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The Cognitive Dissident

A blog by Ronald P. Thompson, Ph.D.

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The Moral Imperative for a Livable Minimum Wage

We are all prisoners of our own life experience.   Even the fairest minded person interprets the world as if their own experience in life is a universal life experience.   This is not a moral deficiency as some would assert, but rather it is an inescapable reality of our existence.   Sure, it is easy to throw rocks at people who have a different life experience and say they should be able to see things your way. But realize as you do so, you are in fact admitting you cannot see the world through the eyes of the person receiving your rocks. Not having lived that other person’s life however, is not an excuse for not trying to imagine how things look from the other side of the rock you are throwing.

I say that in introduction to the “minimum wage” issue that has been simmering for about two years  but has not raised to a level of even a soft boil.  Over the past few years a string of news stories declare  that the US middle-class continues to slip in relation to the last generation, not just that, but are slipping behind the rest of the industrialized world.  Something is fundamentally wrong, but neither political party has a real commitment in actually doing something about it.

It is simply a fact that over the past 40 years the purchasing power of the minimum wage has steadily declined as the minimum wage does not automatically increase to keep pace with inflation.  No one is disputing that.  Also no one disputes the fact that as our manufacturing base has declined, the percentage of the workforce in very low or minimum wage jobs has increased.

When I was a teenager there were jobs that were effectively “kids jobs” because only students like me would work for the minimum wage being offered (which was worth significantly more than it is today). Fast food, grocery store check-out clerk and such jobs were entirely the province of people under 21. But during the 90’s something began to change, you began to see adults who once worked as unskilled labor in factories and warehouses began to be pushed down the economic ladder into low/minimum wage jobs.

Continue reading “The Moral Imperative for a Livable Minimum Wage” →

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California is first state to approve $15 minimum wage

From the CNN article:

California has become the first state in the nation to approve a statewide $15 minimum wage.

“No one who is working full time in California should live in poverty due to a low wage,” said Democratic State Senator Mark Leno, who cosponsored the bill.

The measure will raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.50 in January and to $11 in January 2018. It will then increase by an additional $1 per hour every year until it reaches $15 in 2022. If, however, the state goes through an economic downturn or budget crisis, the governor may choose to slow the implementation.

The final bill gives small businesses, with 25 or fewer employees, an extra year to implement the increases.

About 5.6 million Californians, or about 32% of the state’s workforce, currently live on the minimum wage, according to Kevin De Leon, the president pro tempore of the state senate.

Setting a minimum wage at $15 has plenty of critics.

“California may be the first state to pass a $15 minimum wage, but it will also be the first to find out why that’s a bad idea,” said Michael Saltsman, research director of the Employment Policies Institute, a conservative think tank opposed to minimum wage hikes. He argues that many businesses will have to cut staff or close because of the deal. “This pain from a $15 minimum wage will only be exacerbated in more troubled counties in the state.”

My thoughts: 

So I ask Mr. Saltsman, how many business are employing more workers than they need?  Though my wife makes significantly more than minimum, her retail employer pays most people minimum or close to it; I can assure you they have already paired staff down to the bone.   How many janitors or McDonald’s burger flippers can these companies actually fire and still make money?  I suggest the number is close to zero.

What will happen is a modest level of inflation will occur in fast food and retail and other business that pay low wages. Perhaps a few percent points.  The real effect is that the moneyed class will take a hit in that they will make less profit and pay a more for personal services provided by the working poor.  Their concern for jobs and the welfare of the poor is a sham.

All I can say is “Boo Hoo for you.”

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