Larry Kudlow, one of Donald Trump’s top economic advisers, took some time the week before Election Day to call the federal minimum wage a “terrible idea.” Y’see, when it comes to the cost of living, “Idaho is different than New York. Alabama is different than Nebraska.” No! You don’t say! And in none of those places does working full-time at the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour allow a person to afford rent.

In fact, lots of states and cities have increased their minimum wages. Nebraska voters raised their state’s minimum wage in 2014—it’s now $9. New York’s minimum wage is now $10.40 an hour and slated to go up to $11.10 at the New Year. Idaho and Alabama are at that federal poverty wage of $7.25 an hour, but Republicans in Alabama stepped in to stop Birmingham from raising its minimum wage to $10.10. 

Local control is not what Kudlow is advocating, though:

“I would argue against state and local [increases],” Kudlow said. “But that’s up to the states and localities.”

Big of him, I guess, but if it’s something he’d grudgingly allow rather than something he’s arguing for, then the position that the federal minimum wage is a “terrible idea” boils down to “I don’t like the minimum wage at all and think companies should be able to pay as little as they can get away with.”

This blog was originally published at Daily Kos on November 3, 2018. Reprinted with permission. 

About the Author: Laura Clawson is labor editor at Daily Kos.