BFMW In the News

By Holly Sklar
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service, July 22, 2008

Minimum wage workers have been stuck in a losing game of "Mother May I" with the federal government. Workers step forward when the government says yes to raising the minimum wage. Workers step backward when the cost of living increases, but the minimum wage doesn't.

Until 1968, minimum wage workers took frequent and big enough steps forward to make overall progress. Since 1968, when the minimum wage reached its peak buying power, workers have taken many steps backward for every step forward.

By Billie Stanton, Opinion Editor
Tucson Citizen, 6/18/08

"Well, here's another nice kettle of fish you've pickled me in!"
Oliver Hardy of Laurel and Hardy in "Thicker Than Water" (1935)

Prices are high, wages are low and, as our economy sinks ever deeper, we have no choice.

We've got to dump those tax-and-spend conservatives.
You know the ones.

George W. Bush took office in 2000 with a $559 billion surplus, a parting gift to us from President Clinton, who was just another in a long line of thrifty liberals.

PBS, 6/13/08

Business for Shared Prosperity Director Holly Sklar discusses the state of the American dream and what's needed for progress in the future.

Original show at Bill Moyers Journal on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06132008/watch2.html

By Bill Boyne
Post Bulletin (Rochester, MN), 12/28/07

America is still the land of promise -- for billionaires.

A recent news report by Holly Sklar for McClatchy-Tribune News Service told the happy stories of those who live in the top 1 percent of the U.S. income brackets.

It noted that only two years ago, even lowly multi-millionaires could qualify for the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. That is no longer the case. As of 2007, only billionaires are on the list -- and there are even 82 billionaires who don't quite make the top 400.

By Robert Kuttner
Boston Globe, 11/21/07

LAST WEEK, superinvestor Warren Buffett, America's second richest man, testified before the Senate Finance Committee on the subject of why people like him can well afford to pay taxes. In fact, Buffett is ceasing to be among the very wealthiest because he is giving most of his fortune away to philanthropies while he is still alive.

By Corinne Ramey
DMI Blog, 10/31/07

What do the US Women's Chamber of Commerce, the CEOs of Costco, Addus Healthcare, and ABC Home, and small business owners across the country have in common? They all supported an increase in the minimum wage. Perhaps Jim Sinegal, Costco's CEO, said it best. "The more people make, the better lives they're going to have and the better consumers they're going to be," Sinegal told the Washington Post. "It's going to provide better jobs and better wages."

By Holly Sklar
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service, 10/18/07
Known placements to date include: Atlanta Journal Constitution, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Columbus Dispatch, Akron Beacon Journal, Connecticut Post, Bangor Daily News (ME), Daily Camera (CO), Standard Examiner (UT), Montana Standard, Monterey Herald (CA),Watertown Daily Times (NY), Kokomo Tribune (IN), Daily Herald (UT), The Hour (CT), Stamford Times (CT), Labor World Newspaper (MN), Banderas News (Mexico), UAW.org, CommonDreams.org, Truthout.org, OpEdNews.com, etc.

When it comes to producing billionaires, America is doing great.

Until 2005, multimillionaires could still make the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. In 2006, the Forbes 400 went billionaires only.

This year, you'd need a Forbes 482 to fit all the billionaires.

July's minimum wage hike has only upside for workers and businesses

By Kerry Curry, Dallas Business Journal Managing Editor
Dallas Business Journal, 8/9/07
Also published in Austin Business Journal, 8/10/07

The federal minimum wage hike on July 24 barely registered for many workers and employers.

The paltry raise was long past due, and everyone from liberals to conservatives, from large employers to fledgling entrepreneurs, realized that.

Jim Hightower.com, 8/8/07, Austin Chronicle, 8/10/07

One of the most oxymoronic and obnoxious phrases in America today is this: “The working poor.”

We live in the richest nation in the history of the world, and it’s morally abominable that anyone who works in this country is poor. Our economy is deliberately skewed by public policy. As a result, the vast portion of America’s wealth, which is generated by all of us, flows to the few at the top, shortchanging the middle class and leaving millions of hard working Americans – many working two or three jobs – in poverty.

Cleveland Plain Dealer Editorial, 8/6/07

Note: Cites commentary and data from Holly Sklar, "Pay CEOs Less, Minimum Wage Workers More."

WHAT WE EARN

Times and Democrat (SC) Editorial, 7/31/07

ISSUE: Minimum wage

OUR VIEW: People need more money; business will benefit

A week ago, the minimum wage in the United States increased.

Proponents say the increase was overdue, with inflation having long ago cut into the previous hike.

Sixth District Congressman and U.S. House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn writes that the increase from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over a two-year period will have real impact in South Carolina, which has among the lowest wages in the nation.

Northern Nevada Business Weekly, 7/30/07

The federal minimum wage will rise from $5.15 to $5.85 on July 24. The first increase in 10 years, it marks the end of the longest period without a raise since the minimum wage was enacted in 1938.

The minimum wage will again increase to $6.55 in 2008 and to $7.25 in 2009.

However, when adjusted for inflation, those minimum wage workers will have less buying power than minimum wage workers had half a century ago, says Business for Shared Prosperity, a nationwide network of employers and investors.

By Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier
Poverty in America Project, Penn State, 7/26/07

Contrary to conventional wisdom, growing numbers of businesses say increase in minimum wage is good for the bottom line

The Chandler & Brownsboro Statesman, 7/26/07
Brownsboro, TX

By John Arensmeyer
OpEdNews.com, 7/25/07

The sky is not going to fall.

On July 24, the federal minimum wage increased for the first time in ten years, moving up 70 cents from $5.15 an hour to $5.85. It will take two more years before the final step in the raise to $7.25 takes place in 2009.