Minimum Wage or Unions

There have been a flurry of good articles about the McDonalds/Visa Budget site. I particularly liked this one by death and taxes mag, but the funniest commentary is undoubtedly the article by Business Insider which says things like:

Yes, $20 a month on health care sounds low [...] in some places, like New York City, low-income residents may be eligible for free health care.

Get that? It just sounds low because Lucky Duckies might be eligible for Free Health Care!

$0 for heating is exactly what I plan on spending this month and for the rest of the summer and fall. Come winter, that cost will increase, but I, like the sample budgeter, can reallocate money from other areas, such as — if it comes to it — savings.

Because, you never have other expenses or have to pay more than $100/month for heating.

As for food and clothing, perhaps they aren't included in the budget because they aren't consistent expenses [...] you eat out more or less depending on available funds

Sure -- it's not like you buy groceries every week. And talking about going out to eat shows just how completely out-of-touch the author is. Maybe groceries aren't a "consistent expense" in their budget, but someone -- or a couple -- trying to live independently on $2000/month is trying to put food on the table, not wondering where they'll dine this evening.

Note that if you have a full-time job at Mcdonalds ($1105), you don't even have enough to meet the minimum monthly expenses detailed in the budget ($1206), let alone having enough for the multitude of things not listed, like food or gas or medicine or repairs. Or any spending money.

If you look at the graph in the death-and-taxes article you can see the productivity has gone way up, such that a minimum wage worker ought to be earning $22/hour. (A similar disparity exists with respect to median wages as well). But, as I said in my recent post Everyday Evil, the poor have been brainwashed to blame themselves. And to blame unions.

There are unions trying to organize fast food workers, like Fast Food Forward. As I've indicated before, I think we're going to see conditions for middle-class and working class people continue to decline until they rediscover the idea that organizing has value. For that reason, I have mixed feelings about raising the minimum wage. In the long run, it would probably be much better for the poor to organize and be part of a union than for the monied class to agree to bump up the minimum wage a bit, which will reduce the impetus that the poor feel to fix the problem. We can't wait for someone else to fix the problem. Organize!