Republicans have refused to allow legislation to raise the minimum wage to come up for a vote, even though the American public supports the increase. Corporate profits have gone through the roof, while the wages of millions of struggling Americans stays the same. And the burden on taxpayers for these workers that cannot live on the amount their extremely profitable employers pay them continues to grow. Congress is very quick to de-fund the social programs that help the working poor to survive, but will not act to guarantee that they are paid enough to lift them from poverty.
Opponents of raising the minimum wage say that minimum wage workers are young and inexperienced, but statistics show that the average age for fast food/retail workers is actually in their 30s and they have families to support just like the rest of us.
And then they say it will hurt the economy — but leading economists agree by nearly a 4 to 1 margin that the benefits of raising the minimum wage outweighs the cost. As a matter of fact, the cities and states that have raised their local minimum wages have some of the healthiest economies in the country. And if employers would begin to share the cost of wage increases from their profits and their huge salaries, rather than passing it on to the American consumers, there would be an even better outcome.
I never understood why athletes deserved obscene salaries until someone told me that they weren’t being paid that much because they are exceptional ball players but because they are making their team owners boatloads of money. And they have strong agents and unions that make sure the profits are split with them.
So, when faced with those opponents who say that people that flip hamburgers or operate a cash register do not deserve to make more money, perhaps we can use the same logic they use in professional sports. Those minimum wage workers are not just performing a menial service, they actually are making their employers boatloads of money, which makes their work of great value. It is those same workers who have built an empire that allows McDonald’s CEO to make over $7 million yearly and for the company’s profits to have increased 135 percent between 2007 and 2011. And it is those same workers that have made the Walmart heirs the richest family in America.
So, who are the real “takers” in this picture?