“They didn’t start thinking of the old common fellow till just as they started out on the election tour. The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover was an engineer. He knew that water trickles down. … He didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.” – Will Rogers, 1932

“Trickle-down;” “Reaganomics;”; Supply-side economics;” “Voodoo Economics;” whatever it’s been called for the last century or so, it amounts to the Economic Big Lie. The lie is this: benefits for the wealthy – tax cuts for multinational corporations, high-income earners, capital gains, and dividends – drive economic growth that helps everyone. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” they say. This might actually work if the beneficiaries really used wealth to create jobs and opportunity for all. But we know it’s a lie because unfettered capitalism has never, ever worked that way. In truth, it’s led to stock market crashes, depressions, recessions, political corruption, and now the hollowing out of what once was a vibrant middle class. The gap between the wealthiest 20% and the rest of us is now a chasm, because those windfalls are hoarded, hidden, or spent to buy favorable legislation from like-minded politicians.

At least 70% of Americans support the American Rescue Plan just passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden. In spite of this overwhelming public support, not a single Republican Congressperson voted for the ARP, citing various versions of the Economic Big Lie. But the people know better: the ARP allocates dollars where they will do the most good. It will patch up the battered boats of essential workers, small businesses, schools, children, families, cities’ and towns’ essential services, home owners, renters, and those who have lost employer-based health care in the pandemic.

There’s something missing, though. The House of Representatives included the Raise the Wage Act (HR 603) in its version of the ARP. It would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour (around $15,000 a year for a full-time worker!) to $15/hour by 2025. There is nowhere in the US where a full-time worker earning the minimum wage can pay for food, clothing, shelter, and health care, but our own NH Senators Hassan and Shaheen were among 8 Democrats who, along with every Republican Senator, voted not to include it in the Senate’s version. HR 603 would also tie the federal minimum to median wage growth, so America never leaves workers stranded by Legislative inaction or Executive perverseness again.

We need only look toward Concord to see what Executive perverseness looks like. Governor Sununu has been generous with praise for essential workers, but much more generous with tax breaks for his wealthy donors. He proved the emptiness of his praise last year when he vetoed dozens of bills to help working families, among them one to finally establish a state minimum wage of $12.00/hour over 3 years. It easily passed the Legislature, but he ignored the will of the people and killed it. Our current NH Legislature will be no help, either, since the “trickle down” faction holds the majority.

All is not lost, though: the Raise the Wage Act is still very much alive as a stand-alone bill. Our Senators have sounded lukewarm about it, so we must let them know we expect them to support it. Tell them point-by-point how economics really works:

• The $15.00 minimum wage means $3,300 more annually by 2025 in the pockets of millions of working people.

• Workers don’t hoard wealth. They spend it in the housing market, the super market, on education, and in their communities. They use it for child care and health care and transportation so they are able and can afford to work.

• When people have the means to work, they are less dependent on publicly and privately funded support services. This is how a living wage benefits taxpayers and state budgets.

• Small business owners are fighting alongside workers for a living wage, because they care about their employees and communities, and they benefit both from the larger work force and people’s ability to support their businesses in turn. This is how all boats rise.

A living wage is both an economic good and a moral imperative. No one in a nation with as much wealth as ours should have to worry about putting food on the table and a roof over their head. The American oligarchy created today’s devastating income inequality, but together, we can fix the system so it works for everyone. Call and write Senators Shaheen and Hassan. Send cards, emails, and show up at their headquarters. Tell your stories. Make the case for HR 306. Workers and their families have waited long enough.