Mika and Joe were plugging this editorial by Ed Luce that appears in the Financial Times today, one in which Luce (of course) blames the Dems for dnot raising the minimum wage for the working class.

"The piece is entitled 'America's Shipwrecked Working Class," Mika said.

"You write in part, 'It's been a bumpy 50 years for blue collar America. Not only has labor share of u.s. national income steadily dropped barring a few brief patches, chiefly in the 1990s internet boom, but its life expectancy has also been falling. Having secured the country's first avowedly pro union president since Lyndon Johnson, a turning of the corner ought to be in sight.'

Luce points out, "Democrats will have controlled the White House for 20 out of 32 years, yet the federal minimum wage is stuck at $7.25 an hour. Democratic rhetoric is strongly pro working class. The party's actions are another matter. Working classes of all colors have been steadily drifting toward the Republicans. More Americans with household income below $50,000 voted Republican than Democratic last month. The pattern has become clearer in each of the past three elections, it expands all regional groups Including African Americans, and that is a weak spot for Democrats."

Oh, bite me.

I've written about this before, but since it was in defense of Hillary Clinton's policy position, I was dismissed at the time. (Maybe now people will listen without painting me as a lackey of the ruling class.) She said raising the minimum wage would have to be on a state-by-state basis. Here's why.

The survival of the working class poor is dependent to a large extent on subsidies -- Section 8 housing subsidies, the SNAP program (which used to be called "food stamps"), heating subsidies, and Medicaid/ACA subsidies. (Also, in addition to all these subsidies, every working class person I know who's not in a union has an under-the-table side job just to stay afloat.)

Now, raising the federal wage creates a political problem in many states -- because they're controlled by Republican legislatures, which are no way going to adjust the eligibility levels for those programs to accomodate a higher minimum wage. Even with generous federal support, red states just won't do it. (See "Medicaid expansion.") So raising the minimum wage is likely to send at least some people even deeper into poverty.

Especially now that rental costs are higher than ever. What would be of far greater use to the working class would be a comprehensive national strategy to drive down housing costs -- and Congress can start by penalizing hedge funds that buy up regional housing stock in bulk to drive up rents.

Oh, and the main reason minorities are turning toward the Republicans? Taxes. (Duh.) The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in these communities, and like any aspiring class, they want to keep more of their money.

If you want to fault the Democrats for anything, push them for more targeted policies for small business. (Like expanding the Small Business Administration's micro-lending programs and advertise the hell out of their availability.)

But they also need to get better at blowing their own horn over all the things they already do for the working class.