MINIMUM WAGE, MINIMUM SENSE

After 56 minutes of recycled campaign themes, Bill Clinton finally made some news during last week's State of the Union address: the minimum wage should climb, he said, because ``you can't make a living on $4.25 an hour.'' That's for sure--but as Clinton himself explained two years ago, hiking the minimum is ``the wrong way to raise the incomes of low-wage earners.''

First, some facts about the minimum wage and those who get it:

About 2.5 million Americans earn the minimum; 1.7 million more take home even less since the law doesn't cover them.

The minimum was first set at...

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