Mar
19
Class 15 – Wages and Myths // Sheena Chin
March 19, 2015 | Leave a Comment
From the readings and from our class discussions, there are certain motifs that arise when discussing income inequality, such as the reasoning that a higher minimum wage will remedy the situation, and that the middle class income has remained stagnant. Interestingly enough, what Goodman’s article brings to light is the fact that all of these statements are true, and more! He basically tells us that income inequality isn’t a problem anymore, which I found to be a very brave thing to publish. I read this article following the tipped-minimum wage article, and I found that both of these pieces had very contrasting ideas.
Let’s talk about Goodman. Goodman, and I have no idea how credible this guy is, writes an expose of sorts stating that income inequality is no longer a problem now because he observes that his shoeshine and his taxi driver don’t even talk about it anymore. When I read this line in his article, I was so overcome with shock. How do you say something like this in a published piece? Well, then again, he goes on to bust some income inequality ghost problems.
In regards to his first myth bust about income stagnation, I’m a little skeptical seeing how he calculates the real income growth over the last 30-40 years. I wonder if he accounts for inflation or if these are real estimates. Pertaining to his second myth bust about how poor people don’t choose to be poor, I found his overall argument to be very insensitive. Obviously, he points out that its the lifestyles that really correlate with income, but he ignores the other details that go into those lifestyle choices. He says that single mother households tend to be poorer without the husband figure, but he doesn’t consider that it probably wasn’t her idea to raise children without their father, nor was it her plan to struggle with keeping her ducks in a row. In his third myth, Goodman refutes entirely that government subsidies are an effective remedy, and says instead that government help for the poor actual worsen the situation. In a way, I agree a bit that perhaps increased aid can lead to increased dependency, but again I’m skeptical with this notion. For his fourth myth, he discredits Obama for wanting to raising the minimum wage because he believes that the top benefiters are actually the children of the middle class who start working. I can see how this is true, but he neglects to see how raising the minimum wage can still offer a lot of help to those struggling by with a minimum wage. In his last myth, he disagrees with using income as a way of measuring wellbeing and standard of life. I actually agree with him on this because I recognize that some people can have a low income, but still manage to have a relatively similar consumption measure like those in the upper lower, or middle class. Overall, I still think this guy is pretty insensitive and ignorant on a lot of small details that go into these societal problems.
In the second article focusing on the tipped-minimum wage in the perspective of Nakima, a long time earner of an unstable income due to her job waitressing and serving, I thought it was refreshing to read about this new topic. As I was reading along and understanding her situation of scraping by on tips of various amounts based on a customer’s mood, I couldn’t help but feel annoyed with the injustice. It’s disheartening to learn that someone has to put in that extra effort to make sure customers are seated and happy at every moment to ensure a fair tip that actually should have been fixed at the legal minimum wage. One of the craziest lines I read in the article was her saying, “You don’t actually earn an income. In fact, you are interviewing for a new job every time a new customer sits down.” I believe that an increase of the minimum and the fixing of fair hourly legal minimum wages is the way to resolve this issue.
In conclusion, i thought these articles were very fun to read since they had such different opinions and different takes on what we had previously been reading and discussing about in class. Goodman’s article, while bold and cutthroat, is actually quite off-putting because of his lack of sensitivity for the poorer Americans. Nakima’s story, on the other hand, was a great example of injustice in today’s society that shouldn’t be. She deserves a fair and stable wage and a fair shot at ensuring she can provide for her family.
