#Caturday #MinimumWage
About Paul Spoerry
I’m a groovy cat who’s into technology, Eastern Thought, and house music. I’m a proud and dedicated father to the coolest little guy on the planet (seriously, I'm NOT biased). I’m fascinated by ninjas, the Internet, and anybody who can balance objects on their nose for long periods of time.
I have a utility belt full of programming languages and a database of all my knowledge on databases... I practice code fu. Oh, I've also done actual Kung Fu, and have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
I run. I meditate. I dance. I blog at PaulSpoerry.com, tweet @PaulSpoerry, and I'm here on Google+.
I'm currently work for IBM developing web enabled insurance applications for IBM and support and develop a non-profit called The LittleBigFund.
Bad numbers but cute kitty
If I apply a Consumer Price Index calculator for the year 1969 to the present, I get $10.74.
+Steve Kilbride That's accounting for Inflation alone. This stat seems like it's accounting for more than that (I'd be very interested in learning exactly how that number was reached).
The minimum wage reached its (inflation-adjusted) historic high in 1968, when it was raised from $1.40 to $1.60 per hour. Adjusted for inflation using the BLS online inflation calculator that would come to $10.55 per hour in 2012 dollars.
Using 1968 as our benchmark for the minimum wage implies that low-wage Americans today should be making just as much as low-wage Americans were making 44 years ago. That benchmark is — frankly — ridiculous. Can you imagine Americans of 1968 settling for a minimum wage standard of living that had been set based on 1924 standards? What about 1880 standards? At some point we should expect low-wage workers to start living better than they used to. – http://inequality.org/minimum-wage/#sthash.EVhkRTMI.dpuf
+Dallas Dowdy, the CPI, AFAIK, is intended to measure purchasing power of a basket of goods. Sure, inflation is certainly part of that, but it's intended to measure purchasing power equivelency, not just inflation.
One, of course, can argue about the relevancy and weighting of those goods over time (and I do believe they adjust them from time to time for that purpose). It's not the be-all and end-all of measurements, of course. It's just one tool. But an easy one to employ to verify claims, at least in part.
awww cute