A response to Jason Cherniak

The Ontario NDP has recently come up with a proposal to raise the minium wage in Ontario by about 25%- from $7.75/hr to $10.00/hr- which is roughly the same percentage raise that Ontario's MPPs (the Liberals and Conservatives) voted themselves just prior to Chistmas. Liberal Bloggr Jason Cherniak supported the raise for politicians, but can somehow justify opposing a raise for Ontario's working poor. Cherniak got it wrong; here's why.

Cherniak's first point is great, but not for the reasons he suggests. He says that 25% raise is bound to backfire: 1 in 4 minimum wages jobs will be eliminated, firms will move or simply close down, while others will go bankrupt. What Cherniak has done is illustrate why capitalism is a flawed ideology and one that simply doesn't work. In order for it to suceed- that is make money for those who own the means of production and distribution- it is forced to keep the rest of us poor. The working poor cannot get a significant raise because the entire economic system will collapse...massive layoffs, increased unemployment, bankruptcy. That's right, keep us poor, keep us complaicant. We need to be poor so they can be rich.

He goes on to say that he supports the Liberals increase on minimum wage- to $8.00/hr in February- but only because it is close to inflation. The proposed raise to $10/hr, he argues, is preposterous because inflation will skyrocket as a result. Again, this illustrates that the working poor, under our current economic system, cannot get ahead because any raise they get needs to be balanced somehow. They can make more per hour, but only to have it eaten up by increases to the cost of living. Thus, the working poor can never get ahead.

Cherniak then suggests that you can live on minimum wage, although he admits it would be hard. You think? He budgets $800/ mth rent and $200/mth food ($12,000 total/yr) from a $16,500 income. That only leaves $4,500 per year for all other expenses. Sure, one could get by, but what kind of life would they be leading? They'd be a hungry renter forever, wouldn't be able to save for retirement, could never take a vacation, and so on. And this is only for a single person without loans. Somehow, those with kids can get by from the child tax benefit? Are you kidding me?

He concludes by saying that not all minimum wage workers are the working poor, as many are high school kids, living at home, who use the money they make as mad money so to speak. So the working poor should suffer because some high school kid works a similar job in order to buy him or herself an iPod? Of course, no one needs to save money for post-secondary education, because the Liberals have done such a good job on that. Oh wait....that's the case at all. And even if Jack and Jill Highschool kid are blowing their money, does that mean that Ontario's working poor are doomed to suffer as a result? According to Chernaik, yes.

Lastly, he states that those of us who support the increase are supporting a pie in the sky policy of economic destruction for many of the people who we are trying to help. Come on now. If a living wage isn't good enough for Ontarians, then I don't know what kind of province I'm living in. A Liberal one, I guess.