The Year In Review

I resolve...

...to fight for a federal minimum wage increase, not just by adding my electronic signature to well-written petitions, but by taking on the issue of wages and poverty in this blog.

Here's my head start, stolen from one of my favorite "readable" authors of economic policy.

Minimum Wage Breaks No-Raise Record

by Holly Sklar

Every year, PNC Wealth Management calculates the "Christmas Price Index" based on gifts in the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." PNC reports, "Maids-a-Milking, who are paid the minimum wage, were the only service providers not to see an increase this year."The Christmas Price Index rose from $13,344 in 1997 to $18,920 in 2006. The price of Six Geese-a-Laying increased from $150 to $300, for example. But the cost of Eight Maids-a-Milking remained $41.20 -- pegged to the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour since Sept. 1, 1997.On Dec. 2, we broke the record for the longest period without a raise since the minimum wage was established in 1938. The prior record of nine years and three months lasted from Jan. 1, 1981 until the minimum wage increase on Apr. 1, 1990.

Murray Weidenbaum, chairman of President Reagan's first Council of Economic Advisers, has acknowledged they wanted to eliminate the minimum wage. But as the Wall Street Journal reported, "Because that would have been such a 'painful political process,' Mr. Weidenbaum says that he and other officials were content to let inflation turn the minimum wage into 'an effective dead letter.'"

Today's minimum wage is less than the 1950 minimum of $6.28, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator. It takes nearly two workers to match the $9.28 buying power of one minimum wage worker in 1968.

A full-time worker at minimum wage makes just $10,712 a year -- less than $900 a month to cover housing, food, health care, transportation and other expenses. Today, family health coverage costs more than a minimum wage worker's entire annual income.

The minimum wage sets the wage floor. As the floor has sunk below poverty levels, millions of workers find themselves with paychecks above the minimum, but not above poverty wages.

The share of national income going to wages and salaries is at the lowest level since 1929 while the share going to after-tax corporate profits is at the highest. Since 1997, domestic corporate profits have risen 72 percent while the minimum wage has fallen 20 percent, adjusted for inflation.

Looking back to 1968, domestic corporate profits have climbed 214 percent while the minimum wage plummeted 44 percent.CEOs have enriched themselves and their families for generations to come while workers struggle to support themselves and their children. The highest paid CEO in 1968 made as much as 127 average workers and 239 minimum wage workers. The highest paid CEO in 2005 made as much as 7,443 average workers and 23,282 minimum wage workers.With the federal minimum wage mired in quicksand, a growing number of states have raised their minimums. At least 29 states and the District of Columbia will have minimum wages above $5.15 as of Jan. 1, 2007. Washington and Oregon have the highest state minimums -- $7.93 and $7.80 respectively after annual cost of living adjustments effective Jan. 1. States with minimum wages above $5.15 have had better employment trends than the other states."

Democrats promise to pass a minimum wage hike in the first 100 hours of the new Congress. The long-delayed Fair Minimum Wage Act would raise the minimum wage in three steps to $5.85, 60 days after enactment, $6.55 one year later in 2008, and $7.25 one year later in 2009.These are steps in the right direction for workers for whom every dollar counts in the struggle to make ends meet. But workers should not have to wait until 2009 for a $7.25 minimum wage that only partly restores buying power lost since 1968.

The Economic Policy Institute reports, "Most other developed countries either have implemented automatic increases based on rising prices or require regular meetings of boards authorized to increase the minimum wage" based on factors such as rising prices and economic growth.Ireland and England have minimum wages over $10, calculated in U.S. dollars. Both countries have strong economies with lower unemployment rates in recent years than the United States.Congress has had eight pay raises since 1997 and is scheduled for a $3,300 "cost of living adjustment," raising congressional pay on Jan. 1 to $168,500 -- not counting health coverage, pensions and other benefits.Congress should refuse pay increases until the minimum wage is raised enough to keep workers out of poverty instead of in poverty.

It's a Dog's Life

Lila

Sampson

Whoever is responsible for first having coined the phrase "working like a dog" clearly didn't have housemates like mine.

It's afternoon nap time for my two little darlings, while I've been called back into work. I may be physically present while suggesting coordinating lamp shade patterns with area rugs, but in my mind, I'll be doing this:

Demand An Ending To War Funding

From Voters For Peace:

In just one week, Congress begins the 2007 session with new leadership ready to take the reigns. The problem is, the new Congress doesn't look very different than the old Congress that we supposedly voted out of office. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is promoting a troop increase, Nancy Pelosi said that she won't defund the war, and now President Bush is asking for at least $127 billion more to waste on our failed venture in Iraq. Although voters expressed a clear mandate to end the war in Iraq, Democratic Congressional leaders are already on record promising to continue the violence in our name and with our tax dollars.

We think this is an unacceptable betrayal of American voters, so on January 4th, VotersForPeace is working with several peace organizations to remind the new Congress that we will no longer tolerate destroying lives and wasting money for war. We will congratulate them for their win and then demand that they defund Bush's war effort.

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

In Washington, DC: If you are in the DC area, join us in delivering the message to Congress that we don't want to spend another penny for war.

Outside of the DC-metro area: Deliver this statement to your members of Congress at their district office. Fax, mail, or hand deliver the message, and then let us know that you've made your voice heard! If you're unable to hand deliver the message, email it to your member of Congress.

For your local paper: Send a letter to your local media outlet, echoing the sentiment that voters no longer support spending tax dollars for killing in Iraq. Let us know if your letter is published!

You will be joining tens of thousands of other peace voters in putting peace at the top of the agenda from Day One. If you can't join us on January 4th, there will be plenty of other opportunities as we continue to send our message to Congress throughout January.

Need more inspiration? Go read Blue's post. Not one more death. Not one more dollar.

Under Construction

Please be patient with me...
After nearly a month of double shifts in retail land,
I'm going to be cleaning up a little bit around here.
I need to get things all straightened out before
school begins in earnest again.
This means linking to all of my favorite sites and
figuring out how to add pictures to the sidebar.
(Does anyone know how? PLEASE let me know!)
Also, I want to create a button. Hill, can you help?
Is there a button creater site out there?

For now I'm off to sleep a little.
Who knew the holidays could be so exhausting?

Merry Christmas, Everyone

Let Peace Be Our Gift To Each Other.

Managment and Workers

"We have grown up with the belief that control, consistency, and predictability are essential. We have separated managing the work from doing the work. We have created a class system inside our institutions. There is a management calss and an employee or worker class. The management class enjoys privileges and preogatives and is taught management skills. The worker class has fewer privileges and prerogatives and is taught operational or basic skills. The fundamental beliefs we have about how to run organizations and organize work aren't working."

- Peter Block

I'm working two retail jobs over the break from school.

More to come on this social experiment into the depths of hell, where, apparently, they've been all out of "holiday spirit" for decades.

My Gift

A while back, I wrote about the importance of voluntary blood donation. While I am proud of that post, I feel so passionately about this issue that I've decided to highlight it again. When I think of all the things that I, individually and personally, can do to make a real difference in the world, blood donation tops my list. It really is a gift, my gift, to someone, somewhere, who needs me.

So, just how much blood is needed? According to the Red Cross, A LOT.

Coronary Artery Bypass? 1-5 units
Fractured Hip? Joint Replacement? 2-5 units
Cardiovascular Surgery? 2-25 units
Bleeding Ulcer? 3-30 units
Auto Accident? Gun Shot Wound? up to 50 units
Liver Transplant? up to 100 units
Sickle Cell/Aplastic Anemia? 4 units per month
Cancer? up to 8 units per month

This list goes on and on. And, as can be seen, chances are better than not that I will need my own transfusion sometime during my life.

I'm scheduled to give plasma again on Tuesday. I'm CMV-, which means that they can give my plasma to patients whose immune systems are severely compromised: infants, burn victims, people living with HIV/AIDS, etc. The local blood bank tells me that there is always a waiting list for my donations. Even before they've finished with the battery of tests to ensure that the donation is healthy, it has already been assigned to a recipient. With this donation, I will have given three gallons of blood to my local blood bank.

It is uncomfortable. It is inconvenient. It is usually always cold in those rooms. But it is worth it. You can do it too. Go here to get the facts. Then sign up. Trust me, this kind of giving is way better than the office "white elephant" holiday gift exchange.

Gone

Happy Birthday to My Favorite Buttcrack

I heard a rumor that it is Pam's birthday. Go on over and wish her all the best. Oh, and lest a new or unfamiliar reader think I'm mean, "buttcrack" is a familial term of endearment. We all use it.

Axis I - 297.1 Delusional Disorder

From the DSM-IV-TR -

Diagnostic criteria for Delusional Disorder:

A. Nonbizarre delusions of at least one month's duration.

B. Criterion A for Schizophrenia has never been met.

The definition of a delusion? "An erroneous belief that is held in the face of evidence to the contrary."

Evidence in support of Diagnosis -

Today, in honor of the 25th World AIDS Day, Bu$hCo announced that he believes the continued promotion of sexual abstinence to be the most effective method to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. In spite of these efforts, "rates of HIV infection continue to grow, with 4 million new cases worldwide every year," according to the World Health Organization.

Now, please read this post.

Update 12/02/06: Go. here. Because HIV/AIDS is about US.