Here and There

The U.S. Senate yesterday rejected a measure to raise the national minimum wage from an even-by-1992-standards pathetic $5.15 to a still-abject-by-2006-standards $7.25. It was the ninth time the GOP-controlled Congress has rejected a hike in the base pay rate of Americans since 1997.

I decided to bust out the old Dashboard calculator and see what $5.15 an hour really means, when you count those paltry beans.

At that rate, a worker would earn a whopping total of $206 per week. Rental rates in that reddest of red states, Utah, average between $375 and $500 per month. At $206 a week, monthly income would hit $824, before taxes, mind you.

I won’t get into the intricacies of the tax code (mostly because I’m too lazy to look into it), but I will use the common 15 percent rule. Assuming that rule, after taxes, monthly income would be $700.40. Let’s say you’re this poor (literally and figuratively) Utahan in one of these one-bedrooms on the higher end of the average range (because it was all you could find). You’re left with $200.40 disposable income per month. We haven’t even factored in necessities like food and power, much less “luxuries” like a cell phone, gasoline, and car insurance, if you’re lucky enough to have one and not be in the middle of paying it off.

Also, at $206 per week, assuming you work 52 weeks in a calendar year, you’d be taking home $10,712 per year, pre-tax. After tax (using our agreed-upon 15 percent rate), you’d end up with $9,105.20. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services puts the single-member household poverty level at $9,800 in the 48 contiguous states and D.C. Wow. Not even close.

IN OTHER WORDS: Totally unrealistic, unless you like having a lot of poor people around. And you have to want your poor people to not advance themselves, because given this scenario, they’re probably going to be, well, not too happy. Who knows where that’ll lead, but more times than not, it doesn’t lead to community college.

I can’t imagine that most people reading this think too highly of the Republican party. But I can’t assume anything here. Also, the Democrats’ effort to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 isn’t the only (or a sufficient) solution. Businesses need incentive to pay workers more, whether it be because workers’ skill sets have improved, or out of some sense of unabashed philanthropy.

Needless to say, it’s a very, very complex issue. It’s just that in a society that has evolved away from a strong sense of central planning and regulation, one of the few tools the government has in its dwindling arsenal to help provide for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is to ensure that companies pay their workers aptly. I guess what I’m saying is: Shame on you, Congress.

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