{"id":1336,"date":"2014-08-31T12:31:25","date_gmt":"2014-08-31T16:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/?p=1336"},"modified":"2014-08-31T12:31:25","modified_gmt":"2014-08-31T16:31:25","slug":"labor-day-and-minimum-wage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/labor-day-and-minimum-wage\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Day and Minimum Wage"},"content":{"rendered":"

It should come as no surprise discussion about the minimum wage is heating up.\u00a0 Add in the fact an election is just around the corner and you find no shortage of politicians trying to talk out of both sides of their mouths to get your vote.<\/p>\n

There can be only one viewpoint when it comes to the massively widening gap between executive pay and the average employee.\u00a0 It’s an epidemic which dwarfs Ebola and most other disease based epidemics.\u00a0 According to the Economic Policy Institute<\/a> executive pay was an average of 24 times a worker’s wage back in 1965. I have seen other reports documenting an even lower multiple during the 1950s.\u00a0 Let’s be honest.\u00a0 While most of us weren’t around during the 1950s we have to look back and say things were pretty good (wage wise) for the majority of Americans.\u00a0 I mean there was even a television show called “Happy Days” about that era.\u00a0 It was the era which brought about the station wagon vacation.\u00a0 Nearly an entire generation of kids spent their early years facing the rear window of the wagon making faces at the people in the cars behind.<\/p>\n

I cannot tell you the number of ethic-less talking heads I’ve heard railing against an increase in the minimum wage claiming labor will be priced above what it is worth.\u00a0 As we have all seen with the convictions of companies who either (or both) forced workers to work off-clock or hired subcontractors knowing full well they were exploiting illegal immigrants, upper management will crush the spine of each and every employee to maximize their bonus and pay package.\u00a0 The Golden Rule has been melted down and sold at a pawn shop.<\/p>\n

Having been born a Republican, I wretch when I hear so called party elders talking about slashing food stamps and unemployment benefits while at the same time passing legislation reaping more financial benefits for their owners in the form of off-shoring core factory jobs.\u00a0 In a tech heavy world it is an absolutely ludicrous fact that you cannot assemble a desktop computer or cell phone where each and every piece of it was made in America.\u00a0 Yes, Lenovo has opened up factory space in America, but, from what I’ve read it is assembly space.\u00a0 They aren’t etching the boards and making all of the chips on-site or sourcing the components from American factories.<\/p>\n

This argument about having to move manufacturing off-shore to remain competitive doesn’t hold water either.\u00a0 All you have to do is look in any sizable parking lot during business hours to find more Toyota cars than most others.\u00a0 Toyota originally created assembly plants here to get around import laws.\u00a0 A funny thing happened though.\u00a0 Toyota became an American car company.\u00a0 That’s not just my opinion<\/a>.\u00a0 Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and quite a few other “foreign” car companies are building vehicles in America by the tens of thousands and exporting them, in some cases back to their country of origin.\u00a0 The Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry have become viewed as “American” cars both here and abroad.<\/p>\n

I keep hearing people say “if we slash benefits and subsidies to the point people can’t survive on them more people will go to work.”\u00a0 No.\u00a0 More people will become criminals because you off-shored all of the jobs they could have gotten or had prior to falling out of the labor market.<\/p>\n

The correct solution will never be implemented.\u00a0 Regular readers of this blog will already know what it is:\u00a0 The Ethics in Income Act<\/a>. The gist of it is simple.\u00a0 Maximum payout and benefits to any executive at any publicly traded company cannot exceed 100 times the lowest paid employee or subcontracted employee.\u00a0 Enforced by the IRS with various 100% tax, penalties, and prison time.\u00a0 It will ensure there is more of the pie left on the table for both shareholders and employees.\u00a0 It will also eliminate the incentive to pay children in a third world country 50 cents or less per day to make soccer balls since no CEO is going to let their total compensation package fall to $50\/day.<\/p>\n

If implemented though, it would end this constant battle between slashing benefits and raising minimum wage.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because publicly traded companies have a massive number of employees.\u00a0 If janitor at a publicly traded company is making north of $80K per year people are going to stand in line for that job.\u00a0 All other companies will have to lift wages and benefits just to get workers.\u00a0 Not immediately, given the current labor surplus, but soon.\u00a0 Actually much sooner than would happen otherwise.\u00a0 When people who are just scraping by suddenly get a better than living wage, they tend to buy those things they have been putting off and doing without.\u00a0 Clothing, cars, furniture, a few meals out, etc.<\/p>\n

You have to grow an economy from the bottom, not the top.\u00a0 It never trickles down because the hogs won’t leave any money in the trough.\u00a0 We’ve all seen that.\u00a0 Time to put them on a diet.<\/p>\n

I’m sure there will be great gnashing of teeth of wails of victimization.\u00a0 Of course, they will overlook the fact some countries already have a cap in the low 20s.\u00a0 Switzerland<\/a> is currently trying to cap it at 12.<\/p>\n

There is one tiny grain of truth sandwiched between all of the lies on both sides of the minimum wage argument.\u00a0 If you can sit on your duff like a CEO and survive on handouts or you can take a minimum wage job, work like a slave and make not much more a large number will eventually opt to take the handout.\u00a0 Where both sides of the argument fail is in their proposed “solution.”\u00a0 Neither the slashing and burning of benefits nor the raising of minimum wage address the real issue.\u00a0 Company executives are taking all of the money off the table with their pay packages and the increased pay they get from off-shoring jobs.\u00a0 Putting them on a diet leaves more food for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It should come as no surprise discussion about the minimum wage is heating up.\u00a0 Add in the fact an election is just around the corner and you find no shortage of politicians trying to talk out of both sides of their mouths to get your vote. There can be only one viewpoint when it comes to the massively widening gap between executive pay and the average employee.\u00a0 It’s an epidemic which dwarfs Ebola and most … Labor Day and Minimum Wage<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[830,367,237,827,829,262,828,236],"class_list":["post-1336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-information-technology","category-investing","tag-executive-pay-cap","tag-ford","tag-gm","tag-labor-day","tag-mercedes-benz","tag-minimum-wage","tag-nissan","tag-toyota","bnm-entry"],"yoast_head":"\nLabor Day and Minimum Wage – Logikal Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/labor-day-and-minimum-wage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Labor Day and Minimum Wage – Logikal Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It should come as no surprise discussion about the minimum wage is heating up.\u00a0 Add in the fact an election is just around the corner and you find no shortage of politicians trying to talk out of both sides of their mouths to get your vote. There can be only one viewpoint when it comes to the massively widening gap between executive pay and the average employee.\u00a0 It’s an epidemic which dwarfs Ebola and most … Labor Day and Minimum WageRead more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.logikalsolutions.com\/wordpress\/information-technology\/labor-day-and-minimum-wage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Logikal Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-31T16:31:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"seasoned_geek\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"seasoned_geek\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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