Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma doesn't believe there needs to be a national minimum wage and that the "free markets" should decide how little most Americans are allowed to starve on.
May 1, 2014

I would really like to see these so-called "Christian conservatives" have to live off of the poverty wages they don't mind allowing to be paid to their fellow human beings. Republicans want a race to the bottom on wages and the elimination of the minimum wage, and this Thursday on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn said it out loud: Tom Coburn: I Don't Believe There Should Be A National Minimum Wage:

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) said Thursday that he doesn't believe there should be a national minimum wage.

Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to block debate on legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10. In an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Coburn was asked whether he thought the current minimum wage of $7.25 was sufficient.

"I don't believe you ought to interfere in the market. My theory is if Oklahomans want a minimum wage, we ought to have it," he said. "I don't believe there ought to be a national minimum wage."

Coburn said Democrats' argument that not raising the minimum wage does an injustice to hard-working Americans is "malarkey."

"The fact is if you look at the OMB studies and you look at the good economic models, the benefit is small. The cost of lost jobs is great," he added. "It goes against the free market principle … We don't know what the minimum wage should be. How'd they pick $10.10? Why not $22? Why not $100?"

How about a living wage senator? I love how these guys are always complaining about wages at the bottom being job killers, but somehow those CEO's making hundreds of times more than their lowest paid employees are never a problem.

And sadly, as Charlie Pierce noted, we're not going to get anyone better to replace Coburn.

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