Opinion: Higher minimum wage; harder to live

Jennifer Hutchinson is a freshman political science major and columnist for the Daily Kent Stater.  Contact her at jhutch2872@gmail.com.

Jennifer Hutchinson is a freshman political science major and columnist for the Daily Kent Stater.  Contact her at [email protected].

Many tuned in for President Obama’s much anticipated State of the Union Address last week.

A number of issues were tackled during the speech, and while some of the president’s remarks were underwhelming, some made quite an impression.

One such remark was directed toward the current minimum wage. There has been pressure from the public to raise the minimum wage for some time now, and at the State of the Union Address, Obama stated that he would act to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. This is exciting news for some employees. However, the effects of this change would soon put a damper on the initial perks.

While an increase in minimum wage may sound like good news, it will have negative trickle-down effects. If we increase the minimum wage, it’s only going to promote drastic inflation. For example, if the lady who works at McDonald’s is making $10.10 an hour, then the secretary down the block, who is currently making $15.00 hour, is now going to want $20.00 an hour, and that secretary’s supervisor is now going to want $25.00 an hour, and so on.

Not only will this cause wage inflation but product inflation as well. If a company such as McDonald’s has to pay their employees more, they’re going to charge more for their products to balance out the additional costs. I could understand a slight raise of the minimum wage, but this current proposal is too drastic and, overall, will do more harm than good.

Something else that could prove harmful is Obama’s strategy in taking action on issues such as these. The president is abusing his executive authority by defying Congress whenever he feels necessary, saying, “Wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do,” according to the New York Times.

Steven King R-Iowa said it best when he stated, “I think it’s a constitutional violation. We have a minimum wage. Congress has set it. For the president to simply declare ‘I’m going to change this law that Congress has passed’ is unconstitutional.”

Do the president’s statements sound like those of a concerned leader or more like the words of a dictator? His planned course of action is disrespectful to both our government ideology and his own oath of office, making him not very presidential at all.