The Simplicity of it All
Tavis Smiley asked Ted Cruz "Why aren't you for raising the minimum wage or giving people a living wage?" The question seemed simple enough. Who could be against giving poor people more? So they can have some reasonable quality of life? Only a republican, it would seem. Those curmudgeonly, dried-up old white bastards are the only thing standing between poor folk having enough to eat and a decent place to live and a Grapes of Wrath like existence. At least, that's how the story gets told.
The most frightening part of Tavis Smiley's question, though, is the question itself. Just how would that work? All government can do is demand that your boss raise your pay. Whether they can afford to or not, is a very different question.
We might start by asking “How would this work, especially since we have an economy that is barely growing?” And, according to the most recent numbers, slower than anytime since WWII. That is the present reality. This is true despite the fact that interest rates for houses and cars, for credit cards and student loans, are lower than just about any time in history, making it far easier to borrow and spend or start a business. In spite of this, the economy proceeds like molasses caught in a winter's freeze. Leaving us with the question "Now what?"
Apparently, all we need to do is tell all those businesses that they should just increase their overhead by substantially and artificially increasing their labor costs. And, they must do this, even if they can't afford to. Here's the best part, now that their employees have a hefty raise they'll be able to afford to buy the things they make, like engine parts for cars, or nuts and bolts to sell in hardware stores. Or, for that reflective paint that goes on roads. Maybe they could find some use for a whole lot of that wire, the kind that goes into computers, radios and televisions. They could also buy more computer paper. After all, you can never get enough computer paper. Or then again, since Americans manufacture almost nothing anymore, maybe not.
Here's the thing, life can seem so simple when we have no idea how anything actually works. Then, anybody can say just about anything, no matter how ill-informed, and people will believe it. That is the problem with Tavis Smiley's question. We always need a villain, though. In this case, that might be any politician who tells us what we don't wish to hear, wishes being important and all. And, in the end, it won't matter which side of the aisle their on. It will only matter that people have chosen to believe that wishes really do come true, as they are led like lambs to the slaughter, happily saluting as they go.
Mark Magula
The most frightening part of Tavis Smiley's question, though, is the question itself. Just how would that work? All government can do is demand that your boss raise your pay. Whether they can afford to or not, is a very different question.
We might start by asking “How would this work, especially since we have an economy that is barely growing?” And, according to the most recent numbers, slower than anytime since WWII. That is the present reality. This is true despite the fact that interest rates for houses and cars, for credit cards and student loans, are lower than just about any time in history, making it far easier to borrow and spend or start a business. In spite of this, the economy proceeds like molasses caught in a winter's freeze. Leaving us with the question "Now what?"
Apparently, all we need to do is tell all those businesses that they should just increase their overhead by substantially and artificially increasing their labor costs. And, they must do this, even if they can't afford to. Here's the best part, now that their employees have a hefty raise they'll be able to afford to buy the things they make, like engine parts for cars, or nuts and bolts to sell in hardware stores. Or, for that reflective paint that goes on roads. Maybe they could find some use for a whole lot of that wire, the kind that goes into computers, radios and televisions. They could also buy more computer paper. After all, you can never get enough computer paper. Or then again, since Americans manufacture almost nothing anymore, maybe not.
Here's the thing, life can seem so simple when we have no idea how anything actually works. Then, anybody can say just about anything, no matter how ill-informed, and people will believe it. That is the problem with Tavis Smiley's question. We always need a villain, though. In this case, that might be any politician who tells us what we don't wish to hear, wishes being important and all. And, in the end, it won't matter which side of the aisle their on. It will only matter that people have chosen to believe that wishes really do come true, as they are led like lambs to the slaughter, happily saluting as they go.
Mark Magula