December 16, 2017
Everyone remembers Marco Rubio walking the union picket lines, demanding stronger enforcement of workplace safety rules, and strong fiscal stimulus to counter unemployment. Oh, wait, Senator Rubio has been on the other side of all these issues. He has opposed strengthening workers’ rights to organize, stronger enforcement of workplace safety rules, as well as stimulus measures to counter unemployment.
That’s okay, in New York Times-land he still gets to be a “longtime champion of the working class.” The context is Senator Rubio’s fight for making more of the child tax credit refundable. His threat to hold out on this issue earned a slightly more generous provision that will net a single mother earning $20,000 about $300 a year.
This would be equivalent to an increase in the minimum wage of 15 cents an hour for a full-time year-round worker. It is equal to roughly 0.15 percent of the gains for the richest 0.1 percent of taxpayers. It’s great that we have The New York Times to tell us that Rubio is a champion of the working class, most of us would probably never realize it based on his actions.
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