To reignite the economy, reduce the minimum wage (among other things)

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Kill these job-killers

By Charles Lane

Monday, December 14, 2009

...

I suggest starting with these three job-rescuing policy changes, none of which would cost taxpayers a dime.

-- End federal protectionism and price supports for sugar. Since 1982, the federal government has guaranteed the U.S. sugar lobby -- er, industry -- up to 85 percent of the market. The rest gets divided among other countries lucky enough to hold quotas. The government also guarantees minimum prices for raw cane sugar and refined beet sugar.

Sugar is an ingredient in a huge percentage of candy, beverages and baked goods. Expensive sugar makes it expensive to produce those goodies. U.S. candy-makers and other food processors cite sugar costs as a major factor in their industry's recent job losses -- including 70,000 between 1997 and 2004.

...

-- Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. Passed in the 1930s to "stabilize" the construction industry (in part by protecting white workers in the North against competition from migrating Southern blacks), this law requires employers to pay the "prevailing" local wage on federally funded projects. Today, Davis-Bacon applies to about a third of all public construction spending.

A large staff at the Labor Department calculates prevailing wages using a formula skewed to reflect union pay rates. This inflates the cost of labor on public construction by an average of about 10 percent, according to a 2008 study by the Beacon Hill Institute of Suffolk University in Boston. The added cost to taxpayers was $8.6 billion in 2007, the study found.

...

-- Reduce the federal minimum wage. In 2007, Congress enacted a three-step increase in the minimum wage, which was then $5.15 per hour. The final installment took effect in July, raising the rate to $7.25 per hour. In the meantime, unemployment climbed from 4.7 percent to 9.5 percent.

...

Study after study has shown that this supposed benefit to the poor prices low-skilled workers out of entry-level jobs. It was unwise to keep raising the cost of hiring them in a recession.

...

The writer is a member of the editorial page staff. His e-mail address is lanec@washpost.com.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes, increasing the pool of the working poor - those with virtually no disposable income - will re-ignite this consumer driven economy. Brilliant!

[Niels Bohr 72]

Aj, I think you should run for office.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Yes, increasing the pool of the working poor - those with virtually no disposable income - will re-ignite this consumer driven economy. Brilliant!

Increase the pool of the working poor by decreasing the pool of the unemployed poor. Bad idea?

[Jenn! 918]

Sharing the wealth, but for poor people only.

[Peikko 1,575]

Excellent

We are such a civilized and special nation.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Sharing the wealth, but for poor people only.

Teach the poor to share.

[Peikko 1,575]

Sharing the wealth, but for poor people only.

Teach the poor to share.

Share what? Rickets?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Sharing the wealth, but for poor people only.

Teach the poor to share.

Share what? Rickets?

Money. Space. Blankets. Food.

It's a national travesty that so many poor people do nothing to help their fellow poor. How many dwellings still exist where there's 1 poor person per bedroom, when other poor people live on the sidewalk? It's time to bring back the tenements. Let the poor live as the poor were meant to.

[Peikko 1,575]

Sharing the wealth, but for poor people only.

Teach the poor to share.

Share what? Rickets?

Money. Space. Blankets. Food.

It's a national travesty that so many poor people do nothing to help their fellow poor. How many dwellings still exist where there's 1 poor person per bedroom, when other poor people live on the sidewalk? It's time to bring back the tenements. Let the poor live as the poor were meant to.

Do you listen to the Now show by any chance?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

never heard of it

[Dan J 277]

Kill these job-killers

By Charles Lane

Monday, December 14, 2009

...

I suggest starting with these three job-rescuing policy changes, none of which would cost taxpayers a dime.

-- End federal protectionism and price supports for sugar. Since 1982, the federal government has guaranteed the U.S. sugar lobby -- er, industry -- up to 85 percent of the market. The rest gets divided among other countries lucky enough to hold quotas. The government also guarantees minimum prices for raw cane sugar and refined beet sugar.

Sugar is an ingredient in a huge percentage of candy, beverages and baked goods. Expensive sugar makes it expensive to produce those goodies. U.S. candy-makers and other food processors cite sugar costs as a major factor in their industry's recent job losses -- including 70,000 between 1997 and 2004.

...

-- Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. Passed in the 1930s to "stabilize" the construction industry (in part by protecting white workers in the North against competition from migrating Southern blacks), this law requires employers to pay the "prevailing" local wage on federally funded projects. Today, Davis-Bacon applies to about a third of all public construction spending.

A large staff at the Labor Department calculates prevailing wages using a formula skewed to reflect union pay rates. This inflates the cost of labor on public construction by an average of about 10 percent, according to a 2008 study by the Beacon Hill Institute of Suffolk University in Boston. The added cost to taxpayers was $8.6 billion in 2007, the study found.

...

-- Reduce the federal minimum wage. In 2007, Congress enacted a three-step increase in the minimum wage, which was then $5.15 per hour. The final installment took effect in July, raising the rate to $7.25 per hour. In the meantime, unemployment climbed from 4.7 percent to 9.5 percent.

...

Study after study has shown that this supposed benefit to the poor prices low-skilled workers out of entry-level jobs. It was unwise to keep raising the cost of hiring them in a recession.

...

The writer is a member of the editorial page staff. His e-mail address is lanec@washpost.com.

End federal protectionism and price supports for sugar.

But also end subsidies on corn. We will see a shift from bad food products to better ones. Though I don't really think that it will increase jobs, low skilled labor is a commodity, and there are many places that are much cheaper.

-- Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act.

Yes because apparently its bad to pay people enough to live off of. Construction is one area not so easily exported.

-- Reduce the federal minimum wage.

So the argument here is that the increase in minimum wage increased unemployment, but a significant amount of job loss occurred in industries that paid more than minimum wage. While $7.25/hr at 40 hours per week is technically above the poverty guidelines. There is no way you can afford any sort of quality of life on that little money.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes, increasing the pool of the working poor - those with virtually no disposable income - will re-ignite this consumer driven economy. Brilliant!

Increase the pool of the working poor by decreasing the pool of the unemployed poor. Bad idea?

The minimum wage has almost steadily come down since the late 60's when it was at about $9.50 in 2007 dollars. The economic foundation of the country hasn't exactly become stronger with the decline of the minimum wage.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Big Dog, you and your inflation adjusted fuzzy math.

[Danno 1,228]

Wait, I thought a higher Minimum would help our economy?