“The American Dream, Alive or on Hold,” by Brandon King fails to identify the reasons why creating more jobs and raising the minimum wage would not be good for the United States economy. King states that “raising the minimum wage does little to make the poor richer.”(king 2012) The minimum wage in the Unites States is well below where it should be, the minimum wage was put in place During the Great depression to ensure that Americans could meet basic necessities. Creating jobs and the minimum wage increase is a major subject in todays politics and media outlets.
The increase of minimum wage was implemented during The Great Depression to try and help boost the economy, and it worked. This move helped get the United States out of the Depression. A higher minimum wage has many benefits to the biggest percentage of the United States; it would affect the economy in a good way. Higher wages benefit both the earner and they also help the economy at large by increasing consumer spending. Americans would be more inclined to spend, when spending increases so do jobs and the economy(Reich 2010).
Increasing the minimum wage would mean an improved economy and being able to sustain American recovery.
Increasing the minimum wage will not only benefit the worker earning the amount, but also the other workers that earn more than the minimum wage. The minimum wage is seen as the base number from which their wages are calculated, so if that number is raised, their earnings will increase accordingly. The minimum wage barely covers the cost of living in the United States, Americans end up having more than on job to be able to sustain their household. The American dollar amount has increased in the past few decades but the correlation between the minimum wage has decreased. If the minimum wage had increased with the way the dollar amount has the minimum wage would be up to $21.72(dol.gov).
The Essay on Min Wage Minimum Increase Increases
Should Minimum wage be increased? Introduction For many decades now, there has been heated debates concerning minimum wages and increases in those wages. Most people have a tendency to assume that when the minimum wage is increased people will benefit. They do not stop to think of the consequences that come from minimum wage increases. The general population merely assumes that people should make ...
In the past when the economy has lagged creating jobs has increased wealth in the local and national level. Many politicians think that increasing minimum wage would decrease jobs but in reality it would create more. When the United States has increased minimum wage it has shown the years after to increase job creation and the wealth of the people in those jobs. Politian’s against minimum wage being increased are mostly right winged conservatives who think that the jobs will be lost because of business payment on their employees. It is quite the opposite Americans spend when wages increase which will in turn help the economy.
Brandon King “The American Dream, Alive or on Hold” depicts an America that has lost the old American dream, but if America made working hard and earnings fair it would revive the American dream.(king 2012) Increasing the minimum wage would help the economy and create new jobs to be able to replenish the economy. King does not manage to identify the reason why creating jobs and increasing minimum wage will not help the economy.
Works Cited
Downs, Anthony 1957. “An Economic Theory of Democracy.” New York: Harper and
Row
King, Brandon. “The American Dream, Alive or on Hold.” They Say I Say. Ed. Graff, Gerald. New York: Norton, 2012, 572-579, Print. Reich, Robert 2010. “AFTERSHOCK, The Next Economy and America’s Future.” Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
