This newswire story got buried this week, but we wanted to call it to your attention:
A Republican congressman from Arizona today called for lowering the minimum wage to zero -- in order, he said, to boost hiring and reduce high levels of unemployment.
Asked about Connecticut Senate candidate Linda McMahon's proposal to lower the minimum wage, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said he would prefer that the minimum wage be lowered to zero.
"It's an assault on freedom to force employers to pay their workers a certain level of salary," Flake told a Capitol Hill news conference on the eve of the congressional recess for the election campaign. "Further, the minimum wage is definitely a culprit in our high unemployment rate. It discourages corporations and small business owners from hiring more people at low -- or even no -- wages."
Flake said that the minimum wage was clearly unconstitutional as contemplated by the founding fathers. "People like Washington, Jefferson and Madison certainly didn't intend this as a legitimate role for government. It's a kind of slavery they surely wouldn't approve of. It's too bad that we strayed so far from their principles."
The Arizona congressman said he will introduce a bill in the next session of Congress to lower the minimum wage to nothing. His own re-election is considered a foregone conclusion.
