Minimum Wage Increase

[Haley Smith]

While studying local and state governments, it becomes obvious that people have differing viewpoints on what would help the economy. The question of minimum wage and how it would affect the economy and whether it would truly help alleviate those in poverty or just make things worse is being dealt with nationwide.

A recent article talks about how the Democratic party continues to seek to raise minimum wage up to $10.10, which would provide enough income for a person who is working full time to be above the poverty line. Republicans in the Senate recently blocked this bill, however this sparked criticism from Obama and the entire democrat party. The democrat party argues that not setting the minimum wage anywhere below $10.10 would mean looking countless people in the eyes and telling them they don't deserve a fair shot. However, the Republican party argues that it would not only disturb the fragile economy, but also not truly alleviate poverty from those working minimum wage jobs.

I chose this article because the question of minimum wage is one which I particularly care about and which I think directly affects the economy. While Texas is primarily republican and thus generally would not accept such a bill, if it was instituted nation-wide Texas would be forced to include what is essentially a larger government.

While the problem of workers who are not making enough to be above the poverty line present a problem which seems to be fixed by instituting a minimum wage law, that is not the best fix as it would bring up countless other problems. First of all, by increasing the minimum wage, the government does not simultaneously increase the amount of money businesses can give to people. Thus, the businesses either need to cut the people's hours or cut workers, both of which would not ultimately help the workers the Democrat party seems to care about. Rather, instead of the minimum wage law, I would fix this problem by educating people to think in an entrepreneurial manner and look to improve themselves constantly. The Bible talks about helping the poor and I think it is the responsibility of the relatives of those who are living in poverty as well as the church to step in and help those who are struggling to make ends meet. This is not the job of the government, and never does Jesus command us to give to the government so they can help the poor. Rather, he calls us to go out and help the widow and the orphan.

In short, the minimum wage law is a controversial topic and one which is generally supported by those who wish for a bigger government. I do not support the increase of the minimum wage as I don't believe that it would truly help people or be effective, but may rather hurt the economy. As well, it is not biblical and I think that churches rather than the government need to be helping the poor.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/30/politics/senate-wage/index.html?hpt=p...