The Guardian tells us that George Osborne is calling for an above-inflation increase in the minimum wage to £7 an hour. This is to take place in two stages, one in October 2014, one in October 2015. Presumably that means that if we fail to vote Conservative in 2015, we will have only ourselves to blame if we find ourselves still on low pay. Other politicians are jumping around trying to respond. Labour’s shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury says that Ed Miliband and Ed Balls thought of it first. Vince Cable claims he thought of it first. The things they all do to get votes.

Juggle, juggle, juggle. Or should I say smoke and mirrors? Of course the minimum wage should be higher – much higher than £7. But who knows what any of the parties will really do after the next election – on anything, but perhaps especially on this.

Others are being predictable: Mark Littlewood, the director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “Increasing the minimum wage is a triumph of political aspiration over economic reality”; and the CBI says that a rise to £7 would be “unaffordable”. I doubt it. For it to be suggested at all probably means it is, in their terms, “affordable”, and the bluster is just a knee-jerk reaction. Mandy Rice-Davies should be living at this hour!

Talking of aspiration, I am reminded of a friend who works in what he calls “the bowels of the capitalist system”, the World Financial Center in New York. We were sitting in the restaurant of the Metropolitan Museum 18 months ago and he explained his philosophy to me. It seems that to pay everybody a decent wage can only lead to inflation. In fact, low pay is A Good Thing: not only does it keep inflation down, it is actually good for the low paid. Because it gives them aspirations to higher things, training, education, better jobs where the pay is higher, and they might not have those aspirations otherwise. So don’t give them a living wage now – they just won’t benefit from it. It is, my friend said, in accordance with human nature. So I suppose this means that low pay is beneficial to society.

My friend in New York is a Christian, and I later remembered that Jesus said, “The poor you always have with you.” Capitalist Christians think that means you can’t do anything to finally get rid of poverty. More radical Christians think they ought to do something about poverty, and they also quote the Bible.

George and David, Ed and Ed, and Uncle Vince Cable and all, are not quoting the Bible, and we can at least be thankful for that. What they are doing, though, is making promises. None of us should be thankful for that.

By the way, the Living Wage Foundation last year proposed a living wage rate per hour of £8.55 in London and £7.45 outside London.

Will somebody talk to them please?

Here’s the Guardian article:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jan/16/george-osborne-backs-minimum-wage-rise?CMP=EMCSOCEML657