Steven Perlstein on the benefits to be gained from raising wages:
As we launch into 2015, there’s something other than an 18,000 Dow to celebrate. Thanks to increases in state minimum wage levels, nearly 4 million hardworking Americans in 21 states are getting a raise this year, according to the Economic Policy Institute — from 15 cents an hour in Washington state to $1.25 in South Dakota. The leadership of the Republican Congress and its allies in the business community continue demonizing these initiatives as job-killing government price controls. Most of the rest of us see something simpler: economic justice. [snip]
In the end, that may be the most important rationale for raising the federal minimum wage. Fairness matters. Decades of stagnant incomes and rising inequality have so torn the social fabric that we can see its impact in higher costs for business and government, diminished engagement of workers and a dysfunctional political process. A reasonable increase in the minimum wage would be a small step in restoring social capital.Indeed, the robust economic recovery that has begun needs to be a recovery shared by all, not just the top one percent.
