What Went Down At The CNN Democratic Debate

New York’s chapter of the “Fight for $15” movement just put out a statement on Clinton’s and Sanders’s earlier exchange over the minimum wage: “The Democratic candidates’ comments in the debate tonight over $15/hr shows that raising pay is a huge issue for voters in this election,” said Jorel Ware, who walked off his job at McDonald’s on Thursday as part of a union-organized strike. “By joining together and going on strike, we are literally changing the debate in this country on wages.” It’s no surprise that the raise-the-wage movement is excited by the prominent role the issue is playing both tonight and in the campaign more generally. A couple of years ago, the minimum wage was hardly on the agenda. Now both Democratic candidates want a much higher federal minimum and $15 in many cities.

In 2015, the U.S. contributed $650 billion in defense expenditures to NATO, far more than any other alliance member. All European NATO members contributed just $234 billion that year. The extent to which the U.S. is carrying the load for NATO is also evident when expenditures are taken as a share of GDP: At 3.6 percent, U.S. expenditures are far and away the highest.

Clinton just said something that Donald Trump’s been saying lately — that other NATO members need to step up and foot more of the organization’s bill. Synergy!