Real Wages

Mark Thoma generates a good rundown of the general state of Social Welfare, both Worldwide and national. Mica Panic asserts the U.S. and Britain fall short of the other industrialized nations, something on which almost All can agree. Mark himself utilizes the argument that Protest against the expansion of Health Care to Children relies on an artificial Income assessment made by Government bureaucrats, demanding an allocation of Income to Child Health Care which Parents cannot economically endure when confronted by many other exorbitant Living Costs. Readers at this point should consider Dean Baker’s comment on the Health Care industry.

Eduardo Porter, link to be found in Mark Thoma’s Post, states all developed nations, both Social Democratic and Darwinist, face trouble in putting people back to work; the major issue being the insufficiency of Wage, though Porter does not say this is the prime element. No Worker will reenter the Labor Force at Wages incapable of paying minimum Living Standards. Jared Bernstein comments that Circuit City simply decided to fire 3400 Employees, in order to rehire Scabs who would work for less than the $11 per hours the laid-off Employees made. Anyone trying to raise a family will tell the Reader that two adults both working full-time for $11/hour can barely support a family of Four, and assuredly not finance Private Health insurance at the same time. Potential Risks get shoved aside by the Necessities of Mortgage or Rent, Utilities, Food, and Clothing in that order. The current Administration and Republicans think such Households should finance Private Retirement Accounts as well.

Manco Dollars in the Comment section of the Thoma Post states that Companies will simply layoff more Minimum Wage Workers if the Minimum Wage is raised to $7.25 per hour. This is first of all not established, and has not been established through all the Minimum Wage raises since the 1950s; Business needs cheap labor to get productive effort achieved, and the type of labor of which We speak is not the type where mechanization or higher-Salaried labor will do it with greater efficiency. Second, effectively large labor pools will not exist until and unless a viable Wage is paid; Employers will be offering cheap-Wage Jobs without Takers as they are now. The need is for greater Labor Force Participation–not enhanced Business Profits. lgl