No wagering allowed
Here we go again. Another congressional battle over the minimum wage. According to an extremely liberal senator from Massachusetts, "...anyone who works 40 hours per week, 52 weeks a year, should not live in poverty in the richest country in the world." Tugs at the heartstrings, doesn't it? Not so fast, my friends.
Let's get something straight from the get-go: The myth of minimum wage legislation being an anti-poverty tool that has been perpetuated by the usual suspects is utter nonsense. If it was true, the 19 minimum wage hikes approved since the inception of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 should have lifted all minimum wage earners kicking and screaming above the poverty level.
Not So Fast #1: According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 2.2 percent of America's working adults earn a minimum wage - all the rest earn more. Now I ask you (having been a single, money-crazed teen that wallowed along with more than one minimum wage job in my life), of that 2.2 percent, what percentage do you think are single teen workers, what percentage are married workers, and what percentage are single/married with dependents, hmm?
Here's reality for you, right from the mouth of Boy President Clinton's own Secretary of Labor: Out of that pesky 2.2 percent noted above, only 2.8 percent of workers earning $5.15 were single parents, 1.2 percent of all minimum wage workers were adult heads of households with incomes less than $10,000, and 57 percent of minimum wage workers were single individuals. (I used Clinton administration figures so that the radical lefties can't whine). Golly gee whiz, Wally, I didn't think about it like that because the senator made me feel so guilty, selfish, and evil I wanted to kill myself.
Not So Fast #2: The fact is, minimum wage jobs are predominantly filled by teens just like moi, who began working for a minimum wage of $1.25. We needed cigarette money, chick money, gas money, and just plain old pocket jingle. Such jobs are not permanent by any means; they are entry level, usually menial, and provide a training ground for youngsters to learn responsibility and basic job skills. Let's face it, minimum wage employment should be considered as a great learning opportunity for young people, much like basic training is for no-nothing military recruits. But no, we can't do that. We have to listen to disingenuous politicians inflate reality (code word: lie) and use the minimum wage as ammunition in their never-ending culture wars.
Not So Fast #3: You might consider increases in the minimum wage as discriminatory. How, you ask? Two ways. If you increase the minimum wage enough, minimally-motivated adults will work more of the minimum wage jobs, thereby depriving teens of work opportunities (common sense tells you that if an employer can hire an adult with a work history or alleged responsibility over a teen with no job experience, he or she will do so). I know this happens because some weasel did it to me in 1967. Additionally, increases in minimum wages do not adversely affect big corporations like K-Mart or Target nearly as much as they do the local butcher, hardware merchant, or landscaper. Think about it...it'll come to you.
Not So Fast #4: The Fair Labor Standards Act was initially designed to provide for minimum standards for both wages and overtime entitlement, as well as administrative procedures by which covered work time must be compensated. Included in the Act were provisions related to child labor, equal pay, and portal-to-portal activities. When you read through its many pages, you will find nothing that says an unskilled or first-time worker is entitled to wages equal to those of semi-skilled workers or wages earned through merit. Note to the scheming lefties out there: it's E-n-t-r-y L-e-v-e-l, stupid...look it up.
So let's cut the crap, shall we Teddy? Sure, you'll always find some feel-good bleeders, suckers, and sexagenarian hippies to wring their sweaty hands and sing Kum-Bay-Ya over the plight of minimum wage earners, but that's because they always feel and never think. There is no plight. Minimum wage is exactly what it says - entry level pay for entry level jobs. So dry your eyes, get a haircut, and get busy saving a cavern blind worm or something.