From the Daily Dot:
What was once a fringe movement led largely by far left liberals has become a major media story and trending topic on Twitter: Workers, politicians, and even business owners are fighting for a higher minimum wage. In some areas, they’re even winning. The White House has recommended a federal minimum wage of $10.10, but cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle have raised the bar, passing legalization to raise the minimum wage to $15. (In most places, the transition will take place over the next five to seven years).
And despite these successes, myths about what increased wages mean for America’s economy and workers continue to prevail, making the rounds in Facebook memes and even real news reports. There’s so much misinformation on the subject that the Department of Labor even has a “mythbusting” page.
But these myths are just that: They’re myths. And there’s plenty of data to debunk them.
More here.
A buddy of mine posted the above linked essay on my facebook timeline. Here's what I commented:
Remember how when we were in high school there actually seemed to be a national debate about economics regarding supply side versus demand side, Keynesian versus neoliberal?Excelsior!
All of that eventually faded out, though, and it seems like everybody in the ruling establishment settled, more or less, for embracing neoliberalism--I blame Clinton and the New Democrats, all that triangulation shit, for that. The Democrats ended up with a new found ability to get corporate money for their campaigns, but it really did a number on how Americans conceptualize economics.
I am very happy to see that, philosophically if not yet legislatively, the neoliberal supply-side grip on the nation's psyche seems to be loosening. Really, and I get this sense from reading Krugman and Stiglitz, a few others, that it's all very much a balance between the supply side and the demand side, which makes sense because both supply and demand are, needless to say, very important to a capitalist economic system.
But right now, we are hopelessly out of balance, living in sort of koyaanisqatsi of economics. I hope this trend away from supply side absolutism continues.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
|