Minimal wages

Thanks to upstate lawmakers and the disproportionate power they wield in Albany, minimum wage workers in jurisdictions north of NYC will not be making $15.00/hr. even by 2021.  Comments by some of our local NCR representatives are self serving and despicable.  Claiming employers would be hurt by higher minimums, some went so far as saying a $9.00/hr. wage would be more in line with the needs of employers.  I would like to remind these toadies they are supposed to be representing all people, not just a few.  Numerous studies have shown even poor areas like upstate NY benefit overall from minimum wage increases.  If existing businesses must rely on the implicit government subsidies which allow workers to toil for less than subsistence wages, maybe they don't deserve our support.  The new law phases in $12.50/hr. wages for upstate workers by 2021.  By then, most of the benefit will have been eroded by rising cost of living.  It makes no sense for NY to adopt this two tier system when it has never been done before.  We are condemning a large portion of the state's economy to a lower standard of living on a continuing basis.