I am sure that most of you drove past the gas stations this week and saw how ridiculous the gas prices were. $ 4 a gallon is just ridiculous. If the president would just listen to me, I have an idea on how to help the average person to pay for there gas. The government should set a National minimum wage that is 7 dollars or higher to help the people cope with inflation.
In the last year, the cost of gas has risen a considerable amount. More than most of us could have ever imagined and to be honest no one has a set idea as to why. Many believe its because of the war and others believe its our problems with other foreign nations. Either way you look at it, the people get the short end of the stick. 5 dollars and 15 cents an hour barley gets you a gallon and a half of gas, but compare that to all the other things we have to pay for like medical insurance, food, shelter and clothing, the average American person will simply not be able to live if the price of gas and inflation keep going up and the minimum wage stays the same.
All our government has to do is raise how much we get paid hourly, and then we will spend more and in return our economic spending will increase.
But lets just face it. Were going to end up the poorest country in ten years if this keeps up.
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This weekend I read a commentary on one of my peer’s government blogs; and it got me thinking. The author proposes that the national government raise the minimum wage to seven dollars an hour to help Americans deal with the rising cost of living. The commentary goes on to say that this increase in the minimum wage will help increase our “economic spending.” This got me thinking, could it really be this simple? Unfortunately, the answer is no.
Here are a few reasons why this proposal would have a very minimal, if any effect on our economy. In 2007, about 2.3% of all hourly paid workers here in America reported wages at or below minimum wage ($5.85), or roughly about 1.7 million people. That is a very small number of Americans when compared to the 75.9 million hourly paid workers reported in 2007. These numbers were taken directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By no means do I disagree with a minimum wage change, I just don’t know if it will have a significant impact.
When it comes to rising gas prices: this is a trend that will continue until the day we die. Perhaps we may receive temporary relief from the rising gas prices, but we have to face the ultimate truth. One day our planet will stop yielding crude oil; that is one thing that is almost guaranteed. I am sure that when that day comes; oil will be a luxury, these are the facts. I doubt in our lifetimes we will ever see the day oil production stops completely (at least I hope not), but the day will come.
As for the last comment of the article, “Were going to end up the poorest country in ten years if this keeps up.”, I don’t think that this is the case at all, granted I am no mathematician. The Unites States is ranked tenth in the world for GDP (gross domestic product), with around 45,000. Our economy would have to practically disintegrate in order for us to fall to one of the poorest countries in the world. For example, some African nations have GDP’s less than 500. Now like I said I am no mathematician, but provided Fort Knox doesn’t get robbed, and the dollar collapse: I don’t think we will be one of the poorest nations in the world.
In an article, posted by Bethany A. Thibodeau, I read about her suggestion to raise the Minimum wage to $7.00. Well im not sure if it will solve all the problems we have with gas prices, but why not. The gas prices are really high and I know all the other broke college students can agree. We all could use a few extra dollars in our pay. If people got paid more money then yeah, we might be able to afford more in the society we live in. I doubt that we will ever be the poorest country but I do agree that the minimum wag should be raised!
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