[Vision2020] Minimum wage

Tue Aug 8 13:38:53 PDT 2006

Got me there, Donovan.

keely

From: Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
To: keely emerinemix <kjajmix1 at msn.com>, gweitz at moscow.com,  
ringoshirl at moscow.com, vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Minimum wage
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 13:26:35 -0700 (PDT)

. . ."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 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.)

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    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, "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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