MINIMUM WAGE DEBATE

The minimum wage debate is a great and well worth having; the sort of political issue we should be debating and not the Karl Rove and Koch brother financed Tea party hate we read in every newspaper and hear on every TV news channel, once you get beyond sports.

At the heart of the debate is the idea that if the minimum wage is increased, jobs will be lost. I believe most people base their position on a false premise, which is that huge corporations now hire people to create jobs. Think of it this way; a fast food restaurant has 30 employees to operate three shifts, 10 per shift of which three on each shift are paid minimum wage. The premise is that they will now operate with nine workers on each shift because the government is forcing them to pay each worker more; therefore, they can only employ nine and not ten people per shift. This is the same as saying the corporation can suddenly operate each shift with nine employees.  As an extension of that, it is like saying that they could have hired one person less per shift or three people per 24 hours that they really do not need to do the job. Corporations do not operate that way!

What is closer to the truth is that corporations are protecting their profit. They have a fixed investment that is earning x-number of dollars per shareholder.  In the real world, profits have increased over time at the expense of workers, which is why we have the problem—we label it ‘income disparity’. What corporations are saying is that they are not willing to decrease profits to pay those needed workers. Essentially, they have two alternatives; one is to increase the prices of whatever goods or services they provide and the second is to cut their profits. Universities have trained corporate executives in business; they are mostly MBA, and for them to cut profit of a corporation they head is equivalent in cutting their career as a business executive. Their own welfare counts; welfare of workers does not count; with few exception, morality has no place in the modern business world.

Going to the next step, what the minimum wage debate shows, or should show the American people, is that free market economy does not work when corporate executives in control of the entire market; in this case, the labor market. In fact, the idea that congress of the United States is involved proves this.  If the invisible hand of Adam Smith controlled prices, “and wages”, we  would not need congress in the minimum wage debate, which brings us back full circle; congress is involved to control corporate greed, which corporate executives have failed to do or we would not be having his debate. This realization puts us in a position to ask the political questions—I am serious, I think you should really ask yourself these questions. Why do corporations want deregulation?  What would they do if government did not regulate them? What benefit do corporations have by controlling politicians? Which political party is concerned with workers welfare and which political party is concerned with corporate profits?

 Now take one more step deeper into the debate. Minimum wage people that work a full week but remain below the poverty level need welfare to survive—unfortunately, some of these are our military men and women. Therefore, the government provides such things as food stamps, SNAP, aid for dependant children, etc. using taxpayer money. The taxpayer is subsidizing the minimum wage employee; therefore, taxpayers are paying part of the salary of corporate employees. That money is going to corporate executives and company shareholders in the form of increased profits. Now let me try to make you even a little less happy with those thoughts; Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers complain about high tax rates on corporations, but few corporations pay those rates and many of them do not even pay taxes. Did you know that some even receive rebates?

It is to your benefit to enter into the debate: you can make it better of corporations and less good for workers or you can make it better for workers and less good for corporation. If you declare yourself above the foray, no matter the outcome, you have lost the debate.  If you are convinced all politicians are crooked, you have lost your right to be an American. If would rather watch sports, you have turned your back on your country for something where the final score does not really matter. What does matter is that taxpayers build stadiums for sports franchises and subsidize the major leagues. Bye-the-way, if you are looking for a minimum wage worker, do not bother looking in the stadium at a major league game; not even in the most remote seat in the house; they can not afford to eat let alone go to a game.       

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