House votes to raise minimum wage, uniting Dems after months-long struggle

I was listening to NPR while on my way to dropping my pooch off for a bath this morning and they were discussing gentrification, and how there's a lawsuit in New York City about the affordable housing efforts the city is making because it is creating a situation in which neighborhoods are becoming more segregated. Somewhat fixing one problem but causing another.

It occurred to me that rather than trying to artificially drop affordable housing in places against market forces, or subsidize families who can't afford increasing rents, why don't we just raise the minimum wage? The cost of living is increasing, our economy is (supposedly) booming, and yet far too many struggle to make ends meet, or are one bad medical diagnosis or car accident or job loss from bankruptcy. When the middle class is healthy and growing, it benefits the economy in boosted cash spending. The tax bill that was passed last year was sold on the premise that companies getting tax breaks would increase wages and hire more people, and has that happened?

This made me happy to see, although I know it'll never get past the Grim Reaper in the Senate.

House votes to raise minimum wage, uniting Dems after months-long struggle
By SARAH FERRIS 07/18/2019

The House on Thursday passed legislation to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, following through on a key Democratic campaign promise and ending a six-month struggle within the caucus.

The vote — which passed largely along party lines — marked a crucial test for Democratic leaders who worked hard to win over centrists without losing progressives as lawmakers battled behind the scenes to shape the proposal.

ramage wrote: "It occurred to me that rather than trying to artificially drop affordable housing in places against market forces..."

Please realize that forcing employers to raise wages artificially rather than respond to the market is opposite of your statement above. Minimum level wage jobs are entry level jobs, not life time careers. Teenagers learn the work ethic in their first job experiences. A wage increase to $15 ( an arbitrarily chosen number) will lead to a rapidly automated system replacing humans with robotics. (see Olive Garden).

Automation is already going to be a problem for our work force whether we raise the minimum wage or not. It's nothing new that businesses find a way to pay as little as possible in operating expenses, whether through lower wages/benefits, outsourcing, or automation.

I think we can either have our taxes go through the government and into affordable housing projects and increased welfare when the poor can't afford food or utilities, or we can make the businesses for whom we just passed major tax savings to actually pay the extra money they are making to their employees rather than hoarding it, paying out big bonuses, boosting their stocks through buy-backs, and enriching themselves. Income disparity is at an all-time high and this is not sustainable for our economy. Businesses haven't chosen on their own to fix it, so our government is going to have to force it.

The cost of living has gone up and wages haven't matched inflation. This isn't to encourage people to stay in entry-level jobs, but not everyone is cut out for college either and going on to more specialized, higher-paying jobs. Shouldn't they be able to cover their expenses if they stay gainfully employed and not have to work 3 or more jobs just to stay afloat?

Measuring the success of the economy on the stock market is short-sighted because it's an incomplete measure of how every citizen in this country is doing.

Income Inequality in America
By Kimberly Amadeo, Updated June 25, 2019

One-quarter of American workers make less than $10 per hour. That creates an income below the federal poverty level.

The rich got richer through the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. In 2012, the top 10 percent of earners took home 50 percent of all income. That's the highest percentage in the last 100 years. The top 1 percent took home 20 percent of the income, according to a study by economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty.

By 2015, America’s top 10 percent already averaged more than nine times as much income as the bottom 90 percent. And Americans in the top 1 percent averaged over 40 times more income than the bottom 90 percent. The chart below shows a breakdown of average household incomes ranging from the bottom 90 percent to the top .1 percent.

While the average family income grew 25.7 percent from 1993 to 2015, 52 percent of that total growth was accrued by the top 1 percent of the population.

From 2000 through 2006, the number of Americans living in poverty increased 15 percent.

During this same period, average wages remained flat. That’s despite an increase of worker productivity of 15 percent. Corporate profits increased 13 percent per year, according to "The Big Squeeze" by Steven Greenhouse.

Please tell me how this system is fair, or convince me that at some point those working their asses off and getting nowhere will not rise up against a system that is rigged against them? Because history has taught us otherwise.

We can either fix the system, or we can wait for the public to revolt. Me, I prefer the peaceful, less messy solution.