I was in Washington, D.C. in April 2016 for the purpose of speaking with Congressional staffers and House Representatives in the fight against a 5,500-page trade agreement.
There were dozens of union-employee guests at my hotel, wearing coordinated t-shirts, lobbying for a $15 minimum wage. This hotel was not a Motel 6. Somebody paid far more money than necessary to send these workers to the nation’s capital.
Many of the workers sported expensive hairstyles. They all had free time to travel, and resided in a nice hotel for three nights.
If I were the legislator who they visited, I would not have taken them seriously. I know what poverty looks like. Poverty does not look like trips to the beauty salon and vacation days, I promise you. In fact, people in poverty do not generally have employee benefits such as vacation days and health insurance. The worker-guests in my hotel might have been broke of their own doing — spendthrift habits, poor life planning, etc. — but they were not likely broke due to lack of a decent salary package.
One of these low-wage workers had TWO iPhones, both of which were in use. Impoverished people who care about digging themselves out of a financial hole do not have the cash flow to buy iPhones nor waste money on the accompanying large phone bills.
And really, if you're going to travel all the way to Washington, D.C. to ask for favors, put on a dress or a shirt and tie. Whomever dressed these people to look like fools in possibly the most well-dressed enclave in the U.S. clearly had no concern for the workers’ dignity.
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Crista Huff is a hedge fund portfolio manager who writes on many topics, including politics, economics, investment markets, healthcare, child-rearing, gardening, Christianity, sociology and psychology.
...I work very, very hard. I'm lucky to take a day off each week. I can't remember when I last had a vacation.