Much of current American misconceptions about economics can be summed up within the phrase “flipping burgers for a living is just fine.”
Yes, and so is breeding unicorns for a living. What they have in common is that they’re both impossible.
Americans are possessed of an amazing work ethic, one of the principal sources of American success. Where some countries would riot, Americans are more likely buckle down and figure it out. This isn’t to say that there aren’t countries and cultures where folks will work harder and for poorer living conditions. That’s part of what’s undercutting the American standard of living right now, as living conditions equalize to follow the equalization of global wealth.
It’s engrained deep in the American psyche that very little is more undignified than an inability to support oneself financially. So when push comes to shove, it’s expected that Americans will do whatever it takes, even if that means flipping burgers, to make ends meet. But flipping burgers to make ends meet is, in itself, a scary myth, and one that is the basis of huge swaths of government and corporate policy. Ultimately, buying into the myth will destabilize the entire society, and the recent Occupy protests are just the first hint and prologue of what lies ahead. There will never come a day when we look back and say to ourselves “remember that one time when they protested, and then it all went back to normal?”
Burger flipping is a minimum wage job, and the minimum wage is without a doubt at the heart of the recent economic woes, though not in the way many would expect. While the stated goals of minimum wage standards may be unclear, perhaps one of those might be to make it practical for two adults, working full-time, to feed, clothe, and house themselves, and perhaps a single child. Perhaps another appropriate goal might be for a single minimum wage paycheck to support a single person living in a cheap studio apartment and basic living necessities. This fits with the American notion of success, for if one works long hard hours and gives a little extra, they might make a bit more than minimum wage, and enjoy a higher standard of living than what’s technically necessary.
State assistance with childcare might be appropriate for the earlier years, for children who aren’t old enough for school yet. For certainly, whether single parents or married, if both adults are employed full time, it is likely they’ll need some childcare, which itself is a payable job.
The minimum wage does not meet these goals, which is its first fault. The bar is set too low. Even in a poor economy, where every job is becoming a minimum wage job, the de facto minimum wage in the Portland area has become $10 per hour, without any prodding from the state whatsoever. It turns out that with the combination of basic food assistance and long-term unemployment, it’s simply more affordable for folks to stay home than to take a job that pays less than that.
This isn’t due to an unwillingness to work, but rather to the cost of living. A single parent of one, subsisting in a barely-livable apartment, driving no vehicle, and eating poorly, will just barely be able to make do with $10. Two parents working together might see a bit more success once the kids are in school and daycare isn’t an issue, though bigger families require bigger apartments, and so forth. Americans are not too proud. Given a corporation that provided housing, education, and basic living expenses, many Americans would already accept a job offer, even at $2, just to have the basics covered for once.
Make no mistake, the minimum wage hasn’t destroyed American business, either. While many corporate interests might argue otherwise, the minimum wage sets a floor on how little an American worker can be paid, and limits how small the payroll can get before productivity is damaged. The recent economic “recovery” has been one confined almost entirely to the affluent, and without the existing minimum wage, the course of the recovery would include some very strange developments indeed, with the potential gap between rich and poor (GINI index) growing to very bizarre proportions indeed. These are the sorts of imbalances one thinks of in terms of banana republics. Downright un-American.
The solution is actually rather simple, easy to implement, and sustainable in the long term: raise the minimum wage dramatically to meet certain goals (ability to meet the needs of a single adult and single child for example), then tie ongoing, automatic increases to the Consumer Price Index.
But a scene in the recent remake of Mr. Deeds nicely captures why this will never happen. The primary stockholder is in the midst of a hostile takeover. After a very moving show of support for retaining the company from a variety of shareholders, the antagonist states, “Yes, but I’m voting ‘aye.’ 300. Million. Times.’”
Unfortunately, the stockholders in the United States government have already voted against us. Trillions of times.
