Wall Street Journal Editor: Poverty Is Good Learning Experience For Poor People

 

Paul Gigot, editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal (courtesy ABC News via Raw Story)
Paul Gigot, editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal (courtesy ABC News via Raw Story)

 

 
Ever since the current push began to raise the minimum wage, the standard arguments have been raised against it–“It’ll make it expensive to do business,” “This is just another burdensome regulation that business owners don’t need,” “It’ll end up killing jobs,” etc… But on yesterday’s edition of ABC’s This Week, Paul Gigot, the editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, may have made the most offensive argument that’s been offered yet. He thinks the minimum wage should be kept low because–wait for it–poverty should be a learning experience for workers.

Gigot was on hand with Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, to discus Seattle’s recent decision to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour over a seven-year period–the highest for any jurisdiction in the nation, and more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.32 an hour. Seattle mayor Ed Murray said that setting such a high bar was necessary to “rebuild the middle class.”

Predictably, Gigot panned the idea, saying that Murray and his colleagues on the Seattle city council may have “price(d) a lot of people out of the labor market,” including teenagers. But then he went several miles off the deep end with an anecdote from his younger days:

“Look, I’ve worked for the minimum wage, $2 an hour back in the 70s. I had jobs that, you know, what did I learn?? I learned to show up on time. I learned certain skills. And I learned, I didn’t want to make the minimum wage for the rest of my life, so I better get an education.”

Watch the full exchange at Raw Story.

George Stephanopoulos was having none of it, telling Gigot only half-jokingly to “get out of here” with that argument. Vanden Heuvel then pointed out that although it doesn’t seem like it, teens only comprise one out of ten minimum wage workers. She then pointed out–rightly–that any country where a large number of workers are stuck with wages that are below the poverty line has a “broken economic system.”

Gigot retorted that most of the businesses that hire low-wage workers–such as restaurants, cafes and retail outlets–would probably stop hiring if the minimum wage is significantly raised, since their margins are too low for them to be able to pass the costs on to their customers and stay in business. But vanden Heuvel reminded him that Walmart is not only the nation’s biggest retailer, but also hires more minimum-wage workers than any other company.

 
For all intents and purposes, vanden Heuvel said, Walmart is “subsidized by taxpayers” because its health care premiums are so expensive that its workers are all but forced onto Medicaid, and its pay scale makes it so they can’t afford to buy food without food stamps.

Apparently the Waltons agree with Gigot, because for some time Walmart has effectively locked most of its workers into wages that are so low they can’t even begin to live decently. I wonder if Gigot would be willing to tell Walmart employees in Secaucus or White Plains–both within a reasonable distance of The Journal’s headquarters in Manhattan–that their meager paychecks are helping them learn how to move up in the world.

I have a better name for it–“deadbeat capitalism.” I know, it’s a harsh term. But how else do you describe companies that willfully disregard their basic duty to ensure their employees can make a living–or at least enough that they don’t have long spells on public assistance? For my money, they’re no different from deadbeat parents. And yet, if Gigot had his way, that sort of thinking would be the norm.

Back in 2010, South Carolina lieutenant governor Andre Bauer famously said that kids on free or reduced lunch are like stray animals who shouldn’t be fed “because they breed.” I didn’t think I’d ever hear a more callous statement about the poor. But Gigot’s statement comes pretty close, and may even top it.

Let us know what you think of Gigot’s thinking on the Liberal America Facebook page!


Darrell Lucus.jpg Darrell Lucus is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.

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Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.