Time to end a double standard

 Among other things, Jesus was a master of the one-liner. The gospels are full of zingers that cut to the heart of the matter.

One of my favorites is a line he used about the misplaced priorities of some of his opponents: “Blind guides, you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.”

At that time, many religiously observant people would strain the water they drank to avoid swallowing unclean insects. It was Jesus’ way of pointing out that, sometimes, we make a big deal of small things while ignoring major ones.

There are plenty of examples of that today. One of the biggest has to do with different attitudes toward the rich and the poor (come to think of it, Jesus had another camel/needle’s-eye zinger about that).

It’s long been known to public health researchers that high levels of inequality in wealth and income have negative effects on diseases, mortality, longevity, crime, addiction, happiness, social trust and other quality-of-life issues. And, in 2019, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that income inequality was the highest it had ever been since it began tracking it.

COVID-19 made all that worse. Millions of Americans have lost jobs and benefits or have had to cut back on hours of work. Many are in danger of foreclosure or eviction when protections expire.

Meanwhile, the international humanitarian group Oxfam, in a report appropriately titled “The Inequality Virus,” found that, while “Over two million people have died, and hundreds of millions of people are being forced into poverty while many of the richest — individuals and corporations — are thriving. Billionaire fortunes returned to their pre-pandemic highs in just nine months, while recovery for the world’s poorest people could take over a decade.”

According to The Guardian, a Swiss bank recently reported that “billionaires increased their wealth by more than a quarter [27.5%] at the height of the crisis from April to July, just as millions of people around the world lost their jobs or were struggling to get by on government schemes.”

Thanks mostly to the stock market, the wealth of billionaires increased to $10.2 trillion, up from the previous peak of $8.9 trillion in 2017. The number of billionaires also increased, from 2,158 to 2,189, in the same period.

That would be the camel we’re swallowing.

The gnat that’s being strained out is hesitancy to pass a long-overdue measure to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 over several years. The minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 for nearly a dozen years and is now, obviously, worth less that it was then.

According to economist Dean Baker, if the minimum wage had kept pace with gains in worker productivity since 1968, it would be around $24 an hour today.

It’s an idea supported by a vast majority of Americans. The Pew Research Center has found that over two-thirds of Americans (67%) support the increase to $15. This includes a substantial number of Republicans (43%), including a majority of self-described Republican moderates.

The Economic Policy Institute estimates that passing the increase would benefit around 40 million Americans, over 38 million adults, nearly 24 million full-time workers, 23 million women, over 11 million parents, 5.4 million single parents and the parents of 14.4 million children. In 2019, the EPI estimated that this would benefit 255,000 workers in West Virginia.

These are the front-line workers who put their bodies, health and lives on the line to keep the country going in the midst of this crisis. It’s time to do right by them.

Jesus also said, “The laborer deserves to be paid.”

(This appeared as a column in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.)

An all too rare win for workers

One of my favorite Tom Petty songs reminds me that "even the losers get lucky sometimes." I don't really think of the good guys of the world as losers, but I think you'd be in serious denial not to admit that the deck is stacked against them. So it was a pleasant surprise for me to learn today that fast food workers in New York state actually seem on the verge of winning a three year long campaign to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, an increase of 70 percent above the state minimum of $8.75.

I didn't see that coming. At best, I thought the $15 campaign might lead to a smaller state increase. But then what do I know?

I can already hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth by low wage employers. Ruling class apologists are generally one trick ponies, the trick being trying to convince the public that any steps intended to help working or poor people would actually hurt them. The corollary of this is that anything that really sticks it to them is actually good for them. As if they gave a **** (fill in the blank as you choose) about working or poor people to start with.

All I can say to that line of thinking is "we'll take that chance."

If Wal-Mart can do it, why not congress?

The retail giant Wal-Mart got a lot of attention last week with the announcement that around half a million of its workers would get a raise in April, setting their wage floor at $9 per hour. The plan is to move it to $10 by next year. This is due in part to a big push by Wal-Mart workers, labor groups and others to get the company to step up.

The NY Times made some interesting points in this editorial:

There is no doubt, for example, that many more workers at Walmart (and elsewhere) would be making the federal minimum wage but for the fact that 29 states and the District of Columbia, as well as some cities, now have minimums above the federal level.

There is also little doubt that Walmart (and other employers) would pay more if low wages were not, in effect, subsidized by taxpayers, who pay for the food stamps and other public assistance that low-wage workers rely on to get by. This argues for improved labor standards that would shift the burden back to employers.

Clearly, the federal minimum wage, unchanged since 2009, needs updating. Overtime-pay standards have not been meaningfully updated since the mid-1970s. Collective bargaining protections also have been serially weakened by legislation in the states and by court rulings.

Roger to all that.

Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 for almost six years. The obvious question is, if Wal-Mart can do it, why can't Congress? But I think most people reading this know the answer to that.

A New Year's present

West Virginia's minimum wage workers got a raise as of today from $7.25 to $8.00 per hour. That was one of the biggest wins of last year's  legislative session. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that this will benefit 88,000 workers, although local folks think that number is closer to 120,000. A lot either way.

Not only that, but it looks like around 6,000 new people signed up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act by year's end. A slightly smaller number changed their plans and a much larger number kept the plan they signed up for last year. People can sign up via the exchange until Feb. 15.

Over 150,000 working West Virginians gained coverage in 2014 through the expanded Medicaid program, and eligible people can sign up for that program at any time.

Not a bad start to the year. If only the rest of it could be like that...

Let's talk

I've often said that one thing that West Virginia needs right away is a series of grown-up conversations (that include young people) about West Virginia's economic future. One promising step in that direction is What's Next, West Virginia?, which is gearing up to hold dozens of such conversations statewide. You can read more about that here.

THIS COULD BE INTERESTING.Fast food workers in 150 cities may be acting up for higher wages today. I wish em all the best.

ANOTHER RIPPLE FROM THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT. This NPR item about how the Affordable Care Act is changing companies like CVS is worth a look.

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Different worlds

West Virginia is a fairly small state, but sectional differences between north, south, east and west are huge. I can't think of a better illustration of this fact than these two recent news items. The first describes hard times in coal country while the second describes an alternate universe in the state's eastern panhandle. Changes in both places, along with the gas boom in the north, make for a volatile political mix.

GOOD LUCK. Being poor means, among other things, that one can't afford to have any bad luck, which is unfortunate since most of us do at some point. Here's a little look at what that means in the context of the minimum wage.

GOOD POLICY. Here's an item on subsidized jobs, an idea that seems to have bipartisan support. There were some innovative jobs programs as part of the Recovery Act, but most shriveled up when the funding dried up.

Words to live by

El Cabrero is a big fan of Japanese author Haruki Murakami's novels, which can sort of be described as postmodern magical realism. Or maybe like a weird long dream. I'm in the middle of one of his newer works, the massive 1Q84.

One can often find nuggets of wisdom in works like this. Here's one for today:

Life is so uncertain: you never know what could happen. One way to deal with that is to keep your pajamas washed.

Duly noted.

AND ONE FOR THE ROAD: worshipers of the market god are not going to like this, but it looks like job growth is bigger in states that have raised their minimum wage. I'm glad to say that WV joined the ranks earlier this year, although the raise hasn't taken effect yet.

Quite a crew

What do you reckon Mitt Romney, the CEO of Subway, the CEO of Dairy Queen, former Republican senator Rick Santorum, Bill O'Reilly, Phyllis Schlafly, most small business owners, and a majority of registered Republicans have in common?

They all think it's time to raise the minimum wage, as the Huffington Post reports here and here.

Apparently the majority in the US House hasn't gotten the memo.

SPEAKING OF DANGEROUS RADICALS, Pope Francis used the R word recently, calling for "the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society." Apparently, he hasn't read Ayn Rand's encyclicals. Maybe Paul Ryan will set him straight.

UNDO THE CUTS. Here's more on the effort to restore WV Gov. Tomblin's cuts to early childhood and family violence programs.

URGENT SLIME-SLINGING HAGFISH UPDATE here.

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A little good news

WV Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced tonight that he signed House Bill 4283, which will raise the minimum wage for over 120,000 hard-working West Virginians.

Many of those who supported this increase were concerned about a possible veto due to technical concerns about how the bill might impact local governments. Tomblin, however, along with Senate President Kessler and House Speaker Miley, promised to deal with any problems in a special legislative session in May.

Here's the governor's press release.

What a relief. I've been on edge for over a week. This is a huge win for working families. Thanks to all who supported this!

Me too, Bob

I have long ago come to terms with the fact that Bob Dylan wrote the soundtrack for my life. Usually, this is not the young idealistic Bob but rather the obscure, ironic and apocalyptic Bob.

The Dylan song that captures this moment in time is "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again," a surrealistic romp from his early electric phase. The line in question is one that I've experienced over and over again in West Virginia, where once you think you've fought and won something you sometimes have to do it all over again.

That's the case with the effort to raise the state's minimum wage. A bill to do so cleared the legislature on March 8, the last night of the session. Things looked pretty good until an corporate attorney from a major law firm began aggressively pushing to get Gov. Tomblin to repeal it.

The line is "An' here I sit so patiently
Waiting to find out what price
you have to pay to get out of
going through all these things twice.

Anyhow, we will now the results in the next few days. Appropriately enough, the bill's fate will be sealed on April 1.

Here's my rant about that  and here's some news coverage.

Hey WV, action needed now

Many community, labor and religious partners joined together this year to support passage of HB 4283, a bill that would raise the state minimum wage. And we won, by a large majority in both houses of the state legislature.

Now, Brian Peterson, an attorney with the corporate law firm Bowles Rice, citing bogus problems with the bill, is urging Gov. Tomblin to veto it. This would deprive more than 125,000 hardworking West Virginians from a meaningful boost in their standard of living.

Some people really do want it all—but I don't recall anyone electing an elite law firm to ruin the lives of working West Virginians.

If you live in WV, please consider calling Gov. Tomblin NOW at 304-558-2000 and urging him not to veto HB 4283. Instead, he should sign it ASAP. Any technical problems with the bill can be resolved by the legislature in due course. 

Read more here.

Come, mister tally man

Here's my quick tally of the best and worst of the WV legislature. Note: I'm speaking only about issues I worked on.

Really good:

Increasing minimum wage by $1.50 over two years.

Passing the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act.

Good:

Several bills that should help reduce prison overcrowding and make it less likely that WV will ship inmates (and money) out of state to private, for profit prisons.

Mostly good:

Passing the Future Fund, except the House threw in some unfortunate amendments. If they hadn't, I would have put it in the really good column. It will take more work to make it really reach its potential.

The water bill. I talked with several people who were very active in the fight that occurred in the wake of the chemical leak and most were fairly pleased with the bill. That is to say, they seemed to think it was as good as could have been gotten from that legislature at the time.

Unresolved:

The state budget and especially restoring cuts to family violence and early childhood programs.

Really bad:

Killing Move to Improve. Shame on the House Education Committee.

Killing the bill to make non-tamper proof pseudephedrine a prescription drug. The meth lobby has more clout than the kids lobby in the House.

I was not directly involved in two high-drama issues, which involved abortion bans and guns. I will say that Senator Erik Wells, husband of Secretary of State and US senate candidate Natalie Tennant, nailed it when he courageously observed that

"We want to focus on gays, abortion and guns, and I have to wonder when that's going to change. We will never get past 50th if we worry more about the next election than the next generation."

Gazette columnist Phil Kabler had this take on the session in today's paper.

Annals of hypocrisy, continued

I love it when people who don't give a damn about poor people pretend to care. Any effort to raise the minimum wage usually brings such people out. The main argument, which was also used to oppose emancipation, goes like this: trying to help them only hurts them, so the best way to really help them is to stick it to them.

One novel version of this argument was heard at the WV legislature this week, where crocodile tears were shed over the fact that a rise in wages means fewer public  benefits. Uhhhh, isn't that the point? And since when did these people care about public benefits, other than those extended to rich people and corporations?

Who knows?

With a little bit less than two weeks to go at the WV legislature, things could break either way. This could be a good year for kids and working families...or not. At this point, several things are still in play but could be lost in the fog and confusion of the last chaotic days.

The minimum wage passed the house and needs to be reconciled with the senate version. Fast food types, McDonald's' in particular, are trying to gut the bill. I hope the senate holds the line. Worst case would be changing definitions so that the increase would be meaningless.

The Future Fund passed the senate unanimously. It faces an uncertain future in the house due to rivalry and budget concerns, even though the FF wouldn't kick in for a couple of years, when the state's budget woes will have leveled off.

Speaking of the budget, it's not clear at this point whether proposed cuts to domestic violence and early childhood programs will be reversed.

The physical activity bill, Move to Improve, is headed to the house and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is awaiting action in the senate.

Two old bills that I've supported in the past but just about gave up on showed unexpected life. One is a reform to unemployment insurance which allows companies to reduce hours instead of jobs and lets workers draw benefits for the lost wages. Another is a voluntary retirement account bill which would allow workers who don't have pensions to build assets towards retirement. Both of these miraculously rose from the grave and made it through the house.

One thing's for sure. The next 13 days are gonna be crazy.

Lost week

This blog has been sadly neglected lately. I've been running in circles and a lot of my chi has been devoted to following events at the WV legislature. It's been a busy week.

Since Monday, the minimum wage bill has cleared two House committees and one in the Senate. The Future Fund cleared its first hurdle in the Senate. And the Pregnant Workers Fairness bill passed the House. One important bill, however, Move to Improve, which would promote physical activity in schools to combat obesity and type II diabetes, has stalled for reasons that have more to do with ego than policy.

We also had a huge Our Children Our Future child poverty day at the legislature, with over 800 kids and adults rampaging about. They knew we were there. Today, I attended a child poverty forum in Clarksburg and put in a plug for the Future Fund.

The session reached its halfway mark Thursday. That's the good news. The bad news is that the last 30 are way more hectic.

Bad to the bone

Arpad, the Great Pyrenees security chief at Goat Rope Farm, loves deer season and everything after. Here he is with another example of what he views as the generosity of the universe.

The question, as I see it, is is he just trying to get a leg up in the world or has he put his foot in his mouth?

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE WV LEGISLATURE, interesting things are happening. A bill that would create a Future Fund or mineral trust fund, something El Cabrero has worked on for a few years, looks good in the state senate. It has 30 sponsors and there are only 33 senators. A minimum wage bill has moved from a house committee and seems to have strong support (even some who hate it are afraid to vote against it). And a bill that would promote physical activity in schools looks pretty good at the moment. The bill, called Move to Improve, is a companion piece to last year's Feed to Achieve Act.

Lots of other stuff too, but it'll keep.

Interesting developments

West Virginia's legislature is officially in session now and several interesting bills are in play, including some I've worked with allies to advance. I was pleased to see that the leadership of the House of Delegates is supporting an increase in the state minimum wage, a move that the state Chamber of Commerce doesn't seem to oppose.The House majority also came out in support of creating a Future Fund or permanent mineral trust fund, something that Senate President Jeff Kessler has long supported.

All that's encouraging, but it will take a lot of work to make either really happen. And those are just the things we know about. In addition to all that, as a certain former Defense Department head once said, there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns.

Should be interesting. Not necessarily fun or good, but interesting.

"The defining challenge of our time"

President Obama's recent speech on economic inequality is certainly one of the strongest statements on that subject from a major bully pulpit for a long time, although it remains to be seen whether anything will come of it in this political climate. 

Here are three takes on the subject, from the NY Times, Oxfam, and The Nation.

One issue highlighted in the speech was the need to raise the minimum wage, which the president noted "right now is below where it was when Harry Truman was in office."

Meanwhile, at hundreds of locations around the country today, people took to the streets to protest low wages at actions targeting fast food restaurants. The one I attended featured the song in yesterday's post, which turned out to be quite a hit. More on the minimum wage drive from WV Metro News here.

Momentum is building.

Deck the halls

El Cabrero, a true son of West Virginia, has a friend or two in New England. A Spousal Unit too, come to think of it.One of these friends, my co-worker Arnie Alpert with the  American Friends Service Committee in New Hampshire, is a true latter day Wobbly--an heir to the working class rebels of the Industrial Workers of the World. A post-modern Joe Hill.

My friend's Wobbly handle is New Hampshire Slim and he's achieved a degree of apotheosis that most of us only dream of--one of his songs made into the legendary Little Red Songbook of the IWW. Read more about his glorious songs and deeds here.

His latest masterpiece is this version of Deck the Halls. Add the fa la la la las as appropriate:

Deck the halls with higher wages,

Raise the minimum in stages,

Index pay hikes to inflation,

Workers need fair compensation.

Higher pay for low-wage labor

Is the way to aid our neighbors.

Mickey D will you be willin’?

Help your workers feed their children.

Wages less than nine an hour

Gives too little buying power

Put it on your year-end wish list

Win a wage hike by next Christmas

AND ONE TO GROW ON. In case I've been too subtle so far, here's a straight-up argument for raising the minimum wage. 

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We all could use a mind mess

El Cabrero is something of a literary snob. I mean, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Aeschylus, Melville, Dostoevsky, Austen, Bronte, name it, I'm there. You can find all of the above discussed at length if you search this blog's archives (see upper left).

Still, every so often you gotta blow things out. And for the past few days, I've done this by listening to a Stephen King book. And it stoned me.

Some of you may recall the book or movie The Shining, about a haunted resort in the Colorado Rockies. You may also recall the little kid who said "Redrum" when things went south. King's latest, Doctor Sleep, is about that kid when he grows up.

I listen to books all the time when driving, running or doing mindless tasks. No big deal. But this one crawled up my inner quarters. If your mind needs messed with, give it a try.

OK, SO THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A SOCIAL JUSTICE BLOG. Well, for one thing, Stephen King is pretty progressive. For another, here are two great op eds by two of America's greatest columnists. Here's E.J. Dionne on Pope Francis, who is almost making me switch from the Anglican to the Roman team, and here's Paul Krugman on raising the minimum wage, which some of us are going to try to do in WV.

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