2008 Woodie Awards
Livable wages will SLAP average student's wallet
Sumeet Sharma
Issue date: 4/25/06 Section: Opinion
SLAP's goals are not worthy. The liberals who form this movement live in a world of idealism and perfection.
Don't get me wrong, a livable wage sounds like a great idea on paper. SLAP's goal of getting a living wage for every UVM employee would seemingly make everything perfect. Everyone will have enough to support him or herself.
Who would have thought that we have found the cure to poverty right here at UVM? Yea, life is perfect.
But, nobody looked past the living wage and what happens after? Where would the money come from? What are the impacts to the rest of the UVM community? A plethora of questions have been left unanswered.
Its nice to think that Fogel and the rest of the elites would give up their $300,000 salaries so a few could receive a living wage. But, the money will come from somewhere else.
Empirically, the money for minimum and living wages has come from the workers themselves. As wages go up, so does unemployment. For every person with a living wage there will be another one without a job.
The year after the minimum wage was enacted in 1933, five hundred thousand blacks lost their jobs. It makes no sense to sacrifice the life of one, so that another can enjoy a limited bounty.
In the end, even more people lose. A living wage means economic growth could be stunted in the area. A higher wage creates false inflation. If labor costs more, so will goods. These goods impact each UVM student and employee personally.
When prices for food, tuition, room and board go up, many will be hurt. This might not mean anything to those who have the means to spend a week outside in a tent with all their luxuries close by, but to the student struggling to get by, it hurts.
Don't get me wrong, a livable wage sounds like a great idea on paper. SLAP's goal of getting a living wage for every UVM employee would seemingly make everything perfect. Everyone will have enough to support him or herself.
Who would have thought that we have found the cure to poverty right here at UVM? Yea, life is perfect.
But, nobody looked past the living wage and what happens after? Where would the money come from? What are the impacts to the rest of the UVM community? A plethora of questions have been left unanswered.
Its nice to think that Fogel and the rest of the elites would give up their $300,000 salaries so a few could receive a living wage. But, the money will come from somewhere else.
Empirically, the money for minimum and living wages has come from the workers themselves. As wages go up, so does unemployment. For every person with a living wage there will be another one without a job.
The year after the minimum wage was enacted in 1933, five hundred thousand blacks lost their jobs. It makes no sense to sacrifice the life of one, so that another can enjoy a limited bounty.
In the end, even more people lose. A living wage means economic growth could be stunted in the area. A higher wage creates false inflation. If labor costs more, so will goods. These goods impact each UVM student and employee personally.
When prices for food, tuition, room and board go up, many will be hurt. This might not mean anything to those who have the means to spend a week outside in a tent with all their luxuries close by, but to the student struggling to get by, it hurts.
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