By Nick Hanauer The fundamental law of capitalism is that if workers have no money, businesses have no customers. That’s why the extreme, and widening, wealth gap in our economy presents not just a moral challenge, but an economic one, too. In a capitalist system, rising inequality creates a death spiral of falling demand that […]
Category Archives: Press
Cutting wages won’t create jobs : The Hill
By Jack Temple You know the summer has started when the restaurant industry fires up its annual campaign to blame the minimum wage for the lack of summer job opportunities for teens looking to make some side money. This year’s effort includes a new highlight: a billboard on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles, featuring […]
Dems Rebrand Minimum Wage, Sick Leave As Women’s Issues To Pressure GOP : Huffington Post
Two years ago, a spat between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) over Planned Parenthood funding sparked a national debate about birth control that helped lead to a historic gender gap in the 2012 elections, with Obama beating Mitt Romney by about 10 points among women voters. Now, Democrats hope to leverage women’s […]
Living on Minimum Wage : The New York Times
At least one part of the labor force has expanded significantly since the recession hit: the low-wage part, made up of burger flippers, home health aides and the like. Put simply, the recession took middle-class jobs, and the recovery has replaced them with low-income ones, a trend that has exacerbated income inequality. According to Labor […]
Gomez, Markey Both Support Hiking Minimum Wage to $10 an Hour : National Review Online
In their second Massachusetts Senate debate, Gabriel Gomez and Representative Ed Markey further highlighted their differences – but also found some surprising common ground. Both would support raising the national minimum wage to $10 an hour, although Gomez noted he didn’t see making $10 an hour as being the American Dream (Markey said he agreed). Both […]
Minimum Wage Increase: Economists Support It, and So Should You : Policymic
Massachusetts is debating a bill that would increase the minimum wage from $8 to $11 by 2015, and then peg future increases to inflation.The increase would be a boon to low-income workers and help reinvigorate a stagnant economy. Critics of minimum wage increases point to the neoliberal consensus (“textbook economics”): if you increase the price […]