The working poor in America need no reminder that the minimum wage is only rarely adjusted. So rarely, in fact, that it has been steadily losing ground to inflation. Minimum wage workers now earn nearly $2.00 per hour less in inflation-adjusted dollars than they did in the late 1960's. Yet every time there is a discussion of raising it, there are howls of outrage from the right, and all sorts of doom and gloom about inflation and decreased employment opportunities.
One potential solution would be to tie Congressional pay raises to proportional increases in the minimum wage. If Congress provides its members with a 3% salary increase, the minimum wage goes up 3%. If they decide their wages have lost ground against inflation and provide themselves with a 10% raise, then the minimum wage goes up 10%. Seems like a simple and fair solution to me.
Never happen, right? Maybe, maybe not. More below the fold.
Right now Congress has a very strong incentive to NOT raise the minimum wage (ie. powerful business interests). Something has to overcome that, and what could possibly be more effective than good old-fashioned self-interest? They will ignore their own salaries far less than those of working poor.
Just getting such a proposal to come to a vote would take a huge effort. And yes, it could easily fail to get that far. But if the Democrats in Congress made a big enough deal about it, it just might catch on with the public. Think about it - when Congress votes itself a big pay raise, people of all political persuasions go nuts. So much so that Congress really doesn't bother doing it much anymore, relying instead on automatic pay raises that require a vote to stop.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If pressure were loudly and publicly applied by enough energetic Democrats, we could shame them into bringing it to a vote. It shouldn't be difficult. Members of Congress now earn nearly $160,000 per year. That 3% raise they might get (by not voting) translates to nearly $5,000 per year. A corresponding 3% increase in minimum wage would translate to a paltry (but no doubt welcome) $325 per year. Could any member of Congress whine about such an increase when they stand to make 15 times more? Talk about class warfare! Personally, I would like to see the initial legislation call for a return to an inflation-adjusted late 1960's minimum wage - roughly $7.00 per hour - prior to tying it to Congressional raises.
Even if this never came to a vote, the Democrats would have an opportunity to earn some political capital by renewing its support for low-wage earners - an important voting bloc.
Cynicism aside - could this work?