There was a woman ringing a register yesterday

that I have passed through for years. She knows I am conservative and has never said much to me but yesterday she opened up.

I think she is married and rings a register for something to do as well as a few extra bucks. I believe her kids are out of the house or close to it.

"They're thinking of raising minimum wage," she said to me. "It's going to hurt me."

"How do you figure that?" I asked. I wasn't stupid enough to walk into something. I do business with the place often.

"Everything will immediately go up and our savings will drop in buying power," she said. "Inside of a year or two I will likely be worse off for it. It really isn't a raise, it's just a way of stealing my husband's and my retirement savings."

"Yeah," I answered. "Everything will go up and you will wind up poorer after you get through being taxed on the increased income tax bracket."

"That's it in a nutshell," she said. "Everybody will lose. The gap between skilled and unskilled labor will get closer and people will lose the incentive to learn a skill to get ahead."

Interesting comment from one of the people that isn't making much and would see a pay raise if they raise the minimum wage.

"I call that 'trickle up poverty," I said.

"Good name for it," she replied.

She's not stupid. 

She's working there part time and has gotten her health benefits through her husband's employer and is worried about losing them.

"I took this job because I could work here part time," she said. "If I lose my health benefits it looks like I'm going to have to work full-time and I didn't want that to begin with."

"If you work full time don't they have to give you benefits?" I asked.

"I'm not sure how that works but a couple of people here got their hours cut back over  that," she said. "I don't even know if they would let me go full time."

Then she quietly exploded. "Those people in Washington don't give a damn about our health," she said. "It's all about them wanting to control health care! If you don't do what they want you to they'll just let you die!"

I'll admit that this woman is rare. First of all she knows how to count and there are a lot of highly educated people that can't.

The other thing is that she has a lot more to offer than simply just ringing a register. She's doing it because she can do it part time and it's near home. 

Still, it was interesting to hear a minimum (or close to it) wage earner that doesn't want a false raise she can't afford.






To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY