[Vision2020] Minimum wage

Tue Aug 8 11:37:43 PDT 2006

Of course, under Donovan's plan, parents will have tons more free time -- 
what with being excused from the kinds of things most of us signed up for as 
parents -- and will then form roaming street gangs or start smoking or 
having sex.

keely

From: Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
To: Jerry Weitz <gweitz at moscow.com>, Shirley Ringo <ringoshirl at moscow.com>,  
       vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Minimum wage
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 07:55:21 -0700 (PDT)

Jerry,

  I agree with you 100% regarding the workforce  training. The school system 
needs to start kids one year earlier, let  them out one year later ,and use 
those two extra years to train youth a  job skill, good work ethic, how to 
search for and find a job, keep a  job, and advance in that field.

  They also need to teach  youth how to do taxes, be a responsible member of 
the community, build  social skills, know first aid and establish healthy 
eating habits, and  all about how credit and debit works.

  In other words, schools  need to teach youth the things they are going to 
need to know about  living in modern society and doing well. So many things 
you learn in  school today seem pointless when you get out and never use it. 
You also  find yourself hurting in other areas when you are expected to know 
how  to do something in life but nobody ever taught you.

   Thanks for your email.

   Best,

   _DJA

Jerry Weitz <gweitz at moscow.com> wrote:
   Raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 will not help in real  
inflation-adjusted buying power--it is too small of an increase.   So let’s 
discuss the fundamentals.  As Virginia’s former  Democratic governor Mark 
Warner’s track record illustrates, skills  training in our high schools 
would help increase wages for Idaho’s  workforce and encourage more jobs.  
With the push for community  colleges in the urban areas of Idaho, I believe 
that our local high  schools could become the rural equivalent of community 
college.   This would cost money and would require a willingness to change 
the  current high school structure.

  The state legislature’s  current focus on shifting school funding from 
property taxes to the  sales tax (the current maintenance and operations 
debate) misses the  point.  Instead of focusing on ways to shift funds, I 
would urge  consideration for increased funding for the creation/maintenance 
of  skills centers in local high schools.  Rather than seeking a  balanced 
taxation approach, the Idaho Education Association has  promoted a tax shift 
to the sales tax, which sends a confusing message.

   When one examines France, with a high minimum wage, a large  
under-skilled/inexperienced segment of its youth, guaranteed employment  
contracts, unbending unionization, top down regulations, etc., one  observes 
high unemployment, a high cost of living, and extreme social  unrest.

  What works: 1) create/maintain superior education for  both the 
college-bound and the non-college-bound, 2) invest in  infrastructure, 3) be 
friendly to business, 4) be environmentally wise,  and 5) do this without 
going deeply into debt, which requires  prioritization.  Ireland has 
followed the above policies with  exceptional success.  We should follow the 
lead of former governor  Warner and Virginia’s Republican legislature and 
make these policies  non-partisan.  From what I’ve learned, Larry Grant, our 
district’s  Democratic candidate for Congress, seems to understand this  
non-partisan, middle of the road approach.

   Jerry

   At 11:11 AM 8/7/06, Shirley Ringo wrote:
   Visionaries:

   I cannot resist the urge to weigh in on the minimum wage issue.  I  
proposed legislation during the most recent legislative session to  raise 
the minimum wage to $6.15.  It received very little support  from 
Republicans.  (Our District 6 Republicans did support it, and  
Representative Trail will co-sponsor the effort with us again next  year.)

   <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =  
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

   We plan to try again next year, at an amount above $6.15.

   Without getting into the usual arguments, it’s unacceptable to have a  
minimum wage that leaves those paid at that level in cruel  poverty.  
Lawmakers have neglected maintenance on minimum wage  levels.  In 1968, the 
minimum wage meant something positive to  families.  In inflation-adjusted 
dollars, it has lost nearly 40%  of its value between 1968 and now.

  According  to polling, the vast majority of Americans believe the minimum 
wage  should be higher.  I believe eighteen states have a minimum wage  
higher than the $5.15 federal level, which has not been raised since  1997.  
Some of these states have used the initiative process to  get results, where 
state legislators would not act on it.  In some  of these states, there has 
been significant help from Republican  leaders.

  Many claims of negative consequences  do not seem to be true.  One of the 
claims is that jobs will be  lost.  In the majority of states that have 
raised the minimum  wage, there has in fact been an increase in jobs.  (We 
can’t claim  the wage increase caused more jobs, but the decrease some 
predicted  didn’t happen.)  An increase in employee productivity and less  
absenteeism was reported where the pay level increased.

   On the inflation issue, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =  
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Florida reported  after 
raising their minimum wage a very minor increase in some  prices.  Since a 
relatively small percent of the employed receive  minimum wage, one might 
not expect a dramatic increase in prices.   (We can expect a “ripple effect” 
though, where employers will raise  wages to be more competitive.)  One year 
ago in Idaho, according  to the Department of Commerce and Labor, 32,000 
Idahoans received a  wage between $5.15 and $6.15 per hour.  While Idaho 
State  Government employee pay is entirely too low, almost none of them  
receive pay as low as $5.15 per hour.  I don’t consider it an  undisputed 
fact that there will be significant inflation, but we can  certainly study 
the issue in the states that have raised the minimum  wage.

  Workers who receive minimum wage live  from paycheck to paycheck.  (If 
they can make it stretch.)   They have no discretionary money.  What are 
they to do when their  taxes go up?  Just more water in the gravy, I guess.  
At the  minimum wage, it takes more than one full day to earn the money to 
buy  fifteen gallons of gasoline.

  While I continue  to study the issue, I am convinced that some of the 
negative  consequences of raising the minimum wage are over-stated.  I am  
also steadfast in my belief that it is unacceptable to value people and  
families so little that we allow such a low level of compensation for  their 
efforts and to address their needs.

   Shirley

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