America
Deserves a Raise
This Labor Day, President Obama has
the opportunity to defend the economic rights of millions of Americans by
supporting a substantial increase in the minimum
wage.
Presently $7.25 per hour, the
federal minimum wage is inadequate. The purchasing power of a worker earning
minimum wage in 1968 is equal to $10-11 today. That means, at $7.25 an hour,
workers today have less wage power than workers in 1968.
Consider that an individual working
full-time and taking no vacation or sick time will earn only $1,160 per month.
Housing costs alone in a neighborhood in my hometown of Cleveland can easily
approach most of the income of a full-time employee earning minimum wage. What
about food? What about transportation? What about health care? What about
providing for children?
The minimum wage is not a living
wage. Taxpayers, through financing a range of social programs, end up
subsidizing corporations who do not pay a living wage. Every worker should be
paid enough to meet the essential needs of his or her family. Economically secure
families make stronger communities which in turn strengthens our nation. This
Labor Day let's show that our nation values families by increasing the minimum
wage to $10 an hour.
We know that some corporations
won't like it. If corporations don’t place value on the dignity, happiness or
well-being of the American workers, then government must step in to protect
workers' economic well-being. Workers are more than a line item in a corporate
budget. The United States of America must be more than a profit-seeking
machine. I am not suggesting a government handout, but a hand-up, enabling
workers to climb out of a fiscal ditch.
The wealth in this nation has been
accelerating upwards, leaving behind too many people who helped build America.
The wealth that is produced by working Americans must be accessible to working
Americans through an increase in the minimum wage. The Federal Reserve is
incapable of stirring the economy, which is another reason to act. With
unemployment at least 8.3%, an increase in the minimum wage will stimulate the
overall economy
Labor Day 2012. There can be no
better way to honor the American worker then to support an increase in the
minimum wage, to a living wage of at least $10 per hour. Workers deserve a
raise. America deserves a raise. The President can show his recognition of
workers by supporting H.R. 5901, Catching Up To 1968 Act of 2012, which would
increase the minimum wage to $10 per hour. That would be one Happy Labor Day.
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