| (Cross-posted from DK -- taking every opportunity I can to get Ted's name out there)
Here is the position paper by Ted on the issue of the living wage. I'll say it again (& again & again) - this is a great candidate with great ideas, who can take away a Rethug seat. Really. (here's my disclaimer - I don't work for Ted, I live in the district that is "represented" by Michael McCaul) Here's my next congressman's really great ideas on this issue:
Living Wage
What kind of a country do you want to live in? Do you want to live in a Country with people standing on street corners with signs "will work for food"? Do you want to live in a Country where it is better for a father to abandon his children, so that they can get welfare? Do you want to live in a Country that is being overrun by illegal immigrants living twelve to a room because it's own citizens refuse to be exploited with a minimum wage that is practically "slave wages"? |
| I was a Diplomat in a Country that has a "living wage", Australia, and I can conceive of no one thing that would make a greater positive difference to our Country. We have all heard how nice Australia is, and how nice Australians are. It's true, and I attribute the largest part of that to the fact that any citizen who is willing to work for a living can live on the wages they earn.
Are you embarrassed when you make a purchase from a sales clerk or a fast food clerk and know that their wages are below the level set by the Federal Government as "Living in Poverty". I am. You can't blame businesses. They are competing with other businesses and most can't pay an unskilled workforce more than their competitors and stay in business for long. That's why there is a Federal Minimum Wage Law, setting a floor below which no business can pay their employees an hourly wage. But that floor does no one any good, if it's a wage an ordinary person can't live on.
The Federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. The Federal definition of "living in poverty" for a family of four is $18,400 per year. Earn that much and you still get food stamps, so it's hardly a gravy train. To earn that much at the Federal minimum wage, that family must work 3573 hours in a year. A full-time 40 hour per week job is 2080 hours in a year. Since people on minimum wage jobs hardly ever get paid vacations or sick leave, it means that family of four must hold down two jobs. That means that Mom is not home with the children because she's at work, or Dad has two jobs, or some combination of the two. At worst, dad has abandoned his family because if he does, they will be eligible for welfare and medicaid. This certainly does nothing to further any of the Family Values we hear so much of.
Florida and Nevada have just increased the minimum wage in their states to $6.15 per hour. California is raising that State's minimum wage to $7.75 per hour. Sixteen States currently have minimum wage rates higher than the Federal minimum. To look overseas, England sets it's minimum wage at about $9.20 per hour. Australia does much the same. This is a wage that a family of four can live on with a single earner, if that family chooses to live at the poverty level and maintain the traditional nuclear family. To earn $18,400 per year in the US from a single full-time job with two weeks unpaid vacation/sick time per year would take $9.20 per hour. But wait, most people earning the minimum wage don't get 40 hours per week. The usually don't get more than 35 hours per week, so that their employer can avoid providing benefits like health care and paid vacations and sick leave. So, to reach the Federal poverty level for a family of four on a single job, you need to be paid $9.75 per hour. Thats a living wage.
If it's a Federal minimum, all businesses pay it, so there is no competitive disadvantage. I'm sorry, but I'm willing to pay 20 cents more for my Big Mac if it means that people don't have to work two jobs to support a family. This would be good for the economy. People at this level don't save, they spend everything they make to live. A higher minimum wage means more money in circulation. It means people buying more. It doesn't hurt our economic competitiveness for exports, because the people working on the things that we export are, largely, skilled workers already being paid more than the minimum wage. The head of Wal*Mart has just called for an increase in the minimum wage, stating that their sales are being hurt because many of their customers don't make enough money to shop as they used to do.
I think that the impact on family life and on our National Values would be enormous. Women that choose to have an abortion because they can't afford to have a baby could make a different choice. Mothers that can't afford to stay at home with their children could make a different choice. Children who are doing poorly in school because there is no parent at home to see that they do their schoolwork could be improved. It could also largely end the problem of illegal immigration. It is said that the illegal immigrants take jobs that Americans don't want. That's probably true. But, why don't they want them? Because they believe, with good justification, that they are being exploited when they work at the Federal minimum wage. A US citizen has other options to exploitation; illegal immigrants don't. Pay a living wage and I believe that all those jobs that citizens "don't want" will suddenly have a line of applicants. The single change of a living wage could make the largest difference in our National life since television.
There is also another, very significant benefit. The Social Security shortfall would probably be eliminated. Social Security and Medicare taxes are paid on every dollar earned. An increase in the minimum wage would make an immediate cash infusion to these accounts without one dollar of tax increase. |
