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higher if the nation succumbs to deficit hysteria. That’s because cutting
government spending reduces overall demand, which hits low-wage
workers hardest. They and their families are the biggest casualties of
austerity economics.
And if the spending cuts Washington is contemplating fall on lowwage
workers whose families are under the poverty line – reducing not
only the availability of unemployment insurance but also food stamps,
housing assistance, infant and child nutrition, child health care, and
Medicaid – it will be even worse. (It’s worth recalling, in this regard, that
62 percent of the cuts in the Republican budget engineered by Paul Ryan
fell on America’s poor.)
By contrast, low levels of unemployment invite wage gains and make
it easier to organize unions. The last time America’s low-wage workers got
a real raise (apart from the last hike in the minimum wage) was the late
1990s when unemployment dropped to 4 percent nationally – compelling
employers to raise wages in order to recruit and retain them, and
prompting a round of labor organizing.
That’s one reason why job growth must be the nation’s number one
priority. Not deficit reduction.
Yet neither side in the current “fiscal cliff” negotiations is talking
about America’s low-wage workers. They’re invisible in official
Washington.
Not only are they unorganized for the purpose of getting a larger
share of the profits at Walmart, McDonalds, and other giant firms, they’re
also unorganized for the purpose of being heard in our nation’s capital.
There’s no national association of low-wage workers. They don’t
contribute much to political campaigns. They have no Super-PAC. They
don’t have Washington lobbyists.
But if this nation is to reverse the scourge of widening inequality,
Washington needs to start paying attention to them. And the rest of us
should do everything we can to pressure Washington and big-box retailers
and fast-food chains to raise their pay.
“Legal Imperialism” and International Law