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Fight For Living Wage is a Worthy One

11/19/2014

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Note: This article originally appeared in the Mukilteo Beacon on 11/19/2014

I was surprised to see a former mayor of Mukilteo’s tirade at the prospect of raising of the minimum wage [“$15 – Not Now!,” Guest View, page 4, Nov. 12].

Emory Cole’s rant was a cornucopia of conspiracy theories, a demonstration of his belief in trickle-down economics and a stern caution at the boogeyman of socialism in America.

Consider these facts from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Low Income Housing Coalition:

Half of the Americans earning minimum wage are over 25 years old. Eighty percent of them are white.

In every state in the country, a minimum wage worker has to work 70 hours or more per week to afford the average apartment.

The reality of the minimum wage in the U.S. today, is that too often the Americans earning it aren’t “the young” and “immigrants,” as he assumes. That’s a common misconception.

Wal-Mart and McDonald’s have resources to help their full-time workers sign up for government assistance because so many workers are still under the federal poverty level.

The current minimum wage equals poverty for a great number of Americans, and raising it would help cut taxpayer costs for SNAP programs in every state. That would have the effect of reducing government.

Google “CEO Pay versus worker pay,” and you’ll see graphs of an incredible gap. The outsourcing Mayor Cole fears has already happened to many middle class workers in the U.S.

But paying $15 an hour isn’t going to prompt a small business owner to outsource their landscaping jobs to Malaysia, their sign-spinners to Guam, or their fry cooks to Bangalore. It’s extremely difficult to outsource jobs at the very bottom of the pay scale.

As comedian Chris Rock said: “I used to work at McDonald's, making minimum wage. You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? ‘Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law.’”

Mayor Cole takes aim at SEIU's support of the measure as simply designed to create more “subjects.” His word. Subjects.

Is it so surprising that a union might fight for a living wage? I was especially surprised to hear that from a former mayor of Mukilteo.

We have so many union workers locally, which has prevented outsourcing on many occasions. I’m sure those union members bristled at Cole’s comments.

He takes it one step further in the same paragraph: In the dramatic conspiracy theory he’s created, those in government and running for political office must be involved.

Again, how is supporting a living wage so self-serving? Could it be that the concept isn’t a vast conspiracy, but might actually have popular support?

According to OSPI, in 2013 more than 7,500 children qualified for free and reduced lunches in the Mukilteo School District alone. Almost 400 of those students were at Kamiak High School.

How many of these children would not have to apply for free lunches if the minimum wage was increased? This isn’t an abstract problem. It’s a very serious reality for our community.

A socialism rant against a member of the Seattle City Council marks the latter half of Mayor Cole’s Op-Ed. It was indecipherable. Other than to assuming that his obvious personal disdain for her upbringing colored his remarks, it was a tangential veer into absolutist nonsense.

Seattle City Councilmember Sawant is not the only supporter of raising the minimum wage, though she has been a vocal proponent. I’m left with the feeling that Cole doesn’t agree with the councilmember’s personal choices or upbringing, and therefore he doesn’t agree with her position.

But to introduce the example of socialism in France as some sort of McCarthyist cry for a witch-hunt is too much. We’re talking about Americans being able to buy food and supply their basic needs, not some socialist conspiracy theory.

There is one aspect of the minimum wage debate that definitely bears further scrutiny. If you raise wages, then business owners have to compensate, potentially increasing the cost of consumer goods and business services.

That is the best part of the argument Mayor Cole advances; the argument he should have developed in his Op-Ed. Some increase in price is inevitable, and that should be a significant point of discussion.

That essence of that question goes something like: Do we suffer a possible increase in the price of goods, whatever that is, but help Americans make a living wage?

Or do we protect business interests at the expense of the working poor?

My favorite response to that issue is from Samantha Bee on “The Daily Show.” In response to the suggestion that we might experience $10 hamburgers if we raise the minimum wage, she replies with thoughtful sarcasm:

“I do like my hamburgers flavored with the tears of poverty…”

If we continue to insist on wages that won’t pay the rent, that’s a flavor we should all get used to.

Tony Markey is a marketing and business consultant in Mukilteo. He holds a master’s degree in business administration. His first book, Re-Run: My 30-Day Experiment to Fall Back in Love with Running, releases next month.

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The Inalienable Right to Complain

11/13/2014

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The results are in - and the turnout of voters in the US' midterm elections in 2014 is the worst in 72 years. Just over 1/3 of voters turned out for what. I think everyone took that video literally.
It's as if everyone said "turned out for what? Exactly." And concluded that there was absolutely no reason to vote.
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It might have been, based on the above graphic, that the winners were those able to motivate a lackluster base. Ebola and Isis, two issues that have somehow disappeared from the media after November 11th, figured prominently in campaigns across the country, and could have swayed elections from more sensible results. Add to that some incredible money dumped into campaigns, the growing fear that Democrats and Republicans are eerily similar, and you've got a cocktail of reasons to, well, grab a cocktail rather than vote.

Most disheartening what what I kept seeing pop up: "If you don't vote, you can't complain!" This next to everyone's annoying "I voted" stickers on Facebook.

Complain? Is that our sole motivation? Is that our reason to participate in the political process? So we get to be mad about the results, now or in the future? Well no wonder 1/3 of Americans voted. Maybe the rest just figured they didn't want to exercise their inalienable right to complain.

We can all take heart that empty sloganeering that suggests that there isn't any point to voting doesn't work. I mean, Americans aren't that stupid.

On the other hand, suggestions that only one candidate can protect us from Ebola or Terrorism? Those work very well thank you. We are still that stupid - put us into flight or fight mode and we'll react. Fear still succeeds where songs that suggest the futility of the process can't.
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Fake Patriotism

11/12/2014

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 I know the human race has a lot of things to work out. Can we stop with the fake holidays, the fake applause for fake heroic sentiment and fake causes?

 We’re stuck with “Breast Cancer awareness month” when everyone and their goldfish is “aware.” Awareness, really? Breast Cancer is about #20 on the mortality list in America. Meanwhile, Stroke is the #2 killer nationally, and it’s recognizable when it happens. Stroke gets an awareness day. Does anyone know when that day is?

Veterans can get preferred parking at Home Depot now. Not the firefighter, or the nurse, or the caregiver, mind you. Just Veterans. Not disabled ones, that’s different. As someone who was in the National Guard, and thankfully not called upon to serve overseas, I know the commitment these men and women make, and it’s incredible, but I’m not really into the “thank you for service” thing. It’s far more valuable to these men and women that we insist that they have good access healthcare when they return, pay them a decent wage for what they do and respect their commitment than to give them preferential parking at Home Depot. ‘Merica.

There’s no war on Christmas. Just because Gretchen Carlson freaks out over a festivus pole. ugh. We have to stop all the fake outrage over nothing and just try to get along with each other as best we can. Live together, support, engage.

Did you clap for Veterans on your plane ride? They deserve our support. Did you clap for your fellow human? They do too. Did you clap for the police officer? The Fireman? What's the matter, not patriotic enough?

Declaring our Veterans important by applauding for them on the plane and ignoring their healthcare, pay, and the fact that they became disabled because we sent them to Iraq to find WMDs that didn't exist... how is clapping showing our support? Shouldn't we be saying we're sorry?

Rather than wearing a pink ribbon, or any of an hundred other gestures of little importance, try giving your time and expertise, your voice and your support. Taking up the cause of breast cancer “awareness” is about the most useless thing you can do, of ALL the things you can do to support breast cancer. Try helping someone going through it, donate your hair, give a little money. We're all painfully aware. That ship has sailed.

We should stop all the fakery of patriotism, of support, and look towards the real issues behind these challenges. Pink everything is not the answer. Parking spots aren't the answer. Proclaiming your religious holiday as sacrosanct and all others as interlopers is not the answer.

Talk about heroes. The public is prohibited from seeing pictures of fallen heroes returning to America. If one of those men and women are on your plane's cargo hold, how much more applause do those people deserve? They didn't get your support because their return is hidden from us. What does that message say? Those silenced men and women, how much more of an answer do they deserve than our own silence?

Those other things aren't even in the ballpark of answers.

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