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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45689073#45689073
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Minimum wage for workers in San Francisco will be $10.24 in 2012. San Francisco is the first US city to have a minimum wage over $10 an hour.
David Frias works two minimum-wage jobs to squeak by in one of the most expensive cities in America.
Skip to next paragraphCome New Year's Day, he'll have a few more coins in his pocket as San?Francisco makes history by becoming the first city in the nation to scale a $10 minimum?wage. The city's hourly wage for its lowest-paid workers will hit $10.24, more than $2 above the California minimum?wage and nearly $3 more than the working wage set by the federal government.
It won't put much more in Frias' wallet. But it gives him a sense of moving on up.
"It's a psychological boost," said Frias, who is a 34-year-old usher at a movie theater and a security guard for a crowd control firm. "It means that I'll have more money in my wallet to pay my bills and money to spend in the city to help the economy."
San Franciscans passed a proposition in 2003 that requires the city to increase the minimum?wage each year, using a formula tied to inflation and the cost of living. It's just another way the progressive people of the City by the Bay have shown their support for the working-class in a locale where labor unions remain strong and housing costs are sky high.
Karl Kramer of the San?Francisco Living Wage Coalition said a decent wage for a single adult without children in the city would be $15, and that doubles when you have at least one child or more. But like other advocates of better wages, he's still pleased that San?Francisco will be the first in the nation to top $10.
"It helps workers' morale in a time of economic crisis; they feel that they're able to tread water and get some relief from the recession," said Kramer.
While the city is at the forefront of attempting to provide a decent living wage, most employees say it's still not a wage to live on, that the 32-cent hike seems like peanuts. And some employers say it could lead to layoffs by small businesses already forced to pay federal, state and city payroll taxes as well as a slew of other city-mandated taxes.
Daniel Scherotter, chef and owner of Palio D'Asti, an upscale Italian restaurant in the Financial District, said the city's minimum?wage hike from $9.92 to $10.24 means that his highest-paid employees ? the waiters who make most of their income from tips ? will see more money in their pockets while his salaried kitchen staff will have to take the hit.
If Scherotter raised menu prices to make up the difference, he'd risk going out of business in this economy.
What the average San Franciscan may not know, he said, is that business owners also must pay another $1.23 to $1.85 an hour per employee for health-care coverage if they don't offer health insurance. San?Francisco is also the only city in the state that charges a payroll tax of 1.5 percent; it also mandates nine paid sick days annually per employee.
"So that drives me nuts, that as a chef, I have to cut my kitchen allowance," Scherotter said. "What I pay for a waiter is more than double what Manhattan pays, it's more than double what Chicago pays, and it's four times what Boston pays. And those are ... other big, expensive, pro-labor cities. But I pay what they all pay added together for tipped employees."
Scherotter said the double whammy of recession and wage hikes has led to eight layoffs in his kitchen in the last four years.
"We hear that all the time," said Steve Falk, president and CEO of the San?Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
He said that by the time you add up all the mandates and taxes that city employers must pay for their minimum-wage workers, the payroll burden is at least 25 to 40 percent higher than other Bay Area cities.
He gave the example of catering companies bidding for the contract at the city's Treasure Island. In the end it went to a Napa firm over a San?Francisco catering company because Napa was able to come in lower.
"You can't on one hand as a city impose mandates and fees on a local business and then exclude them because their costs are too high when they go to bid on a city contract or a city service," Falk said. The chamber of commerce is calling on the city to build in a 25 to 30 percent bid allowance for San?Francisco companies.
"Fortunately, it's a very attractive place to own a business and businesses thrive here because of the number of visitors," Falk said. "But we always worry: where's the tipping point?"
That tipping point needs to lean toward the worker, said David Madland, director of the American Worker Project at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress Action Fund. He said the best studies on minimum?wage indicate that the benefits outweigh the burdens placed on employers.
"I think it's a big deal when a city is making a commitment that says, 'Our workers are going to get paid a livable wage for a day's work,'" he said. "It's also very important that in today's economy when a core problem is lack of demand ... that a city is actively taking steps to put more money into consumers' pockets."
For Frias, it's not just about a bit more change in his pocket.
"Hey, it's a little over $10 ? it's a little bit of respect."
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/UWCET7Zs9Zo/Minimum-wage-San-Francisco-tops-10-an-hour
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NEW YORK ? As they peruse the Internet, voters in New Hampshire and Iowa are probably seeing ads for Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama alongside those for shoes and holiday gifts. The ads will then follow those voters around the Web, popping up on news sites, Google searches and on social networking sites like Facebook.
Online advertising, once used primarily as a way to reach young and heavily wired consumers, has emerged as an essential communications tool in the 2012 presidential contest. While few expect Web ads to supplant television commercials anytime soon, strategists say online ads may be the most nimble, efficient and cost-effective way to reach voters.
"Online advertising cuts through because of its ability to target. It's unparalleled in any other medium," said Romney's digital director, Zac Moffatt. "TV may be more effective for driving a big message, but per usage, the Internet is more powerful. We are probably one presidential cycle from everyone believing that."
Web ads can take many forms, from small display boxes to clickable videos to 15- or 30-second commercials known as "pre-rolls" a viewer sees before the start of a news clip or YouTube video.
Targeting is key. While campaigns invest heavily in television ads to reach a mass audience, Web ads are geared specifically to people based on their ZIP code, demographics and, most importantly, their Internet browsing history.
That means someone who has visited the Obama campaign website will likely start seeing his ads on a number of different Web pages. And those who use Google to search for information on the Republican candidates might notice a Romney campaign pre-roll the next time they watch a TV show online.
Campaigns also buy ads on websites that cater to the different demographic groups the campaigns are hoping to reach.
"When someone expresses interest in politics online, it's an incredibly good time for the campaigns to talk to them," said Andrew Roos, a Google account leader who works with Democratic campaigns on Web ad strategy. "You want to grab people when they are paying attention and ask them to take another action, like send money or attend an offline event. It's an old-school organization principle that has been working its way online."
Campaigns were slow to adapt to online advertising even as the corporate world flocked to the Web with product ads years ago. Internet ad revenue climbed to nearly $7.9 billion in the third quarter of 2011, up 22 percent from the same time last year, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau, which tracks online ad spending.
Corporations now spend from 18 to 28 percent of their advertising budget online, while campaigns historically have spent no more than 5 percent.
Chris Talbot, a freelance campaign digital strategist, noted that big companies can devote considerable time, money and research to figuring out what works online and what doesn't. Campaigns don't have that luxury.
"There is no `next quarter' in politics, so campaigns usually revert to a template of what's worked in the past," he said.
In 2008, Obama and Republican presidential rival John McCain both did limited online campaign advertising. Web ads grew more prevalent in the 2010 midterm elections, when 85 of the top-spending House races and 600 interest groups bought display ads on Google.
To be sure, plenty of Internet users say they aren't thrilled with the proliferation of online ads, particularly those that follow them from site to site.
A USA Today/Gallup poll taken in late 2010 found 9 out of 10 respondents said they pay little attention to online ads. Two-thirds said they don't believe advertisers should be able to target them based on their past Web searches.
"The only way it works is on a mass scale. Most people ignore ads on the Web," said Aaron Shapiro, head of the digital marking firm HUGE.
Web ads' biggest advantage, many strategists say, is accountability.
"Online ads are very metric driven ? you can figure out how many impressions you got, how many people clicked, how many people signed up for an email address. All of that is calculated in real time," Google's Roos said. "It's much more efficient than direct mail and TV."
The Romney campaign's Moffatt said Web ads became part of the media strategy when officials there realized how much their own viewing habits had changed.
"Strategists here acknowledge they really don't watch live TV," Moffatt said.
___
Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.
___
Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bfouhy
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MEXICO CITY ? Mexican army troops dismantled a telecommunications system set up by organized crime in four northern states, authorities said Thursday.
The Defense Department said soldiers confiscated 167 antennas and 166 power supplies that gang members used to communicate among themselves and to monitor military movements.
The operation also netted more than 1,400 radios and 2,600 cellphones in the border states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila and in the state of San Luis Potosi, a statement said.
The army hasn't said which cartel was affected.
During the summer, Mexico's navy dismantled a communication system used by the Zetas cartel in the Gulf state of Veracruz. The Zetas have a strong presence in all four of the states involved in the army's operation.
Elsewhere, soldiers confiscated more than a ton of marijuana hidden in a tractor trailer at one of the international bridges at Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas. The army arrested the driver.
Also on Thursday, the U.S. government delivered inspection technology and a surveillance plane to help Mexico's navy fight drug cartels.
The equipment is part of the Merida Initiative, a program for which the U.S. government has spent $1.4 billion since 2008 in helping Mexico and Central American nations counter drug trafficking.
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VERBIER, Switzerland ? Unusually warm, dry weather has Switzerland's ski resorts on edge.
Newspaper front-pages, weather reports and ski websites are showing grim images of snow-free slopes, threatening the traditional start of the ski season on the first weekend of December.
"It would be ridiculous to turn off the webcams," Veronique Kanel, a spokeswoman for Swiss Tourism, said Thursday. "It's a fact that there is very little snow at the moment."
Like many resorts, Davos, in Switzerland's southeast canton (state) of Graubuenden, has fired up its snow cannons in an effort to put some artificial white on the pistes.
But even the best Swiss snow engineering is struggling because temperatures are too high. On Thursday, just 11 kilometers (7 miles) of Davos' 318 kilometers (198 miles) of ski slopes were navigable.
Kanel said some lift owners and hoteliers are now trying to lure tourists with special offers ? also meant to counter the strong Swiss franc ? while praying for colder weather to come.
She acknowledged, though, that "should there not be snow until mid-December we will have a problem."
According to the World Meteorological Organization, Switzerland is on track to suffer one of its three driest years on record.
The village of Verbier in southwest Switzerland is hoping skiers see the sunny side as they breeze down snow-free mountains on a one-mile stretch of prepared piste.
"We are providing a different and unique experience," said tourism chief Yan Baczkowski. "You actually get to ski in the middle of the fields."
In the village itself, with temperatures hovering above 12 degrees Celsius (54 Fahrenheit), many ski rental shops were shut. Waiters in T-shirts served a trickle of customers at open-air cafes.
Verbier ? which counts British pop singer James Blunt and entrepreneur Richard Branson among its regulars ? needs 50 centimeters (20 inches) of snow to afford visitors a good run, said Baczkowski.
"Yes we are late compared to other years," he said. "But we are not worried. The snow will come."
The only consolation for Swiss resorts is that their French, Italian and Austrian neighbors are also sweating under the heat.
On Wednesday, two Women's World Cup ski races scheduled for Dec. 10 and 11 in Val d'Isere, just across the border from Verbier in France, were canceled because of a lack of snowfall.
____
AP writer Frank Jordans contributed from Geneva.
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CAMP VICTORY, Iraq ? Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday thanked U.S. and Iraqi troops for sacrifices that he said allowed for the end of the nearly nine-year-long war, even as attacks around the country killed 20 people, underscoring the security challenges Iraq still faces.
Biden's comments came during a special ceremony at Camp Victory, one of the last American bases in this country where the U.S. military footprint is swiftly shrinking. The ceremony was hosted by the Iraqi government as a way to commemorate the sacrifices of U.S., Iraqi and coalition forces during the nearly nine-year-long war.
"Because of you and the work that those of you in uniform have done, we are now able to end this war," Biden told the hundreds of American and Iraqi service members assembled at Al Faw palace, which was built by Saddam Hussein.
Joined by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani, Biden said the United States takes "immense" pride in what American troops have done in Iraq. He said they are leaving with their heads held high.
By the symbolism at Al Faw, which has served as the U.S. military's headquarters almost since the first U.S. troops battled their way through here in 2003, it was apparent who was on the way in and who was on the way out.
Iraqi flags and tinsel, a favorite Iraqi decoration for festive occasions, replaced the American flags that used to line the driveway to the palace. Iraqi flags hung from the palace walls. After the ceremony was over, the Iraqi band members took out their packs and started smoking ? almost unheard of in U.S. military facilities.
Talabani, referring at times to "our friends, the Americans," praised the troops for their sacrifices and said that based on the "joint efforts" of the coalition and Iraqi forces, stability in the country has been restored.
Biden's eighth visit to Iraq since being elected started on Tuesday and was meant to chart a path for a new U.S. relationship with a country that is home to billions of barrels of oil reserves and more closely aligned with neighboring Iran than the U.S. would like.
But even as the remaining American troops prepare to leave by the end of the year, violence and instability are still a constant in Iraq, albeit dramatically less so than at the height of the conflict.
Two separate attacks on Thursday in Iraq's northeast killed 20 people and wounded 32.
A parked car bomb exploded at an open marketplace in the town of Khalis as morning shoppers were starting to arrive, killing 13 and wounding 28 people, according to the police and Faris al-Azawi, the spokesman of Diyala's health directorate.
Khalis, a Shiite enclave 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad, lies in the largely Sunni province of Diyala that was a hotbed of al-Qaida in Iraq during the height of the country's violence in 2004-2007.
Earlier at dawn ? also in Diyala ? gunmen stormed the home of an anti-al-Qaida Sunni fighter in the town of Buhris, killing him and six of his family members, said al-Azawi. Buhriz is located about 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
Iraqi security officials maintain that they are fully prepared for the American withdrawal, which is required under a 2008 security pact between the U.S. and Iraq. About 13,000 U.S. troops are still in the country, down from a one-time high of about 170,000. All of those troops will be out of the country by the end of December.
But many Iraqis are concerned that insurgents may use the transition period to launch more attacks in a bid to regain their former prominence and destabilize the country.
Thursday's deaths bring to at least 56 the number of Iraqis killed in separate attacks across the country in the past eight days, a warning that even more violence may be in the offing ahead of the American withdrawal.
Biden did not address the day's violence directly, but emphasized that Iraqi security forces would be able to protect the country without their one-time American military backers.
"It doesn't mean that the threats are over. Far from it. Violent extremists continue to launch appalling attacks against innocent civilians, fire deadly rockets at diplomats merely trying to do their jobs and threaten Iraqi troops and police," Biden said.
"But Iraqi security forces have been well-trained, prepared and you are fully capable of meeting the challenges," he said.
The vice president also alluded to the threat of neighboring Iran, which U.S. officials have repeatedly accused of financing Shiite militias who then attack American troops and diplomats. In what appeared to be a warning to Iran ? perhaps Iraq as well ? Biden described the Iraqi spirit as "independent."
"The Iraqi people will not, have not, and will not again yield to any external domination, and they would never abide another nation violating their sovereignty by funding and directing militias that use Iraqi terrain for proxy battles that kill innocent Iraqi civilians," he said.
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Associated Press Writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report from Baghdad.
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