Newly elected Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah wants to abolish federal child labor laws. Mr. Lee said that enforcing child labor laws should be up to the states, not the federal government. Like his GOP colleague from Kentucky, Mr. Lee doesn’t believe the federal government has any business protecting American citizens from unconstitutional behavior.
The USA is a consumption-driven economy that requires for the population to be constantly shopping. In today’s economy, there are six people for every one job opening. Mr. Lee wants to further increase competition for jobs by allowing children to enter the work force. He also supports the abolition of the minimum wage.
Fierce competition for jobs combined with elimination of any kind of standard in regard to wages is a recovery-killing disaster. This is one of the most basic rules of economics: More workers and fewer jobs equal lower wages; fewer workers and more jobs equal higher wages. Working for $2 an hour, or less, will weaken the American people’s spending power and thus the economy. Allowing the bottom to fall out on wages will lower everyone’s wage.
To hold these positions, one must completely ignore history. After all, if you knew history you would know what a disaster these anti-worker attitudes were. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established child labor laws and a national minimum wage. After this legislation passed, America’s economy took off. For 40 years, the average wage of the average worker rose. America became an economic superpower. We were the No. 1 exporter of raw goods, the largest creditor in the world, and were ranked No. 1 in upward mobility, a measurement of how easy it is for someone to rise into a higher economic class.
American children belong in school, not on the assembly line. The GOP’s “pro-business no matter what” attitude is harmful. Whether they defend the outsourcing of American jobs, or wistfully reminisce of the robber baron era, the GOP is dead set on reversing more than the progress of President Obama; they seek to reverse the progress of America.
Griffin Golesorkhi, Jeffersonton
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