Home Contact Us Sitemap Tell a Friend Search:   Blog Sign In to Vote Volunteer   Home >  Blog >  Blog Details Visits: 50775      Back to Blog  Minimum Wage = Racial Discrimination? Who's Right? The Minimum Wage issue is a classic example of the adage, "Both God and the devil are in the details." Conservative political talk show pundits are decrying a proposal (defeated yesterday) to raise the Federal Minimum wage by $2.10 i.e. from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour. These radio pundits claim that this increase will impact entry-level workers (the young and uneducated); that most of that category are black teenagers (thanks to years of racial discrimination and a poor national education policy); and that employers will simply not be able to afford to hire them. Hence, this proposed raise would really penalize the people it is most intended to help. While they raise an interesting point, not all minimum wage earners are teenagers. What about the adult population that works at minimum wage? Assuming even a 60-hour workweek with minimal deductions for FICA (Social Security & Medicare) deductions, could you support a family on less than $1,500 per month (and that's at the proposed $7.25)? How long could you work 12 hours a day to make that 60-hour week? Who can send their child to a parochial school or to college? Predictably, the Conservative's answer is to provide tax relief to small businesses. While I'm all for reducing taxes, in this instance perhaps a better tack would be for small businesses to become more competitive -- to produce better products and services and to get creative in how they market and sell them. Isn't that the essence of capitalism and free enterprise vs. expecting yet another handout from government i.e., you and me? This one calls for some good minds (outside the vaunted Washington, DC Beltway) to pitch in with some suggestions. Tell me what you think we should do. Posted by ..:: GregO ::.. at    01/25/2007   20:02:43 1 Comments  Tell a Friend |  Comment   About Me GregO's Blog Location: New Canaan, CT USA View my complete profile Links Google News Yahoo News CNN News Archives November 2006 October 2006 December 2006 January 2007 Prev Month's Posts Killing Al-Qaeda and Other Fantasies Stand up, Speak out, or its gonna get a lot worse!   RSS Feeds     Instructions     ©2006-07 DayLight Forum. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions Home  |  DayLight HeatMap  |  XHTML  |  CSS