The Economy is Sluggish. What Should Be Done?

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In Washington, D.C. the city government is considering raising the minimum wage. The council has passed it and the mayor will have his say. Walmart was allowed into D.C. if they performed certain civic functions, but with this minimum wage increase they threaten to leave. The Washington Post writes about it and ThinkProgress.com also weighs-in.

Elsewhere the Koch brothers (billionaires of the Right-wing variety) are gearing up an anti-minimum-wage campaign. ThinkProgress.com tells that story too.

Kevin Drum writes at MotherJones.com about the plight of workers since the recent recession of 2007-2009. It's not a pretty picture.

The minimum wage is just over $ 7.00 and to have kept pace with the wage of the 1960s it would have to be closer to $ 15.00. It's time for another increase and pushing money into the hands of consumers will push the economy.

The Conservative argument that lower wages somehow benefit poor people is nonsense. Like the t.v. ad where a man asks kids which is better fast or slow, big or small, they always say big & fast and higher wages is always better for the worker. The growing inequality in America is a problem in its own way, but the slowly eroding wages of the lower-income American is a serious problem for national economic growth. Without consumption the GDP number shrinks and businesses won't have sufficient demand to hire more workers -- meaning higher unemployment.

"Lower wages help the economy"? What are they thinking?