Representatives speaking on the floor of the Missouri House repeatedly attack the job-killing, overly generous minimum wage enacted a few years back by voters. I even heard one rural Republican state representative this February maintain that not only are many jobs ‘not worth $10 an hour,’ but that most workers aren’t either.
Meanwhile, while walking along Telegraph Road in Oakville I noticed a new ad on the local McDonald’s sign…Now Hiring, up to $14.00. Alas, the sign on the Burger King on the next block states that they’re only paying $11.00. Down the street a gas station with a convenience store is Now Hiring! with starting pay of $15.00 an hour.
Now, McDonalds still advertises their $2.00 double cheeseburger and at Burger King you can get a second Whooper for just a dollar [an effective price of $3.25 per Whoop]. That gas station always charges what all the other stations on Telegraph do for gas, not charging more because they pay their help more.
In other words, effective businesses manage to make money while paying above minimum wage.
I know, a Trumpian member of the Missouri legislature won’t let common sense nor facts change their position.
Still, Trumpism remains a variant on populism and I keep getting surprised when Missouri politicians refuse to address the other end of the argument: why should CEOs and top executives make so much?
The Sunday, May 2, 2021 St. Louis Post Dispatch Business section ran a list of local executives ranked by their pay and bonuses. Centene’s Michael Neidorff earned a base salary of $1,800,000 and had total compensation [salary. Bonus, stock, etc.] of $24.96 million. Assuming Neidorff works more than the standard 40 hours a week – let’s say 50 hours – that’s an hourly rate of $692.31. Against his total package that becomes $9,598.76 an hour. In other words, Mikey made more in one day before Happy Hour than the median Missouri household brought in over the course of a year. [ $55,461: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/MO? ]
So, let’s ask, can one executive out work 900+ minimum wage workers? Does Neidorff as a human being have 900 times the honor and value of the typical worker?
Yes, the folks who drive new Mercedes always think the old Chevy crowd doesn’t do enough to make them richer.
At the same time, I doubt that McDonalds on Telegraph gives any worker (save a senior manager) full time work. (Even so, 40 hours at $14.00 is just $560 a week.) That $14.00 wage means less in reality than it appears on the sign.
The Missouri legislature adjourns at 6:00 p.m. on May 14th. It’s still possible that this session the Republican supermajority – which overturned voter will on puppy mills, concealed carry and now works against expanding Medicaid – will strike down Missouri’s $10.30 an hour minimum wage, reverting us to the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour.
Don’t expect any action to curtail the $9,600 an hour paid top executives.
Redistricting Trivia…
Per the 5/4/21 New York Times, the State of New York will lose a seat in Congress in 2022: New York had a census count of 20,201,249 but needed 20,201,338 to keep all their current members of Congress. That’s a difference of 89 people, or, more accurately, data for 89 more people turned into the census bureau.
Glenn