Columnist Jamala Rogers
“Minimum” and “mediocre” are words that seem to have a standing place in a society that is self-absorbed and consumption-drunk. There is a natural relationship between the two words. For example, our mediocre president has a minimum plan in Iraq.
The U.S. has the biggest economic divide between the classes in history. The vanishing middle class is fighting for its survival.
The upper class has even been eclipsed by the opulence and decadent spending habits of the super rich. They have been frozen out of spaces in the elite private schools, neighborhoods, business opportunities and the like. These super-sized capitalists have so much money at their disposal that they are literally buying out the privileged life once shared with other just-rich folks.
A nine-figured fortune is not enough to even get you top billing on the Forbes’ list. Last year, for the first time, everyone on the Forbes 400 had a net worth of at least $1 billion. Can you say b-b-b-billion?
Back down to earth, literally, is the rest of us who have to work for a living. So, when Missouri state legislators started talking about changing the minimum wage law that we poor, working and middle classes just
passed, we ought to be rising off the ground in righteous anger.
Like those in 10 other states, organizers of Missouri’s ballot initiative were forward-thinking enough to include price indexes in our new law. This allows for the minimum wage to be adjusted up annually, based on inflation. If this is not done, the increase will soon disappear and drop to a poverty wage.
The Economic Policy Institute has a family budget calculator on its website. I arbitrarily put in what minimum budget is needed for a family of one parent and two children. (I know a bunch of women who fit in this category).
The annual budget for such a family came to $37,700. This equates to about two and a half minimum wage jobs. A person who pays $5,000 for a shower curtain wouldn’t even begin to understand this level of economic struggle.
There are two issues here to examine. One is why any legislator would be thinking about such changes to a law that neither the federal or state legislature would touch but which was so essential to the average citizen.
Second is that we ought to be concerned about addressing the attending issues of poverty, which create far more dollars to address than giving people a decent wage for honest work.
This is more than we can say for the mediocre job of the 109th Congress. If they were paid based upon job performance, they might end up below the minimum wage.
In a land of billionaires, surely our society can support $6.50 jobs so that we can move on in the very near future to providing livable wages for all workers.
As we celebrate the upcoming birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., let’s remember his last act before he made his transition. It was fighting for decent wages for the sanitation workers in Memphis. Let’s hold those accountable who like to bask in his legacy one day a year for sabotaging The Dream.