A significant minimum wage is essential to improving the lives of all Americans. Working Americans cannot move ahead and improve their lives without being able to work a reasonable number of hours and get ahead economically. The higher the minimum wage, the more money the least well off among us have, allowing them to spend more, acquire more goods, and improve the quality of life for their families.
The minimum wage has not increased since 1997, unless the Democrats pass a wage hike this year. Inflation, however, never sleeps. So Americans are falling further and further behind. The minimum wage is at its lowest level in purchasing power in decades. This is no way to move America forward.
Increasing wages for the working poor is the counter to conservative’s failed trickle down economic theory. They like to give tax cuts to the top 2% and subsidies to multi-billion dollar corporations, thinking that the wealthy will spend that money and create jobs. The problem is that wealthy people may buy a Mercedes with their tax give away, but that does not create nearly as many jobs as spreading that money to thousands of the working poor, who will all buy many more goods, since the goods they buy will be cheaper. More goods sold means more jobs created, and it spreads wealth to many more businesses rather than one car dealership.
The transfer of money creates wealth. The faster the money moves, the more wealth is created. Putting a lot of money into the hands of a few wealthy people does not transfer money as quickly as putting that money into the hands of many less well off people. Either way the rich and the corporations benefit since they either get tax subsidies or reap the rewards of the poor and middle class spending more money. So why not pursue the economic policy that raise everyone up, rather than those already at the top?
Policy
!) Increase the minimum wage to something livable.
2) Tie future minimum wage increases to inflation, increasing it at two or three year intervals.
Messaging
A slam dunk issue for the Democrats, some polls show 86% of the public supporting increases in the minimum wage. Several states have increased their minimum wage higher than the federal level, showing that the public sees the moral need to have a living wage.
While there may be several talking points, they all revolve around the same theme.
People are working hard and become poorer year by year. That is immoral and un-American.
1) The working poor are falling further behind; Republicans want them to keep falling.
2) Helping the working poor help themselves is our moral duty.
3) The minimum wage buys less and less. We should be moving forward, not backward.
4) Higher wages create jobs and increase profits.
5) We cannot reward hard work do that at $5.15/hr.
Links:
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/kfiles/b1453117.html
This is a Dave Chapelle clip, and while he is focusing on race, pay attention to the bit from about 1:28 into the clip to about 2:30. This actually speaks directly to the point I make about poor people spending money as soon as they get it, helping everyone else economically. Sure its comedy, but sometimes comedy is the best messenger.