Additional thoughts on NYS governance by three egos, I mean “amigos” and the Fight for a $15 minimum wage in NYS. Acceptance of this malevolence has consequences – it destroys lives. If legislators do not want to risk fighting for “$15” for fear they will lose currency with one or more of the “three amigos,” if advocacy non-profits are not willing to play political hard-ball, if liberal NYS economic think tanks do not present unequivocal evidence that anything less than $15 makes little sense – lives will be destroyed. In NYC today, a couple, both working full-time in minimum wage jobs will earn $36,400 a year before taxes. Public transportation, assuming only one fare each to work and back will consume $2860. Rent will cost anywhere from $8400 to $17,520 for a one-bedroom apartment (Bronx example). State, local, and payroll taxes, even factoring in the Earned Income Tax Credit, will take another $5500. The result? Pardoning my quick analysis, our happy couple, depending on rent cost is left with $10,520 to $19,640 to eat, sleep, and be merry in New York. God forbid they should have children! This sickeningly mean-spirited (because that is what we have allowed our society to become) disaster destroys lives. It does nothing but spawn “Small Futures,” the title of a book I read many years ago by Richard H. de Lone for the Carnegie Council on Children in 1977. Its subtitle is: “Children, Inequality, and the Limits of Liberal Reform.” From the Foreword: “…virtually every index of harm to children, from death at birth to poor school performance, from malnutrition to low self-esteem, is firmly associated with poverty and race.” Decades of supposedly astute political calculus and compromise have given us the likes of an Andrew Cuomo and elected officials who become silent witnesses in his presence. It’s time to change this awful picture.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 00:17:54 +0000
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