{"id":6306,"date":"2014-01-08T11:34:17","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T16:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allandouglas.com\/blog\/?p=6306"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:40","slug":"income-inequality-indeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/income-inequality-indeed\/","title":{"rendered":"Income Inequality Indeed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"income<\/a>These are my thoughts on the income inequality issue.\u00a0 As a long-time business manager and owner I can tell you that while the thought of improving income to the lowest paid among us seems like a generous thing to do, and is probably a good campaign tactic for Democrats, it will backfire.\u00a0 What always happens when the minimum wage is raised is that ALL employees expect a commensurate raise in order to \u201cmaintain scale\u201d.\u00a0 American workers demand income inequity.\u00a0 This is how they measure their success.<\/p>\n

Small adjustments don\u2019t have a devastating effect, but an increase from $7.25 to $10.10[3]<\/sup>\u00a0 will mean either everyone gets a $3.00 an hour raise or entry level employees will be making as much as those who have been working hard for several years.<\/p>\n

This across the board raise in salaries will be a major hit to the labor cost of every company in America.\u00a0 Some companies will respond with lay-offs of the least essential personnel.\u00a0 Most will respond by increasing the price of everything they make or do, thus pushing the burden of this wage increase back on the people it was supposed to help.\u00a0 The end result is that no one benefits, everything simply gets more expensive\u2026 again.<\/p>\n

As I see it, there are only two ways to achieve the leveling effect the liberals seek:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The government must mandate an increase of minimum wage AND mandate that no one else gets a raise.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see how popular that will make them.<\/li>\n
  2. Cut to the ultimate goal and just pass a law mandating that the standard wage of every American worker will be\u2026say\u2026$35.00 an hour.\u00a0 Then a burger flipper at McDonalds gets $35.00 an hour and the CEO of Microsoft gets $35.00 an hour.\u00a0 The electrical engineer at your power company gets $35.00 an hour and the receptionist at the front desk gets $35.00 an hour.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The biggest problem I see in any of this is that attempting to level the playing field of pay scales removes any and all incentive to work hard.\u00a0 Perhaps one day mankind will develop to a state where personal satisfaction is derived from doing their best in all things; but today, by and large, people are greedy.\u00a0 They want as much as they can get for as little effort as they can invest.<\/p>\n

    The welfare rolls are exploding with people who have discovered that they can earn a living by sitting at home doing nothing.\u00a0 There are 39 US states where welfare will pay more than an $8.00 an hour job.[1]<\/sup> \u00a0To be fair, some do so because they have no choice.\u00a0 Some are really-truly handicapped.\u00a0 Some have been laid off and can\u2019t find another job.<\/p>\n

    But too many claim to be handicapped and are not, they just had a good disability lawyer.\u00a0 Employers are reporting a sharp rise in applicants who want part time work so they don\u2019t lose their government disability payments.\u00a0 They want to work, but don\u2019t want to lose the payment they get because they claim they can\u2019t work.[6] [7] <\/sup><\/p>\n

    Too many are unemployed because they can\u2019t find a job as good as the one they left, so they prefer to draw unemployment and SNAP rather than take a job that is beneath them but pays a wage.<\/p>\n

    When I lived in Wisconsin I worked with the state department of welfare: I\u2019ve seen it first hand and can tell you stories of system abuse that would curl your hair.<\/p>\n

    According to the US Department of Commerce, 65,100,000\u00a0 Americans were drawing some form of welfare as of Jan. 1, 2014.[1]<\/sup>\u00a0 According to the US Census Bureau, the current population of America (as of this writing) is 317,335,769.\u00a0 If you do the math that means 20.5% of all Americans \u2013 one fifth of our citizens \u2013 are suckling at the government teat.\u00a0 Again; some<\/i> cannot do elsewise, but far too many can but choose not to.<\/p>\n

    And that does not count non-citizens, even illegal immigrants. \u00a0Census Bureau data reveals that most\u00a0U.S.\u00a0families headed by illegal immigrants use taxpayer-funded welfare programs on behalf of their American-born anchor babies.[5]<\/sup><\/p>\n

    There are far too many stories of people like Richie Parker for anyone to tell me that there are 65 million Americans who are so bad off that they can\u2019t find something productive to do with their lives.<\/p>\n