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ALPERN AT LARGE - Economics was first described as “the dismal science” in a piece by Thomas Carlyle in 1849, entitled “Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question” in which he argued in favor of reintroducing slavery in order to restore productivity to the West Indies.
Pretty horrible, to the thinking of any reasonable and rational and moral human being. The overall concern by Carlyle was part of the mindset established by the influential economist of that era, Thomas Malthus, who presumed that starvation would inevitably result as projected population growth exceeded the rate of increase in the food supply.
Carlyle and Malthus may have had different reasons for making their statements, but way back then the concern of “how do we keep up with expanding populations and lifespans” was on many folks’ minds.
Worth a quick Wikipedia check for some of you so inclined…
…but the concept of ECONOMICS DOESN’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS, AND DOMINO EFFECTS CREATED BY IMPULSIVE, POLITICAL OR EXPEDIENT ACTIONS ARE VERY, VERY REAL.
Even back then, in 1849, when Carlyle wrote his “dismal science” piece the idea of slavery was a concept both dreadful but somewhat “economically expedient.” (Those airquotes around “economically expedient” are mine, because the thought of such economic expedience makes me pretty sick.)
Of course, the thought that blacks living in the United States, free or not, were human beings like white Europeans didn’t exactly make it high into the thoughts of many, many Americans and Europeans.
And even President Lincoln, who “freed the slaves” didn’t really feel that freed black slaves should be integrated into American society—he despised the concept of slavery, and made his Emancipation Proclamation to “free the slaves” in Southern states more to economically attack the Confederacy than to end slavery…
…while allowing Union states to continue slavery so long as they didn’t secede from the United States (such as Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri).
To quote Abraham Lincoln before he was president, who very much DID believe in God and DID despise slavery, he stated at a speech at Ottawa, IL on August 21, 1858 the following:
“If all earthly power were given me, I should not know what to do, as to the existing institution. My first impulse would be to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia—to their own native land.”
Lincoln went on to state how such an effort would be unrealistic, and that freed black slaves, sent somehow with resources unavailable, would still die within days.
One only need to witness what Liberia has become, where the local African tribes grew in population to outnumber and conquer Western-educated black Americans, and who turned that once-thriving African nation to a sad, dangerous state, to realize that economics and kindness, politics and expediency, must all be carefully balanced.
So what the heck does all this history have to do with jacking up the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20/hour?
Because it’s economically suicidal, despite any political expedience, and promoting of a new slave status, meted out to those who—by settling into a fast food job—will destroy themselves and require on a government more than happy to say ANYTHING to get their votes while destroying their collective future.
For the record, I absolutely HATE the idea of expensive food, expensive energy and utility costs, and expensive housing. I absolutely HATE the idea of expensive education and health care.
And I absolutely HATE the idea of bullsh---ing young and desperate individuals into getting a higher hourly wage, all the while watching the customer self-serve kiosks and layoffs explode as they lose their own economic power.
Food prices go up, and those at the minimum wage level lose their financial power as they become the “New 21stCentury Slave Class” (my airquotes, and my sad and horrified designation).
There ARE ways to combat economic misery, but the critical and most dangerous working paradigm for Americans of all economic, political, and racial stripes must be the following:
THOSE ENSLAVING YOU ARE PROBABLY THE ONES TELLING YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR THE MOST, AND THE ONES WHO TELL YOU THAT THEIR OPPOSITION SHOULDN’T EVEN BE LISTENED TO.
California’s quality of life is something I very much want—but this minimum wage hike is both pandering and economically suicidal.
A better approach…but probably not one this city’s, state’s and nation’s citizenry is entirely ready for…includes the following:
1) If you’re not studying “fiscal literacy” and basic economics and critical thinking by the 11th grade (they’re probably not even offered in high school), you’re in trouble, and you need to find it out on your own unless you want to forever be poor.
2) If you don’t find some way, ANY way, to shove 10-15% or more of your earnings into a basic stock index mutual fund when you start earning income in your 20’s, you’re on your way to being forever poor, and particularly so when you’re too old to work and/or want to retire. (And why DON’T you know what a “stock index mutual fund” is?)
3) If you don’t work more than one job (a “job” could be school) by the time you’re 16-18 years of age, you’re going to be ill-equipped for the life skills needed to succeed as an adult.
4) Birth control pills should be free, and NO ONE should be allowed to graduate school without a basic idea of pregnancy prevention, and of the awareness of Plan B. Plan B should also be free. So should access to an IUD.
5) The environmental and cost-effective benefits of what’s “green” with respect to the environment, and “green” for a small number of connected “climate change hucksters” needs to be discussed without someone being screamed at and shut down (because that someone might be, in the end, proven CORRECT).
6) Fast food jobs are meant to be entry level only, and managerial skills and writing skills (and other relevant job skills) must be part and parcel of any person’s goals who works at those jobs (unless they’re for short-term money en route to graduating high school or college).
7) Water bills are too damned high—using the rains to create reservoirs and establish new cities in the inland California region (like we did when California was just a desert 150 years ago) to establish affordable housing is dangerously overdue, and may have been intended by design to jack up housing prices.
8) One should be able to decry illegal immigration without being shouted down as a racist. Ditto for demanding that foreign-born individuals not be allowed to buy up housing stock in our state and nation, in order to prioritize young and middle-class Americans.
9) Demand a two-party state, and give voters and residents a choice in all that they decide. One-party red states and one-party blue states usually result in widespread poverty, to say nothing of a wasteland of any solutions to our problems.
10) Get over the racism—what’s good for black Americans is good for white, Hispanic, Asian, and other Americans. If Symone Raven, a gay, black American can proclaim she only goes by the term “American”, then so can the rest of us.
Just treat other human beings as just that—and don’t be used otherwise for political purposes. Ditto with rich versus poor, religious versus non-religious, etc. You’re being used, and you’re probably being anything BUT helped by those pointing to the other half of any part of this nation as “bad”.
It’s OK to disagree, but very few are knowingly “bad” when it comes to legitimate debate.
I am terrified of what this minimum wage hike will bring to those who are at the lower end of the income spectrum, and I am terrified by any domino effects towards Californians and other Americans that will—like it or not—occur.
That domino effect always, always, ALWAYS does occur.
This jacking up of the minimum wage for unskilled labor isn’t without any repercussions. It never is. And we’re creating a new class of unwitting slaves that have no business being enslaved as part of a modern, civilized society.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
