A Just Minimum Wage
By Holly Sklar and Dr. Paul H. Sherry
Forword by Dr. James A. Forbes Jr.
Copyright: Fall 2005
“Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and the needy.” – Prov. 31:19
-Wages are a bedrock moral issue. Wages reflect our personal values and our nations values.
-The minimum wage is where society draws the line: The low and no lower. Our bottom line is this: A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it. The federal minimum wage was enacted through the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which also set standards for overtime pay and restrictions on child labor.
-The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour since September 1997. That’s more than eight years at $5.15 as the cost of living rises.
-The $5.15 minimum wage is lower in value than the minimum wage of 1950-which would be worth more than $6 now, adjusting for inflation.
-The 1963 minimum wage is worth more than $8 in today’s dollars.
-The real minimum wage-the wage adjusted for inflation-reached its highest point in 1968. It would take more than $9 to match the minimum wage peak of 1968, adjusting for inflation.
-College tuition (public or private) costs more than twice what it did in 1968.
-The cost of health insurance has risen so much that family coverage now costs more than the entire annual income of a full-time worker at minimum wage.
-The typical worker paid minimum wage is an adult, not a teenager living with parents. Most have high school degrees or more.
-No one should be trapped in poverty by low wages.
-$5.15 minimum wage = $10,712 a year
-It takes more than three jobs at minimum wage to support a family of four.
-We need a wage ethic to go with our work ethic.
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Not so tough to deal with when you belive that the job of the Church is to care for the downtrodden, and the job of the government is to deal with adminstrative issues.
ReplyDelete...and where is the voice of the church in our democratic republic? it's loud and clear, shouting, "god bless the status quo!"
ReplyDeleteanonymous is for wimps.
ReplyDelete...and what is your point?
ReplyDelete"NOT SO TOUGH TO DEAL WITH"? "...when YOU believe..."
ReplyDeleteit is always tough to deal with the dismantling of Satan's kingdom. Much more, it's tough to deal with apathy in churchmen...
and it's tough to deal with the sneaky, underhanded way that silence and truthtwisting conspire together in our community witness, affirming the poverties of Satan's system in the cosmos...
In the letters of Paul, he describes himself as administrating the ministry of the gospel... aren't we to participate in that?
I'm tiring quickly of cowardly jabs on these posts. The goal of this forum is to bring together people who want to get involved, grow, come together, and Love.
There is no question on the table about whether or not there are major issues in the church that need prophetic attention.
The question on the table is "How shall we pray?" "How shall we love" "What are the commands of the Lord" "How shall we remind one another?"
Let's Unbless the Status Quo... Fill that heart withlove, fill that table with the poor. Empty that bank account, for Christ's sake...
Our friend Chris's monthly budget is still negative! Churches involved in supporting him still chime in with the old, "we don't want him to become dependent" thing. What do you think of his survival? He froze to the ground one night, last winter!
Every night, we talk about those others who are out there in the parks, and down next to the river... As the wind whips into our house though the cracks, and we pray for the money to pay the bills, we are reminded of them...
We have two in our house. Two homeless poor, one from Africa, one from right here (he drummed for wasp)...
We have a 4 year old
we have an 11-year old
we have a community of faith around us, filling our table, house, and family with love and support.
we have been on a years-long journey of mourning and praying for God to grant us that we could do this kind of stuff...
we've had false starts
we've had disappointments
we've failed others (still so sorry K and E. still miss you and papa. still want to hug you)
this life isn't something that we just force. but it is something that we press into and press on in... it's something that we grow a desire for as we let the Word have His way with us...
we find that it's all a GIFT to us. all the setbacks, difficulties, all the love, all the tables... it's all GIFT...
when we discover the misery and grief of the Truth, we also uncover the potential to come into the Freedom that he promised...
...if we let the Truth do His work in us...
d'jyever read about Eustace in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, how he got turned into a dragon? and how he got turned back into a boy?
That's US!