minimum wage

The new federal minimum wage is in effect for 2009. Minimum wage workers can now expect $7.25 an hour, as opposed to $6.55 an hour prior to 2009. While it's great that Congress finally passed a law to raise the minimum wage, empirical data has shown that anyone living on a minimum wage salary makes less than $15,000 a year, below the poverty line ($23,500). Based on this data, and recent inflation rates, it's easy to see that a minimum wage salary, common among the unskilled/uneducated poor population of this country, is not enough to be pulled out of poverty.

The other side of the argument is that raising the minimum wage would actually be a detriment to the country. As employers are forced to pay employees more money, many legislators and interest groups believe that employers will want to hire more skilled workers, leaving out anyone from inexperienced high-schoolers to the unemployed poor. In addition, they say raising the minimum wage would cause high-schoolers to drop out (supposedly, a minimum wage salary is enticing enough for some to quit school and not go to college), reduce other job benefits (though healthcare reform might debunk that claim), reduce competition, and cause suffering in Third World countries that are home to multinational corporations.

While I'm no economist nor political scientist, I did my research! While raising the minimum wage to mirror the cost of living wouldn't bring everyone out of poverty, it would definitely reduce the number of people living below the poverty line. Many studies have shown that unemployment rates would stay the same with an increase in the minimum wage. If unemployment did increase, the change wouldn't be a major economical one. Based on my research on welfare reform (I did my essay on it!), a raise in the minimum wage would decrease the number of people in government assistance programs. The average minimum wage worker is an adult, contrary to popular belief that minimum wage workers are teenagers living with parents. The bottom line  is, the current minimum wage, though better than it was last year or two years ago, is not fair. When kids and families are affected, the issue becomes a moral one.


Still interested? Watch "30 Days: Minimum wage". It's a enjoyable way to approach the issue. The link is posted below.

http://www.fancast.com/tv/30-Days/62565/562085655/Minimum-Wage/videos

Reach out to the homeless in Grand Rapids!

If you're passionate about putting an end to poverty, start locally! There's nothing more humbling than turning your heart to those that others may turn up their noses to. I've done some asking around and found some faith-based organizations for the homeless (which is more up my ally). I'm gonna check each of these out when I get the chance. Y'all should too!

Dégagé Ministries: Our Mission: To reflect the love of Christ to all who come through our doors by building relationships and offering programs that foster dignity and respect.

The Other Way Ministries: A Christian ministry that walks alongside Westown urban families as they strive to grow spiritually, relationally and economically.

Mel Trotter: Mel Trotter Ministries exists to demonstrate the compassion of Jesus Christ toward the hungry, homeless and hurting of the Grand Rapids area. A friend of mine spends a lot of time here and has nothing but good things to say about the work they do.

Guiding Light Ministries: Guiding Light Mission exists to provide a healing community 

that allows broken individuals to discover a new life in Christ. We provide food and shelter while equipping men with social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual skills, thereby preparing them to serve.

I'll keep you people posted as I volunteer with these different organizations.

Until next time... 

Ain't no party like a political party 'cause the political party don't stop!

I know that political parties are important to the function of a democracy and all, but I can't help but LOATHE them, especially with the system we've got going in the United States. It's hard to have any warm and fuzzy feeling for Democrats and Republican when all I see are personal agendas. But, alas, they are a necessary evil.

For instance, after the House passed their version of health care reform, the Republican National Committee released this statement: "Today with help from their liberal House allies, President Obama and Nancy Pelosi finally got what they have been creating behind closed doors these past months -- a government-run health care experiment that will increase families' health care costs, increase the deficit, increase taxes on small businesses and the middle class, and cut Medicare." I'm not trying to be bias by only providing an example of a Republican attack on Democrats (believe me, I tried google-ing "examples of democratic bias" but the results were mediocre at best). This is just one example of many attacks commonly seen in Washington. Couldn't they just say, "this is what passed through the House and this is why we're unhappy about it"? Or is politics like a worse, adult-version of high school? If the latter, count me out. 


Campaigns have become personal attacks which make the average voter feel like they're choosing the lesser of two evils instead of feeling 100% confident in their choice. No wonder we have lower voter turnout than some other democratic countries. 


My suggestion (though not likely to ever happen) is to change our electoral system to proportional representation, a multi-party friendly system. PR is aimed at matching the percentage of votes per party to the number of seats that party gets in the legislature. We'd still have a few major parties, but imagine all the minor parties that would get a vote. So long manufactured majority! Hello coalition government! (can you tell I'm in more than one political science class? :] ) Well blog readers, thanks for listening to my fairly negative political babble! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!


In the words of Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon on SNL's Weekend Update, "Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow!" 

The healthcare war

Since we talked about healthcare reform in class last week, I thought I'd give my opinion because I'm sure the readers of my blog are just dying to hear it :)

I'll start by explaining what I know about what the bill could offer:
-expansion Medicaid eligibility
-barring insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions
-immediate reduction in drug costs for Medicare recipients
-allowing Medicare families to keep their children on their insurance plan until age 26
-banning lifetime limits on coverage
-new investments in community health centers
-efforts to increase the number of primary care physicians
-public option that would allow citizens to purchase a cheaper insurance plan from the government
-new requirement for employers to provide coverage for employees
-institution of a new review process for insurance companies
-etc.

All of this would be funded through new taxes and cuts to government run health programs, like Medicare.

Let me start by saying that I believe healthcare is a basic human right. We can all agree that the current healthcare system in the U.S. is in need of some major changes. That being said, I think legislation for this reform is being rushed through Congress. I appreciate the fact that President Obama is trying to make do on his campaign promises, but reform of such magnitude takes time. I would take more solace in knowing that the reform was being well thought out. Instead, it seems to be legislation for legislation's sake.

Another thing is this very controversial "public option", which is, to my understanding, was the forethought of the reform. In a effort to please everyone, the public option has been considerably reduced. I'll admit, the idea of our healthcare being in the hands of our government is scary. What's scarier, though, is the millions of people without healthcare in this country. So I did some research! In an ideal world, the public option would cut costs of healthcare for many living under the poverty line. However, according to Steve Pearlstein of the Washington Post, "The evidence ... is Medicare, which spends about 2% to 3% of its budget on administration. But if a government-run plan had to spend its own money to collect premiums, market itself to customers, maintain a reserve, and manage care in a way that lowers costs and raises quality — none of which Medicare now does ... its administrative costs would be nowhere near 2% or 3%." Now, I'm no economist, but that sorta defeats the purpose when we're trying to cut the cost of healthcare for the average american's pocketbook while simultaneously dealing with our $1.4 trillion deficit.  


It's gonna be really interesting to see how this healthcare thing all pans out. If successful, I'd be proud to be alive during one of the biggest social reforms in our nation's history. If not... well I'd rather not think about that. Anyway, I feel like I'm not informed enough to give a wise opinion, so please feel free to leave your thoughts. Any other opinions would be appreciated. 

Remember when we learned about interest groups??

Well, that got me thinking, are there any interest groups for the poor/homeless? I'm glad I asked myself that because there ARE interest groups that serve just that purpose. Several of them actually.

As we already know, interest groups are organized groups of individuals sharing common beliefs about the current political system who actively attempt to influence policymaking (off the top of my head! Woo-hoo!)

Here are a few of the ones I researched. Pay close attention; there will be a quiz at the end of this blog.

Fannie Mae- You might have heard of this group since the recession started. Their main goal is to help prevent foreclosures (foreclosures have greatly increased the number of people living on the street since 2008).
http://www.fanniemae.com/index.html

National Center for Homeless Education- Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, this interest group wishes to meet the educational needs of children in poverty.
http://www.serve.org/nche/index.php

National Coalition for the Homeless- Their goal: to end homelessness. How?: by focusing on four areas: housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil rights, along with organizing several educational programs and annual events.
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/index.html

National Coalition for Homeless Veterans- Homeless veterans make up for about 23% of the homeless population. This interest group makes government programs available to the country's homeless veterans to help them get out of poverty. 
http://www.nchv.org/index.cfm

National Student Campaign for Hunger and Homelessness-This group is dedicated to the education of students so that they may meet the immediate needs of people living in poverty and advocate for long-term policy change. 
http://www.studentsagainsthunger.org/home

Of all the interest groups I researched, I would join YouthBuild USA  because they focus on people (specifically kids) in high-risk areas/ situations so that we may prevent the behavior that leads to a life in poverty.
http://www.youthbuild.org/site/c.htIRI3PIKoG/b.1223921/k.BD3C/Home.htm

That's it for now folks... no quiz this time!

Poverty in G- Rap

Last week, our school newspaper did an cover story on the rising poverty level in Grand Rapids. It's a pretty interesting article and the topic hits close to home. You all should check it out!

http://www.lanthorn.com/m/15-poverty

One word, many reactions.

WELFARE!

Democrats love it. Republicans hate it. But in times like these, there's no getting around it. Low-income or no-income citizens can't simply be told to "get a job". They need help to get back on their feet plus a system that supplies incentives to not stay in the system. That's where we come in. A government needs to look after its people and more importantly, people need to look after each other. This is where that whole individual interest vs. collective interest thing becomes a problem. Sure no one wants to pay more taxes. The fact of the matter is that a nation cannot prosper when its people aren't properly taken care of. When about 54% of our tax money is spent on defense (i.e. military, weapons, and war.... YUCK!), I think we can consider some serious budget reconstruction so that no human being goes hungry under our watch.


Now it's time to dispel some myths about the current welfare system.... GET EXCITED!
Myth: People on welfare are usually black, teenage mothers who stay on ten years at a time.
Fact: Most welfare recipients are non-black, adult and on welfare less than two years at a time.
-Over half of all recipients stay on welfare for two years or less.
-Teenagers form less than 8 percent of all welfare mothers.

 Just some food for thought. That was fun, wasn't it?

Until next time...

P.S. If you're interested in sources for this data, just let me know! :)