Wages and work

While I'll agree a reasonable raise in the minimum wage can be justified for most hourly workers, I also realize those pushing for the enormous increase to $15 an hour (and succeeding in California) are in large measure cutting off their jobs to spite their demands.

Fast-food Godzilla McDonald's already is installing reliable (and non-unionized) self-service kiosks. I can't blame any private company for wanting to remain profitable. Can you? No one I know with any sense enters into a business hoping to go broke by incurring unrealistic expenses.

Yet its amazing to watch a spokeswoman named Naquasia Legrand on television the other day advocating for a $15-an-hour minimum wage with a purely emotional argument while failing to address hard economic realities.

Asked if she'd be willing to pay more for a product if it meant hourly wages were raised to the level necessary to maintain a business, she answered that to pay more, she'd have to make more. Hmmm. Isn't that kind of the point?

She also didn't seem to realize that increased automation in the privately owned fast-food industry translates in short order to lost jobs. Then there is the inevitability of those significant increases in price. For example, the commentator quoted a McDonald's Big Mac Meal rising from $5.69 to $7.85.

"Everyone agrees ... for a hike in the minimum wage," he said. "... I think that effectively doubling the federal rate to $15 is a little abrupt."

She responded that her group, nonetheless, "stands in solidarity."

Well, these folks can remain solid in their position all they like. But reality being what reality is, I predict a whopper number of jobs invariably will evaporate in relatively short order in the heat of rapid automation and corporate efficiencies. And where does that inevitably leave many thousands of displaced workers who insisted on such an increase?

For the record, Arkansas' minimum wage this year is a realistic $8. It rises to $8.50 in 2017. That places our state among the more than half of the nation with a minimum wage above the federal level of $7.25, where that has stood since 2009.

Explanation for silence

After thinking about the nature of radical Islam and jihadists who profess to be devout Muslims, I find myself wondering why the vast majority of peace-loving Islamists aren't speaking out forcefully against the savage brutality the world is witnessing across many countries today, certainly including our own.

As one woman married to an American Muslim told me during the winter, she believes it is the civilized and peaceful ones who choose to practice this faith that have the rightful standing to most effectively deal with the scourge their radical brethren are inflicting on the planet. I tend to believe she is right.

It seems to me that here in America especially, the Muslims who seek peaceful co-existence have an obligation, especially if they have become naturalized American citizens, to inform on and call out those who would cause harm to others.

Why wouldn't they any more than Christians often openly condemn and publicly protest the radicals of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas? Because of the relative silence I see when it comes to jihadists in the Muslim community, I probably react like many Americans and assume the majority peacefully co-existing Islamists in our country must be fearful to unite and act against the radicals.

At any rate, this situation is confusing to a lot of Americans who since San Bernardino, Fort Hood, Paris, Brussels and other places find themselves far more guarded and suspicious.

I'm inviting a knowledgeable practitioner of Islam to use part of my space here to clearly explain what's at work in the Islamic psyche that prevents an all-out denunciation and serious action to help protect the United States in which they, too, live.

I believe many Arkansans would seriously want to understand the thoughts and spiritual justifications for doing anything less within their body of faith. Just email your explanation to me. I'll take it from there.

Dubious distinction

Its been five years since I topped the scales at just over 300 pounds and chose to drop weight and hopefully restore my Type II diabetic blood sugar levels to normal range.

I wrote about the decision to ultimately lose 76 pounds and achieve that goal in hopes it would encourage others to do the same. Apparently not many were reading.

Our state today leads the nation with a 35.9 percent adult obesity rate. That's skyrocketed from 21.9 percent in 2000. That's over a third of us walking around as prime candidates for diabetes and serious medical problems. Ranked just beneath us are West Virginia and Mississippi.

I started my year-long quest to diminish my body because it was either that or likely face amputations and die a premature death. I decided to quit eating myself into oblivion. So can you. For your own sakes I hope you'll get mentally tough and determined enough to make it happen, starting today.

------------v------------

Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].

Editorial on 04/09/2016

Upcoming Events