American Magazine: November 2013

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syllabus GOVERNMENT 326 History of the Conservative Movement: 1945–Present What are conservatives—Reagan, Ryan, Cheney, and Cruz—trying to conserve? That’s the question Christopher Malagisi, SPA/BA ’03, poses to budding political scientists in his popular course that examines the philosophical and political underpinnings of the conservative movement, which rose to prominence after World War II. “It’s no mystery that most AU students lean left,” says Malagisi, president and founder of the Young Conservatives Coalition. “I like to play devil’s advocate,” leading to lively debates around William F. Buckley, Phyllis Schlafly, Russell Kirk, and other conservative minds. “It’s important to understand all sides of the political argument.” Next on the agenda GOVERNMENT 531 Watergate: A Constitutional Crisis Longtime White House reporter Don Fulsom, who penned a 2012 book about Nixon’s presidency, brings to life a crucial chapter in history for students born decades after the scandal rocked D.C. AMERICAN STUDIES 140 Washington, D.C.: Life Inside a Monument This popular course explores D.C. as a transnational city, the nation’s capital, and a magnet for community activists, politicos, and artists. 4 AMERICAN MAGAZINE NOVEMBER <strong>2013</strong>
expert 3 MINUTES ON . . . The Minimum Wage David Kautter Managing director, Kogod Tax Center, and executive in residence, Department of Accounting and Taxation, Kogod School of Business The minimum wage was enacted in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It was 25 cents. Congress tried to enact one once before, but it was ruled unconstitutional in the early ’30s. Its primary purpose was to prevent employers from taking advantage of employees. Over time, other arguments have been made, including fairness. Some say it’s not fair for people who work hard to not get paid at least a “reasonable amount” of money. Another argument is redistribution: essentially, if the employees don’t get the money, it will go to the business owners in the form of higher profits. A critical question has always been whether by increasing the federal minimum wage, which must be done by Congress, you raise the cost of labor, so that employers can afford less labor. Therefore businesses just don’t hire as many people, because they can’t, make enough money at the higher rate. The idea of a living wage—a higher minimum wage instituted by states, counties, or cities—emerged as a major issue in the late ’90s. The highest at the moment is in San Francisco. The issue there is that the minimum wage is not what most would consider a living wage, and so while it sets a floor on what employers can pay, it’s not enough to live on. One of the challenges D.C., has been that it has focused on a particular segment of employers—like Walmart—as opposed to all employers. The key challenge for cities, in particular, is that businesses can move out to the suburbs, where they can keep the same customers and pay less in wages. In the District, I think the weakness in the debate was that they picked out a piece in the market, so-called “big box retailers.” If it’s good policy, isn’t it good for everybody? If you can’t afford a wage of that magnitude in your city, then you’re probably better off not having a living wage policy. It’s estimated that only about 50 percent of people earning minimum wage are part of families that make less than $40,000 a year. The teenagers or spouses, people who have other earners in the household making well above the minimum wage. When the minimum wage goes up, who pays? It can either be the owner of the business through smaller profits, or it can be added to the cost of the service or the good. The other issue with raising the wage is that people earning minimum wage tend to consume almost every dollar they make. What that’s going to do is create more demand in the market. You just hope that it doesn’t get so active that it doesn’t have an adverse impact on inflation. It’s a fascinating issue on which there are generally not a lot of crystal clear answers. It comes down more to philosophy than hard economics. with the debate in Washington, other half are LET’S TALK #AMERICANMAG 5
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American Magazine: November 2013

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