December 2005 | Hightower Lowdown
Stiffed Again
by Jim Hightower
They’ve stiffed us. Again. For the second time this year, our congress critters have just said no to an increase in America’s minimum wage, leaving it—and millions of workers—stuck at the poverty level of $5.15 an hour. That’s $10,500 a year, gross (in both meanings of that term) for full-time work.
Yes, this is the same congress that gave itself a pay raise in July, making it seven years in a row that they’ve padded their own paychecks. Yes, this is the same congress that is determined to stuff another $70 billion worth of tax giveaways into the pockets of the richest Americans— 54 percent of this boondoggle will go to millionaires.
It’s not as though the proposed wage increase for America’s poorest workers was extravagant. It would only have raised the minimum to $6.25 an hour, which is still a poverty wage of under $13,000 a year for full-time work. It’s also not as though the proposal was out of step with public opinion. To the contrary, a whopping 86 percent of Americans favor raising the minimum wage! Yet the proposal fell nine votes short of the 60 the senate needed to pass it.
The Republican leadership killed the proposal, wailing that it would hurt business. Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming led the attack, declaring: “Mandated hikes in the minimum wage do not cure poverty, and they clearly do not create jobs.” Actually, you Gooberhead, they can cure poverty for those workers stuck in such low-wage work, and, since even a small boost in purchasing power means more spending on everything from meals to car repairs, they do create jobs.
The minimum wage is not merely about economics—it’s an ethical test, too. This is our nation’s wage floor, a declaration that there’s a moral level of pay below which we will not let our people fall. By shamefully refusing to raise the floor at least above the poverty level, senate leaders failed that test... and failed our country.
©2005 Jim Hightower and Associates. Jim Hightower is a columnist and author. Visit jimhightower.com.
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