On February 17, 2013, Robert Reich writes on NationOfChange.org:
Raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 should be a no-brainer. Republicans say it will cause employers to shed jobs, but that’s baloney. Employers won’t outsource the jobs abroad or substitute machines for them because jobs at this low level of pay are all in the local personal service sector (retail, restaurant, hotel, and so on), where employers pass on any small wage hikes to customers as pennies more on their bills. States that have a minimum wage closer to $9 than the current federal minimum don’t have higher rates of unemployment than do states still at the federal minimum.
A mere $9 an hour translates into about $18,000 a year — still under the poverty line. When you add in the Earned Income Tax Credit and food stamps it’s possible to barely rise above poverty at this wage, but even the poverty line of about $23,000 understates the true cost of living in most areas of the country.
Besides, the proposed increase would put more money into the hands of families that desperately need it, allowing them to buy a bit more and thereby keep others working.
A decent society should do no less.
The minimum wage proposal is a band-aid approach and does not effectively deal with the exponential loss of income due to tectonic shifts in the technologies of production that destroy and devalue jobs. Employers, as an increase business cost, will pass on the differential to their customers. To address poverty and the ever constant income inequality requires that we significantly improve the income prospects of EVERY American, especially those still under the poverty line and embrace FUTURE technologies that will result in more efficient production of the products and services needed and wanted by society.
This requires a solution that broadens private, individual ownership in FUTURE productive capital investment to enable EVERY American to acquire an income-producing capital stock portfolio that fully pays out dividend income. As a result, economic growth will soar to the double digits and REAL jobs will result that are necessary to the building of a FUTURE economy that supports affluence for EVERY American, and finally once and for all, eliminates poverty in America.
President Obama came out strong in his address – unveiling his second term vision and pushing hard for real action on everything from growing our economy to real immigration reform. The fight continues to make these goals a reality, but it won’t be easy.
“It’s our unfinished task to make sure this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few.” President Obama State of the Union.
President Obama reinforced JOB CREATION funded by taxpayers and the private sector, but NEVER addressed OWNERSHIP CREATION and the necessity of building an OWNERSHIP CULTURE.
A National Right To Capital Ownership Bill that restores the American dream should be advocated by the progressive movement, which addresses the reality of Americans facing job opportunity deterioration and devaluation due to tectonic shifts in the technologies of production.
There is a solution, which will result in double-digit economic growth and simultaneously broaden private, individual ownership so that EVERY American’s income significantly grows, providing the means to support themselves and their families with an affluent lifestyle. The Just Third Way Master Plan for America’s future is published at http://foreconomicjustice.org/?p=5797.
Support the Capital Homestead Act athttp://www.cesj.org/homestead/index.htm andhttp://www.cesj.org/homestead/summary-cha.htm
http://www.nationofchange.org/minimum-wage-guns-healthcare-and-meaning-decent-society-1361024552
