Generally I take the Congressional Budget Office at their word, so, if this is true, then that means the US is in a state where the country can’t afford to pay most of its workers a living wage, and that’s a pretty goddamn big problem, wouldn’t you say?
Raising the federal hourly minimum wage to $15 would reduce poverty — but would also cut employment by 1.4 million workers and increase the federal deficit by $54 billion over a decade, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released Monday.
If the nation can only reasonably afford to pay a pittance you can’t live on, then that would be a prime indication that we need to get back to the drawing board on this whole employment thing.
Look, I know the arguments. McDonald’s jobs are for kids, you’re not supposed to try to live on them, go to college, get a better job, yaddayaddayadda. Lots of grown-ass people are trying to make ends meet on minimum wage jobs, because there’s not much else out there. A college degree does not guarantee a “better” job. Plus, a college degree means tens of thousands of dollars worth of soul-crushing debt that’ll haunt you for years.
I know tons of people with college degrees who are still making minimum wage. A lot of those college degree jobs don’t pay enough either.
We need to pay people a living wage for the jobs they can get. If we can’t afford that, then the system is broken and we need to re-work the system so that we can.
Notes & Thoughts 