Republican Plan Eliminates Employment Problem

WASHINGTON–At and early morning news conference on the steps of the U.S. Treasury, standing next to James Earle Fraser’s bronze sculpture of Alexander Hamilton, Speaker of the House John Boehner explained the latest Republican plan to slash the unemployment rate.

Serfdom, American Style

The worst thing about the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the minimum wage is that it is not definitive. Raising the minimum wage will neither decimate jobs as its opponents contend, nor will it be the panacea for poverty that its supporters had hoped, leaving plenty for both sides to argue about. If the minimum wage was raised to $10.10 and indexed to inflation, it would likely lift 900,000 workers above the poverty threshold while eliminating about 500,000 jobs. An alternative proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9.00 without indexing would have a smaller impact. The key effects of the alternative proposals are summarized below.

How Poor Is Poor?

By Joe Cereola

A family living at the poverty level faces considerable challenges. All income is consumed by necessities, leaving little, if anything, to spend on even the small things that make life more enjoyable. But poverty is not about forgoing movies and popcorn; poverty is a life on the precipice of financial ruin. Without health insurance, a serious illness is catastrophic; a car repair, a broken refrigerator, or a traffic ticket becomes a crisis. Money for a rainy-day fund is nonexistent, and saving for retirement is an unaffordable luxury. Poverty means having to survive one's golden years on Social Security and Medicaid. 

Don't Like The Minimum Wage?

By Joe Cereola

Social media gives everyone with something say a to a place to say it. But some ideas are not worth sharing, especially when they are untrue and their sole purpose is to obfuscate. I stumbled across the image below on Facebook. I refrained from commenting because the dialog that often follows such unsupported statements is often irrational and uncivil, and those who advance unfounded claims are frequently immune to the logic and facts that prove their beliefs false.