[Vision2020] Minimum wage
Tom Ivie
the_ivies3 at yahoo.com
Tue Aug 8 13:37:11 PDT 2006
How do you pay for that when we can't even pass bonds for buildings and the state has to step in to fund that?
Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote: . . ."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 Mix
Keely,
I know you are the expert on education being on the school board and all. But, as I understand it, all parents have already been having sex.
_DJA
keely emerinemix <kjajmix1 at msn.com> wrote: 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
To: Jerry Weitz , Shirley Ringo ,
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 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 lets
discuss the fundamentals. As Virginias former Democratic governor Mark
Warners track record illustrates, skills training in our high schools
would help increase wages for Idahos 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 legislatures 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 Virginias Republican legislature and
make these policies non-partisan. From what Ive learned, Larry Grant, our
districts 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.)
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We plan to try again next year, at an amount above $6.15.
Without getting into the usual arguments, its 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
cant claim the wage increase caused more jobs, but the decrease some
predicted didnt happen.) An increase in employee productivity and less
absenteeism was reported where the pay level increased.
On the inflation issue, "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 dont 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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