Testing The Theory Behind A “Living Wage”
By Greg L | 12 September 2007 | Fairfax County, Humor & Satire | 27 Comments
Fairfax County has decided that it’s not spending enough taxpayer money, and has enacted an ordinance requiring that all county employees earn at minimum $12.75 an hour, what they consider a “living wage”. According to the Washington Post, the publicly stated rationale seems to be similar to what Arlington County has used to justify their similar ordinance. But does this novel economic theory make any sense at all?
Arlington’s living wage law, in effect since 2000, is more expansive, applying to contractors working in county buildings. Arlington based its ordinance on the General Assembly’s amendment to the state purchasing law, which allows localities to select competitive bids based on “best value.” Arlington officials have construed that to mean that contractors that pay their workers higher wages deliver a better product. (emphasis added)
I thought I would test this interesting theory out and see how it worked. I went to a local 7-11 and insisted that they accept $2.00 in payment for a bottle of Coca-Cola instead of the advertised price of $1.46, which they were happy to do. Depending on the how linear the relationship really is between price and quality, I figured that this soda would taste about 33% better than if I had paid the advertised price. Unfortunately, I couldn’t detect a difference, so I apparently wasn’t overpaying enough. I threw that soda away, went back into the store, and bought a second bottle and demanded they accept $10 for it. The quality of that product should be nothing short of orgasmic, I figured. They gave me a funny look, but were happy to accommodate my request and urged me to come back again soon.
You know what? That more expensive soda didn’t taste any different than the one I bought before. Maybe I needed a different test. Maybe I needed to test out a service, instead of a product. Fortunately, there was a tax preparation business a few doors down, so I walked in and asked what they charged for filing a pretty straightforward quarterly tax form for me. They told me it would be $150. I asked the person what they could do for me if I gave them $500, and to my surprise the employee shot me a look of utter disgust and told me to get the hell out of their office. So much for that attempt. Offering more money than the market price wasn’t working out so well.
I figured I’d give it one more shot, so I got in the truck and drove around, trying to find a place that would provide a service for me. I spotted a sports therapy business and figured this might be a good place to try. The pretty girl at the front desk was happy to see a new customer come in on a slow day, and warmly greeted me.
An hour later the police took off my handcuffs. Apparently after talking with the clerks at the 7-11 they were able to verify my story, and since I hadn’t specifically described what “better service” I was expecting in return for an extra $250, they decided that no crime had actually been committed.
So in the end, I think I can say that there is a small grain of truth to this. By paying more than market price, you can obtain a useful alibi should you ever need it. Now why Fairfax County officials feel they need to obtain alibis is a mystery to me, but hopefully an enterprising social scientist in Fairfax will be able to devise a test that will help explain it.
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
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27 Comments
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Does this mean that Fairfax will provide ‘gap pay’ to all their tax paying residents that don’t make $12.75 an hour? What a great place to live, work and play!!
You don’t write comedy well. Stick to your day job. Not funny.
What’s your point?
Greg,
A key question is how does one live on less than
$12.75 per hour in Fairfax County? Can you prepare
a reasonable basic budget including food, transportation,
housing (NO overcrowding), transportation, health care
and taxes on even the proposed $12.75 and live in
Fairfax County - one of the richest and most expensive
places to live in America? I look forward to seeing it.
A “living wage” law isn’t perfect but it deals with
a major challenge across wealthy and high priced
Northern Virginia.
Well, I can’t afford a cruise around the world and lots of people enjoy that. So I don’t go. No one makes you live in Fairfax.
Have you ever called Fairfax County offices? It’s all Hispanic working there. Are they here legally? Who knows.
Fairfax Co is trying to top the People’s Republic of Arlington with economically nonsensical and destructive policies. Idiots.
Dog, I don’t know how anyone could make it in Fairfax earning less than $20 and hour. But arbitrarily setting a floor on wages doesn’t provide the public with good value for their tax dollars, functions as a wealth redistribution program for a selected group of favored individuals who are chosen, and eliminates jobs for those just entering the work force but haven’t the skills or experience to return a value equal to or greater than their wages. The marketplace works, and if folks don’t like the wages they’re getting, they can find a way to get the skills needed in order to be hired at jobs that pay more.
Watch a lot of these newly more rewarding jobs to get outsourced as soon as the county has a budget hole to fill. If a contractor can deliver the same service at 10-20% less cost, these briefly fortunate employees will end up getting fired, and will have to take a pay cut in order to keep doing the job they were doing before.
If Fairfax really was interested in raising wages, they might consider cutting taxes and spending to promote the economic growth that would generate more higher-paying jobs.
Greg, you can live in Fairfax earning less than $20.00/hr easily. That is around $38,400 a year in wages. There are older apartments, rooms for rent, etc. which will accomodate this pay. That being said, low wage jobs are NOT meant to be for the breadwinner, rather, as a stepping stone to get started.
So, how do you do it - you don’t go out to movies, you drive an older car, keep the same clothes you have had for years, don’t eat out, and buy groceries in bulk. Soon you will have savings, have been promoted, and within 10 years you will be making 3 times as much as you previously were. Trust me, it can be done WITH children!!!
In 1991 I was living in Lake Ridge making $5.50 an hour then got a job with Vance Security International making $7.00/hr. It’s all about sacrifice.
“Arlington officials have construed that to mean that contractors that pay their workers higher wages deliver a better product. (emphasis added)”
I tend to agree. In the computer field, if you do not pay market share, you get shabby workers. Say you are paying computer Help Desk workers $40,000 a year and you require the MCSE. How hard do you think they will work??? Not very. Most of their time will be working on the resume, once they figure out that they can make A WHOLE LOT MORE someplace else. No I have a Help Desk where I pay my people $60,000 a year with benefits. I am willing to bet my workers will be more loyal and harder working than the $40k employees, and my turn-over rate will not be as high.
Again, supply and demand will dictate, as will the market. So, what is the People’s Republic doing that is against the market? They realize that minimum wage is just a marker, a place to start. By starting their salaries at the $12 range, they are not creating welfare recipients, rather, people who get into entry level positions knowing that the opportunity is there to “climb the government ladder” and one day, possibly, make “really good money”. Sure, you will never get rich unless you are a politician who gets to keep all of their donations or you make it to the big leagues (Senate or House) and get 100% retirement pay, but you also will not starve by doing public service.
If we want to get the best value for the tax payer we should consider going the same route as the developers/builders. They help get a good return to their shareholders by hiring contractor who hire illegal aliens. I’ve seen old white men doing the landscaping and field maintenance at Veterans Park for instance. I bet they make decent money. If the park authority would just go over to 7-11 and pick up some day laborers I’m sure they would save allot of taxpayer money. What could be wrong with that?
Parker - how about it would be ENCOURAGING illegal aliens and activity. LEGALs don’t loiter, urinate on buildings in public view, run across the middle of the street in front of oncoming traffic and molest 14 year old girls. WHEN legals do, it is rare and out of character, but for the illegals, it is par for the course. They don’t want to assimilate into the US, they want the fast buck and to get over on the system.
How about YOU hire the illegals to work your yard, fix things in your house. Take them in, let them sleep in your bed, and before you know it, you will be robbed blind, have no where to turn to, and since you JUST because a victim of a crime, you will then begin to think like a Republican. For those of us NOT born Republican, it takes being robbed, either by a criminal, or the IRS/Congress to make it happen.
Besides, the work done by these illegals is ANYTHING but good. I have seen what they do and the houses fall apart like two out of the three little pigs. Yes, they may be up in no time and look nice on the outside, but if you actually know anything about construction, you will shake your head and once a big wind comes up, I cannot tell you how many times I have seen the siding come off of a house JUST built; whereas the siding on the 40 year old houses right next door are JUST FINE.
John Light is really feisty this morning. He made $5.50/hr in 1991 and got by. That was 16 (SIXTEEN) years ago. Get with the times, sir!
$5.50/hr is today’s $12. Oh, did I mention I was married with children???
http://public.cq.com/docs/cqm/cqmidday110-000002583012.html
Senator Jeff Sessions (a Senator that we need here) states that “amnesty” related items will be on upcoming bills! He is anti-amnesty so he is on our side.
CONGRATULATIONS! Personally I would have put off having children until I made $7.00/hr, but I’m very happy that you and your family were able to make it. I mean it. And are any of your children now living on $12.00/hr - married w/ children?
“Livable wages” depend on all sorts of variables. If an illegal person earns a small wage (but does not get taxes, medicare, etc. taken out), and gets foodstamps, WIC, lives in a bunk-house (which is probably subsidized), they have plenty of money to live on (and plenty left over to send back to their country of origin)! A legal citizen who does not do any of this cannot possibly live off a small wage in our economy without major issues.
TP - have you checked with any illegal person to find out much equals “plenty of money” to live on? Plus “plenty left over”! You make it sound as if they are awash in money. You should be so lucky!
When Mexico (in particular) receives “billions” of dollars sent from here…that says it all! How do you suppose they can do that?
The planner (weird…since you don’t pay attention to details)…when one pays legal taxes, insurance for medical, food, gas, mortgage/rent, car payments/insurance, etc….you need to have quite a bit of money in our current economy to make ends meet. Now, since we do know that a large portion of illegal entrants are low-skilled and lack substantial education…how can they possibly earn high wages to afford all of these things? Logical thinking would say they cannot. Not only are these people sending large sums of money (yes…follow the money) down south, they are also driving some very nice luxurious SUVs (all while paying for their groceries with WIC and foodstamps) carting around 5 kids. Amazing!
Thank you Patriot.
The Planner, do you have kids yet?
The Globa Mart yesterday, two women with 5 children and one preganant lady and tooling around town in an Escalade?
Please explain. You should visit the West Gate Giant sometime, and I bet the Patriot could tell you a few stories from that place just like me. Oh, if they don’t have a fancy car to get home in, they just take the shopping cart on down the pike. You should see how many shopping carts are there. They number of carts almost matches the number of OPEN STORM DOORS!!!
The Planner - I agree with Lafayette, DO YOU have children??? What my salary is now is really none of your business, but I have proven it can be done. It looks like you are more of an aggravator than a planner, so I will just sit back and watch your defense of the illegals get shot down like quail on Open Season.
Lafayette and John Light - I don’t see what my having children has to to with the hourly wage we were dicussing. Nothing that I can see, but since you are so nosy: I have 3 children and 7 grandkids. Satisfied? And my kids were planned. John Light - I haven’s asked what your salary is. That’s of no interest to me. What have you proven can be done? I can’t follow your thinking.
And I can’t follow your lack of logic. The fact that you have children and grandchildren then shows that IF you are a responsible parent (for sake of argument, we have to say you are), then you know the definition of sacrifice. You understand that you will do whatever you have to to not only make ends meet, but ensure the success of your offspring.
You say that I am “so nosy”, well, how about statements like “Personally I would have put off having children ” and “And are any of your children now living on $12.00/hr - married w/ children?” Well, to answer your question, my children are still living with me (one in High School and the other two in Middle) and the oldest is probably making something near $12/hr, thank you very much.
Don’t try and lecture me on life because, besides not knowing who I am or what I have done with my life, it is obvious you know not of what you speak. I have proven that it IS possible to live off of low income and still become a success in this country.
I guess YOU are the feisty one now, eh? So, why don’t YOU “get with the times” and realize that hard work WILL get you places in life, that welfare is NOT the answer, and finally, I have NO idea where the comment came where you said, “And my kids were planned.” What are you trying to say there??? What do you want, a medal, or a chest to pin it on?
This is the most pedantic post I have ever read. I started reading it, blew a blood vessel in my head and finished it when I woke up. Paying government employees better in order that they may feed their children and put gas in the car in one of the most expensive areas in the country is clearly a travesty. God forbid that any Fairfax County employee be able to actually live in Fairfax.
You “nailed it,” John…and while I’m sure you’re no longer the $7 or $12/hr guy, it wasn’t “raising the minimum wage” that got you where you are today, huh?
I see that there are two key issues:
1) If you don’t want to be that $7 - $12/hr guy, then get busy and become competitive in the workplace. While I was going to college, and had “nothing,” my single friends, just out of high school, worked at the gas stations and had their own “beautiful” cars…money for girlfriends an all that. Was I envious? Of course I was, but the sad thing is that those “friends” still work at the same gas station and still have that same (now old, worn out) car…and cry about not having enough money. Oh, and you hear things like “well, my parents weren’t rich….I just didn’t have an opportunity to go to college.” Pssssssshaw!!! Anyone who WANTS to go to college/tech school, and/or take advantage of military training to improve themselves can find a way to do it.
2) If the county or business, whatever, can’t get or keep suitable employees at their current rate, guess what they’ll have to do….raise the pay scale until they can, of course…
Further, if $7 isn’t enough, what is? Where did the $12/hr min wage come from?? Why not give those folks a REALLY “liveable wage” and raise it to $20 or $30 per hour?? US auto makers and their UAW employees are soon to find out the down-side of that one. …but at least, for a while, they could buy two 40″ HD TVs.
No matter WHAT the salary, some just won’t have enough…
I can’t take anymore of the economically illiterate comments posted here by the trolls.
The net economic effect of minimum wage laws is to make less skilled, less experienced, or otherwise less desired workers more expensive — thereby pricing them out of jobs. If you take someone who is worth $10/hr and arbitrarily say they should make $12/hr, you have made them too expensive to be employable. And this applies at any level. I myself am employable at $200k a year and unemployable at $250k a year. Thankfully, no one is trying trying to “help” me by passing a law to make my minimum wage $250k a year!!
But since the compassionate lefties always try to “help” the unfortunate with these policies, the unfortunate are the ones who suffer the consequences. Large disparities in unemployment rates between the young and the mature, the skilled and the unskilled, and between different racial groups have been common consequences of minimum wage laws. In this case, what are the chances of Fairfax hiring any new workers for jobs if they are low skilled and you will be forced to pay more than the employees’ labor is worth. This supposedly “compassionate” policy will just price everyone out of these government jobs except for the higher skilled workers who are worth this pay…and who will suffer if not the minorities, the young, the unskilled? Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman described minimum wage laws as “…the most rascist laws in effect in America today.”
Historical fact: The first federal minimum wage law, the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, was passed in part explicitly to prevent black construction workers from “taking jobs” from white construction workers by working for lower wages. It was not meant to protect the “poor” or to provide a “living wage”, but to protect white workers from competition.
By the way, here is an idea! If you want to get the illegals to leave, support a minimum wage that requires illegals be paid $20/hr. All the jobs for them would dry up real fast.