Houston Democrats

While it's all well and good that John Edwards is working with ACORN to target "selected" states to raise the minimum wage by $1.00 an hour, it is unrealistic to think that a family of four with two wage earners can survive on raising the minimum wage by $1.00 an hour!!! How about ALL states adopting a livable wage, for Christ's sake so that families can survive with parents working a 40 hour work week and NOT having to work two jobs each just to survive!!! What IS this happy horseshit about raising the minimum wage by $1.00 an hour!!?? What is so wrong with having a viable, fair livable wage? It is morally wrong to pay workers a pittance and have them work longer hours and more jobs in order to pay the bills and eat!! The frigging corporations are laughing all the way to the bank! I have pasted some facts and figures below from the Vermont Livable Wage Campaign. It will tell you how much people would have to make based upon their marital status and number of dependents in order to take care of their basic needs.

More Livable Wage Facts for Vermont and the U.S.

What is a livable wage?
A livable wage is the hourly wage or annual income sufficient to meet a family's basic needs plus all applicable Federal and State taxes. Basic needs include food, housing, child care, transportation, health care, clothing, household and personal expenses, insurance, and 5% savings.

How much is a livable wage?
Because a livable wage is based on family size, there is no one livable wage number. As an update to a 1999 Legislative Study on Livable Income, the state of Vermont's Joint Fiscal Office (1/15/05) calculates a livable wage in Vermont as follows:

The Vermont Livable Wage Campaign uses the average between the urban and rural figures. See below for the urban and rural figures:

$12.37/hr. ($25,715/yr.) single person;
$18.39/hr. ($38,243/yr.) single parent with one child;
$20.53/hr. ($42,695/yr.) single parent with two children;
$10.25/hr. each ($42,625/yr. total) two adults without children and both adults working for pay;
$21.79/hr. ($45,706/yr.) family with two parents and two children, only one person working for pay;
$14.52/hr. each ($60,387/yr. total) family with two children and both parents working for pay.

(These are averages of figures for rural and urban Vermont. See Act 119 Legislative Study on Livable Income at http://www.leg.state.vt.us/jfo/Reports%20by%20Subject.htm under "Basic Needs Budget 2005" for budget breakdowns. Adobe Acrobat is needed to access this study.)

Rural Livable Wage Figures (non-Burlington area):
$10.61/hr each. ($44,117/yr.) two adults, without children and both adults working for pay;
$12.71/hr. ($26,430/yr.) single person, no children;
$18.22/hr. ($37,896/yr.) single parent, one child;
$20.25/hr. ($42,116/yr.) single parent, two children;
$21.79/hr. ($45,705/yr.) family with two parents and two children, only one person working for pay;
$14.55/hr. each ($60,523/yr. total) family with two children and both parents working for pay

Urban Livable Wage Figures (Burlington area):
$9.89/hr. each ($41,132/yr.) two adults, without children and both adults working for pay;
$12.02/hr. ($25,000/yr.) single person;
$18.55/hr. ($38,590/yr.) single parent with one child;
$20.80/hr. ($43,273/yr.) single parent with two children;
$21.79/hr. ($45,706/yr.) family with two parents and two children, only one person working for pay;
$14.48/hr. each ($60,251/yr.) family with two children and both parents working for pay

If you want to read more regarding a livable wage go to this website, /www.vtlivablewage.org/factsfigures.html#anchor183465, and you can get more facts there.

Here are Dennis Kucinich's views on a livable wage:

Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage is $5.15 and would be over $8.50, had Congress adjusted it for inflation over the past 35 years. (Of course, Congress routinely adjusts its own members' pay for the cost of living.) Over the past six years since the last time Congress "raised" the minimum wage, we've gone from six states to 12 that have established higher minimum wage levels than the federal.

In addition, over 115 cities and counties have passed living wage laws, applying higher wage standards to those working on public contracts or at companies benefiting from public subsidies or, in some cases, to direct government employees.

Local and state governments are in closer touch with popular wisdom on this issue than is Congress. A 2002 poll by Lake Snell Perry & Associates for the Ms. Foundation found that 77% of likely voters surveyed supported raising the minimum wage to $8. And 79% supported regular increases to address the effect of inflation. A 2001 survey for Investor's Business Daily found that 75% of respondents supported raising the minimum wage as a way to stimulate the economy.

Putting decent wages in the hands of those who need the money is a far surer way to boost an economy than giving tax breaks to those with more money than they know what to do with. And the living wage movement of the past decade has added more evidence to the already solid documentation that adjusting the minimum wage upward along with inflation does not cause unemployment.

We must make it a top priority to restore the value of the federal minimum wage, bringing it up to at least its 1968 level and indexing it to automatically keep pace with the cost of living. This will allow workers to quit their second or third jobs and spend more time with their families.

My goal is to combine this with the creation of a truly universal single-payer health care system, universal free preschool, free college tuition at state colleges and universities, a public jobs program to restore our infrastructure, and withdrawal from NAFTA and the WTO in favor of bilateral trade pacts that protect workers' rights here and abroad. This will transform the lives of working people, and without the efforts of working people who have made the living wage an issue, this would not be possible.

If this administration wasn't so busy giving massive tax cuts to the wealthy and spending hard earned taxpayer dollars on bombing the hell out of Iraq we'd have enough money in this country to provide universal healthcare for every man, woman and child in the United States. We'd also have plenty of money to pay a livable wage to all workers if we got rid of NAFTA and the WTO and quit allowing corporations to send jobs overseas where they can pay workers slave wages. We must hold corporations and the CEOs of corporations accountable and stop paying them exhorbitant amounts of money and allowing them to rip off their employees. All the money this country wastes on defense and homeland security could be put to better use on social programs and wages here at home!

WHY is John Edwards working for change in "targeted states"?! Why not work for change in ALL states?! How in the hell is raising the minimum wage by $1.00 an hour REWARDING work?! Christ almighty damn!! Are we supposed to jump up and sing Glory Hallelujah that somebody is trying to raise the minimum wage by $1.00 an hour?! Have we gotten so used to being screwed that we're happy to accept this pittance as REAL reform?!

John says he has travelled across the country "exploring ways" to get people out of poverty?! I just said above that if this country would QUIT spending so much money on defense and homeland security and QUIT giving tax cuts to the wealthy we'd HAVE the money for domestic programs here at home!! We also need to fund research for alternate energy sources and get the hell out of other countries and stop killing their people and robbing their natural resources!! We need to stop propping up tin pot dictatorships and start supporting democratically elected leaders in other countries!

What in the hell is it going to take to get our so called leaders in this country to wake up and smell the coffee?! Are we going to have to let this country fall to pieces and have its citizens starving in the streets before somebody gets mad enough to do something about it other than talk a bunch of bullshit?!

Having a "pretty face" and saying a bunch of "pretty things" ISN'T going to get my vote, people. I want REAL reform in this country, and I want it NOW!

You know, we all support the living wage campaign. But we also know how difficult it is to get something passed through highly conservative state legislatures.

In the case of Florida, the legislature made the decision to put a $1 raise on the ballot, not ACORN. Even so, ACORN decided to support the raise and Florida approved of it by a margin of 71% to 29%. Is it enough? Of course not. Are John Edwards and ACORN fighting for a mere dollar in each state? To think so would be to sell an organization like ACORN short.

It is obvious that progressive groups like ACORN give it a good fight. Ultimately, the legislatures decide what kind of a raise to give to the voters to decide. Is it right? No. Should we be satisfied with a $1 raise No. But it is one small victory to what could become a series of victories. Especially if a group uses the political capital gained from such an initiative to demand more from its government.

You can complain all you want, but ultimately, at the very least, someone is trying to do something. Whatever happens in Vermont, it will be much different in any other state--especially a state like Texas. The gap between the haves and the have nots is much larger in Texas and we have more of a population to address--as well as population growth. The same obviously occurred in Florida.

Kucinich has some great ideas. And believe me, I strongly support the democratically elected governments in Latin America that Bush and Negroponte are probably planning for the next "democracy project." But we will not be able to demand the types of ideas that Kucinich offers until we truly become a progressive Party that is able to achieve victory by taking that message to those who are continually ignored by both parties. We need to attract more than just the usual 10% of undecided voters.

But as long as we have our current system and current elected officials--even those on our side that many activists and voters feel are selling out the very tenets that built our Party--we must address our issues as best as we can, while building our true base through a true grassroots effort.

You know, we all want reform NOW. But if we want change, we need to make change happen. Blogs and fancy advertising are not going to make any change happen. We need to hit the streets and educate those that we want to serve so that they can also participate in this process. I betcha those people aren't reading these blogs!

Thanks for your comments. Keep up the fight!

Hasta la victoria siempre!

Those are great points Stace!

One other difference between Texas and Vermont is the dfference in the cost of living in each state, which presumably would require different living wages for both states.

While any so called 'living wage' campaign passed now most likely won't be adequate to sustain an individual, a family, or a single parent family, it is still a step in the right direction. Often progress is made by constantly applying pressure and demanding change. Take for example civil rights, withdrawing from Vietnam, or the still unrealized Equal Rights Amendment. Similarly, while we would like to be able to change things overnight for those Americans who are most in need, John Edwards has only just begun his work. Poverty is not something that can be cured in a day, a month, or even years. The fact that he is willing to give attention to and to work for the under-represented citizens of America who are ignored is a very good cause. Check out the mission of the UNC Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity.

Given the current politcal environment, we must appreciate the advances, even if small ones that we can achieve, while ensuring we do not lose sight of our goals and constantly working towards the respectable goal of establishing a true living wage.

I was also noticing that even the Vermont effort celebrates its small victories--a fifty cent increase during 2004.

We need to capitalize on these victories!