I’m as curious as anybody to see how large a crowd shows up for the 15 Now National Conference tomorrow at Franklin High School, so I’m planning to show up and find out. But I’m doing more than that. I’m also scheduled to speak at the 7:30 rally, along with the likes of Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist David Cay Johnston, and others. My topic: the role of the media in the struggle for a living wage.
What will I say about my own employment circumstances? Show up and find out.
So, will we finally get the skinny on why The Stranger didn’t commit to a $15 wage floor ?
Lame.
If we want $15 today to buy the same things as $15 in 2022, we need zero inflation. The Federal Reserve, however, sees nothing wrong with inflation at 2%, which means purchasing power is cut in half every 36 years. The Fed needs to adjust its sights on inflation to a range of minus 2 percent to positive two percent. Once we get price stability, over the long run, then a $15 minimum wage would really mean something.
That’s because there is nothing wrong with 2 percent inflation. If anything, the reserve’s obsession with low inflation harms us more than helps us.
The problem is that wages don’t keep up with inflation, not that inflation exists.
The Fed should accept a little DE-flatiron along with a little IN-flatiron to make prices more stable over time. If wages don’t keep track with inflation, then inflation is the silent destroyer of wages. If we’re going to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour (which I support) then let’s have a Fed policy that supports that and not just the 1% and the banksters.
I talked with a UW Econ professor who was terrified of the possibility of a little deflation. We’ve become so inured to inflation that we simply ignore it to our peril. Deflation could be a little helpful, from time to time, to remind us that prices can got both ways, up and down!
@6, umm, in a consumer-oriented society like the US a deflationary spiral could be pretty chaotic. Save your money because it will be able to buy more later is dangerous.
Hold the press: A national conference ? Wow….does that mean it’s not just Seattle but Enumclaw too ? Impressed.
And David… why that aka Goldy…can’t you just be there on your “own” merits. Not that the other speakers are more known than “Goldy”
Sheesh
@8 My friends and family have been calling me “Goldy” since I was five years old. It’s as much my real name as “David.”