Money, Money, Money

The news today was that President Obama has requested an increase in the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour. It would provide a wage earner with a family of four an annual income of $20,800. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services the 2013 federal poverty measure guidlines indicate that in the 48 contiguous states the poverty level for a family of four is $23,550. In Alaska $29,440 and Hawaii $27,090. So a wage of $10.00 per hour does not get you out of poverty in the United States. You would still need to hold another part time job and would still be eligible for some government assistance. It is a sad statement on where we are as a nation. Bill Maher said it well.

Perhaps Mr. Maher unfairly picks on Kentucky Fried Chicken. Here is the real cost from our largest employer.

The Walton family who own the majority of WalMart stock are among the richest 50 individuals in the United States. They are worth 10's of billions of dollars. They contunie to fight workers who attempt to organize and have been cited by the Labor Department for labor law violations. It would seem even working for a sleazy company like WalMart one should be able to afford the products they sell- like food, without government assistance. Yet that is clearly not the case. In all fairness the problems aren't limited to KFC and WalMart. We shouldn't ignore that company that provides us with McNuggets and the McRib sandwich. They both claim to contain meat from some sort of animal. How much can it cost to provide the public with sawdust and slaughter house floor scrapings?

CEO pay does raise an interesting issue. Why are they paid so much? Are they truly that talented?

Is a CEO in the United States worth 475 times the pay of one of his average workers? Does that seem to be a bit out of balance? Probably no more than this.

The current fiscal year defense spending will consume 57% of the discretionary spending by the United States government. We spend as much on defense as almost the rest of the world combined. Why? Would some of that money be better spent elsewhere? I don't mean in another country, I mean here.

When you first look at this it is difficult to comprehend the numbers. Almost 700 billion dollars spent in Afghanistan and over 800 billion spent in Iraq. Almost 1.5 TRILLION dollars total and we are not done counting the cost in either place yet. It will go on for decades. Benefits paid to the wounded and survivors of the deceased. Money that can and should be spent in recognition of their sacrifice. What could we have done with that money here. Improved interstate highways, high speed rail, affordable college education, job training, and hundreds of other improvements that are needed here.

The solution is in looking at the facts. Avoiding talking points and partisan politics. Communication. Where do we go from here? Henry Ford paid his workers more than workers made at other car companies. Did he do so because he was a nice guy? No, he did it because it would enable them to buy the cars they made. It would create increased demand for his product. WalMart, KFC, McDonalds and a host of other companies could learn from this. Pay a living wage. Someone who makes $10,000,000 a year does not provide the ecomony with the stimulus that 1,000 people making 10,000 dollars a year provides. Economics does not work as trickle down. The economy works when the masses of the country have money to spend. When they are paid a subsistence wage there is no money for new cars, furniture, clothes, and other items they would purchase if they could and make the economy grow. So the minimum wage should go up at least enough for a worker to live out of poverty.