a. It seems Congress is trying to increase the minimum wage. Wages set the equilibrium for how much people are willing and able to spend. If wages went up, that would increase labor productivity. Low-income people would go from making 15,000 up to 50,000 a year.
2. Read two or more perspectives on this argument from both sides (support minimum wage increase, oppose minimum wage increase) and describe the authors perspectives on raising the minimum wage to reduce poverty and inequality.
a. If wages were to be increased it would bring so many low-income families out of poverty. This bit of information was baffling to me; “The authors show that 1.95 million people living below 150 percent of the federal poverty level would be lifted out of poverty due to an EITC expansion while 1.65 million people would escape poverty as a result of a FICA rebate. In other words, 2.5 times more …show more content…
Analyze the evidence that each author uses to support his/her thesis: What types of evidence are used? Does the evidence support his or her thesis?
a. John Formby said “more than 85% of low income families saw no direct monetary benefit from each of the three 70 cent wage increase.” There is better to be done by increasing the minimum wage than there is by leaving it where it is. Increasing wages would increase payroll tax revenue.
4. Evaluate the qualification of the authors: What bias might the authors have?
a. The authors I looked at were fine except for this one article and it said “a closer examination of the list by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) reveals that nearly 60 percent of the economists studied don’t specialize in labor economics—and some aren’t even economists at all.” Don’t you think that the people debating whether the wages should increase are economist who specialize in labor economics and know what they are talking.
5. Discuss your opinion on this topic: Do you agree or disagree with the