Wednesday, October 22, 2014

MINIMUM WAGE NOT A DOOR OPENING ENTRY WAGE ... IT'S AN ANCHOR WAGE FOR THE WORKING POOR


Fortune's Rick Ungar has an interesting article on Chris Christie's collapsing (collapsed?) presidential hopes. The interesting point of the article is what Ungar has to say about minimum wage. In a few words he makes it clear that at least 2/3 of our nation's more than 3.5 million minimum wage earners are young women.




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What's interesting here is how our minimum wage demographics has changed.

FiveThirtyEight's Ben Casselman writes that in 1990 nearly 25 percent of minimum wage earners were teenagers, or people trying to supplement their income. Today, just 13 percent of our nation's minimum wage earners fit this category. Taking this to another level, census data shows that more than half of all workers who earn below President Obama's proposed $10.10 minimum wage are trying to support themselves.

In spite of what pundits and conservative politicians are saying, minimum wage is not an opening door entry wage for America's youth. It's a way of life anchor that's weighing down America's working poor.



So, once again, a rising tide does not lift all boats. With record corporate earnings and profits - especially in the financial sector - it's clear that tax cuts for the rich (a.k.a. "trickle down" economics) is a farce. It always has been.

- Mark 

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