[R-G] Minimum-Wage Hike Celebrated with Name-Brand Ketchup

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

See the difference that the Democratic Party makes. -- Yoshie

<http://www.theonion.com/content/news/minimum_wage_hike_celebrated_with>
Minimum-Wage Hike Celebrated With Name-Brand Ketchup

August 10, 2007 | Issue 43•32

WASHINGTON, DC—Two weeks after the hourly federal minimum wage was
raised from $5.15 to $5.85, families across the country were still
celebrating the historic increase by running their electric fans,
buying coveted half-gallons of milk, and, like Charice Williams of
Shreveport, LA, purchasing name-brand ketchup to share with loved
ones.

"I can't remember the last time I could afford Hunt's," said the
41-year-old mother of six, who for more than a decade has purchased
ValuTime ketchup to garnish everything from Hamburger Helper to Tuna
Helper. "Another couple dozen wage increases like this, and we'll be
practically swimming in Heinz. Or at least my grandchildren will."

Whether buying national-brand condiments, allowing themselves two
additional squares of toilet paper, or paying for a few more minutes
of drying time at the laundromat, the estimated 13 million Americans
who subsist on minimum wages are getting a taste of the good life.
Jaime Santiago of Las Cruces, NM was working a double shift at a
24-hour car wash Tuesday night, but still managed to celebrate by
calling home collect during his break—and, for the first time in
years, his wife was able to accept the charges.

"I told her I had a surprise for the family when I got home, and I
wasn't kidding: chewable vitamins for the kids," said Santiago, 29.
"On Sunday, I'm going to surprise them again with a nice bus ride out
to Wal-Mart to walk around a little. Then I'm going to pull back for a
while. Indulgences like these are all the more special when they're
just occasional."

Many minimum-wage earners, like 38-year-old Greg Hubbard, said the
increase—the first of its kind since 1997—provides a sense of security
at a time when the price of gas, housing, consumer goods, food,
utilities, and health insurance premiums are at their highest levels
in decades.

"To think that only 10 years ago my salary was jacked up to $5.15 an
hour, and now, in 2007, I'm making almost $6 an hour," said Hubbard,
who runs the sluicer at the Tyson Foods chicken processing plant in
Corydon, IN. "Only in America."

In Utica, NY, hotel maid Ernestine Caldwell has constantly worried
about her husband's medical expenses since he was diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease earlier this year and forced to quit his job. But
now that she'll be earning nearly $12,000 a year, Caldwell, 62, said
she'll be able to pay off 1/64th of his medical expenses and finally
start planning for her retirement by investing in higher-yield
scratch-ticket games offered by the New York Lottery.

"For years, I've had to play 'Loose Change' or 'Straight 8's' while
the $20 'Win for Life Spectacular' game has been out of reach,"
Caldwell said. "With this added income, though, I'll really be able to
take advantage of all 15 ways to win. My husband deserves the best
possible care."

Congressional Democrats who pushed for the increase said the
additional $28 a week will come as a "godsend" to those living below
the poverty line and provide new lines of tax revenue that could
perhaps one day help pay off the resurgent federal deficit.

"Today, the nation's working poor are 70 cents closer to the American
dream," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a Capitol press conference.
"And don't forget the economic stimulus this wage increase will
provide— already we hear that discount stores nationwide are selling
out their stocks of flip-flops and the stiffer kind of paper plates."

Yet Pelosi urged minimum-wage earners to be cautious in spending their
windfall, as a raise of this magnitude only comes "once in a
lifetime."

--
Yoshie