Right now, [Jamie] Clark’s boss has to make sure that, including tips, she goes home with at least $6.55 an hour. With tomorrow’s raise, Clark knows she’ll be coming home to her son with at least $7.25 for each hour of effort.
It might not seem like much. But up until now, her son, Edward, has been getting his clothing and toys from neighbors once their kids are done with them.
“That’s what I’m thinking about in my head,” Clark says. “I’m like, $7.25? Now I can buy this. It’s just really embarrassing not to be able to provide those simple things.”
Maybe the extra money isn’t enough for new clothing for Edward. But Clark thinks she has a better chance of buying a few of his school supplies. And perhaps just one of those Transformer toys he’s been begging for.
Because we have fiat currency (Federal Reserve Notes) rather than hard currency, I am totally in favor of a minimum wage linked to the CPI. The deliberated policy of moderate inflation of the fiat currency is a hidden tax that disproportionately impacts the poorest of our society. It is a dishonest scale (Proverbs 11:1) that continuously errodes the purchasing power of everyone (except those that make the money from thin air). Inflation also causes pressure for higher interest rates, in order to compensate the lender for the loss of purchasing power of the currency repaid over time. Higher interest rates are an impediment to commerce and also disproportionately impact the poor.
The long delays between increases of the minimum wage and the partisan politics of the issue cause the increases that do occur to be inadequate in keeping up with the corrosive effects of inflation. It is time to take this issue out of the political arena by legislating a permanent and annually adjusted link between the CPI and the minimum wage, so long as fiat currency is issued. I see this as a justice issue in which the policy of deliberate moderate inflation is an oppression of the poor.
[I also see the continued deliberate wink-and-nod to illegal migrant workers depressing of wages as gross oppression of the poor in our nation.]
No matter how government price-fixes wages, the minimum one can earn will always be the same: $0/hr. The fact is that anyone not worth $7.25/hr will lose his/her job.
Of course, when you force employers to pay more, it will be good to the employees. At least, to the ones left. As I saw from experience, when the minimum wage is raised, that leaves employers with the same amount of money in the pot. They either have to earn more to continue the same number of employees, or trim the number of employees to balance the books. In the case of one University at which I worked, we did not get an increase in budget to cover the increase in min. wage, so we had to let 1/3 of the student employees go, or not re-hire them for the next semester.