EDITORIAL
Minimum wage
must be raised
Contrary to the constant talk about budget cutting in
Washington, President Clinton has proposed increasing
the federal minimum wage to S5.15 an hour, an increase
of 00 cents from the current rate of .$4.25
The time has come to increase the minimum wage.
Congressional Republicans have generally been
opposed the proposal, arguing that a raise would destroy
jobs for minority teenagers, older Americans and low
er-skilled workers.
However, the fact remains that a person cannot sur
vivo on the minimum wage as it is now, much loss sup
port a family A person working a 40-hour week at $4 25
an hour will not make enough money in a month to pay
for essentials such as food, shelter, clothing or child
r are. An increase in the minimum wage puts more mon
ey in the pockets of the people who desperately need it
- the working poor.
This fact is reflected in the job market. Relatively few
jobs, even those for unskilled labor, am paid at the min
Imum wage. For the time spent on the job, a person will
make very little money from a job that pays minimum
wage.
With all of the emphasis on getting people off of wel
fare. the minimum wage becomes more Important One
can't seriously expect a family to get off welfare if the
alternative is working 40 hours a week at a job that pays
less It isn't realisth Minimum wage is an Incentive to
help people leave the welfare program and get a job that
pays a decent wage, no matter what their skills The min
imum wage should reward people lor hard work
The effect of a change in the federal minimum wage in
()regon would be limited, as Oregon's minimum wage is
$4 75 50 i ents above the current federal minimum
However, the increase would la* felt here in Eugene, as a
number of students work one, or often several, minimum
or near-minimum wage jobs to financially survive the
college experience.
There are concerns that the minimum wage program
as a whole hurts the people who are least employable,
generally unskilled labor and young workers. However,
those people need to be able to earn a living wage for
their labor too. and the minimum wage program makes
that possible,
The minimum wage is a win-win program It htdps to
reward work and to ensure that employees ol all skill
levels earn a wage they can survive on. It's been five
years since the minimum wage was increased, but pricers
are higher than they were in 1090 What was a livable
minimum wage in 1000 is not livable in 1995
Congress should Increase the minimum wage to $5.15.
it's just not possible to live on the current minimum
wage, and Americans shouldn't be forced to work long
hours for low wages.
Oregon Daily
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■ OPINION
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Cuts threaten public broadcasting
(i Mil rOKMW
At night, if you're real qui
ts) and point your cars
toward Washington, you
i,an hoar tins sound of tin* times
being sharpened. Them politi
cians is going )o trim the fat of
government, and they’re starting
with that dim <a of waste that we
call public broadcasting
With all the programs the gov
eminent funds using our money.
it has decided to gang up on the
Corporation for Public Broad
casting (CPU) — a program mil
lions of us actually use The
newlv elected GOP houses lean
ing crew cite* CPU as an exam
ple of vet another useless pro
gram. more wasteful spending
Hut what they neglect to men
tion is that CPU received a mere
S24H 4 million in 1994 That
costs $1.09 per taxpayer per
year!
Taxpayers should be insulted
that their Congress is seeking to
cut one of the few programs that
directly benefits everyone It's
just plain rude These guys came
into office on the promise that
they were going to put govern
ment on a dint Now the fat cats
are turning to us and telling us
we have to give up our minus
cule salad first
And C'-l’B — like that salad —
is good for you We all use it.
and we all learn from it It also
helps us to keep informed
National Public Radio and the
MacNeil-la»hrer News Hour give
people news each day they (ain't
get anywhere else
And to add more insult, the
government would have to cut
100 more programs of CPU's size
before even a dent was made in
the national budget. Let them
(tit all of tht* ridiculously obso
lete programs — like the spy
satellites wo still build to spy on
the Russians even though there
is no more "evil empire" —
before th»w even start talking
about cutting the programs that
real people benefit from everv
day.
But of course the hatchet job
proposed for ( I'll has nothing at
all to do w ith saving money. It's
a great political move, right
wing politicians can pay lip ser
vice to cutting big government
while getting rid of a program
they have long hated. To the
public -- who may not realize
that cutting public broadcasting
is something akin to trying to
slay a giant by slit mg off his
hangnail — is seems like the
government is doing its job. And
Newt and his buddies in the
GOP tan destroy one more ene
my member of the evil counter
culture cultural elite. (In case
you hadn't realized. Big Bird
end C ookte Monster .ire reel
nasty counter-culture snobs So
is that painting-teacher guy with
the big Afro.) Politicians won't
1h< destroying the elite, but they
will be blocking access to learn
ing and to information. And
that's what realty si ares them
CPB and the Republican Party
have a long history of dissen
siun Republic ans don't like the
programming and in the Inst
decade have seemingly pun
ished CPB for its programming
hy consistently cutting funding
During the Reagan administra
tion, public broadi asting was so
duregulnted and de-funded that
it found itself in n crisis for
funds Now CPB is funded most
ly by grants and donations The
SJ4H million it gets from the
government is pocket change
But to lose that money will
ont e again threaten CPB's exis
tence, CPB. the entity, will man
age Oregon Public Broadcasting
will survive, but cuts could
force many smaller stations —
particularly radio stations — off
the air. Radio stations that are in
small markets or rural areas, like
KLCC, do not have a large popu
latiun base to fund them bv
donations, The cut in govern
ment funds could decimate
them.
Funding cuts are also pushing
( I’H to operate more like a com
mercial station, by forcing it to
solicit money from the business
sis tor. The more heavily it relies
on outside funding, the more the
programming will reflect the
dictates imposed by those who
are doing the funding. By priva
tizing CPB, we are putting those
with the most money in charge
The whole idea behind public
broadcasting is to have program
ming that is free from the pres
sures and constraints of adver
tisers and private industry. How
ironii it is that the government r
is the one bullying CPB, not pri
vate industry
we need to send a message to
our government, l-et them know
we're not as stupid as they think
we are, that we realize these
"necessary" funding cuts are
just a smoke screen. What's real
ly going on is a cultural war
againstneiny is knowledge.
Because behind all that rhetoric
about the cultural elite lies a fear
of the informed citizen. Public
broadcasting helps to keep us
informed in a way mainstream
media does not, and that scares
politicians And so it should.
So let's keep them on their
toes and keep ourselves
informed. If you want to bully
the government for a change,
write to your national represen
tative and let them know that
you use and support publii
broadi-iisting and don't approve
of funding cuts
Write to Sens Pack wood and
Hatfield at the United States
Senate, Washington D.C. 20515
or to U.S Reps, at The United
States House of Representatives.
Washington D.C. 20510
Gayle Forman is a columnist for
the Emerald.