Minimum Wage Law Only Increases the Gap Between the Haves and the Have Nots
By: Leanne Hoagland-Smith
An increase in the minimum wage will not release the working poor from their economic constraints. To achieve economic prosperity means making good choices and hard decisions.
A Real Life Story
As a child growing up in the 50’s and 60’s in the Midwest, my parents understood the difference between needs and wants or having and not having. We lived in a small, modest 3 bedroom house with only one television (black and white), one car, no air conditioning, no dishwasher and very few extras. Yes, my parents took an annual vacation to Florida with the neighbors. Our family was considered to be middle class just like our neighbors who also lived in modest homes with only one television, one car, no dishwasher and no air conditioning.
Recent statistics from the Bureau of Labor and the U.S. Census suggest that many who are considered to be poor live as well if not better than my parents and neighbors did in the 1950’s and 1960’s. For example:
46% of all poor households owned their own home which was classified as a 3 bedroom with 1.5 baths and a garage
73% own microwave ovens, more than 50% have a stereo and 33% have an automatic dishwasher
75% of the poor households own a car with 30% owning 2 more or more cars
76% of all poor households have air conditioning
78% have a VCR or DVD with 62% having cable or satellite TV
97% of poor households have a color TV with over 50% having 2 or more color televisions
What these figures suggest is that today’s poor are not truly as poor as many think and demonstrates how wants have surpassed needs.
The Story Continues
My father’s family immigrated from Sweden in the 1920’s and homestead 40 acres in northern Wisconsin. During the depression, my grandparents and their children moved to Chicago to earn enough money to pay the taxes on the farm. Even when my grandmother died in the mid 1960’s, she only had cold running water. The bathroom was an outhouse and the bath tub was a metal tub filled with heated rain water. Did she consider herself poor, absolutely not. She understood the difference between needs and wants. Her life was filled with peace and abundance. You could come into her simple home and there was always cake, bread, cookies or some sort of pastry on the table. During summer, there was a fruit bowl filled with apples from the apples trees just outside. Her 2 room main house had a small black and white TV along with a radio. The wood burning stove served as the source of heat for 2 small rooms. The sleeping cabin about 30 feet away contained two bedrooms heated by an oil stove. In today’s world, my grandparents would be definitely considered poor.
Yet, many Americans’ performance has suffered due to government interference. Needs have been replaced by wants. Fewer and fewer Americans are making the good choices and tough decisions necessary for long term prosperity. As long as the government continues to redistribute (taxation) the results of the performance efforts by those who make good choices and tough decisions, our society will continue to confuse needs with wants. The minimum wage law is just the most recent example of another obstacle to improved performance for all Americans.
For those individuals who work hard, who separate needs from wants, who value the family and support their children, they will continue to grow economically while those individuals who don’t work hard, who confuse wants with needs, who fail their families, they will continue to lose economic ground. Increasing the minimum wage will not increase their economic wealth, but will only continue to widen the divide between those who haven’t made good choices (the have nots) and those who have.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith understands human performance and how performance can easily be affected. She quickly doubles results for her clients from individuals (small businesses owners, entrepreneurs and young people) to large organizations by creating executable strategic action plans along with the necessary business skills to pull it off. Please feel free to contact Leanne at 219.759.5601 or visit http://www.processspecialist.com/ and explore how she can help you.
P.S. If you are seeking an affordable speaker for that special event, Leanne may help fit your current speaking need. Call her at 219.759.5601.