In President Obama's State of the Union address he cited raising the minimum wage as policy goal. Liberals cheered, conservatives sneered, and me, for me it was a "ugh" moment. Let's be for real, the amount of money someone earns annually if they're working full-time in a minimum wage job verges on an insult to our collected humanity if that's what a head of household brings home. I mean, I'm a reasonably frugal guy but $15,000 just ain't a lot of money.
But a federally mandated raise in the minimum wage is a ham-handed way to deal with the problem. There are small businesses out there that hire high school kids or retirees a minimum wage. These aren't head of household employees, they are supplemental income employees and a federally mandated rise in the minimum wage hurts business while given the high school version of me a little more money maybe to save for college, but more then likely to buy another game of bowling. Now, I know not everyone is like me and there are folks that need a living wage. So let's write a smart law to reflect that, without hitting a small business like the one I worked for in high school.
But as Ezra Klein notes, raising the minimum wage isn't really about raising the minimum wage, it's about the growing income inequality going on in this country. It's about trying to see a greater share of corporate profits go to labor. And Ezra does a good job of breaking down some ways this could be tried without raising the minimum wage, or rather, that were tried and even implemented by Congress and Obama, but then allowed to lapse. And if Ezra is right that this is more about winning an issue for Obama and the Democrats at this point, then I may need to eat some crow. But it also means the Democrats and Obama are playing the long game here. They keep offering to compromise and keep hearing no, so they'll ignore compromise and pursue a popular policy that makes Republicans look bad for opposing since it's harder to make them look back for refusing the compromise. It's shrewd politics of the sort that would have the Republicans try and pass a law that makes English the official language.
But my point is this: I believe income equality is a problem in this country and it's a problem that's getting worse. I think it's incumbent on the government to do something about this, but I don't think raising the minimum wage is the right way to address it. It's a popular move with many people, but it doesn't help us address the underlying issue and we shouldn't lose sight of that.
I believe income equality is a problem in this country and it's a problem that's getting worse.
ReplyDeleteWhy should it be considered a problem?
Two reasons. First, history has demonstrated that in societies with deeply stratified income levels are far more susceptible to unrest and revolution.
ReplyDeleteSecond, and perhaps more sentimentally, as the chasm between the haves and have nots grows, the ability for an individual born into a less well off family to climb into a higher income and social level becomes increasingly difficult. You create an underclass of people perhaps not so poor they starve, but not so wealthy has to improve their condition from generation to generation. I'd consider that a betrayal of the American Dream.