Seven and a half cents

The US Congress needs to take a field trip to the theater to get some sound economic advice. A memorable tune from a classic 1950's era musical, The Pajama Game, entitled "71/2 cents" chronicles the desires of struggling factory workers to gain a small hourly raise from their tight fisted boss. The laborers note that after continued, dedicated work to their less than desirable jobs, they could use the additional savings to purchase, among other things: a vacuum, a 40" TV set, carpeting for the living room and a year's supply of gasoline.

Such ambitious goals are laughable today; the weakness of the dollar and the steep price of gas alone would cost way more than the $852.74 estimated yearly savings of each factory worker. Yet, an interesting juxtaposition emerges when comparing the idealistic determination of the fictitious characters towards the possibilities of economic security and that of the current economic stimulus package passed in lightning fast hill time- which tends to own its own galaxial time zone for bipartisan bills- this past week by Congress. The stimulus package, while politically salient, is nothing more than a short term blip on the far vaster horizon of economic turmoil ahead. The continued short-sightedness and fiduciary neglect of the federal government towards its more monetarily regenerative investments, those of public education, scientific and medical research, and domestically focused worker programs, is coming to a head. A one-time, modest reallocation into the pockets of working Americans is neither a short term nor long term solution; rather a beautifully wrapped empty box that could not purchase even one item on the factory worker's wish list.

The union-members anthem follows with the lyrics, "...but give it to me every hour, 40 hours every week. That's enough for me to be living like a king." The fictional characters are more in touch with the reality than the current US congress. The workers don't request a one time bonus but a sustained, albeit modest, raise in real wages. Along with their presupposed knowledge of the values of long term savings, more productive workers and contributors to the economy will emerge.

US congress of today, mired in partisan priorities and quid pro quo obstacles, is far less progressive while developing their economic stimuli. The need for a minimum wage increase and or policies that incentivize personal and national savings were dismissed for the band-aid, $300 per individual reimbursement. The dedicated funds are most likely to be financed through a large loan from a sovereign bank, further increasing our debt to emerging economic superpowers such as China and India while weakening our global economic standing and reputation.

A meager raise in individual earnings, especially among the lower income workers in America, in the words of the musically apt factory workers, "doesn't mean a hell of a lot...Doesn't mean a thing." But when consistently earned and incentivized to save, a small increase in minimum wage does add up to a lot. Such measures would stimulate the economy far more than the one-time small bonus allocated by the Congress which truly doesn't mean a thing.