Recent L.A. mayoral candidate (46%) Wendy Greuel pushed a $15/hr living wage for hotel workers. Washington D.C. just passed a $12.50/hr living wage for major retailers. Massachusetts freshman Senator Elizabeth Warren has suggested the federal minimum wage could be nearly $22/hr if it had kept up with productivity gains since LBJ’s $10.74/hr minimum in 1968.
Felix Salmon – author of Time Magazine listed #2 Finance Blog (after Krugman) – recently called a $15/hr minimum wage a “win-win-win-win-win-win.” Much to my surprise, listening to the Larry Kudlow show (I don’t usually, but a visiting relative does), his substitute anchor and, I take it, regular crew took exception to Wal-Mart’s stingy hold-out against D.C.’s new living wage -- one even pulling up the old "Ford paid his workers enough" saw. I’m not saying Larry concurs but these are usually the most unfettered market, cut taxes, etc., folks on earth.
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My minimum wage worksheet -- my easily-could-have-been minimum wage double-indexed for inflation and per capita income growth:
yr per capita real nominal dbl-index %-of
68 15,473 10.74 (1.60) 100%
69-70-71-72-73 [real, low point -- 8.41]
74 18,284 9.47 (2.00) 12.61
75 18,313 9.11 (2.10) 12.61
76 18,945 9.44 (2.30) 13.04 72%
77 [8.86]
78 20,422 9.49 (2.65) 14.11
79 20,696 9.33 (2.90) 14.32
80 20,236 8.78
(3.10) 14.00
81 20,112 8.61 (3.35) 13.89 62%
82-83-84-85-86-87-88-89 [6.31]
90 24,000 6.79 (3.80) 16.56
91 23,540 7.29 (4.25) 16.24 44%
92-93-94-95 [6.51]
96 25,887 7.07 (4.75) 17.85
97 26,884 7.49 (5.15) 19.02 39%
98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05-06 [5.97]
07 29,075 6.59 (5.85) 20.09
08 28,166 7.10 (6.55) 19.45
09 27,819 7.89 (7.25) 19.42 40%
10-11-12 [7.37]
81 20,112 8.61 (3.35) 13.89 62%
82-83-84-85-86-87-88-89 [6.31]
90 24,000 6.79 (3.80) 16.56
91 23,540 7.29 (4.25) 16.24 44%
92-93-94-95 [6.51]
96 25,887 7.07 (4.75) 17.85
97 26,884 7.49 (5.15) 19.02 39%
98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05-06 [5.97]
07 29,075 6.59 (5.85) 20.09
08 28,166 7.10 (6.55) 19.45
09 27,819 7.89 (7.25) 19.42 40%
10-11-12 [7.37]
13 29,209? 7.25
(7.25) 20.20? 36%?
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"35 years ago", what could the federal minimum wage have been Obama (and Hillary)? Try $14+/hr had LBJ’s minimum been double-indexed for both economic growth and inflation.
Hair cutters in Warsaw earn less than hair-cutters in Paris – not because they are less productive – but because Poland has much less to pay them with than France. That’s why double-indexing tells the truer tale.
I explained to my late (more articulate) brother John how gigantic a sinkhole the American labor market fell into beginning decades ago and he came back with: “Martin Luther King got his people on the up escalator just in time for it to start going down for everybody.” Our labor market – and our politics which can only reform if the market does – is overdue for a top to bottom rebalancing. Doubling the federal minimum wage in a big hurry would be the simplest, most plausible way to start that restoration rolling.
* * * * * *
"35 years ago", what could the federal minimum wage have been Obama (and Hillary)? Try $14+/hr had LBJ’s minimum been double-indexed for both economic growth and inflation.
Hair cutters in Warsaw earn less than hair-cutters in Paris – not because they are less productive – but because Poland has much less to pay them with than France. That’s why double-indexing tells the truer tale.
I explained to my late (more articulate) brother John how gigantic a sinkhole the American labor market fell into beginning decades ago and he came back with: “Martin Luther King got his people on the up escalator just in time for it to start going down for everybody.” Our labor market – and our politics which can only reform if the market does – is overdue for a top to bottom rebalancing. Doubling the federal minimum wage in a big hurry would be the simplest, most plausible way to start that restoration rolling.
