economy – Speak Your Mind

Poverty And The Campaign Trail

Yaël Ksander — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 13:00:43 +0000

Exit polls from the recent New Hampshire primary show that 80-90% of the voters are worried about the economy. They’ve been deliberately misinformed, but no candidate seems to have a sensible way to deal with their concerns. That is why they voted for extremists left and right.

The American economy has been growing at less than 2% per year. Productivity, which leads to higher wages, has grown at less than one percent, accounting for the very slim raises the last year or so.

Of the growth that has occurred, most of it has gone to the top 10% of taxpaying families, who now take one-half of all income reported in this country. Bernie Sanders has no practical response. Donald Trump ignores the issue.

So what could reasonably be done? Since some of the inequality comes from the rising premium for technical skills, we need to provide more vocational education for underemployed Americans of all ages. Since much inequality comes from single parent households, we need to strengthen marriage by targeting income support for two-parent households. Since excessive incarceration for non-violent felonies has weakened minority communities, we can strengthen them by offering the unemployed jobs repairing public facilities. Community corrections should replace prison terms. Since discrimination against women contributes to poverty too, stronger unions should demand equal pay for equal work. That work should earn a new minimum wage of $10-12 an hour. Studies show that this modest increase in the current minimum wage would not raise prices or unemployment unreasonably relative to the benefits for those who need it.

A program like that would attract my vote.

Raise The Minimum Wage

Yaël Ksander — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 13:00:37 +0000

Why is raising the minimum wage, now at $7.25 an hour, so controversial? The $10.10 an hour that President Obama is proposing to the Congress is still less than the minimum wage in 1968, which would be $10.56 in today’s dollars.

Two reasons against a raise are common. The first is that only a few would benefit from a higher minimum wage. The second is that higher wages lead employers to cut jobs. Both reasons are faulty.

The first argument is based on there being only 1.6 million people working in minimum wage jobs – many in fast food, restaurants, and hotels – making up only 2.1 percent of all hourly jobs. Is benefiting so small a group worth a battle?

The response is that raising the minimum wage would affect all those making between $7.25 and $10.10 an hour plus many others already making more than $10.10 an hour who would get raises by demanding equal treatment with those making less.

Taken together, some 30 million workers could benefit.

The second argument against raising the minimum wage is that workers will lose jobs. The University of Chicago hosted 38 economists in 2013 to speak on whether it will be hard for low-skill workers to find jobs if the minimum rose to $9.00. 34% said it would be harder; 24% said they were uncertain; and 32% said it would not be any harder. Clearly this was not a verdict for job loss!

Even with some job loss, the overall gain in wages would be a victory for working people. There are no genuine gains without trade-offs.

Sources:

“Consumer Price Index Calculator,” Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“BLS Reports,” Bureau of Labor Statistics (Report 1048, March 2014).

David Cooper, “Raising the Minimum Wage Will Lift Wages for Millions,” Economic Policy Institute Report (12-19-2013).
www. igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel.

Flush The TPP

Betsy Shepherd — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 16:37:00 +0000

In 1994, President Bill Clinton pushed through Congress a trade deal, NAFTA, that promised “more jobs and a rising living standard for the American people.” Twenty years later, its main effect has been to erode workers’ rights, driving industry out of the U.S. to Mexico and increasing corporate profit for the wealthy, while the middle class shrinks and poverty spreads.

Now, in 2014, President Barack Obama has been quietly nurturing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade deal supported by corporate interests that Noam Chomsky states would “further erode the security of workers and the middle class, irrevocably harm the environment and undercut important financial, medical and food safety regulations.”

There is a growing problem of income inequality in the U.S., striking a blow to the functioning of a healthy democracy. With TPP, the richest 5 to 10 per cent of American households would get richer, while the bottom 90 per cent of Americans suffer a loss of income.

President Obama has tried to keep TPP secret.Thanks to WikiLeaks parts of the text were made public. A public outcry against TPP was expressed to Congress. Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader, refused to fast-track TPP legislation, which has temporarily blocked approval from Congress.

FlushtheTPP.Org sums it up very well. “The TPP is about much more than trade. It is a global corporate coup.” We must stay vigilant.

References

“NAFTA, Twenty Years After: A Disaster” (Economic Policy Institute)

Effect of TPP on richest 5 to 10 percent and poorest 90 percent is by Ruth Conniff in The Progressive, March, 2014, page 6.

Chomsky is quoted in The Nation, March 10, 2014, page 11.