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| Rob's Soapbox | ||
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Congratulations!
You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something... |
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Monday, July 28th, 2008 MINIMUM WAGE FOR MAXIMUM STUPIDITY I don’t know one single person who didn’t work for minimum wage at some point in their life. Most of you know how awful it feels to work your ass of for seemingly “no” money. Those of us who succeed in life, however, take that humiliating pain and turn it into motivation. The motivation to work harder, accumulate greater skills and make better choices. Those who choose not to make such changes are destined to always be at the bottom of the food chain and deserve what their laziness and ignorance gets them. Check out this line from a recent Associated Press story about a raise in the minimum wage: Workers like Walter Jasper, who earns minimum wage at a car wash in Nashville, Tenn., are happy to take the raise, but will still struggle with the higher gas and food prices hammering Americans. It will help out a little," said Jasper, who with his fiancee support a family of seven, and who earns the minimum plus commissions when customers order premium car-wash services. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25822136) Pardon me? A family of SEVEN? And a FIANCEE? Must I waste this space and your time listing the myriad of absurd choices this man has made in his life until now? Choices, I remind you that clearly lend details as to why he is washing cars for minimum wage. Perhaps more galling is not how he got himself into this desperately pathetic situation, but rather how he expects to get out of it; not by getting ahead himself, but by turning to society to insist on ways to help him with his pending wedding and gaggle of children. If only the stupidity and laziness stopped there. Later in the same story, we’re treated to this gem: "You get desperate, because you can't really pay for everything," said Gladys Lopez, 51, a garment worker from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, who makes military uniforms and has earned the federal minimum for 18 years. This is the portion of the story that I call “pre-emptive justification.” Since poor Miss Lopez, who has earned minimum wage for 18 years without ever taking her craft and skills and using them to advance within her industry, is “getting desperate,” none of us should blame her when she robs a liquor store. It’s our fault, anyways, because we, as corrupt, greedy Americans, have the audacity to demand that she work harder and find a way to get ahead on her own. Despite the fact that we could go find thousands of “garment workers” in this country who have gone on to become everything from fashion designers to owners of dry cleaner shops, we are told that it is unreasonable to ask such hard work, dedication and initiative from poor Miss Lopez. Thus, when she steals your fetus from your stomach and sells it on the black market, make sure you don’t blame her, since she is simply “desperate.” Most infuriating about this story and its’ presentation is the fact that at the very end of the entire piece, the story acknowledges what we all already know to be true; the market works and the market sets wages! Most businesses, even restaurants and other service sector companies, already pay above the minimum wage anyway. Dan Whitaker, general manager at Anis Bistro in Atlanta, a casual French restaurant, said employees earn at least $8 an hour. "You can't get a dishwasher for minimum wage," he said. Exactly! Find a thriving industry, become a skilled worker whose talent is in demand and then ask for a wage consistent with what the industry is being forced to pay for such talent! That’s how the market determines what a “minimum wage” should be and clearly demonstrates that government has no place in such policies. About 2 million Americans got a raise last Thursday when the federal minimum wage rose by 70 cents to $6.55 per hour. Next year, the federal minimum wage will bump up to $7.25, still leaving it 75 cents per hour less than California. There are few policies in America’s bureaucracy as stupid and ineffective and the ongoing attempt to legislate wages via a minimum wage. The emotions behind the subject, ranging from guilt to class warfare, often help lend just enough support to allow such silly increases to pass. I remember railing against the minimum wage increase of 1997, when it was federally raised to $5.15 per hour. During our on-air discussion an angry, bitter man called in to the show and said “I’ll never listen to you again Rob, because you don’t support the working man.” Class warfare combined with ignorance makes a nasty cocktail. Those of us who were once struggling to make ends meet and who have found a way to rise up through America’s ranks and reach the level of being small business owners know that the single greatest detriment to the “working man” is the government imposed minimum wage. Any time a new cost is forced upon a small business owner, he or she is then forced to pass such increases on. This is done by other charging more for the product or service he is offering (thus hurting consumers, most of whom are “working folk”) or by lowering his costs of operation, usually in the form of terminating an employee. So while workers Joe, Jill and Jack all receive raises of a quarter per hour, the fourth worker, Myrna, loses her job completely. There is simply no logic at all in the argument that being forced to slightly increase the wages of 75% of your staff while terminating 25% of it in any way helps the American economy as a whole. Beyond such real-life anecdotal reasons to oppose minimum wage(s) and hikes are the principles of the matter; in America’s capitalist system, the market sets the prices. This rule is true for both consumers and workers. When Plasma televisions first flooded the market, they were rare and expensive, usually costing upwards of $5,000 depending on the size and brand. Along with being rare and expensive, they were also not coveted. Americans were not thirsting to be the guinea pigs of a whole new electronic medium at $5,000 a crack. Eventually, word began to spread that Plasma TV’s were the beginning of the wave of the future which would include LCD and DLP technology. As word spread, so did production and soon stores were flooded with large supplies of new age TV’s, culminating with society’s thirst for them. Televisions began to get purchased, production began to increase and prices plummeted. A 42 inch HDTV can be found right now at your local electronics store for less than $1500. That is how the market determines prices. Conversely, if a business owner has one position available and two qualified applicants for the job, the market also decides (or should) who gets hired. The business owner will look at personality traits, work ethic and the like, but he or she should also have the opportunity to negotiate the worker’s wage as well. Such conversations often lend insight into the perspective employee’s skill set as well. For example, if two identically qualified window washing candidates announce that they will accept $11 and $10 per hour respectively, it is most likely that the $10 per hour applicant will get the job. However, if two salespeople are vying for a job, their ability to stand up to the boss and negotiate their own rate will also lend insight into their abilities as sales people. If you can’t sell yourself, how will you sell my product? In many cases, the applicant who asks for more money gets such jobs. The arguments on behalf of the minimum wage and hikes such as last week’s are vacuous, flimsy and purely based on irrational emotion. Throughout time, we have never seen anything close to any sort of evidence to refute the fact that minimum wage increases contribute to economic slow downs. Those who understand economics know that any massively imposed new policy, whether it be a tax cut, a tax increase, a minimum wage increase or the like, takes one to two years to fully be absorbed into the nation’s economy and show its’ effects. In 1981, Ronald Reagan implemented the largest tax cut in our nation’s history and in 1983, the economic recovery was in full swing. In 1990, George H.W. Bush broke his “no new taxes” pledge and allowed massive tax increases that led to the economic downturn of late 1991 that cost him re-election. In 1993, Bill Clinton massively raised taxes, slowing the economy again and costing him the congress 18 months later. While the remainder of the decade was an economic boom, a minimum wage increase was mandated in 1997, and two years later our economy was bordering on recession. In the Summer of 2007 a similar increase in minimum wage was forced upon American business owners and just over one year later we are seeing higher employment and countless surveys from business owners stating that new hiring will be frozen for the foreseeable future. While no one can claim a direct singular correlation to the specific events I cited above, it is also true that no intellectually honest person can claim they are all coincidences either. Whether you argue principal or result, the undeniable truth is that minimum wage laws and increases hurt poor and middle class families and the economy as a whole. More importantly, they violate our nation’s fundamental premise for existing as a capitalist nation and once again allow an allegedly “well intentioned” government to force the risk takers and cart pullers amongst our society to make poor, unnecessary choices. Speaking of choices, perhaps that “hard working” fiancée of the mother of his seven rat kids could choose to get a second job, rather than depending his first pay him more for his clearly unimpressive skill level at washing cars. Choices come with consequences, and as long as we allow people to make stupid choices as individuals, then we must demand that they reap the benefits and consequences of those choices on their own. -----
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