I got an e-mail from my Congressman yesterday. U.S. Senator Tom Coburn was trying to explain to me why he voted against raising the minimum wage. He was one of only three Senators to vote against the bill.
The following statement within brackets proved to be incorrect. See comment below. I stand by the rest of my blog. My apologies to Senator Coburn. His serving his patients pro bono is commendable. [ This is the same man who complained that he could not afford to live on his government salary and needed to continue practicing medicine while in office.]
What does a medical doctor know about living on minimum wage?
Over the past thirty years, Coburn has been the beneficiary of a system that granted him one of the most disproportionately inflated salaries in the history of the world. Fees for services in his profession have increased so dramatically that many businesses can no longer afford to provide medical benefits for their employees. Since the last time the minimum wage was raised, literally tens of millions more Americans have been forced to live without health insurance.
Does anyone on minimum wage make enough to pay for a single trip to the hospital?
Coburn thinks most of the people working on minimum wage are teenagers. He says he's saving jobs by keeping wages low. It's obvious that he's never seen the greeters at Walmart.
In reality, Tom Coburn has become a spokesperson for a fraud that Wall Street and Main Street have been perpetuating on America for decades.
It is a gross distortion of the truth to say that raising the minimum wage costs jobs. Raising the minimum wage does increase the rate of inflation. That means goods and services will cost more as businesses adjust their prices and fees to cover their costs.
Figuring out how much to raise prices and fees to balance the books makes work for business owners and managers.
Those business owners and managers who oppose raising the minimum wage are really telling you that they are either lazy or incompetent or both. They would rather rob honest working men and women of the real value of their time and energy than spend the time and energy necessary to make sure that their least paid employees are fairly compensated.
The last time the minimum wage was raised, I was pastoring a church with a large daycare center and private school. We had dozens of employees who were working at minimum wage or close to it. Yes, some of them were teenagers. Most, however, were middle aged and elderly women who had worked at or near the prevailing minimum wage rate for decades.
I worked long hours with others to make sure that we raised rates high enough to cover their salary increases -- while still providing affordable daycare for the lower socio-economic neighborhood that we were serving. Inasmuch as I was doing it for the least compensated among my brothers and sisters, I never regretted a single minute of the time and effort that was required to balance the books whenever there was a step increase in the minimum wage.
In my eyes, to rob those good people, or to diminish their lives in even the slightest way, would have made me worse than a thief.
5 comments:
I agree with everything here Bruce--but I've always thought that churches should pay LIVING wages to all who work there. If the minimum wage is not sufficient, the church should pay above that and set an example for the rest of society.
I certainly agree with most of your post. I will however point out that the cost of medical care has not risen because of physicians' fees. Rather the cost of medications and high tech procedures and testing. Your family doctor is not reaping huge profits.
Thank you, sir, you seem to have heard the message of your Book.
Coburn is one of the Greeed party, Isn't there a text HE should read?
I would hope the cost of living where you are can be met with minimum wage, that's a tough order for a single earner.
cdalnogare, How did you miss the Insurance companies? They have enabled the inflation and taken a huge chunk of profit out of the middle while interfering with your doctor's ability to give you confidental top quality care.
Last time I checked, the minimum wage was a standard wage set by the government for entry level jobs for unskilled workers. Also, many high school students living at home with their parents make minimum wage. The minimum wage was never designed to meet the needs of a couple or a family for that matter.
While I am not against a hike in the minimum wage, I am against the constant carping of democrats who try to act like they are the friends of the wage earner. I wonder if Ted Kennedy and John Kerry even know what the minimum wage is. Do you think that John Edwards know what the minimum wage is while he sits in his 20,000 square foot house?
Anyone who has self-discipline and some determination is not going to be satisfied with a minimum wage job. They are going to do their best and their employer will notice and pay accordingly.
Comment about Coburn complaining about low pay for U.S. Senators corrected on 2-8-07 for the following reason:
According to a Tulsa World report on 2-6-07 Coburn was not permitted to accept compensation for continuing to maintain his medical practice. Here's a quote:
Coburn also explained again his decision to continue to practice medicine even though, under Senate ethics rules, he can't take money from his patients.
"I can't do anything other than totally practice for free, absorbing all the costs myself, my malpractice (insurance), my nurses costs, my rent," he said. "I've done that, and I've done that happily to continue to keep my skills because when I leave here, I plan on continuing to practice medicine."
Last year, Coburn said, his costs for working about 200 hours and delivering 27 babies came to $49,000.
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