“Eating is an Agricultural Act?” The Ethics of Food and Eating
During this project, we learned about the process that food goes through before it ends up on our plate. We looked at all the variety and abundance of ways to get food, and how each choice we make affects the world around us. I also reflected on the decisions I make, and how my view of food shapes my view of the food system. I had already been exposed to much of the content before, but I got to look back and examine my choices and biases. Ultimately, I did not change my approach to food, but it was interesting to re-look at my choices.
I felt that learning about food in two different ways gave for unique connections between the two topics. In Chemistry we looked at food from a purely scientific point of view, only considering the composition of food and how it is used. In Humanities we took a more moralistic view, looking at the whole food process and deciding what we thought of it. Seeing both sides of the coin, the pure fact and the more emotional, gave me a much deeper connection to the topic of food than only one alone would have.
I didn't change my views on food. My whole life, I did not eat meat because I viewed consuming animals as immoral and cruel. Now, I still hold that view. I do not believe in eating meat, and I still hope to reform and improve the food system to be more sustainable and ethical. I see the impacts factory farming has on the climate, and even the farmers themselves, and I hope for change. This project brought my desire to see food reform back and into a greater focus than it was before.
I felt that learning about food in two different ways gave for unique connections between the two topics. In Chemistry we looked at food from a purely scientific point of view, only considering the composition of food and how it is used. In Humanities we took a more moralistic view, looking at the whole food process and deciding what we thought of it. Seeing both sides of the coin, the pure fact and the more emotional, gave me a much deeper connection to the topic of food than only one alone would have.
I didn't change my views on food. My whole life, I did not eat meat because I viewed consuming animals as immoral and cruel. Now, I still hold that view. I do not believe in eating meat, and I still hope to reform and improve the food system to be more sustainable and ethical. I see the impacts factory farming has on the climate, and even the farmers themselves, and I hope for change. This project brought my desire to see food reform back and into a greater focus than it was before.
If It Has a Face
Kian Edmondson
I was born and raised a vegetarian. It was not a choice that I had wrestled with; it was provided for me. However, my family had discussions about their reasoning for the choice. I was told that as I got older I was going to be free to make my own decisions about what I eat. But the animal cruelty argument always resonated with me. I didn’t feel comfortable eating something if it had a face.
Back in the 17th century, René Descartes put forth the philosophy that animals were soulless automata, undeserving of compassion because they could not feel pain or emotion. This philosophy seems to have given justification to humans over the centuries to do with other species as we will, culminating now in unfathomable conditions of cruelty in factory farms. To me, it is easy to reject this philosophy if you spend a small amount of time around animals. Even the leopard geckos of my youth and my current room co-habitant tegu display many emotions of curiosity, excitement and pain response throughout the day.
Sometimes it is hard to balance your food choices ethically with what is supposed to be optimally healthy. Nutrition is a soft science at best, and a capitalist pursuit at worst, bombarding you with messages of death and disability if the choices you make are insufficient. There’s always some outside pressure telling me that I should eat meat-that there is no way I can be healthy if I don’t. My mom even fell victim to this propaganda about 10 years ago. She worried I was not getting the nutrients I needed so, unbeknownst to me, she invited a friend over to grill us some salmon. Seeing that lifeless fish on a platter in the middle of our table threw me into a fit of anger and disgust. I ran to my room. No way was I eating that! It had a face! I made a population chart demonstrating the decline of salmon populations over the last 100 years due to overfishing by humans, and presented it to my mom, telling her that I could not be part of the culture of exploiting animals.
A few years later, I was on a camping trip with my fifth grade class. We had been having a great day setting up camp, going on a small hike, and swimming at a nearby lake. When it was time for dinner, we were all excited to roast some weenies on the open fire. I had brought some veggie dogs so I was prepared to participate in the fun. However, once my classmates began roasting their weenies, the sizzling flesh and smell gave me a visceral reaction. I had to run away from the fire, from my classmates. I was nauseous and pissed off that nobody thought twice about what they were eating. A few of my close friends followed me and we discussed my reasoning for being upset. While they are still meat eaters to this day, they did decide to try out my veggie dogs that night rather than roast a meat weenie with the rest of the class. It made me feel good that I was able to communicate to them the perspective of animal cruelty when it comes to our food choices, however, I do not generally outwardly try to dissuade others about their own food choices (except for the occasional sarcastic jab).
As I grew older, my thoughts on food remained the same, but my deeper thoughts on the matter evolved. I have never considered eating meat, rejecting it at every turn I was offered. While outwardly my actions remained the same, my inward reasoning changed. The industrial meat system is one of the major causes of climate change in the world. Climate change is real, if you think it isn’t, you’re wrong. Learning that one of the leading causes of climate change was something I had never participated in was a major moment in my life. I found it offensive in a deeply fundamental way that people would put their own enjoyment of meat over the health of our planet. I also know that I am not perfect with my choices and it’s time to start making some new changes which could prove difficult for me. Primarily, it’s time to give up dairy products, but milk has been a staple for me, probably the only thing keeping me alive since I hardly eat, and ice cream is goooooooooooooood god dammit. One potential solution is to look locally. I could get to know a local small farmer that I felt was treating animals ethically, and buy directly from a source that I trust. These are the kind of farms and farmers I want to economically support and see succeed.
Despite my antipathy for the factory farm model, my biggest qualm with food in America comes not from animal empathy, but from human empathy. Enough food is created to feed the whole world easily, yet we still have issues of starvation. How is this okay? How can we leave people to suffer and starve because our economic system has decided it is okay to put profit over people? Call me a socialist (I am), but when it comes to a basic human right like food, economics should play no role in it. We have enough food to feed the world, so let's stop making excuses and fairy tales as to why we can’t, and admit that it’s as simple as greed. Perhaps you have bought into the philosophy of René Descartes and others, and feel that humans have dominion over all other species, and that animals are not deserving of compassion. Perhaps you have no hesitation in consuming those with faces. But, even if you can’t feel for the animals you eat, you have to be able to feel for the people who can’t.
Kian Edmondson
I was born and raised a vegetarian. It was not a choice that I had wrestled with; it was provided for me. However, my family had discussions about their reasoning for the choice. I was told that as I got older I was going to be free to make my own decisions about what I eat. But the animal cruelty argument always resonated with me. I didn’t feel comfortable eating something if it had a face.
Back in the 17th century, René Descartes put forth the philosophy that animals were soulless automata, undeserving of compassion because they could not feel pain or emotion. This philosophy seems to have given justification to humans over the centuries to do with other species as we will, culminating now in unfathomable conditions of cruelty in factory farms. To me, it is easy to reject this philosophy if you spend a small amount of time around animals. Even the leopard geckos of my youth and my current room co-habitant tegu display many emotions of curiosity, excitement and pain response throughout the day.
Sometimes it is hard to balance your food choices ethically with what is supposed to be optimally healthy. Nutrition is a soft science at best, and a capitalist pursuit at worst, bombarding you with messages of death and disability if the choices you make are insufficient. There’s always some outside pressure telling me that I should eat meat-that there is no way I can be healthy if I don’t. My mom even fell victim to this propaganda about 10 years ago. She worried I was not getting the nutrients I needed so, unbeknownst to me, she invited a friend over to grill us some salmon. Seeing that lifeless fish on a platter in the middle of our table threw me into a fit of anger and disgust. I ran to my room. No way was I eating that! It had a face! I made a population chart demonstrating the decline of salmon populations over the last 100 years due to overfishing by humans, and presented it to my mom, telling her that I could not be part of the culture of exploiting animals.
A few years later, I was on a camping trip with my fifth grade class. We had been having a great day setting up camp, going on a small hike, and swimming at a nearby lake. When it was time for dinner, we were all excited to roast some weenies on the open fire. I had brought some veggie dogs so I was prepared to participate in the fun. However, once my classmates began roasting their weenies, the sizzling flesh and smell gave me a visceral reaction. I had to run away from the fire, from my classmates. I was nauseous and pissed off that nobody thought twice about what they were eating. A few of my close friends followed me and we discussed my reasoning for being upset. While they are still meat eaters to this day, they did decide to try out my veggie dogs that night rather than roast a meat weenie with the rest of the class. It made me feel good that I was able to communicate to them the perspective of animal cruelty when it comes to our food choices, however, I do not generally outwardly try to dissuade others about their own food choices (except for the occasional sarcastic jab).
As I grew older, my thoughts on food remained the same, but my deeper thoughts on the matter evolved. I have never considered eating meat, rejecting it at every turn I was offered. While outwardly my actions remained the same, my inward reasoning changed. The industrial meat system is one of the major causes of climate change in the world. Climate change is real, if you think it isn’t, you’re wrong. Learning that one of the leading causes of climate change was something I had never participated in was a major moment in my life. I found it offensive in a deeply fundamental way that people would put their own enjoyment of meat over the health of our planet. I also know that I am not perfect with my choices and it’s time to start making some new changes which could prove difficult for me. Primarily, it’s time to give up dairy products, but milk has been a staple for me, probably the only thing keeping me alive since I hardly eat, and ice cream is goooooooooooooood god dammit. One potential solution is to look locally. I could get to know a local small farmer that I felt was treating animals ethically, and buy directly from a source that I trust. These are the kind of farms and farmers I want to economically support and see succeed.
Despite my antipathy for the factory farm model, my biggest qualm with food in America comes not from animal empathy, but from human empathy. Enough food is created to feed the whole world easily, yet we still have issues of starvation. How is this okay? How can we leave people to suffer and starve because our economic system has decided it is okay to put profit over people? Call me a socialist (I am), but when it comes to a basic human right like food, economics should play no role in it. We have enough food to feed the world, so let's stop making excuses and fairy tales as to why we can’t, and admit that it’s as simple as greed. Perhaps you have bought into the philosophy of René Descartes and others, and feel that humans have dominion over all other species, and that animals are not deserving of compassion. Perhaps you have no hesitation in consuming those with faces. But, even if you can’t feel for the animals you eat, you have to be able to feel for the people who can’t.
My Life on Earth
I went into the philosophy project looking for nothing. I personally don't want or look for much of a deeper meaning in life, so this project was interesting. I felt inspired by people who lived their lives free of a search for anything, unburdened by any existential questions.
The biggest insights I made during this project were very simple, that the more I ponder life, the more hopeless I feel. Ultimately, I am just a large pile of cells on a rock flying through space, and everything I have done or will ever do will ultimately amount to nothing. These feelings are both difficult to handle, but also comforting in their own ways. If nothing has meaning, do what you want. I felt this kinship with my pet lizard, who takes no time to consider the philosophical meaning of his actions, instead doing what he wants to do.
I don't really hold any new wondering after this project. I fell like I am at a happy place in my life, and I don't need to look for any meaning to improve myself.
The biggest insights I made during this project were very simple, that the more I ponder life, the more hopeless I feel. Ultimately, I am just a large pile of cells on a rock flying through space, and everything I have done or will ever do will ultimately amount to nothing. These feelings are both difficult to handle, but also comforting in their own ways. If nothing has meaning, do what you want. I felt this kinship with my pet lizard, who takes no time to consider the philosophical meaning of his actions, instead doing what he wants to do.
I don't really hold any new wondering after this project. I fell like I am at a happy place in my life, and I don't need to look for any meaning to improve myself.
My Philosophy Essay
I was told to ponder my philosophy, so I went home, made a warm drink, thought, and learned nothing. My brief foray into philosophical thought gave me one conclusion, that the greatest minds in philosophy are no more sophisticated than lizards. I have a lizard. His name is Messi, after the soccer player not the state he leaves my room in. Messi is, without a doubt, the most philosophical creature in my life. While others spend endless time pondering why, planning for their future, Messi just climbs. One day he was climbing my bookshelf, so I meandered over and posed a question: Why do you climb this bookshelf, only to jump down mere minutes later? His silence was quite the response. See, Messi climbs not because he is particularly interested in what is at the top, I would even wager he does not care at all, but because he can, in fact, climb.
I met an old man who told me I live my life with no meaning. He was old, almost ancient, and very greecey. He demanded I answer him. How can I never engage in meaningful contemplation, yet claim to live a happy existence? To not think of the human condition is to ignore the truth of humanity! I informed him that, while I appreciate the advice, my last journey down that path led to me speaking to a lizard, which is a very fun thing to do, but ultimately not very useful.
I went on a walk in the woods, through the forest and down to a creek. I kept my ears open, and tried to listen to the trees. The trees were silent. This was to be expected, since trees do not have mouths. Recovering from the soul crushing disappointment, I continued on my quest. At the swift moving creek, I posed a question. Do you know the meaning of it all? The creek just kept flowing, ambivalent to my query. Therefore, these trees and this creek must also be lizards. Lizards without scales or mouths or forked tongues, but lizards nonetheless. Lives filled with doing, not thinking. Not a bad way to live.
I was told to ponder my philosophy, so I went home, made a warm drink, thought, and learned nothing. My brief foray into philosophical thought gave me one conclusion, that the greatest minds in philosophy are no more sophisticated than lizards. I have a lizard. His name is Messi, after the soccer player not the state he leaves my room in. Messi is, without a doubt, the most philosophical creature in my life. While others spend endless time pondering why, planning for their future, Messi just climbs. One day he was climbing my bookshelf, so I meandered over and posed a question: Why do you climb this bookshelf, only to jump down mere minutes later? His silence was quite the response. See, Messi climbs not because he is particularly interested in what is at the top, I would even wager he does not care at all, but because he can, in fact, climb.
I met an old man who told me I live my life with no meaning. He was old, almost ancient, and very greecey. He demanded I answer him. How can I never engage in meaningful contemplation, yet claim to live a happy existence? To not think of the human condition is to ignore the truth of humanity! I informed him that, while I appreciate the advice, my last journey down that path led to me speaking to a lizard, which is a very fun thing to do, but ultimately not very useful.
I went on a walk in the woods, through the forest and down to a creek. I kept my ears open, and tried to listen to the trees. The trees were silent. This was to be expected, since trees do not have mouths. Recovering from the soul crushing disappointment, I continued on my quest. At the swift moving creek, I posed a question. Do you know the meaning of it all? The creek just kept flowing, ambivalent to my query. Therefore, these trees and this creek must also be lizards. Lizards without scales or mouths or forked tongues, but lizards nonetheless. Lives filled with doing, not thinking. Not a bad way to live.
Rhetoric Project
Minimum Wage
Kian Edmondson
Among politicians in the US, the issue of worker compensation has been a key issue for both sides. Bernie Sanders is pushing for wages at $15 an hour, while Donald Trump is trying to leave the minimum wage as is. The issue of a national minimum wage is multi-faceted. There are numerous economic impacts of shifting a minimum wage, and an equally large amount of consequences for not changing it. Due to the dollar constantly decreasing in value, if the nominal minimum wage stays the same, the effective minimum wage will decrease. This means that we are constantly taking action on minimum wage, even if the laws are unchanging.
Minimum wage is a key part in maintaining labor equality. It provides a baseline value for a person's labor, and ensures that even lower skilled or young workers are protected from exploitation by a company. In addition, it allows people to be protected by poverty if they only work a minimum-wage job (Atchison). However, if the minimum wage is too high, those same workers may be held out of the job market as employers will view them as not worth the cost. Minimum wage must fall within a certain range, where it gives workers fair compensation but does not price companies out of the labor market.
Changes to the minimum wage will have many effects on local businesses and economies. When minimum wage goes up, business overhead is increased. Jobs can be destroyed, and smaller businesses will feel the effects harder than large corporations(Hernandez). The worker-side impacts are most strongly felt by people with low employability, such as teenagers or people convicted of crimes (Holzer). These costs must be considered when contemplating minimum wage increases, but the costs are not as large as they appear.Higher wages will be a beneficial force for the local business community. The additional money created by the higher wages is spent at the businesses that have increased cost, resulting in a net positive impact on the economy. When minimum wage is increased, jobs barely decline (Scott). In addition, the increased buying power consumers gain with higher wages will serve as an offsetting force to balance out the increased price of hiring employees, according to the Education and Labour Bureau.
Currently, the US is debating what the minimum wage is for and what value it needs to be sufficient. Many opponents claim that raising it to the highest nominal value will hurt the economy. However, it is important to understand the difference between nominal and effective minimum wage. Essentially, the nominal minimum wage is the straight value, currently $7.25 in the US (Kiersz).However, the minimum wage has actually held values much higher, as inflation has decreased the value of a single dollar. For example, minimum wage once held a value of almost $11 modern dollars back in 1966 ( Economic Policy Institute). The nominal wage was lower, but the effective wage was far higher. Because of this, arguments that rely on the minimum wage already being at its highest point in history are a misrepresentation, because the effective wage has been far higher. Only the nominal minimum wage is at an alltime high.
When evaluating the minimum wage, it is important to compare the minimum wage to the local cost of living. Around the US, the cost of living can vary wildly, with places like the San Francisco Bay Area costing far more than rural Nebraska. This means that despite the minimum wage being $15 dollars in San Francisco, that money will not go quite as far as $11.10 will in Colorado. This means that the Federal minimum wage should be based on a national minimum because the federal wage will cover the whole nation, meaning it may be too high or too low for various areas. Right now, the federal minimum wage is at $7.25. However, in every single state this falls short of keeping a family of 4 above the poverty line on one income.
Interestingly, in states that have both a higher minimum wage and cost of living, the poverty rate is lower. States that have high poverty rates and low minimum wages almost never increase their own minimum wage unless the federal wage changes. However, richer states will increase their wages to keep up with the increasing cost of living (Economic Policy Institute). States have trouble being economically responsible and keeping their workers’ pay above the poverty line, meaning the federal wage must be in place to keep the workers fairly compensated. However, the federal wage is also inadequate.
The federal minimum wage is currently a poverty wage, as minimum-wage earners will not be able to support a family of 4 in any state, regardless of the cost of living. In order for a family of 4 to be above the poverty line on a single minimum income, the federal minimum wage must rise. Currently, experts agree that a federal living wage will need to be between $12-$16 an hour to accommodate a family on a single minimum income. This would serve as the baseline for every region, with each state able to increase their wage based on their relative cost of living, allowing poor states to maintain a living wage and rich states to increase the pay to make them survivable.
Even with a nominally higher federal wage, the issue of inflation bringing down the effective wage will still persist. Pegging the minimum wage to inflation, or other measures to keep the minimum wage updated, will prevent the problem from continuing to present itself. The wage could be either tied to the inflation value directly, or have a simple % increase each year. These measures will prevent us from having this same debate every other decade, when the effective minimum wage dips down to low levels again.
I believe that the minimum wage should be raised to $14 an hour, and that the minimum wage should be pegged to inflation. This will allow people to escape poverty when on a minimum wage, and will prevent the wage from continuing to slip. Additionally, this would be strengthened by states increasing their minimum wage to match the cost of living. Combining these reforms will allow for workers to be given fair compensation and kept out of poverty, while maintaining the viability of small business.
Bibliography:
“After the longest period in history without an increase, the federal minimum
wage today is worth 17% less than 10 years ago—and 31% less than in 1968.”
Economic Policy Institute. Economic Policy Institute. 15 July 2019. Web. 12 Nov. 2019
https://www.epi.org/research/minimum-wage/
Atchison, Chris. Personal Interview. 19 Nov. 2019.
Cooper, David, and Shierholz, Heidi. “Fact sheet on regional minimum wage proposals.”
Economic Policy Institute. Economic Policy Institute. 5 Mar. 2019. Web. 12 Nov. 2019
https://www.epi.org/research/minimum-wage/
Government Accountability Office for Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Minimum Wage Too Low to Keep
Working Families Out of Poverty, New Report Finds.” Bernie Sanders-U.S. Senator for
Vermont. Bernie Sanders- U.S. Senator for Vermont. 23 Oct. 2017. Web. 13 Nov. 2019
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/minimum-wage-too-low-to-keep-working-families-out-of-poverty-new-report-finds
Hernandez, Evan. Personal Interview. 13 Nov. 2019.
Holzer, Harry J. “A $15-hour minimum wage could harm America’s poorest workers.” Brookings.
The Brookings Institute. 30 July 2015. Web. 18 Nov. 2019.
https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/a-15-hour-minimum-wage-could-harm-americas-poo
rest-workers/
Jacobson, Louis. “Fact-checking Bernie Sanders on a $15 minimum wage.” Politifact. Poyner
Institute. 1 Mar. 2019. Web 18 Nov. 2019.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/mar/01/bernie-sanders/fact-che
cking-bernie-sanders-15-minimum-wage/
Kelly, Jack. “The Unintended Consequences Of Raising Minimum Wage To $15.” Forbes.
Forbes Media LLC. 10 July 2019. Web. 16 Nov. 2019.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2019/07/10/the-unintended-consequences-of-the-
15-minimum-wage/#7bc0f2c2e4a7
Kiersz, Andy. “Federal Minimum Wage Workers Map 2018.” Business Insider. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. 4 Mar. 2019. Web. 11 Nov. 2019
https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-minimum-wage-workers-map-2018-10
“Policy Basics: The Minimum Wage.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities. 19 Dec. 2018. Web. 14 Nov. 2019.
www.cbpp.org/research/economy/policy-basics-the-minimum-wage
ProCon.Org. “Should the Federal Minimum Wage be Increased?” ProCon.Org. ProCon.Org.
9 May 2019. Web. 12 Nov 2019.
https://minimum-wage.procon.org/
Scott, Robert C. “Raising the Minimum Wage: Good for Workers, Businesses, and the
Economy.” Education and Labor Committee. Committee for Education and the
Workforce Democrats Fact Sheet. Web. 13 Nov. 2019
https://edlabor.house.gov/download/fact-sheet-raising-the-minimum-wage-is-good-for-workers-business-and-the-economy-#:~:targetText=Raising%20the%20federal%20minimum%20wage,by%20generating%20increased%20consumer%20demand
“Target Becomes Latest Cautionary Tale On $15.” Minimum Wage Facts and
Analysis. Employment Policies Institute. 15 Oct. 2019. Web. 12 Nov. 2019
https://www.minimumwage.com/2019/10/target-becomes-the-latest-cautionary-tale-against-15/
“The federal minimum wage should be a robust national wage floor, not
adjusted region by region.” Economic Policy Institute. Economic Policy Institute. 18 Mar.
2019. Web. 12 Nov. 2019
https://www.epi.org/research/minimum-wage/
Wihbey, John. “Minimum Wage: Updated Research Roundup on the Effects of Increasing Pay.”
Journalist’s Resource. Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center and the
Carnegie-Knight Initiative. 27 July 2016. Web. 13 Nov. 2019.
https://journalistsresource.org/studies/economics/inequality/the-effects-of-raising-the-minimum-wage/
Kian Edmondson
Among politicians in the US, the issue of worker compensation has been a key issue for both sides. Bernie Sanders is pushing for wages at $15 an hour, while Donald Trump is trying to leave the minimum wage as is. The issue of a national minimum wage is multi-faceted. There are numerous economic impacts of shifting a minimum wage, and an equally large amount of consequences for not changing it. Due to the dollar constantly decreasing in value, if the nominal minimum wage stays the same, the effective minimum wage will decrease. This means that we are constantly taking action on minimum wage, even if the laws are unchanging.
Minimum wage is a key part in maintaining labor equality. It provides a baseline value for a person's labor, and ensures that even lower skilled or young workers are protected from exploitation by a company. In addition, it allows people to be protected by poverty if they only work a minimum-wage job (Atchison). However, if the minimum wage is too high, those same workers may be held out of the job market as employers will view them as not worth the cost. Minimum wage must fall within a certain range, where it gives workers fair compensation but does not price companies out of the labor market.
Changes to the minimum wage will have many effects on local businesses and economies. When minimum wage goes up, business overhead is increased. Jobs can be destroyed, and smaller businesses will feel the effects harder than large corporations(Hernandez). The worker-side impacts are most strongly felt by people with low employability, such as teenagers or people convicted of crimes (Holzer). These costs must be considered when contemplating minimum wage increases, but the costs are not as large as they appear.Higher wages will be a beneficial force for the local business community. The additional money created by the higher wages is spent at the businesses that have increased cost, resulting in a net positive impact on the economy. When minimum wage is increased, jobs barely decline (Scott). In addition, the increased buying power consumers gain with higher wages will serve as an offsetting force to balance out the increased price of hiring employees, according to the Education and Labour Bureau.
Currently, the US is debating what the minimum wage is for and what value it needs to be sufficient. Many opponents claim that raising it to the highest nominal value will hurt the economy. However, it is important to understand the difference between nominal and effective minimum wage. Essentially, the nominal minimum wage is the straight value, currently $7.25 in the US (Kiersz).However, the minimum wage has actually held values much higher, as inflation has decreased the value of a single dollar. For example, minimum wage once held a value of almost $11 modern dollars back in 1966 ( Economic Policy Institute). The nominal wage was lower, but the effective wage was far higher. Because of this, arguments that rely on the minimum wage already being at its highest point in history are a misrepresentation, because the effective wage has been far higher. Only the nominal minimum wage is at an alltime high.
When evaluating the minimum wage, it is important to compare the minimum wage to the local cost of living. Around the US, the cost of living can vary wildly, with places like the San Francisco Bay Area costing far more than rural Nebraska. This means that despite the minimum wage being $15 dollars in San Francisco, that money will not go quite as far as $11.10 will in Colorado. This means that the Federal minimum wage should be based on a national minimum because the federal wage will cover the whole nation, meaning it may be too high or too low for various areas. Right now, the federal minimum wage is at $7.25. However, in every single state this falls short of keeping a family of 4 above the poverty line on one income.
Interestingly, in states that have both a higher minimum wage and cost of living, the poverty rate is lower. States that have high poverty rates and low minimum wages almost never increase their own minimum wage unless the federal wage changes. However, richer states will increase their wages to keep up with the increasing cost of living (Economic Policy Institute). States have trouble being economically responsible and keeping their workers’ pay above the poverty line, meaning the federal wage must be in place to keep the workers fairly compensated. However, the federal wage is also inadequate.
The federal minimum wage is currently a poverty wage, as minimum-wage earners will not be able to support a family of 4 in any state, regardless of the cost of living. In order for a family of 4 to be above the poverty line on a single minimum income, the federal minimum wage must rise. Currently, experts agree that a federal living wage will need to be between $12-$16 an hour to accommodate a family on a single minimum income. This would serve as the baseline for every region, with each state able to increase their wage based on their relative cost of living, allowing poor states to maintain a living wage and rich states to increase the pay to make them survivable.
Even with a nominally higher federal wage, the issue of inflation bringing down the effective wage will still persist. Pegging the minimum wage to inflation, or other measures to keep the minimum wage updated, will prevent the problem from continuing to present itself. The wage could be either tied to the inflation value directly, or have a simple % increase each year. These measures will prevent us from having this same debate every other decade, when the effective minimum wage dips down to low levels again.
I believe that the minimum wage should be raised to $14 an hour, and that the minimum wage should be pegged to inflation. This will allow people to escape poverty when on a minimum wage, and will prevent the wage from continuing to slip. Additionally, this would be strengthened by states increasing their minimum wage to match the cost of living. Combining these reforms will allow for workers to be given fair compensation and kept out of poverty, while maintaining the viability of small business.
Bibliography:
“After the longest period in history without an increase, the federal minimum
wage today is worth 17% less than 10 years ago—and 31% less than in 1968.”
Economic Policy Institute. Economic Policy Institute. 15 July 2019. Web. 12 Nov. 2019
https://www.epi.org/research/minimum-wage/
Atchison, Chris. Personal Interview. 19 Nov. 2019.
Cooper, David, and Shierholz, Heidi. “Fact sheet on regional minimum wage proposals.”
Economic Policy Institute. Economic Policy Institute. 5 Mar. 2019. Web. 12 Nov. 2019
https://www.epi.org/research/minimum-wage/
Government Accountability Office for Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Minimum Wage Too Low to Keep
Working Families Out of Poverty, New Report Finds.” Bernie Sanders-U.S. Senator for
Vermont. Bernie Sanders- U.S. Senator for Vermont. 23 Oct. 2017. Web. 13 Nov. 2019
https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/minimum-wage-too-low-to-keep-working-families-out-of-poverty-new-report-finds
Hernandez, Evan. Personal Interview. 13 Nov. 2019.
Holzer, Harry J. “A $15-hour minimum wage could harm America’s poorest workers.” Brookings.
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Reflection
My project was a 2 page op-ed on minimum wage changes and how they affect workers and business. For the exhibition I presented my research conclusions and discussed my results with the visitors. Most visitors agreed with my opinion but I did have a decently long debate with one person that I enjoyed. I don’t really think that my views changed much over the course of this project, because I had already looked into minimum wage changes and the economics behind them before. I did learn that the other side has economic arguments against raising the minimum wage that are based in some interesting studies. Most specifically, that a blanket wage increase will increase cost of living in proportion, reducing the impact of minimum wage increases.
I think the biggest thing I learned about democracy from this project is that debates are multi-faceted and that the subdivisions in opinion are not well represented by our current 2 party system. I got to take a deeper dive into the small divisions within each party, and I grew to appreciate the lack of representations certain viewpoints hold due to the lack of political parties in the US. I don’t think that these views have caused me to change my political chance that much, because I find that my views still align strongly one party.
The greatest role of Rogerian rhetoric in our society is to find solutions to our problems. Because this rhetorical style seeks to find compromise and represent both sides, it is very effective for creating agreeable solutions. I think that this style of rhetoric should be embraced by more politicians because it well help to ease the divide in our society. Rogerian dialect is the key to filling the political divide we have, and to unite our nation once more. This is the key to keeping our democtartic principles alive and healthy in the face of demagoguery and fake news.
My project was a 2 page op-ed on minimum wage changes and how they affect workers and business. For the exhibition I presented my research conclusions and discussed my results with the visitors. Most visitors agreed with my opinion but I did have a decently long debate with one person that I enjoyed. I don’t really think that my views changed much over the course of this project, because I had already looked into minimum wage changes and the economics behind them before. I did learn that the other side has economic arguments against raising the minimum wage that are based in some interesting studies. Most specifically, that a blanket wage increase will increase cost of living in proportion, reducing the impact of minimum wage increases.
I think the biggest thing I learned about democracy from this project is that debates are multi-faceted and that the subdivisions in opinion are not well represented by our current 2 party system. I got to take a deeper dive into the small divisions within each party, and I grew to appreciate the lack of representations certain viewpoints hold due to the lack of political parties in the US. I don’t think that these views have caused me to change my political chance that much, because I find that my views still align strongly one party.
The greatest role of Rogerian rhetoric in our society is to find solutions to our problems. Because this rhetorical style seeks to find compromise and represent both sides, it is very effective for creating agreeable solutions. I think that this style of rhetoric should be embraced by more politicians because it well help to ease the divide in our society. Rogerian dialect is the key to filling the political divide we have, and to unite our nation once more. This is the key to keeping our democtartic principles alive and healthy in the face of demagoguery and fake news.