Assignment:
Part 1
In the article "Democrats officially introduce the fifteen dollar per hour minimum wage bill" (Higgins, 2017), much is said about this being a "moral" issue or it's needed to make a "living wage". This would amount to a minimum salary of $31,200 per year, an increase of $7.75 over the current federal minimum of $7.25. This measure would cost employers in some states $16,000 over the current minimum. Eighteen states still have the federal minimum of $7.25. Only Washington DC comes close at $14 per hour. According to the article "Most economists say that higher minimum wages usually cause job losses, especially at the low-wage level, because small- and medium-sized businesses can't afford the higher labor costs." (Higgins, 2017) The congressional Budget Office estimated in a 2014 report that an increase to just $10.10 would cost 500,000 jobs.
From a strict economic model, the increase would also increase spending. Consumers would have more money in their pockets and would spend extra on luxury goods. Inferior goods would see a decline in sales. Unfortunately, the cost of produces goods would go up at the same time causing the consumer to re-exam what to buy. Employers would have to find other methods to cut cost which could result in loss of jobs or reduction of hours of employees. According to a 2013 Gallup Poll, 60% of small-business owners say that raising the minimum wage will "hurt most small-business owners". Businesses will invest more in technology than the Human Labor force.
As a teacher at a private Christian school I would welcome a salary of $31,000 a year. Unfortunately, that would require a raise in the tuition for my students. Most of my students come from poor public schools that are failing the needs of the student, teaching liberal subjects, and fail to incorporate Christianity into their teachings. Another example is a State Police Officer in my state, Florida, Starts at $32,000 per year. Compare that to a worker at McDonalds if the minimum wage was $15 per hour. In Florida and other southern states, it would create a huge income inequality paying our police the same as the drive thru checkout at Dairy Queen.
I believe in fair wages. Biblically speaking it's clear that paying a fair wage is right and proper. These examples provide a bible vision.:
"Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages" (Jeremiah 22:13 NIV)
"Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts."( James 5:4 NIV)
"For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you."( Matthew 7:2 NIV)
I do not believe this means we should all be paid equally. Should a gas pumper be paid as much as a doctor? Definitely not. Education, experience, skill level all plays a part in a fair wage.
Part 2
How do you decide who gets lungs?
This podcast talks about how doctors divvy up organs and who get what organs first. With lungs it is about waiting, the longer you are on the list the higher up you are on that list. It doesn't go by who is the sickest but who was on the list first. How the system changed because the scoring system was wrong like it was, so they changed it to be scored by how severe a person is like how much oxygen they are using.
The economic idea in this podcast is the scarcity of organs for people that need them now but have to wait on a list or for someone to die just so they can live. Fortunately waiting on an organ isn't about how much money you have or don't have but how bad you need an organ and how far down the list you. The list is a scoring system were the person waiting on an organ is scored on many different aspects of their condition and that is what puts them a certain place on the list. UNOS says, "Every lung transplant candidate age 12 and older receives an individualized lung allocation score (for specifics on pediatric lung allocations, see p. 3 of website pdf). The lung allocation score is an important factor in determining priority for receiving a lung transplant when a donor lung becomes available. The lung allocation system determines the order of everyone awaiting a lung transplant by their lung allocation score, blood type, and the distance between the candidates and the hospital where the lung donor is located. Age also plays a role because lungs from pediatric (ages 0-11) and adolescent (ages 12-17) donors are offered first to pediatric and adolescent transplant candidates before they are offered to adults." (2019)
I agree with the way things are scored much better than first come first serve because some people might need a lung more than others but be way down on the list. It should be based on severity and age. I have a friend that her dad received a double lung transplant a few years back and he was depending on a machine to breathe for him and is now breathing on his own and doing great. He was on the list for a while, but he got blessed by God because two lungs become available at the right time.
As a Christian I don't think life should be about wealth or anything to do with money because the bible speaks on the love of money being the root of all evil in 1 Timothy chapter 6 (KJV). In the blog I read by Ritenour he states there are five ways the bible and economic principles are connected. I will list these five ways and you can research it more for yourself: 1. There's No Conflict Between Christian Faith and Sound Economics, 2. The Laws of Economics Are Predicated on a Christian View of Man, 3. Sound Economic Principles Agree with Scripture, 4. Both Economics and Scripture Teach that the Division of Labor Is a Fundamental Social Phenomenon, and 5. Economic Policy Informed by the Christian Ethic of Private Property Yields Prosperity (Ritenour, 2019). There are many verses the bible discusses economics such as 2 Thessalonians, Proverbs, Luke, Genesis, 1 Timothy, Luke, and Philippians.
Reference:
Life Application Study Bible: King James Version. (1989). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Ritenour, S. (2019). Five ways the bible and economic principles are connected. Institute for Faith, Work and Economics.
United Network for Organ Sharing. (2019).