Poverty

Listening to the local NPR station on the way to work is usually an exercise in frustration.  The Nice Polite Republicans on the national station are ever ready to explain why the Dems are wrong and the GOP is right about virtually everything.  However, when the local station sends reporters into the field, something like the truth sometimes occurs.  Today's story was a piece about the reaction of workers and employers to Gov. Cuomo's proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15.00/hr. over a period of 4 years.  Predictably, the business owners and their lobbyists predicted a falling sky and mass unemployment.  Meanwhile the workers marveled at the possibility of possibly cutting the ties to the numerous safety net programs which subsidize their employers.  The irony of the state and federal government making their business models work by keeping their employees from homelessness was lost on these "hard headed business men".  Meanwhile, a think tank at MIT estimates the "living wage" for a family consisting of a single parent and two children in the North Country is a little over $32.00/hr.  I doubt most of the small business owners in the area make that much.   Which brings us to the question of what is the actual cost of doing business less the largely invisible subsidies which make small enterprises possible.   As far as I can see, it's a strong argument for a guaranteed income.  Let's make the subsidy transparent and then decide if many of these small businesses can survive.