The notion that time heals all wounds is never so operative as it is in politics. The short attention span of the American populace — a handicap seemingly brought about by politically intelligent design — robs us of important reference points in times of real decision making. Votes spin off of the superficial and incendiary topics shoved down our throat in the weeks before the polls open — pivoting predictably on God, gays and guns — and the history of abuses is washed clean for another two to four years, and beyond.
So if there’s any service for a touchstone as the months and years progress, we offer this recent case: Minimum wage and the political games that abandoned millions of Americans in economic and social servitude. It is one of the most transparent cases in recent weeks of how our government representatives couldn’t care less about the working poor.
Minimum wage has languished at $5.15 an hour for nine years, falling behind in value as inflation pushed forward. In that time period, Congress has awarded itself pay raises in excess of $30,000. Productivity and corporate earnings increased, but the poor got poorer. But bumping up the minimum wage to just $7.25 an hour by 2009 was still too much of a concession.
Minimum wage is not just for teenagers trying to earn money during the summer for a new bike. These jobs are becoming a last resort for people pushed out of more lucrative fields into the service sector: Government figures show that more than 3 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000, and 5 million more people are living in poverty than just six years ago.
When such a clear and dignified option came before the Senate, the decision was sabotaged by political one-upmanship that tied the wage increase to more tax relief for multimilliondollar estates. It was defeated with a poison pill that only the poor would have to swallow.
The root cause is again the obvious. Money guides policy, and while companies can casually grant multimillion dollar bonuses to executives for keeping costs low, they bellow against the burden of sending that same money into the hands of people laboring for them. CEOs don’t lose their jobs because the firm can’t maintain their pay schedule. Quite the contrary, corporations would argue that they can’t keep good help in the higher offices unless their pay is competitive with the marketplace. And they control the marketplace. At the ground level, the costs are kept as low as possible, and the working men and women at the bottom rung are best left there for as long as possible, for the good of Wall Street and perceived productivity.
It’s not good for the economy for its workers to be priced out of participation, unless, of course, you’re Wal-Mart. It’s not good for the vision of Portland in which culture and enlightenment prospers, just not for the people behind the counter selling you its products.
With minimum wage, the Senate again pulled off the perfect political setup, with each side pointing fingers at a scapegoat. And again, its actions were not only economically devastating, but insulting to the workers of America. That’s a grudge worth holding on to.