Corporate Welfare and the Minimum Wage

[xchrom]

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/03/21



***SNIP

There’s a reason it takes congress decades to consider a wage increase (3 times in 30 years) and only days to cut checks to billion-dollar corporations pleading poverty.

The top 4 conservative lies about raising the wage include:

increasing wages will force businesses to close
higher labor costs will lead to higher unemployment
minimum wage earners aren’t primary breadwinners
unskilled workers and teenagers won’t be able to get a job
First, Costco, the second largest retailer in the United States with 103 billion in sales, is looking to expand their operations after raising their employee pay and advocating the benefits of doing so. GAP clothing store is also proactively increasing their employee pay to $9/hr this year and $10 next year. A number of small businesses have also survived pay increases and remain profitable. What’s purposely overlooked is how often an overpaid CEO’s financial missteps jeopardized company finances to the point of closure or caused serious financial damage.

Second, the one percent has been telling this lie since 1938 and Big Business is doing just fine. Higher pay actually saves businesses money by reducing employee turnover and increasing worker productivity. Even the Congressional Budget Office’s projected loss of 500,000 jobs is minimal and they acknowledge that increased wages will benefit 16.5 million people and lift 900,000 out of poverty. This report also details why the minimum wage has no discernible effect on employment. Facts and common sense shows that blatant greed, outsourcing, and deregulation are the real job killers.

Third, over 60% of minimum-wage workers are women who are also the breadwinners in 4 out of 10 households. Single mothers, like myself, are also the poorest and most at risk of falling into deep poverty. A living wage would benefit these women and their children the most especially now that congress keeps gutting their safety net and their employers are cutting their hours to not have to provide health insurance or other benefits. Those at the bottom of the pay scale aren’t just bringing in second incomes or working as a hobby; they are running a household and raising a family on one income.

[Thinkingabout]

1. Lawmakers should see the increase as getting lits if people off of the social network

And a way to cut budgets. Henry Ford had it right, pay his employees enough so they could buy his product.