Monday, November 2, 2020
What Social Classes Owe to Each Other
I have been following politics for almost the entirety of my life, and I consider myself a Social Democrat. I have generally aligned myself with the political philosophy of Franklin Roosevelt for a few years. I personally agree with the concept of positivism and a government social intervention when necessary; I think it is the government's responsibility to remedy most inequalities. That is why reading about William Graham Sumner's political philosophy was enlightening. Sumner had a very minimalist subsection of Liberalism. He believed that individual hardship must be remedied by the individuals themself. However, he believed that the government could correct all malicious acts of other/mistakes made by civil institutions.
One political issue I have been critical of is raising the minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage is an issue that has been brought up by several politicians to help reshape social issues and unequal distributions of wealth. However, I do not believe that raising the minimum wage would be the best way to alleviate this issue. I am just afraid of raising the minimum wage will affect small businesses; I believe that this could cause way more problems than solve them. Only the most wealthy businesses could afford to pay the minimum wage requirement, while the other smaller businesses will be bleeding. Raising the minimum wage may help raise the standard of living, but I can see how it could further the equality between local and big business. One of the best ways to limit inequality, in my opinion, could be through a Universal Basic Income; You address the inequality without hurting smaller businesses. I could see how raising the minimum wage so abruptly can cause more problems than they solve. However, I am open-minded to any differences.
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Personally I believe that if a business cannot afford to pay their employees a living wage then they are a failed business. No business no matter how small should be able to exploit the labor of their employees by paying them a disgusting $7.25 an hour. It is 2020 and business's should be paying their employees at the very least $15-$20 an hour.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in your perspective on this. I don't know my thoughts on this, as it has been something I've been very conflicted about. I think it is hard to not raise the minimum wage when every other item sold in the economy has increased in cost over time. In the past, someone could afford their rent on a 40-hour minimum wage week, and now that is highly unlikely. I do think there are some restraints to this though, because it could end up causing the economy to spiral out of control. A Universal Basic Income also contributes to the same issue. However, I do not think small businesses will feel too much hurt in this circumstance as there will be more stimulation of the economy.
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