[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.08]The election in the United States next month
[00:03.36]is not just about who will be the next president.
[00:08.08]There are many local issues on the ballots as well.
[00:12.96]For example, some states are considering making marijuana use legal.
[00:19.80]Other cities are thinking about raising taxes to help fund civic projects.
[00:27.36]In the northeast state of Maine,
[00:31.10]voters will decide whether or not to increase the minimum wage.
[00:37.32]The minimum wage is the lowest salary an employer is permitted to pay an employee.
[00:46.12]Today, the federal government requires employees to be paid at least $7.25 an hour.
[00:56.68]But voters in Maine are considering raising the minimum wage each year
[01:03.20]so that it reaches $12 an hour by 2020.
[01:08.92]Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign for the Democratic Party's
[01:16.32]presidential nomination brought attention to income inequality.
[01:22.88]Income inequality is the term used to describe the difference in wealth
[01:28.84]between the richest and poorest Americans.
[01:32.80]Hillary Clinton defeated Sanders and won the Democratic nomination.
[01:39.92]She said she supports an increase in the minimum wage.
[01:45.00]Her opponent, Donald Trump, said he believes
[01:50.16]individual states should decide for themselves.
[01:55.28]A group called Fight for $15 believes workers should be paid no less than $15 per hour.
[02:05.00]They have protested outside the presidential debates.
[02:09.68]In the city of Portland, Maine, Hillary Morrison is a bartender at Vena's Fizz House.
[02:17.52]She has debts and expenses: food, rent, transportation and student loans.
[02:29.44]But unlike many people who work making drinks or serving coffee,
[02:35.12]she has only one job.
[02:37.76]That is because her boss, Steve Corman, pays his employees a good salary.
[02:46.12]Morrison earns about $30 per hour on a busy night.
[02:52.00]Corman pays the bartender about $9 per hour.
[02:56.84]She gets the rest from tips, extra money customers pay for good service.
[03:04.68]Under the current law in Maine, Corman could pay her less than $4 per hour
[03:11.52]since she is an employee who receives tips.
[03:16.36]Morrison said her salary is "incredible."
[03:20.64]She said she would have to work two or three jobs in order to pay her bills without it.
[03:29.32]While some people may be surprised that a bartender or waiter can earn $30 per hour,
[03:37.88]Corman thinks the higher salary is a good investment.
[03:42.28]He said his employees work hard, are loyal to his business
[03:48.24]and develop strong relationships with customers who come back again and again.
[03:56.16]Chris Tyll owns a pizza restaurant in Portland called Pat's Pizza.
[04:02.64]He sees the minimum wage issue differently.
[04:06.48]He said he is worried voters might not understand
[04:11.56]why increasing the minimum wage could hurt a business like his.
[04:17.11]After adding up the cost of ingredients and labor,
[04:21.80]he said selling one pizza does not make that much money for the restaurant.
[04:28.44]If restaurants had to pay their employees $12 per hour,
[04:33.68]a pizza might cost as much as $30.
[04:38.12]Tyll said people might not eat at such a costly pizza shop.
[04:43.28]"We're asking people to make a decision,
[04:46.28]10 seconds in a ballot box, as they look at this question," Tyll said.
[04:51.88]He said he wants to see more of an effort
[04:55.44]to help workers learn new skills so they can get better jobs.
[05:00.76]Economists are not sure how a higher minimum wage would affect local economies.
[05:09.00]Some think workers would spend more if they made more,
[05:13.36]which would boost business.
[05:16.16]Others say businesses would be forced to raise prices
[05:21.24]without a guarantee that people would spend more for goods and services.
[05:28.24]The Economic Policy Institute said the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour
[05:39.00]is not high enough to support the cost of living in the U.S.
[05:46.12]The institute also said the U.S. economy could still do well
[05:52.16]if minimum wage rose to $12 per hour by 2020.
[05:59.44]I'm Dan Friedell.
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END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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