Raise the Minimum Wage

For the past forty years or so, the interests of the Bezos and Zuckerbergs have held  almost absolute sway in America. Shareholder value reigns supreme. If it cannot be monetized, it must not be of any value. That has to change or America will lose its soul.

The current debate over Joe Biden’s proposal to raise the minimum wage in America to $15 is heating up and once again the bias against the poor in the US economy is appallingly obvious. Even though the increase is designed to be implemented over a four-year period, some politicians and businessmen predict financial ruin. 

Their scenario is bizarre.  A boost in wages will produced an annual salary of slightly more than $31,000, less than half the current national median household income of about $68,000. The increase will affect about 40 percent of the US workforce, but only about two percent of the nation’s work force receives the existing minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. 

Critics have seized upon a recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office that project a loss of 1.4 million jobs if the Biden proposal is adopted. However, the study also estimates that 900,000 Americans would escape poverty. Exactly how having nearly a million of our fellow citizens enjoy better financial circumstances would lead to a loss of jobs is difficult to comprehend. 

Virtually all of the workers who would receive a pay increase under this legislation are likely to increase their spending accordingly. In our consumer-based economy that inevitably will lead to more jobs being created. 

It should also be noted that many of those being paid the current minimum wage, or something close to it, are employed in fields that are of critical importance although they do not always  require educational certification--- jobs like home health aide, childcare provider, janitor or housekeeper, and food preparer. These jobs are not likely to be eliminated. 

Truthfully, the Biden proposal is about more than economics. It is about whether or not we care about the worth and dignity of every American. 

The pandemic has exacerbated some of the income equities that are reflected in today’s society. According to the Pew Research Center, since 1989 the wealth gap among the nation’s richest and poorest families more than doubled. An analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies claims that since March 2020, the net worth of America’s 643 billionaires increased from $2.9 trillion to $3.5 trillion while another 29 were added to the list. 

The level of inequity is apparent in that the increase in billionaire wealth was twice as much as the value of all the stimulus checks paid out to Americans thus far. 

CEO compensation  provides another example of the income inequities rampant in our economy. The management guru Peter Drucker in the 1970s suggested a CEO-worker pay ratio of 20-1. Today, despite legislation requiring corporations to reveal publicly the ratio has climbed to an average among leading companies of approximately 300-1. Median pay for the top 400 corporate chief executives has stayed in the neighborhood of $20 million annually. 

These numbers seem to earn little more than a yawn from political leaders. Probably related to the fact that corporate CEOs are major campaign contributors. 

But the numbers have consequences. If pay for each of those 400 corporate executives was reduced to say $5 million and the other $15 million paid out in salary and wages to employees earning less than $142,800, nearly $400 million in additional money would be paid into the Social Security Trust Fund alone, forget about the benefits of the additional earnings available as well as the additional jobs that might result. 

Not everything of value in society can be monetized. Taking care of the elderly and the infirmed, caring for children, ensuring their health and safety, and making sure our food and drink are safe to enjoy, all are invaluable. The janitors and housekeepers in my granddaughters’ school may not be as important as their teachers, but if custodians fail to do their jobs, the environment for learning  suffers severely. Just think of how critical the efforts of these workers have been during the pandemic in limiting the threat of infection from Covid-19 and its variants. 

And by the way, our society does not appear to consider teachers as important as we should, given the role we expect teachers to play in preparing our children for life. In both Carolinas the starting salary for teachers is not much better than $15 an hour. 

We need to examine what constitutes economic growth in America. The current system for calculating Gross Domestic Product is absurd. A dollar spent on repairing hurricane damage is valued the same as a dollar invested in a school or health facility. In order to determine real worth some consideration should be given to the purpose for which a dollar is spent. 

That is what needs to be done in evaluated the proposal to raise the minimum wage. The benefits of improving the livelihood of people who have not been served well by our economy in recent years are clear. Surely they are just as valuable as Jeff Bezo’s dreams of space travel or Mark Zuckerberg’s quest for a social media monopoly. 

And if there are temporary or even permanent changes that need to be accommodated, government has the capacity to make those adjustments. America proved that during the Great Depression, we can do it again in the 21^st century.   

GOP Answer to Riot

The events of January 6 in Washington, DC, clearly represented an act of insurrection against the legitimate governing institutions of the United States. Even the Republican Minority Leader of the US Senate, Mitch McConnell has recognized that fact and has identified Donald Trump as bearing major responsibility for the violence. Trump and the other speakers at the rally prior to the storming the Capitol had no other purpose in mind but to intimidate the joint session of Congress meeting that afternoon to receive the certified election returns from the states, the last step in confirming the presidential victory of Joe Biden. 

Some of the people attending what was called the Save America Rally may not have fully appreciated what they were supporting, but ignorance, willful or not, is no defense. More egregious has been the Republican answer to this attack by a destructive mob on the citadel of our democracy. 

I watched this morning on ABC television as the Republican Senator from Mississippi Roger Wicker was being interviewed by George Stephanopoulos. The ABC anchor asked Wicker if Trump should be held accountable for inciting the insurrection. Wicker refused to respond specifically to Stephanopoulos’s question, but claimed that Trump cannot be convicted because he is no longer in office. Stephanopoulos than played a video of Wicker as a Congressman in 1999 voting to impeach Bill Clinton. The hypocrisy blared from the screen. 

Republicans are grasping at straws in their frantic search for a reasonable way to avoid voting to convict Trump. They talk about “precedents” as if there have been frequent impeachment trials. There have been very few because America has had very few presidents who have abused the office with such total disrespect for our country’s laws and traditions. 

In his first impeach trial Trump was acquitted in February 2020 by Senate Republicans, save one. Some even admitted that he was guilty of abusing his office and undermining the national interest for personal gain. Two reasons were given to justify the acquittal: an election was pending in which the public could make a judgement (they did) and Trump had learned his lesson (he proved quickly he had not by summarily removing several of the individuals courageous enough to disclose his abuse). 

The Republican party is facing an historic turning point in its history. That Donald Trump was ever nominated by the party for the presidency was a major blow to the party’s image as a responsible national political organization. Despite a campaign of disgusting racial and sexist language, Trump managed to win the presidency. His victory was at least in part the result of the inequities built in to the structure of the US Senate, and consequently, the Electoral College. Although he lost the popular vote by nearly three million, Trump collected 304 electoral votes.

In the2020 election there was an earthquake-size shift in voter sentiment. Joe Biden won the popular vote by over seven million. Reflecting the same structural inequities, Biden's electoral count was only 303. It is also noteworthy that although the GOP retains 50 seats in the Senate, the Republican senators represent 41 million fewer voters than do the 48 Democrats and two Independents, who organize with the Democrats. 

Of great disappointment was the fact that a majority of Republicans in the US House attempted to overturn the presidential election returns immediately after the Capitol riot in which five people died, including a police officer defending the legislators and their staffs. That same majority save ten refused to vote to impeach the man who incited the riot. It is also disappointing the ten who voted their conscience, and who include some of most loyal Republicans in the House, have been subjected to bitter scorn and even censure by Trump supporters who control the GOP in some states. 

Eleven Republican members of the Senate also voted to overturn the presidential election after the riot. The two most outspoken dissenters, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, obviously have presidential ambitions. Building a campaign for the top office in the land on the basis of unsubstantiated challenges to state certified election returns may prove to be an uphill battle. 

And given the fact that Trump’s charge to the insurrectionist mob called for attacking his own vice president, it may prove difficult for Hawley or Cruz to find a running mate any time soon.

Republicans in the Senate who oppose convicting Trump must recognize that they are encouraging the fringe elements that the deposed president has energized. If he is acquitted, it will give new life to the conspiracy theorists and white supremacists who have emerged as a potent force in GOP politics. They will not go away if Trump is not held accountable for his disregard of his responsibilities as president. 

Acquittal will also mean that Trump will not only be free to run again, but he will receive as a former president benefits worth at least one million dollars annually. In addition to staff support and office rental, a pension of at least $200,000 will be provided by US taxpayers. That seems particularly unjust in view of the Republicans quibbling over whether or not families struggling with the economic fallout of the pandemic should receive $1000 instead of $1400 in one-time aid. 

The 2022 elections may seem like they are far away, but American voters are beginning to realize that some politicians just don’t seem to learn anything from their earlier mistakes, so it is up to us to remind them.