This has been a topic I've been exploring a lot lately--if pay in the private sector is dignifying work versus government welfare, and if the current budget cutting debates are based on the fact that many people have never met someone in serious, generational poverty. Unfortunately for, well, pretty much everyone, there are many times when it does not, financially speaking, make sense for someone to make more money by taking more hours because of the value of benefits that they would be losing.
This is not a system that dignifies work within a complete society--plain and simple.
Like I've said many times before, I (try to) take a middle road on the poverty issue. I'm not for increasing or keeping government services across the board, but I'm also not for cutting all forms of the social safety net. We have to do a better job, as a SOCIETY, rather than a government, of taking care of our own. This is what I like in theory about the UK's Conservative party "Big Society" reforms(though the practice/reality can be debated). The theoretical focus on localism makes 'people in need' not someone you're not familiar with, but someone down the street.
This is something that is not as easy in the United States--we're a much bigger country than our friends across the pond, and many people, especially those in the 'upper class,' don't actually know or talk to anyone in poverty. Sure, it's easy to say from an Ivory (or Marble, or perhaps a rich Mahogany) Tower that people, with "no skills" don't deserve more than minimum wage. But I ask, why not? Why not dignify that work if it is economically possible? If you pay someone more, aren't they more likely to be loyal to your company, purchase from your company, and not trash talk your company on the internet?
Picture borrowed without permission (yay!) from here: http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/workers-wages-vs.jpg
The problem with executives make OBSCENE amounts of money is that there are people out there with 2-3 jobs and still not making pay--the growing wealth gap isn't a myth. The REASON it looks bad for oil companies to pull in record profits is because of the regressive nature of higher gas prices. I only kind of buy the "talent retention" line, but let's get real--it's getting way out of hand. Companies have a "right" to make profits and pay people as they please, but they don't have to exercise it so out-of-touch with the rest of the entire universe.
The slower growth of wages compared to costs--specifically housing costs--was one of the catalysts to an even bigger housing mortgage crisis, only making it worse. Wages weren't keeping up with home prices among other costs, and everyone expected the economy to keep growing forever and ever, lah-dee-dah.
Do I think this rationalizes a mandatory living wage? Well, in a way, maybe. At the local level, that makes perfect sense. Plenty of communities could do that to their own accord. But I would never back a flat, national 'living' wage because Montana and Indiana, for example, are very different. Each locality should determine its wages alone.
The (excellent) Economic Policy Institute has people A LOT smarter than me that supports the idea of raising minimum wages at a local-er level than just federal--at the states. They also show that raising wages might not have an adverse effect on employment rates like so many minimum wage opponents purport. This 2006 brief--well worth your time even though it has a few years on it--details how increases in minimum wage are largely beneficial for most populations (though with some mixed results for minority subsets). They also have an excellent Twitter feed.
I see people trashing low-skill, low-education workers for having kids while not being able to afford to provide for, but let's not be unfair. People just want to live their lives and be happy. And that's a noble goal even if you don't like them personally. We need to shed those labels of low-income, low-education folks and realize that there is a sheer reality of dollars and cents that isn't adding up.
No comments:
Post a Comment