The wages of poverty (Boston Globe editorial)

[Bill McBlueState]

MASSACHUSETTS is an expensive state; housing, transportation, fuel, and healthcare all drive up the cost of living. Luckily, Massachusetts is also a wealthy state; the second wealthiest in the nation, with a median income of more than $52,000, or about $25 an hour.

Unless you happen to be making the $6.75 minimum wage in Massachusetts, in which case you are not so lucky.

...

A bill to raise the minimum wage by $1.50 an hour over two years has been stalled in the Legislature, where discredited old arguments about negative effects on job growth are heard. Earlier this month a House committee watered down the proposal so that the wage would rise by just $1 and, importantly, not be indexed to inflation. Obviously, purchasing power is eroded by inflation. If the minimum wage set in 1968 had been properly indexed it would be $9.23 by now, well above the $8.25 in the original bill.

...

The poor are forever being lectured about the dignity of work as an alternative to welfare. A state as rich as Massachusetts ought to be able to make work pay.

full article at http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/03/27/the_wages_of_poverty/

[catmother]

1. i was making $50,000 a year in new york 16 years ago and i

had a hard time living on that. is massachusettes less expensive than new york?:shrug:

[Warpy]

4. My last year in Massachusetts I made about $18,000

with no benefits, a product of having to work part time due to my poor health.

I moved out west because I had no hope of having anything better back home.

I now own a shabby house, but it's MY shabby house, not some landlord's and feel the mood was generally a good one.

I'll always miss my home, though.

[catmother]

5. how ironic. when we moved from ny to phoenix i became ill

and could not work. my husband was making about $70,000 at the time and we were afraid we couldn't make it without my salary -- of course, i would not have made $50,000 here -- i wouldn't have even made half. but anyway, we did have the house and with the deductions for home interest and much lower taxes we were able to make it. took a few home equity loans, but thank god we're doing okay now. i'm still not working, but we're okay. he's making much more now. i don't miss new york -- have never been back -- not even to visit.

[pinto]

2. Another snip, re: "minimum wage hike hurts employment" meme

"There is no evidence that the last four increases in the minimum wage led to large job losses. Unemployment has gone up recently in Massachusetts, but the economic sectors most affected by the minimum wage -- hospitality, leisure, and health services -- are growing, and few economists project a reversal due to wage increases.

Contrary to the claims of opponents, the minimum wage is not confined to teenagers with after-school jobs. According to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, 154,000 people in the state are earning less than the proposed $8.25 right now. Another 329,000 would also benefit from an increase because of ripple effects. Many of them are the sole breadwinners in their families, and 59 percent are women."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/03/27/the_wages_of_poverty/

[baldguy]

3. There's very little "dignity" in working for slave wages.