Among other things, you can check out Rush Limbaugh Dropping a Whopper (http://mediamatters.org/items/200405020007 )about the minimum wage, something all of us at the Factor enjoyed listening to last week.
Now, on his show and on Late Night he claimed to have used the Bureau of Labor Statistics to refute Rush's 75% number. This was a lie. The BLS numbers do not agree with his own. This is because he did not use the BLS. He cited the Media Matters article above which in turn cites a study by the Economic Policy Institute (http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issuebriefs_ib149). This study used BLS numbers from 2000 not the current 2003 numbers.
This is all to say that he is a Liar. Weird, since the 2003 BLS numbers are actually better for him and very easy to get. Of course, as usual, he has failed to engaged the actual argument Rush made anyway.
It is true that Rush was wrong to say that 75% of MW workers are teens. In fact, 25% are teens. However, he was not actually arguing that point. He was arguing that most minimum wage earners do not support a family on that income. Using data relative to the same time of study that Franken used, Cato (http://www.cato.org/dailys/10-28-99.html) says
According to the Employment Policies Institute, the average family affected by the minimum wage has an annual income of $38,000 because seven out of 10 minimum-wage workers live with a working spouse or relatives.
This is what Rush was saying. Yes, he should have said "75% of minimum wage workers are like teenagers." But to correct this minor mistake, which does not alter his argument anyway, without engaging the argument itself is intellectual dishonesty. Surprised?
endymion at 3:49:26 AM EDT
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