Issue #2: "Boosting the Minimum"

The United States, home to the world's strongest economy and technological innovation, is also home to more than 37 million people living below the poverty line. Any U.S. family of four whose annual income in 2006 was less than $20,444 is considered poor by the federal government's standards. This makes up 12.6% of all Americans, and more than 17% of American children. Some of the people in this unfortunate group are temporarily stuck in tough economic times, perhaps due to job loss, divorce, etc. However, other people are permanently stuck in their poor economic situation. 3 million of the poorest Americans are employed full time. Although these people work hard and long hours many are paid only minimum wage, which is not enough to support a comfortable living for a family. Before 2007 the minimum wage had not been raised from $5.15 in more than a decade, not keeping up with inflation and cost of living, which enraged many people. This is why there was great support for Democratic efforts to raise the minimum wage to $7.25, which was signed into law by President Bush along with a bill for funding in Iraq. There is still pressure to raise the minimum wage even further. The increase would raise the take-home pay of millions of Americans, and many believe this would allow full-time work­ers who earn minimum wage to rise above the poverty threshold, with the help of the Food Stamp Program and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Supporters argue that this would overall improve the economy since there will be more people with more money to spend, ensuring that businesses would profit. This would counteract the negative effect that businesses would have to spend more to pay employees. They also say that it is unecessary to offer businesses further tax cuts, since they already have had generous tax cuts and more would add to the goverment's deficit. There are of course opponents to an increased minimum wage. These people argue that an increase is counterproductive since it affects few people, many of whome are teens, not families in poverty. Instead businesses will suffer because the cost of doing business will go up, along with prices and job cuts. They recommend leaving the market to let supply and demand determine wages, and use the EITC to combat poverty instead.

It is utterly unjust that good, hard-working people are forced to live below the poverty line. Nobody who works 40 to 60 hour work weeks deserves to live in such dreary conditions. Many people blame the poor for being lazy, but I disagree. People working minimum wage jobs have to work long and hard, and often times in a difficult environment, just to scrape a living for their family. This is by no means lazy. I believe that one of the best ways to beat this cycle of misfortune is to raise the minimum wage. Doing so would raise the standard of living for the hard-working lower class, so that eventually they can lift themselves out by their bootstraps. Any small improvement we can make in standard of living in one generation can benefit the next generation ten fold. If a parent making minimum wage is given the chance to earn more, they can maybe send their children off to a better school and give them better experience so they can succeed. I think that the economy would be only positivly affected by such a measure. Most businesses can afford to give their workers the little bit more they deserve, especially giant corporations like Walmart and McDonalds. Besides, if minimum wage increased at the same rate as CEO salary increases, minimum wage would be over $23. CEOs didn't need or deserve what they have gotten. I think its time we closed the income gap and give the lowest earning workers the raise they deserve.

Minnesota's Senator Amy Klobuchar shares my opinion on this topic. Read this article to learn more: Senator Amy Klobuchar Delivers Senate Floor Speech on the Need for an Increased Minimum Wage

Want to learn more about other jobs and welfare Issues? See these student blogs-
Joe's Blog: Issue #1: All Things Being Unequal
Jon's Blog: Issue #2: Putting Welfare to Work

American hikers to stand trial

Back on July 31, three U.S. hikers, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal, were in the midst of a 5-day trek in Kurdistan when they accidentally wandered past an unmarked border into Iran. They were arrested by the Iranian government, and charged with espionage. Now they will be put on trial. According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the charges are entirely unfounded, that the Americans and "have absolutely no connection with any kind of action against the Iranian state or governmet." Since the U.S. has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since 1979, Swiss diplomats are applealing for them. Prominent activists, as well as the families of the accused have petitioned the Iranian government for their release. Iranian President Ahmadinejad says he has no control over the case, and that "illegal entry" is a crime in every country.

I am astonished that such a trivial mistake by some innocent hikers could have erupted into such a diplomatic battle. The Iranian government has enough trouble on its plate, especially as the countries of the world already are wary of their dangerous and un-cooperative actions in many other aspects. The nuclear threat from Iran has been looming for quite some time, and negotiations seem to get nowhere, no matter what sanctions and other warnings the U.N. hands down to Iran. This story is a much smaller example of how Iran is ostrasizing itself from the world. I wonder why they have to be so intentionally ornery, especially when it harms their reputation and success in the long run. I only hope that they will see to a just descision in the courts, which is to let these three Americans free. They have obviously done nothing, and holding them is a petty way to insult America. Why can't we all just get along? I hope that these three hikers come out of this ordeal unscathed. If they get jail-time, that is an outrage.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/12/14/iran.hikers/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29

U.S. military children arrested in Japan

On Saturday four American teenagers were taken into custody by Tokyo police on charges of attempted murder. All of them are children of U.S. military personnel and are accused of stringing a rope across a road by tieing it to two poles, and causing severe head injury to a 23 year old woman who was then knocked off her motorbike. This incident was reported in October, but there is little explanation for the delayed arrests. This is only one incident of many that have caused tension between the U.S. military prescence in Japan and the residents of the country. Last year a 14 year old girl accused a Marine of rape, but did not pursue charges, and in 1995 a girl was gang-raped by three U.S. military personnell who were found guilty by a Japanese court. Japanese residents also say that crime and noise are disrupptions from the U.S. military.

Until I read this article I was mostly unaware that there even was a U.S. military prescence in Japan. All the media coverage of the military that I see focuses on the Middle East, Afghanistan and Iraq. Japan seems like an incredibly stable and prosperous nation in present times compared to most of the world, so the need for U.S. soldiers to be stationed there seems pointless. It is disheartening to hear of how some people have abused their welcome in this foreign land. When just a few people behave in such a horrible manner abroad, it casts a negative oppinion on the entire country they represent. If our military committs heinous crimes, what opinion will the world have of America? The teens who are accused of this crime are not in the military, but they are the product of the military, so the impact of their actions is not diminished. They're actions were incredibly cruel, reckless, and thoughtless. Did they actually think this was some sort of funny prank? If so, they need some major counseling. I wonder how the legal system in Japan differs from ours here in the U.S. Committing a crime anywhere is horrible, but to do it in a country who is hosting you seems even worse. I wonder how the legal process will play out in this case.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/07/japan.us.teens/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29