The Pay Is Too Damn Low Analysis

Argument Response to James Suroviecki’s “The Pay is Too Damn Low” In the New Yorker magazine on August 12, 2013, James Surovwiecki’s article “The Pay is Too Damn Low” was published. He lays out a good argument on the benefits of raising the minimum wage, but fails to address the complicated connection between low-cost goods and services that Americans have come to demand and the low minimum wage. If companies such as Wal-Mart, and McDonalds were to have to pay $15 an hour for their lowest paid employee’s, it stands to reason the added costs would be passed on to consumers. Would Americans revolt at the idea of paying nearly double for a “happy meal”, or a coffee maker? Yes, I believe they would. As a longtime restaurant owner and manager, I saw firsthand the public outcry of raising menu prices to account for raising energy, food, and employee costs. Though the public knew they were paying more in their personal lives for food, and energy, they found it outrageous when the cost of a steak increased at the restaurant. It is an anomaly that the low-wage workers who benefited from the increase in wages, stood right alongside the middle-income in complaining about the cost raises.

The naiveté of those fighting for a few dollars more an hour, instead of out and out reform of banking policies, pay disparities, and tax policies, take the focus off of these primary issues. White men have passed on the torch of leadership through the old boy’s network, and this is guaranteed to maintain the status quo in their favor. Educational institutions are the breeding grounds of inequality and the isolated networks of the wealthy. These challenges are much more difficult to change than the minimum wage, and I understand it will be a Band-Aid but far from a cure for the