Counsel for Getting There - Economics and Ecology: United for a Sustainable World - page 167

or put food on the table for their kids. As a consequence, they cannot afford
much when it comes to entertainment, cultural activities, or even the require-
ments of basic transportation: the single mother who works at McDonald's,
the recent immigrant doing laundry in a nursing home, or the night watch-
man at an industrial warehouse. (Let us assume that the example has not yet
wrested you out of the realm of reality.)
Further, we note that many of these people in such backwaters of the ser-
vice sector are earning the minimum wage. And this does not even consider
the human suffering of more than 10 million people in the United States
who are currently unemployed and receiving unemployment compensation,
which amounts to less than the minimum wage.
What should we, as concerned citizens, do about it? Well, the first obser-
vation might be that the minimum wage is too low, and the conclusion
is that it must be raised. At this point, we cannot only critique the poten-
tial effectiveness of a top-down approach as compared with a bottom-up
approach to the perceived problem but also of a typical conservative or lib-
eral mindset.
Top-Down Approach and the Minimum Wage
In a top-down approach, it is expected that the federal government will act,
and the first response would be that the minimum wage should be raised.
Most of us do not have the power or prestige to write legislation or go to
Washington and testify (if a bill to increase the minimum wage could even
get introduced). Thus, the upper limits of activism on the issue probably stop
at writing or calling your congressional representative, or your U.S. senator
to indicate your support for increasing the minimum wage.
Do not misunderstand us; calling your congressional representatives is
always a good idea, because they need to hear more often from their constit-
uents as it is. But, as an effective step in solving the problem of the working
mother, it has little hope of being effective. If there is no current bill pend-
ing, the contact will fall on deaf ears. There is another problem, the actions
indicated above are likely to be the response from a progressive or liberal-
minded person.
The conservative response to wage insufficiency in the lowest-paying
sectors of the economy would not be to address the minimum wage in the
first place, because that is seen as a distorting regulation. Instead, the likely
response would be to do away with such regulations entirely (or even lower
the minimum wage) and cut taxes in order to stimulate business and create
new jobs.
If such a bill to raise the minimum wage is introduced, the conservative
business interests would therefore oppose it, while progressives favor it,
and an important point for our analysis here is that the top-down approach