Next Tuesday night, June 27, at the Wilmette Village Hall at 7:30 pm,
there will be a Village Board meeting to decide whether or not Wilmette should opt out of Cook County's pending graduated raises of the minimum wage...

Here's what I know about minimum wages. When I was in high school, way back in the 1950's, I worked in a grocery store before and after school. My first year I was paid the minimum wage of $0.75 an hour ($6.84 in today's dollars). This had been the minimum wage for five years. After maybe six months, I got a raise to $0.85 (the equivalent of 8.83 today). But the next year I was pleased to see the minimum wage raised to $1.00 an hour ($8.99 today). When I look back on that now I realize that the government had raised the minimum by 33% in one single step. That would be the equivalent today of raising Illinois' $8.25 minimum to $10.97 instantly. And that was under the Republican Party's iconic President Eisenhower! -- Surprisingly, our local economy did not collapse.
     At first blush, it looks like with inflation the spending power of the minimum wage back in my teens wasn't much different from today. But in those days a gallon of gas was under 25 cents, a movie ticket was maybe 40 cents, candy bars were a nickel. We got along without cell phone fees, computer connections, credit card debt. Being poor back then was simply more doable. Anyway that was then, this is now.
     In looking at data over the past 60 years, I can see that the wages received by workers in low paying jobs have often not kept pace with inflation. The peak of spending power for a minimum wage worker occurred way back in 1968 when those workers made the equivalent of $10.75 per hour in today's dollars. By 1981, as inflation continued to affect things, the federal minimum wage was raised to $3.35 under President Jimmy Carter. By then, its spending power had diminished to today's equivalent of $8.62 - still better than Illinois' present rate of $8.25 and today's federal rate of $7.25, but tough to live on. What's interesting is that soon after that year, the Reagan era began featuring his warm and fuzzy personality and his "trickle down" economics. There were no more increases in the federal minimum wage until 9 years later when George H.W. Bush was President. By that time, spending power of the minimum wage had dropped to today's equivalent of $6.82 an hour. (What a kindly man President Reagan was.)
     It's been 8 years since the present federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 under President Obama. Nothing since. (You think things today don't cost any more than they did in 2009? I bet they do.) Of course, through the years, a number of states and many communities have established higher minimums. And over those years, the arguments against raises in the minimum wage have pretty much never varied. The truth is there are many people who don't think any minimum wage should exist. Our Governor Rauner used to say such things.
     So here's what I think. The more I hear on this subject it seems to me that there is a single minded agenda behind the cries of how a higher wage will stop teenagers from getting jobs or will drive service industries from villages. It's not talked about in debates and probably won't come up next Tuesday. The real battle is and always has been driven by the right wing philosophy that has always abhorred the idea of any government entity telling businesses how they should do anything. If you Google ALEC and the words "minimum wage," you will see that this very influential conservative lobby and propaganda factory has consistently fought the kind of ordinance now about to take affect in Cook County. For years, they have been keeping a close watch on such things, ready to weaken or stop any such activity.
     Often, local Chambers of Commerce are sucked into their chess game without truly realizing that for ALEC it's not really about what's best for a village, its businesses or their employees. It's about stopping any advancement of government oversight involving the welfare of American workers. We have such ideologues active among us here on the North Shore. Their ideas of an ideal community are far from mine.
     So now here we are in 2017 and our Village of Wilmette is considering opting out of the upcoming Cook County minimum wage ordinance. Several other villages, some nearby, have already done this but in Wilmette there has been a vocal reaction to this possibility. In a 2014 referendum, 71% of Wilmette voters supported the idea of a higher minimum wage. Those voters remain engaged.
     The Wilmette Village President Bob Bielinski put together an informative and neutral collection of information on this issue. You can look it over by clicking here. Also you can read through the County Ordinance by clicking here.
     I admit most of what I've written here is just my opinion. But it's an opinion with 60 years of observation behind it. So, I hope you will take a look at some the information available on the links I've provided. Or if you are curious, do some of your own research into the various aspects of this subject. Then, I hope you will show up next Tuesday night at the Wilmette Village Hall well before 7:30 pm to makes sure you have a seat. It should be a stimulating evening.
     To paraphrase what I said in today's essay, being concerned about better lives for all Americans is the right thing to do. If that means paying a few cents more for my cheeseburger or my dry cleaning in Wilmette, I can live with it.  --- N.H.