The Cost Of Real Money

In the article “Money: The Real Truth about Money” by Gregg Easterbrook published In Time Magazine (2005), the author compares two different generation’s attitudes towards money, and how it affects their happiness. The author’s standing qualifies him to write and appeal this issue, he’s a contributing editor of The Atlantic and The Washington Monthly, and he also writes the Tuesday Morning Quarterback column for ESPN.com. Easterbrook’s primary audience appears to be middle class Americans however he draws a wider secondary audience’s attention. The author succeeded in convincing his readers through his rhetorical appeals, credible sources and his clever use of language.

“The Labor Market and Minimum Wage and GDP and GNP” Please respond to the following:

The issue of the minimum wage has recently come to the forefront of the debate on social policy. There is much disagreement over the wisdom of an increase in the minimum wage in the current fragile economic recovery. Some argue that a dramatic increase is what is needed in order to lift the standard of living for those in the bottom of the economic pyramid. Economists reason that the basic principle of supply and demand mandates than an increase in the wage would result in the loss of available jobs. Small businesses maintain that it would spell their doom.

The author explains, “We can replace the word “labor” with “lemons.” “The simplest and most basic theory of economics says that artificially raising the price of lemons will cause an increase in the quantity supplied and a decrease in the quantity demanded” (Hovenga, Naik, and Block). The author uses a basic economic rule to draw a parallel between the minimum wage and the increase in unemployment caused by a surplus of unskilled workers, who he points out are disproportionately minorities. The point is that business cannot afford as much unskilled labor when their price is increased far more than their productivity level.

Ans -The study of labor in the United States has a tendency to lean towards a myopic analysis of the battle between corporations and unions. Working-class organization struggling against industrial titans understandably dominates any modern labor discussion, but the sources of these conflicts in the US are older than the nation itself. The labor system in Colonial America established the pattern of labor exploitation witnessed and discussed continually throughout US history.

Throughout the years following World War I, the United States suffered from an economic panic that would have lasting effects around the globe. The Great Depression was a result poor economic strategies and ultimately, the stock market crash. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created a New Deal plan in order to guide his natin out of this panic. FDR was able to combat the issues at hand with an arsenal of new programs that would effectively aid the nation and change the role of the government for the better.

Labor is an important service that must be available and balanced in an ever growing population. For example, there cannot be a larger number of residents than there is labor or else there will be a definite increase in poverty. In the United States, there is a set law of minimum wage, which has an effect on companies and how they manage their labor force. The increase of the minimum wages affects the overall distribution of hours available, therefore, hurting the amount of labor needed. Conversely, minimum wage also has a major effect on those who recetly entered the workforce. If the minimum wage rises, there will be an increase of the unemployment rate. Correspondley, as the unemployed suffer, the first to be affected will be incoming laborers who are looking for jobs and work experience which is essential for their future. However, the upside of increasing minimum wage is that for those employed who keep their jobs they will earn more income which may increase the

The idea to raise the US FMW has been gaining traction in recent years. While some states and cities taken it upon themselves to enact legislation to raise minimum wage in their jurisdictions, to raise it across the entire country is a different debate. In this paper I will provide history pertaining to when and why minimum wage came to be in the US. ...

The action of raising the federal minimum wage has been cast as a necessary change for the United States, and would result in ensuring that America’s workers are able to receive a reasonable living.Though the controversial issue has turned more complex, with many implications beyond just those who bag groceries, flip burgers, and clean offices. The issue is believed to have various pros and cons, and consequently sparking the ongoing debate on to, or to not change to wage.

Mills continues about the unemployed individual, '...but when in a nation of 50 million employees, 15 million men are unemployed, that is an issue, and we may not hope to find its solution within the range of opportunities open to any one individual'. (Mills 1959: 9)

The American labor union has failed in its duty to protect the employees. Currently, most of the public unions agree to the plan that every worthy benefit or wage ought to be balanced by the union’s special consideration like agreeing to a two-tier salary scale, surrendering some hours, raised copays or even deductibles for medical procedures. However, these associations have done little to fight for the workers when they are faced with salary reductions, poor pays, unwarranted cutbacks and when they are denied compensation for retirements or injuries. According to Aronowitz, the US labor movement has continued to deteriorate and lacks the voice it had some times ago. By 1990s, the labor had already decreased in intensity from the higher 35 percent membership in 1953. This is just an indication that workers have no hopes in the then merged AFL-CIO (American Federation Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations) who sought to democratize the labor movement. Their so-mediated organizing model that aimed at expanding the membership was a change of the core role of the previous service model of unionism that focused on petitioning for the members’ requests. Where the distresses may have begun earlier in the 1970s, it was not until the era of Ronald Reagan that the impact was felt. Since then, members of the labor unions have turned to be mere clients. The restructuring of the economy through technological change, and company merges, so millions of workers lose jobs. However, the

The author speaks a lot about productivity and how this is what drives wages, and how when productivity is increased our income per capita grows and unemployment is lowered. In Chapter 10, Reducing Labor Restrictions: From School Choice to Right to Work, productivity and economic growth is the primary focus. Some of the ideals he presented here seemed really good in concept, but lack in terms of how they would be put into motion. Labor Restrictions was the first thing discussed, in this he talks about how costly it is for new businesses to open up here in WV, due to all the labor restrictions we impose compared to our neighboring states, thus leading employers to seek labor elsewhere, where it doesn’t cost as much. He even goes as far as comparing them as shoppers in a market. I do agree with the fact that if they

In her piece Low-wage Senate workers get a raise- and then the shaft, Catherine Rampell tells the story of “low-wage federal contract workers” who carried out “a series of strikes” in demand of sufficient “living wage” and “a union.” As these events occurred at the Senate cafeteria, Rampell notes that the workers “attracted powerful allies to their cause.” However, the rest of the tale does not end as happily. Despite the combined achievements of the workers and “powerful allies”, Rampell reveals the detail the senators fail to acknowledge: the fact that “some workers were shortchanged.”

In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was created to establish a minimum federal wage to serve as a standard wage to reduce poverty and to secure economic growth is shared across the workforce. Today minimum wage is far below its historical levels and loses its value every year due to inflation. The minimum wage workforces are living close to poverty levels, and insist on the government raising the minimum wage. Sometimes the fight to raise the pay for workers goes unnoticed or unheard, so a labor union is formed. With a bargaining union handling the employee’s best interest, the workers usually improve their wages and quality of life. In this paper we will discuss minimum wage laws and labor unions.

At 1981, The George A. Hormel Meatpacking Company cut wages from $10.69 to $8.25 to claim the need to remain competitive. Companies threat workers that they either close one plant and then open it at lower wage places or exit the business directly. Local unions like P-9 firstly request that all the workers should stick to $10.69 an hour in ten or fifteen years that we could call its target point. The company didn’t agree, they asserted new member workers the company recruited would be paid two dollars less for the same work, which is different from the P-9 decision. Union P-9 refuses any concessions in the negotiation process at first, which proves it is an over-aspiring negotiator. It reveals its reservation point that keeping the $10.69 at least three years too early because it has absolute confidence to win the negotiation. But actually P-9 Local wrongly assesses the counterparties interests and BANTA and lead to final negotiation failure unavoidably.