[Vision2020] Jerry Brady on the Auntie E. and Brother C. show

[Andreas Schou]

On 8/4/06, g. crabtree <jampot at adelphia.net> wrote:
> I'm sure this won't be the answer of our next second place governor, not to
> mention  making me no friends on this list, but the fact is no one is
> supposed to live on minimum wage. It's a starting point for youth, folks who
> desire part time employment, and people just starting up the job ladder. As
> skills and experience increase so do the wages. If a person has been working
> for an extended period someplace and is still making $5.15 they are being
> sent a very unsubtle message. Can you guess what it is? I knew you could. If
> they're incapable of rising above minimum wage on their day job, they should
> consider getting a second. It'll be doing the community a favor by keeping
> them off the streets and out of mischief. If this seems a wee bit cauld (a
> tip O' the tam o' shanter to "J. Ford") consider that it's the exact model
> used by many family's right up to and through the late 1950's.

While I hate to rain on your Ozzie and Harriet tea-party here, I'd
just like to note that, in 1959, the inflation-adjusted minimum wage
had .35 more cents per hour in purchasing power than the 2006 minium
wage. This assumes the quite conservative proposition that minimum
wage should be pegged to inflation and not, say, productivity growth.

-- ACS