that’s even up for debate.
Override the parliamentarian and raise the wage. McD’s workers in Denmark are paid $22/hr + 6 wks paid vacation. $15/hr is a deep compromise – a big one, considering the phase in.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 3, 2021
On February 25, MacDonough claimed that including the minimum wage provision did not comply with the reconciliation rules that Democrats are using to enact their relief bill. According to The Wall Street Journal, “the reconciliation mechanism sets a range of limits on what legislative measures can be included in the legislation.” “It also helps Democrats to pass legislation without the support of the Republican Party, as long as they do not lose any votes from their own ranks.”
The Daily Mail responded to Ocasio-mention Cortez’s of Denmark by stating, “Denmark does not have a federally mandated minimum wage.” Instead, it has a strong trade union presence, with individual industries and employees negotiating equal wages sector by sector.”
“I’m going to say this,” Owens said on Fox News’ “Hannity.” You never let reality get in the way of a good story with AOC. Do you get what I’m saying? That is her guiding principle. Personally, I believe she should be awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Why not give AOC the Nobel Prize in Economics if Andrew Cuomo won an Emmy for his coronavirus briefings despite the fact that he was causing people to die?”
David Harsanyi of Nation Review wrote:
The most noticeable flaw in Ocasio-argument Cortez’s is that Denmark, like other Scandinavian countries, lacks a legal minimum wage. Industries and employees negotiate salaries on a sector-by-sector basis, which can stifle intra-industry rivalry but is a much better idea than the Democrats’ proposed flat national wage floor. So, to begin with, this common progressive talking point about Denmark’s miracle middle-class fast-food worker makes no sense.
Particularly when one considers that the United States’ per-capita income is nearly identical to Denmark’s — quite an achievement given that we’re a pluralistic nation of about 330 million people that naturalizes another 900,000 people every year, many from poor countries, and Denmark is a homogeneous country of less than 6 million citizens that has effectively shut down its immigration system in recent years.
Denmark’s labor unions “fight to ensure that employers are paid a fair rate and aim to maintain the annual minimum wage at $20 per hour,” according to USA Today. According to Check In Price, minimum wages in the country will be about $16.60 per hour by 2020.
Denmark’s average minimum wage is $18 per hour, with an annual minimum wage of $44,252.00, according to Minimum-wage.org.
Denmark, according to USA Today, “has one of the highest tax rates in the world, with the average Dane paying a total of 45 percent in income taxes.”
