Dick Gregory has a request for First Lady Michelle. He said if he were President he would ask her to plant watermelon in the garden this year. 

He also said he had a complaint. He wants to know why Black History Month is always in February. He doesn't think it is right the community has to share that month with a Groundhog. And. He says the community never gets a month with 31 days in it.

He said that he never much paid attention to Groundhog Day until Black History Month was in February. And. He believes the Groundhog stuff is phoney baloney. In his estimation, from February 2 to the first day of spring in March there is six weeks. What does everyone expect? Spring on February 3rd?

I think there is a misunderstanding about Small Business growth. It is misused when discussing the increase in minimum wage. Other applications, too, but in particular in relation to increasing the minimum wage.

Part of what is assumed in the 'idea' of Small Business is the myth every enterprise wants to be a Big Business. That is not the case.

Big Business or differently put "aspiring to be a stock interest on the Big Board" is not at all where many Small Business seek to be. That is a gross error when examining a reason to oppose the increase in the minimum wage.

The dialogue of the opposition to the increase in the minimum wage wants to build a vision of oppressing the growth of Small Business owners to being something big and more in numbers, ie: Franchise interests.

There is a very big difference between franchise business and small business owners. Either way a recent Popcorn franchise I posted on this blog is a good example of why all that opposition is hideous.

Let's just remove the aspiring franchise interests into a reality. Franchise owners are small businesses. They have a common company name they derive from a group of small businesses. Franchise owners receive benefits from their name brand.

The idea that every small business is going to receive an adverse outcome to their profit margin if the cost of labor increases by $1.75 per hour has nothing to do with growing to larger numbers. So, let's lose that. 

It is more than correct that if minimum wage workers, WHICH MAY NOT BE THE CASE in all small businesses. Okay? Chefs are not minimum wage workers, but, perhaps the waiter or waitress is. Restaurants in many instances are small businesses. They don't necessarily have a franchise interest, so, let's loose the idea too that all small businesses hire minimum wage workers. That is not the case. Independent garage owners do not pay minimum wage. So this is about specific workers. Not all small businesses are included in this dynamic for several reasons.

The language that needs to be cleaned up is the idea that an increase in the minimum wage will demise all small business. That is a lie. A gross lie. 

The fact of the matter is that if minimum wage workers are paid $1.75 more an hour, they will be able to purchase more. They will have more money to improve their financial standing. There is nothing wrong with proving a high school student with a guarantee their wage will be $9.00 per hour. This NOT an allowance, these are EARNINGS. Why should a high school student not be valued for their labor? I want to hear that, because the idea it will keep them out of the workforce is incorrect. If a small business needs assistance on Saturday and Sunday to man the sales shelves a minimum wage is not going to stop that.

That high student will then have more money to do other activities when they have worked for their earnings. Their labor will mean something beyond the labor itself. Volunteer work is work without added economic benefit, not labor. So, they can have goals and spend that money OR save it for college, etc. So, the idea the high school student is going to be out of luck in the minimum wage increases is more than silly. 

I worked from the age of 11 as a babysitter. I received $1.00 per hour and that was being well paid at that age. I continued to earn money the rest of my life from the age of 11. I didn't earn SSI benefits until I reached the age of 18, but, I did earn money and I spent it as well as saved it. 

At the age of 15, my reputation of a good person in the community that was reliable as an employee earned me a position at a dentist's office to be trained as an assistant earning minimum wage. Believe me, the dentist got a real deal for the next three years of my life. At the beginning of my employ I worked myself out of a job catching up on old, outstanding bills. But, once the office learned my capacity they asked me back to be trained. A dental hygienist certification was not necessary back then. But, that is besides the point. Minimum wage provided a great deal of opportunity and I returned that opportunity to the local economy. I saved at a national bank, so there you have it.

If I didn't have that minimum wage to earn for my GOOD QUALITY labor, the local economy would have been less that good quality labor and less my spending. Now, multiple that dynamic across the entire of the USA and what is the outcome? The outcome is there is more vitality in the economy. More theater tickets sold, more clothing, more recreational beverages, more trips to the Jersey shore, etc. 

So, the idea that an increase in the minimum wage will oppress small businesses is hideous. It will expand vitality. A lot. And the idea there is burgeoning franchise around every corner oppressed by an increase in the minimum wage is mind speak and rhetorical. There is no fact in that idea.

I mentioned the Popcorn Franchise. That franchise did not start as a Mom and Pop store. It started through market research, the development of a business model and the marketing of that information to investors to begin the first set of franchise store fronts. It has nothing to do with the Mom & Pop stores. Unless that franchise is going to expand it's market space by bringing it to the Mom & Pop store, such as, a Coke or Pepsi vending machine there is no relationship. 

Also, a Coke and Pepsi driver and service person does not receive minimum wage. Short of Papa Johns I doubt any driver of a company earned minimum wage. The real crime of Papa Johns is the fact their drivers/delivery people actually have to pay for their own gasoline to make those deliveries. Not that is a moral issue. How can Papa Johns actually offer an employment opportunity that costs their employees money in order to maintain it. It is an exploitative labor model.

But, we know more money in the hands of consumers creates a more vital economy and more employment. The example of that are the tax cuts to the Middle Class. We know they work and they work well. So, if any business, big, small or franchised wants to expand their profits then increase the money in their employees hands. Increase the minimum wage and it will pay for itself.

The loss of a profit based in increasing the minimum wage will be transient to higher profits. It will be a minor dip until the monies are in circulation of which is all of about a week to two depending when paychecks are issued.

Greater market penetration of any product depends on demand. If the people a business is counting on doesn't have the disposable income to participate in markets then the business is defeated before it even gets off the ground.

Apple recently learned their idea of an unlimited cost of product was a rude awakening. Why is that? Why did they reach their ceiling? It wasn't because of a poor product. I wasn't because of a bad reputation. The people that use Apple products love their Apples. All of Apple's marketing has worked. They have found the people looking for their services, but, that relationship was challenged when the product cost exceeded their ability to pay.

So, the question is if the people that love Apple will spend more on the product if their income increases? My guess is yes and Apple can always find a way of testing that through selling applications for their new product exclusive to Apple to the...

...I took a phone call...

So, let's see.

And I think that is the next step for Apple. In order for them to find their 'effective' price point, they need to sell exclusive applications for there newest product once there are enough in circulation to justify the apps. Then they'll know how their consumers, loyal consumers, are doing in their own financial well being to invest more in the fun and function they have in their Apples.

Upward mobility is what increases in the minimum wage will result in. The USA is suppose to be that country. That is the promise of the USA. A chance of upward mobility. And until this generation, which was unemployed from the point where they were prepared educationally to begin their own work careers, that promise of the USA has always been there. Every generation has done better than the one before. 

I won't tell another personal story, but, that has been the experience of my family. I am confident that is the case across the country. Immigrants, wage labor, children that finished high school, children that worked forty hour weeks with unions behind them, children able to purchase houses and able to educate their children. Blue collar workers educating their children into college and careers of business persons, medical professionals, lawyers and the variety in a large family is unending. Heck, one of my cousins works at a casino in their IT department and received employee of the year.

But, this generation, the 99% generation has been deprived that. We have much promise to return to the USA and if we don't reclaim it, this country's poverty will increase and it's growth will stagnate and disappear. We cannot allow that to happen to our children and grandchildren. We are better than that.

So, increased minimum wage might seem like a blight to the Republicans, but, it will prove, as it has in the past, to be a blessing to the nation. We need to get all this done and we have a President dedicated to see it happen. We need to move forward now.