Minimum Wage Raise is the Least We Can Do to Civilize America

[Roverticus]

Some sparknotes from another gem of truth by economist Mark Weisbrot

The federal minimum wage is just $7.25 an hour and hasn’t been raised in three years. But a raise is much more overdue than that. If we look at the minimum wage 44 years ago, and simply adjust it for inflation, it would be more than $10 today.

This is another ugly symptom of what has gone wrong in America over the past 35-40 years. From 1979-2007 about 60 percent of the income gains have gone to the now infamous 1 percent at the top, with the majority of those gains going to the top 0.1 percent – people who made, on average, $5.6 million per year.

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There is currently legislation before Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 an hour to $9.80, over three years...28 percent of the nation’s 76 million children would have a parent who would benefit from the raise.

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[R]aising the minimum wage doesn’t only cut into profits, it also increases demand in the economy by moving income to workers who spend more than those who receive profit.

In Brazil, the minimum wage was raised by 60 percent in real terms by the country’s most popular president, Lula da Silva – a former metal worker and union leader – as Brazil’s economy moved toward record-low levels of unemployment. Across South America, other left governments including Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and more have significantly reduced inequality while increasing economic growth

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It means that the U.S. political system is actually more corrupt and less democratic in very important ways than those of our developing country neighbors to the south.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/minimum-wage-raise-is-the-least-we-can-do-to-civilize-america

[PDJane]

1. Congratulations. The best performing economies have a liveable minimum wage.

In states where the minimum wage is higher than average, the recession didn't hit as hard....and there is a study to prove so.

shttp://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/12/01/minimumwagejobs/

[Warpy]

2. It's amazing how many problems this could solve

from decreasing pressure on social services to increasing revenue for both income taxes and social security premiums, all while putting more money into working class pockets and generally stimulating the economy.

That's why Republicans won't allow it. It would be the final nail in the supply side coffin, proving them wrong about everything.

[OnlinePoker]

3. It won't do much good for a couple of reasons

Currently (as of 2011), there are 1.68 million of the 73.93 million hourly-waged workers at the minimum wage (2.2% of total). Another 2.15 million are below minimum wage (2.9% of total). Raising the minimum to, say, $10, will not necessarily mean that people already earning that will see their corresponding wages go up. It would probably just boost the percentage of those earning minimum wages into the double digits again and stay that way until the economy improves enough it would force employers to raise wages. For those already earning under the minimum wage, it is highly unlikely these employees would see any increase at all. Their employers already ignore the law so there would be no incentive for them to comply.

As an aside, 2006 was the best year ever for wage earners making more than minimum wage as only 0.5% earned minimum and 1.7% earned below minimum. This is a far cry from '80 and '81 when the combined percentage at this rate was 15.1%

See Table 10 at the link below.

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2011tbls.htm

[ArizonaLib]

4. Renaming 'minimum wage'

We should rename it 'Living Wage', which should be automatically increased every few years without votes required from Congress. 'Minimum wage' implies that 'undeserving/undesirables' get 'minimum wage'. All should get at least 'Living wage' to support living expenses.