No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages has any right to continue
In my Inaugural I laid down the simple proposition that nobody is going to starve in this country. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By “business” I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men [sic] in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.
Franklin Roosevelt, Statement on the National Industrial Recovery Act (1933)
Notes on a Theory... 
Thank You…
F Michael Addams
February 15, 2013 at 10:31 am
This is an admirable, decent statement but it was spoken 80 years ago when small to medium businesses could afford to pay “decent living wages” and a waiter could raise a family on a single income. That’s not the case any more. So now what?
Ian F
February 15, 2013 at 11:53 am
Ian, I’m not sure what you mean. I think during the Great Depression businesses had it considerably worse than they do now (which isn’t to suggest things aren’t tough now, just not as bad as then.) Then as now, the problem is the same – lack of customers, i.e. low demand. Putting more money in the hands of consumers, especially those at the bottom, increases demand. If your concern is that a waiter can’t raise a family on a single income, a living wage is a solution to that problem.
David Kaib
February 15, 2013 at 12:33 pm