0 let me tell you this vast difference in how people are doing is political pay dirt and guess who knows it. first of all the president. second the republicans. they hate this talk about the minimum wage being too low. a former republican member of congress told me he didn't like it when minimum wage stayed up there for months in a row. why? because the american public thinks a jump in dme money we pay people working at the edge of the workforce is a wonderful idea. and this means tens of millions of workers stand to benefit if the president gets a bill through the house. and another thing and this is something every labor leader with moxie knows, the more you boost the minimum wage, the more you pressure wages down the line. you give the dishwasher a jump to $10 an hour and you have to give the person cooking a jump too. welcome to 2014. this is going to be a year with any luck the president will be riding a gung ho economy and some real economic growth out there. the perfect time to be talking to middle america about offer the wages and benefits that let families build a bit of financial security. >> gene, let's talk about this. you know, so many things are controversial but when you pick up the paper and two-thirds of the people say they want it. >> it's not controversial. people like the idea of a higher minimum wage. people understand that the minimum wage has lagged and that $7.25 is ridiculous at this point. not just in the city. >> it's $280 a week before taxes and fica and everything that's taken out of it. >> try living on that in the washington, d.c., area. or try out in west virginia or down in georgia or any place. i mean, that's not very much money. i think if the president frames this as a way to preserve the middle class character of this society, because that's in many ways what makes this country great. >> the huge number of people who think of themselves that way. >> some are rising on top and some settling to the bottom. it's a different country. >> let me ask you, joy. talk a big. it's an issue that affects the whole structure. you kick it up in the bottom, push it all the way up. pushing economics. and will that be good for the economy? i remember henry ford that wasn't great in some issues, but he said i want my workers to be able to buy one of my cars. which is smart. >> exactly. one thing the recession did was a great leveller. you had a striving middle class and sort of identifying themselves in a lot of ways with the rich. the 1990s where everybody feels like i could be a dot-com millionaire. now you have people who found themselves for the first time in the lower middle class. when i was a kid you go to a fast food joint, the person behind the counter was a teenager. now the person in a fast food joint is a parent with kids, a mom raising a family. you now have adults, not just seniors and teenagers in those low wage fast food checkout type jobs. you have people who are trying to run a household on that income. americans really understand this. now you have an issue broadened out to the middle class where they can identify themselves. they're your neighbor, your dad, your brother-in-law. and people when they can understand that, the minimum wage feels like something that affects them too. >> when i go to the airport here reagan national. i got to get used to everything. there's always a bunch of people making burgers. there's like an assembly line. they don't stop working. >> no. >> they are working eight hours and making hamburgers. how would you like eight hours of nonstop burger making? you can see them working. >> it's called work. it's hard work. >> i don't know what they're making. and dick durbin even referenced pope francis in this regard. let's listen. >> he warned that income inequality leads to a global nation of indifference. >> there's no bigger challenge we have than income inequality. >> the difficulty in average people getting good paying jobs has overtaken the deficit as the number one problem facing our political economy today. our republican colleagues should take note. >> you know, the politics of this, i'm now in the ethnic piece of this. bitching, if you will, about people with the stereotypes on this that is ethnic and saying we don't want to give money to people that don't do any work. the bums. then they may have two jobs. but screw them. i'm not going to give them minimum wage. it seems that's harder for republicans. >> it's harder and it makes no sense. you know, we have -- >> get them off the welfare role. >> people go to work and yet they don't make enough money to live. then you have a supplement what they make with food stamps or housing assistance. >> or else tell the bosses to kick up the wages a little. >> exactly. if you get them a living wage, then you don't have to pay for the federal benefits. >> joy, you young lady, i've got to ask you. do you see the conundrum here? they lace into people that aren't working. then when they find out they are working, then how can they get a mad at them saying get off the couch and go to work. oh, you're at work? oh, let's cut your wages and keep you at the bottom. you have to give relief in some direction. if you don't give money, how about relief for the people that's working. >> exactly. then you subsidize them with the thing conservatives hate the most which is food stamps and public assistance because the wages aren't enough. and there's a conservative case for this too. to your point earlier, chris, if you don't have consumers, the great bubble, the huge economic bubble that took place after world war ii was about this influx of consumers. it wasn't just because americans were going to work. they were going to work for wages that allowed them to buy the refrigerators and the home gadgets and to get the latest television technology and bring that in the home. if people aren't making enough to consume, how will the economy work? >> and the box that came in is they thought there'd be a recession after world war ii. but there wasn't. there was a boom. harry truman got re-elected in 1948 and that surprised. you know why he won? 6% real growth. anyway, raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour has broad support in this country even from republican and tea party supporters. among all respondents, 64% support raising the minimum wage. and 47% of republicans. tea parties, almost even there. gene, there's the interesting thing. and yet they're one of them. they benefit. say wait a minute, this is my pay raise going up. >> exactly. people understand. people are a lot closer to the situation in america. >> i have no idea how. >> it's a populist issue. it's an issue that helps the guy down the street or helps my cousin jeff or whatever. >> now that you're with this like i am, will they get it through. what deal with they make with the republicans in the house? do they offer with something less than $10.10? do they give something to small businesses? how do they put the sugar into this pie? >> that figure, 64%. that's a big number. >> you think just push this. >> i think they can be pushed on this. >> joy, i don't want an issue here. i want results. your thoughts. how do they get john boehner and eric cantor and kevin mccarthy to clear this for a vote in the house after the senate? >> you know, i honestly think you're not going to get it through the house. strangely enough even though it seems to be obvious or easy politics, i think republicans are going to demand something in exchange. >> what would that be? >> probably something for small business, something on the tax rates. but this isn't a party that operates in a normal political way. that's normal politics and they give on minimum wage. but the tea party politicians, they are completely immune to the realities we've just been discussing. >> i'm more optimistic. i think they can win on this one. it may take six mornts of work, but a smart president putting his focus on this. now the trouble is he will focus on immigration and everything else and then touch this. i think he's got to push this. ic -- i think he needs to get a double. get the guy in scoring position. thank you, gene robinson. thank you, joy reid. coming up, what started out as offensive comments by the star of a reality tv show has turned into a real political story. ted cruz, bobby jindal, and yes of course sarah palin, are all out there defending the star of "duck dynasty," phil robertson reminding everyone the republican party is ignoring the lessons of 2012. remember that autopsy? well, still dead. plus, the big fight brewing over sanctions against iran. if imposing higher sanctions this deal could come apart. that could be bad news for those of us that don't want a war. wait until you see these. we're going to count down. imagine the biggest scandal of the '70s maybe being the number one movie of 2013. let me finish with this. speaking on matters of nuclear war. this is "hardball," the place for politics. 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