Letter to the Editor
October 23, 2013
It’s interesting to note the demands people are putting on
large corporations to start paying a living wage. Just what is that and what is
the consequence of NOT paying a living wage.
First of all, it is described as the minimum wage to keep a
person out of poverty working a straight 40 hour week. This will vary
regionally. It costs more to live in California
than say, Arkansas .
What happens when people are forced to work at below the
poverty line? ‘Forced’ sounds pretty harsh but anytime someone needs work to
put food on the table or a roof over their heads and the only jobs available
are below the poverty line in earnings, it is ‘forced’ labor. Paying
substantially less than what it takes to keep body and soul alive is
dehumanizing and borders on ‘enslavement’.
As they say, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Slavery by
any other name is still slavery.
These large corporations are getting a ‘free’ ride in our
society because they have convinced their representatives locally and
nationally, that it is in society’s best interests if they DON”T pay any taxes.
The burden then falls on the worker bees that they aren’t paying a living wage.
Public services are cut to help the impoverished (low wage earners) or to supply
necessary safety services such as fire support, police support or ambulance
support to those who stay behind from choice or lack of ability to leave. No
income means no services.
It is said that ‘people’ force the private businesses out of
business when stores like Walmart, Lowe’s or Home Depot move into a
neighborhood. If they wouldn’t shop there those big box stores would leave.
That is very true except for one small fact. If the only store sells the only
things they can afford on the minimal wages earned, they will shop where they
can maximize their earnings. People need clothing, shelter and food, that is a
reality. When wages are so low they cannot afford to buy from no one but their
‘bosses’ they become chattels. Their choices of who to buy from become limited
because they cannot afford to buy from a competitor that must sell higher
because its labor costs are higher especially if it’s a local business.
It becomes a round robin system where the low wage earner
loses and the big box store justifies keeping wages low as their profits soar.
Jobs lose in any market when the big box stores move in. California
did a study and proved that as the stores moved in with their 200 or so jobs
the rest of the area lost considerably more than that as businesses folded due
to a lack of support. Where is the justification of giving these monstrosities
a ‘free’ ride? The jobs created are low wage jobs. Local companies are forced
to shutter their doors because they cannot compete with ‘low prices’.
As cities lose the ability to supply necessary life support
to its residents, those that can, leave. Those that can’t, stay and get kicked
in the teeth and are told they need too much, demand too much, won’t work hard
enough to take care of their needs.
Someone must pay for fire support, police support, and
ambulance support. All are paid for with tax dollars. If the people left to pay
for these services can’t feed themselves, where is that money going to come
from? The corporations already know they don’t have to pay, they get a free
ride from the city managers to bring ‘more’ jobs to the area.
Soon or later America
will have to wake up and smell the coffee. You’re being swindled.
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