Friday, Nov. 2, 2018 | 2 a.m.
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One is a minimum wage earner. The other is the buyer of a private jet.
Which one do you think the Trump administration believes is deserving of help from the government?
If you guessed the jet buyer, you’re right. Sadly.
This week, the White House’s senior economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, revealed that he thinks that minimum wage is a “terrible idea” at the federal level and he “would argue against” it even at the state and local levels. In making his statements, he cited the old conservative argument that the base wage squelches business growth by adding to the cost of labor.
This comes from the same administration that championed the 2017 GOP tax package that funneled billions to the wealthy — including a provision allowing buyers of private jets to write off the full amount of their new aircraft’s cost on their tax return.
So here we have an administration that thinks a 1-percenter who buys a Cessna Citation (about $4.5 million for the base model) deserves a break, while an American earning $7.25 is a drain on the economy and shouldn’t have to be paid nearly as much.
No doubt, Trump and his black-hearted economic advisers really think we’re out of line in Nevada, where we’ve jacked up the minimum wage all the way to $8.25.
This is blood-boiling, especially when you consider how $8.25 an hour breaks down in terms of buying power in Las Vegas.
A full-time worker making minimum wage here would take home about $1,150 per month once taxes are deducted. With the average price of a one-bedroom apartment going for roughly $850 in Las Vegas, that means that worker would have $300 a month for food, transportation, utilities and other necessities.
That’s 75 bucks per week. And keep in mind that a lot of minimum-wage jobs are part-time.
A reduction absolutely must not happen.
The federal minimum wage, adopted in 1938, was among a number of workplace reforms that helped raise the quality of life in the United States and set us on a course to become the most robust economy in the world. The minimum wage continues to be valuable to the economy because it’s not a zero-sum game — the money is plowed back into the economy because workers spend it.
Now, with comments like Kudlow’s and with the administration’s railing about “job-killing regulations,” the administration is clearly putting the American workforce in its crosshairs.
In addition to taking aim at the minimum wage, Trump has already rolled back worker safety protections for meat processing plants, underground mines and offshore oil rigs, among other work environments.
What’s next? Eliminating child labor laws? Doing away with the 40-hour work week? Both of those would certainly benefit business operators in terms of reducing overhead and boosting productivity. Those kids have so much energy, you know, and they’ll work for so much less than their parents.
But this is no joking matter.
With attacks on unions and promises to gut Medicaid, Social Security and other programs to pay for its tax cuts for the superwealthy, the administration is clearly sticking it to the working class.
More disgustingly, it is doing it to people who played a key role in bringing Trump to power, including blue-collar laborers in places like the Rust Belt and coal country.
Away from his campaign rallies, where he makes hollow promises or spins preposterous lies about increasing wages and boosting jobs, Trump has targeted the workforce at nearly every turn. Meanwhile, he scapegoats refugees and immigrants as the reasons for the struggles of the working class while he and his enablers pick their pockets.
For Nevadans who haven’t already voted, this is worth thinking about as they go to the polls.
The Trump administration’s attack on workers must be stopped, and the way to do it is to elect Democratic Party congressional representatives who will stand up to him.
Let’s all remember who really needs help here. And it’s not someone shopping for a jet.
