I continue to be amazed at the shortsightedness of those opposing the increase to minimum wage. Yes, in the past it has done little to fight poverty. One factor, however has changed over recent decades - the working poor. Those who work, often 40, 50, or 60 hours or more a week but still come in under the poverty line because, quite simply, they are not paid enough to live on. They are literally working, trying to make a living but are not paid enough to live. Once upon a time, it was considered a social contract, an ideological tenant that if someone worked for you and the company did well you took care of them. As productivity and sales went up so did income. This fed into Americas Golden Ideal - that anyone, no matter who you were, if you worked hard enough you could live the American dream and make a good living for yourself. That social contract started to break in the 1970s, when, despite productivity continuing to increase, wages started to stagnate. Money from profits started shifting away from the employees and towards the top - namely shareholders and executives. This is when the poor started getting poorer and the rich started getting richer. That was also when the demographics of poverty started to change. Most of those living under the poverty line used to be non-workers - elderly, handicapped, unemployed with some struggling college students (though I have heard many stories of even college students getting decent summer jobs they could subsist on as well as pay their tuition with - good luck doing that these days) and a few starving artists. Now, however, you get a very different picture. Add in single mothers working to support their families, those who cant afford or have found the education system too difficult for them, whole families with both parents working low-wage jobs, those who have given up looking for work in the current job market, fast food workers, hotel workers, home health aids, etc. All together, approximately 28 million of those living in poverty are doing so while earning a paycheck that is just not enough to live on. Some may say raising the minimum wage is not economical. Some even look down their noses at those who ask to be paid more and ask in return if they are worth it. Anyone who works a full time job should ever live in poverty. Its not only the smart economic choice, but its the moral and American choice.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 05:10:50 +0000
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