Both the U.S. House and the Senate have turned down legislation to raise the minimum wage.
Since the minimum wage was increased to $5.15 an hour in 1997, our Congressional leaders have raised their own salaries by $32,000.
Here's a link to a helpful article about "Pay Raise Politics."
There will be a payday someday.
1 comment:
This has been the talk everywhere I went yesterday. People are talking about this blocking of minimum wage increase while giving themselves huge payraises in stores, in gas lines, in barber shops, in church prayer meetings, etc. People are quite angry about it. They know that huge Congressional raises are not the result of "market demand." Markets respond to the rules society creates. Could anyone seriously argue that the market "demanded" congressional payraises of $32,000 in 9 years or that Congress has done such great work for the common good that this is equitable pay? But those same politicians can let their maids, the single parent working at McDonalds, etc. stay under the poverty level in the U.S. SHAME!!! I just hope people remember at the polls.
We can do the right thing AND help the economy. Raising the minimum wage puts money in the hands of people who put it right back into circulation in terms of gas, food, rent, clothes, etc. Oh, and if we got a living wage (I'm with the unions on this, but I don't want the perfect to be the enemy of the good) or close to it, then the lowest rung workers could afford to GET the extra training or education for more job skills that Jeff the Baptist and others want. It also takes some time to go to school, study, etc. that one cannot do if they are working 2 jobs and raising kids on their own. So, the economic stimulus of raising the minimum wage more than offsets any cost to small businesses.
Oh, about universal healthcare not being efficient and adding a layer of govt. bureaucracy? This is possible, but the amount of paperwork and costs SAVED by eliminating the dozens of insurance forms, HMO rules, etc. would MORE THAN OFFSET any government bureacracy. I have traveled widely in Europe and in Canada. The most inefficient federal healthcare system I saw was the U.K.'s (but this was several years ago and I hear there have been reforms)--and STILL it was better than our system.
Jesus and the prophets were merciless on those who profit from the poor. The U.S. church's attitude here as a whole is so unbiblical that no lesser word will do than HERESY.
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