The Right, is almost 100% opposed to higher minimum wage. How can this be? Most of them are not rich. Many of them , like the rest of us, are in need of a job or certainly a higher paying job, so why are they opposed to exactly the thing that they need?
This writer believes it’s that way because they have been misled by their party as to how wage increases will help both them and the economy. They’ve been told it will cause employers to lay off workers and, yes, because there is plenty of greedy management in our corporate structure, that may happen in the short run, but in the long term the additional wages would increase the workers ability to spend which is the key to a rising economy.
Research shows that low-wage workers spend all their money just paying for the necessities of life. They don’t save because savings come from excess money that they don’t have. This spending drives demand and when you increase demand you create more jobs, because someone has to make the product necessary to satisfy the demand. The jobs created to meet the demand would normally be at the higher minimum wage, allowing these lower-wage workers to buy more of what they need, thereby increasing demand and pushing the economy upward.
The billionaires promote the con that if you cut corporate taxes and give tax breaks to millionaires, the extra money that they get will be used to create small businesses and thereby create jobs. It used to be called “trickle down economics,” it’s now called “leaking brain matter.” It was wrong when it was invented and it’s even more wrong now. Rich people don’t invest in small businesses. It’s risky and they can do much better in the market.
There are well over one trillion bucks, currently being held out of business investment by major corporations and just plain rich folk. A couple of years back, before Obama righted the mess left behind by Bush/Cheney, the excuse was that any kind of manufacturing investment was too risky. There was no market for anything. Now, with employment gaining and the market sky high, there is no excuse for not investing that money, but there is still no investment, simply because it’s safer to put your money in the market – as long as the market doesn’t crash.
Saving money for the rich so they will invest it in projects that create jobs for the unemployed is the biggest corporate con of all time. The only way to create jobs on corporate or wealthy people’s money is to tax the hell out of them and have the government use the money to create desperately needed infrastructure, research and education. It’s what we did after WWII and it worked.
This is not a new idea. We have been talking about this since Reagan. Obama only had the power across the board to get it done in his first two years. He chose to use that leverage to pass a desperately needed healthcare bill. Despite the fact that almost every country except us, in the civilized world has universal healthcare, the Right just didn’t see the need. They still don’t. So what do you do with people that are that stupid? You vote them out.
That is what must happen in 2016 if the American people are going to get a fair shot at full employment at fair wages. The GOP is going to do everything they can to stop that from happening because they are being paid big bucks by corporate lobbyists to keep corporate taxes low and corporate tax breaks high. So just voting for Hillary or Bernie isn’t going to be enough, because whoever wins will be faced with the same obstructive congress that Obama had to deal with his last six years. It has to be a clean sweep. All the Republicans have to be kicked out of office.
Let’s face it; the Republicans are sore losers. When Bill Clinton was elected they spent every working moment attacking him and Hillary instead of banding together behind him for the benefit of the country, When Barak Obama was elected the same thing happened only worse. If Hillary or Bernie gets elected, the GOP will do the same or worse and the people of this country will be the losers. If a Republican is elected it will be even worse because there is no plan by the GOP to raise wages, fix immigration, or education, or to help the poor and middle class in any way, shape or form.
It’s your choice. You just have to be smart enough to want to help yourselves.