Obama Urges Minimum Wage Increase and First-Ever Indexing

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HYPERLINK “http://www.thenation.com/blog/172859/obama-urges-minimum-wage-increase-and-first-ever-indexing” o “Obama Urges Minimum Wage Increase and First-Ever Indexing” Obama Urges Minimum Wage Increase and First-Ever Indexing

Summary of the article

The article calls for labor leaders and progressive economists to increase the minimum wage levels for workers in the United States. President Obama urges labor unions to ensure citizens get a reward of what they work for in a genuine manner. According to his views, Obama urges the Congress in the state of the Union to increase the federal minimum wage from 2.13$ to at least $9 per hour so that people could live above the poverty line. In so doing, the country’s economy would improve when more people become independent. In addition, the president disapproved comprehensive immigration reforms, and other pending trade deals whose purpose was to threaten the labor rights. Moreover, during his second term in office the president promised good jobs and right for workers in the United States (Eidelson, 2013).

How is the article relevant to this class?

The following article has a lot of significance to an economy class. First, it enlarges on gives an insight of the factors that contribute to the economic growth of a nation. When the minimum wage levels go up, the living standards of employees improve. According to the Eidelson, increase in the minimum wage levels of employees would bring about adjustment of the real inflation and increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Second, the article assists students in learning the labor rights and their applications. The president denied the comprehensive immigration reforms since they aimed at threatening labor rights. Moreover, the class gets an opportunity to learn how various wage levels affect the life of individual citizens and the whole nation at large.

 List the most important facts/evidence the author uses to support the main idea

The author uses many evidences to support the idea that actually the president called for the labor leaders to increase the minimum wage levels in U.S. These are:

The federal minimum wage level should be $9 per hour,

High wages increase the strength of the country economy.

No one works full-time should live in poverty,

It is a shame for a family of two children to live below the poverty line, yet the parents are working full-time,

It is the right of the labor markets today.

What might be some of the broader implications of this issue on the U.S?

The United States is known as one of the wealthiest countries in the continent. It is extremely embarrassing if a person from a developing country in Africa finds beggars in the U.S. streets. In addition, the country has more than enough resources to cater for better salaries for their employees since it is involved with a lot of international trade. With the increase of the minimum wage levels, the normal people in the country would get an opportunity to live according to their needs and desires. On the other hand, the issue has an implication to other labor unions in the world. Most countries in the world aim at beating the U.S. economy. With low wages and high rate of unemployment, most countries might never trust U.S. governance and limit their interaction with the country. This has a serious implication since U.S. markets most of their products in these countries leading to reduced trade between international borders.

After reading this article, what additional two questions come to mind?

After reading the article, the following questions come to my mind. First, how will the president manage to create employment opportunities for everyone considering the U.S. unemployment rate is almost 10%? Second, the higher the wages the higher the taxes how will the government ensure that workers get enough to sustain them and still pay taxes? Third does the government have enough money in the treasury to cater for the increased wages taking into consideration U.S. experiences frequent financial crisis?

References

Eidelson, J. (2013). HYPERLINK “http://www.thenation.com/blog/172859/obama-urges-minimum-wage-increase-and-first-ever-indexing” o “Obama Urges Minimum Wage Increase and First-Ever Indexing” Obama Urges Minimum Wage Increase and First-Ever Indexing. Retrieved

from:

HYPERLINK “http://www.thenation.com/blog/172859/obama-urges-minimum-wage-increase-and-first-” http://www.thenation.com/blog/172859/obama-urges-minimum-wage-increase-and-first-ever-indexing