Increasing the minimum wage will help the millions of poor workers
Media myth: U.S. workers are barely getting by, and it鈥檚 past time for a minimum wage increase after all these years.
A higher federal minimum wage seems like common sense to the media. They can鈥檛 seem to understand why anyone would be against it. Witness this classic exchange on the June 24 鈥淚n the Money鈥? CNN Host Jack Cafferty: 鈥淏ut why don't they want to raise the minimum wage? Where鈥檚 鈥?what's the resistance to that idea?鈥?CNN Contributor (and recently-promoted Fortune magazine managing editor) Andy Serwer: 鈥淲ell, it's obviously coming from big business. They say it's inflationary, and it will cause layoffs. I think that's a lot of bull.鈥?br>
That sounded a lot like the Democratic politicians talking. And New York Times reporter Edmund L. Andrews claimed 鈥渢he Democratic argument is straightforward鈥?on July 13. He repeated Democratic politicians鈥?linkage between private executives鈥?pay and minimum-wage workers鈥?鈥?that it was unfair for CEOs to get raises when minimum-wage workers could not.
Truth: Where are the throngs of minimum-wage workers? USA Today鈥檚 July 24 editorial page claimed an increase 鈥渨ould benefit 15 million who earn the minimum or a little more.鈥?The media have used them as the reason why the federal minimum should be increased 鈥?though the actual number is far smaller than they have led audiences to believe. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 1.9 million workers were reported with wages at or below the minimum in 2005.
In fact, the percentage of hourly paid workers at or below the minimum wage is at its lowest point since data were first collected in 1979. In 1980, 15.1 percent of those workers were minimum wage or below 鈥?compared to 2.5 percent in 2005. More than 20 states already mandate wages higher than the federal minimum.
Several economists have pointed out that the majority of workers move on from entry-level minimum wage positions relatively quickly. The BLS reported that 鈥渁bout half of workers earning $5.15 or less were under age 25, and about one-fourth of workers earning at or below the minimum wage were age 16-19.鈥?br>
Studies from business groups such as the National Restaurant Association have shown that mandated wage hikes put pressure on businesses, many of which have to cut the number of jobs available. Sutides from the National Restaurant Association? why don't you cite an unviased source?
Look, the truth is minimum wage increases don't cost jobs--thats nothing but a myth that employers who are paying abusively low wages have trotted out every time a minimum wage increase is proposed. It has never cost jobs--ant that's based on legitimate research studies.
The minimum wage doesn't gurantee "good wages"--and was never intended to. What it does do--and the objection second-rate businessmen really have--is that it reins the abusive tendencies of the minority of employers who are unethical. Not really, if the minimum salary is increased that means all consumer products and all salaries will increase too Call the media, blow the trumpets, -roll the film. Photo Ops galore! All for what? The 2% of the entire work force that actually earn minimum wage. Most of them are high school students working part time. What 30 year old of average intelligence and ability (in the states) is only making minimum wage? You would ave to blown every opportunity ever presented to you for years and years! Very few of those working at minimum wage jobs will get a raise because it only applies only to those who work full time (40 hours a week). Most of the 16 -19 age range work part time at fast food restaurants and won't qualify for the increase. Some large corporations like Wal Mart have very few full time employees. Most of their work force works less than 40 hours a week and thereby don't qualify for the minimum wage increase or for employee benefits of paid vacations, health benefits, or paid sick time. Once you subtract all of the part time employees from that list of minimum wage workers - very few people will actually be affected by the increase. minimum wage increase is a quick fix. realize that money is backed by concrete capitol; i.e. gold, silver, etc.
raising minimum wage diminishes the actual value of a dollar. economics are consequential, higher pay for employees means companies have to cope by raising the prices of their products. this causes inflation.
and what about the many of us who work at low level jobs, but get paid a few dollars more than minimum wage. anyone who makes more than minimum wage will take a cut in pay, employers will not compensate employees with a wage differential to accomodate those who already make more than minimum wage with a pay raise.
we all lose. the value of superficial capitol stays the same, but prices increase, we will still be in the same position once the economy balances itself back out. I don鈥檛 think it is nearly enough. Several factors to consider are the debt to human ratio that we are accumulating with our out of control economy. For every person there is an equivalent accumulation of $5,000 in debt a year, for a family of four they can expect to accrue $20,000 in debt. They can at the same time expect an average income of $16,640 if they make the new minimum wage at 40 hours, but most employers are sure not to give more than 30 hours, which brings it to $12,480. If both people work you get $24,960, which according to the last census is about the average income for the average family.
The thing is at that level people cannot afford healthcare and a basically living paycheck to paycheck. One irritated boss away from homeless. Employers fire people for the littlest things and families are set on their ear. It happens to a large portion of the population that have no voice because they have no money even though they work all their time away.
What they need to do is compensate people with huge tax incentives to purchase housing, like no more property taxes anywhere for private ownership, only commercial.
The government should offer no interest mortgages to the public for folks making a combined income of under $50,000 a year.
If the tax system were readjusted, say a flat national sales tax of 15%, using the GNP we could take half of that amount and it would be more then the current budget, and we could take the other 50% and divide it up between the humans. You can check the math but it would work out to a refund of about $12,000 per person, that is $48,000 a year for a family of 4. If that type of money were redistributed there would be talk of inflation, but what would happen would be a juggernaut affect on the economy. With that kind of money families would purchase, the purchasing would create need, which would create jobs, which would create a higher GNP, which would equal a higher payout. I would bank that in the first year of that type of program we would see a jump in business, there would be more businesses started in 1 year then the entire history of the United States. There are millions upon millions of entrepreneurs out there that are stuck in a situation where they may never have the opportunity to pursue a really brilliant business idea. If we have faith in Americans, they will take us to an economy that would be prosperous on an exponential scale.
Lets say we stay out of the next conflict in the world and instead of dropping bombs that cost $80 Million a pop, lets make 270 million millionaires.
What that would do is position our population to be ready for the technological market which the internet is opening up. It is now becoming possible for the average person to market a service or product globally transcending language barriers through translation software. We need to make Americans business owners to coordinate international trade. We will see a migration (and are experiencing it now) of manufacturing out of the states with a compensating level of technical level international sales jobs increasing to compensate. We are a computer nation, 70% of America has access to the internet, and the world is catching up fast. We invented it, we mastered it. Lets take it to the world from the comfort of our living rooms. |
