Invisible Impacts: The Politics of Topic Framing

The people who decide Public Forum Debate topics have an immense but subtle power; to direct the time, thoughts, and energy of several thousand debaters and coaches across the country for the next several weeks or months. That power is unique to two institutions in the United States of America - the National Speech and Debate Association and the National Catholic Forensics League. While the NSDA sets the majority of the year's topics and the NCFL sets only one, the latter's topic is no less important. In fact, for many debaters the NCFL tournament receives special attention and extra preparation because it is the last tournament of the year (the only major tournament hosted after it is NSDA nationals). The NCFL, like the NSDA, wields the ability to expose young debaters to a wide variety of concepts, ideas, and topics. That presence, experience, and prestige of the NCFL league - the second oldest high school forensic association in the United States - makes the NCFL's topic choice and topic wording all the more significant. The 2014 NCFL topic reads: "Resolved: Minimum wage laws benefit the United States economy." The subject of the resolution is an excellent one - minimum wage debates are timely, and implicate fundamental questions about our the fairness of America's economic structure, the legitimacy of federal regulations, and the ability to survive the harrowing experience of living financially day to day. This resolution prompts exactly none of those debates. The object of the resolution - the device used to measure the desirability of a minimum wage - is "the economy". This impact measure obliterates from view the most compelling parts of the topic, in favor of an abstraction. It's easy for armchair academics to abstract away the constant fear that characterizes the grinding anxiety of poverty. It's simpler - both as a matter of analysis and as a matter of guilt - to ignore those questions, and reduce the situation to dollars and cents. It's the economy, stupid! Right? …right? What that abstraction - the choice to define the minimum wage debate in purely economic terms - ultimately loses is its human element, and its humanity with it. This blog post chooses not to obscure those impacts, and instead chooses to give voice to some of those who have experienced the phenomena of extreme poverty. B.T. speaks her story¹:

I came from a poor family. We always struggled, but we made it. Even in poverty we had some good days. One way or another, we went on. We suffered times of fear, but things would get better. We never became wealthy, by any means, but we stayed a step ahead of being completely destitute. That was so many years ago. I never thought of becoming rich. Life was bearable with a few good surprises along the way. My father would tell us of the extreme poverty during the depression. We felt grateful that things weren't that bad. We could eat, even if it wasn't always what we wanted, we could eat. And there were times we could eat exactly what we liked. On Christmas, we could afford the luxury of unlimited eggnog. I am now 58-years-old. My parents have passed on. Over the past eight years or so, it has become harder to survive. The past few years, being "a step ahead" has become a mere illusion. Fear is my constant companion now. Fear of homelessness is suffocating me. I was homeless with my kids some years back. But I managed to maintain a rental yet again. Am I now destitute? I don't know. I do know that I live second to second. My two older kids are grown, out in the world with their own struggles. It is now my youngest daughter, who is 19 and in the autistic spectrum, and myself. It is also the 4 rescued cats that no one wanted. It is the 8 stray cats that people have dumped for me to feed. I no longer have a car. The local welfare bus takes us to medical appointments. My health is becoming worse from riding that bus for hours and hours, sometimes never even reaching the destination. That's another story. I am thankful that I still have phone service. Yet, like many days, I have to be on it for hours pleading with utility companies to not raise our rates, to not cut off our services and to feel like dirt because they always make it a point to tell me I have a responsibility to pay my bills. I know this already. Am I dirt? I worked very hard for many years. Now my health is so poor that I can no longer do it. I could go on for hours and hours, telling about the struggle to survive, but that is life now for the 99%. It will be Christmas in a few weeks. I was in Walmart the other day. Eggnog is over two dollars per quart. Just looking at all the bottles of it was frightening. I can not entertain the thought of buying just one quart. Buying one quart of eggnog would mean I wouldn't be able to afford the co-pay for a much needed prescription. I had to tell my daughter no.

The most insidious effect of poverty is not its direct effect - literally starving people, sometimes to death - it's the psychological effect. On the latter end of his life, caring for a disabled daughter, B.T. is reduced to asking the question - am I dirt? The constant psychological and physical grind is magnified for women, where the looming threat of sexual violence is ever-present. J.G. shares her story²:

In my 20s and 30s, I was paying off college loans and making $6,000 a year working full time, even with previous college. About a third of my take-home went for college loan payments -- I did pay them all eventually. The unemployment rate (this was in 1976 or so) was close to 10.25%, as I remember it. Here's what I did: I lived with others in whatever places I could afford, had poor or no heat and never air conditioning, no screens, bad locks (in bad neighborhoods), barely-working stoves and fridges, iffy bathrooms, with abusive landlords. I ate a lot of eggs, peanut butter and bread. I did not own a car; it took me two hours to get to work and two hours to get back on the bus (I ended up taking two buses and and doing lots of walking). Work was only 13 miles away. As a small female, I was often under the threat of violence and harassment by strangers. I did not have a lot of clothes and what I got was from Goodwill or thrift stores, but I was always very clean. Winter clothes and shoes were the hardest to find. When I got pretty sick, I could not afford the $50 to go to a doctor; I had insurance but only for catastrophic coverage. I had friends and we got by with each others' help. I learned a lot in those years and would not want anyone else to go through them. Some things I faced were stunted and delayed promises, hunger, constant fear of harm, and ill health. I did much better as the years went on, I fought hard for that, but I have known ever since then that this is a country which does not care about it's people and it has gotten a lot worse.

The problems of stress-induced health problems and poverty are mutually reinforcing. Stress kills, and "stress" is a polite understatement of the psychological battery suffered by those in poverty. M. L. writes about her experience with poverty³:

Yes, I do know that there are even many people worse off now than me, but until you experience this long-term poverty situation, you can't really understand how it devastates your ability to function and robs you of your health from the stress, the instability, and the lack of ability to eat healthy. I do my best, and still I am grateful for the basic things in life, even the Ramen noodles, although they have caused me more health problems. I don't see a way out of this situation at this time.

G.W. sums up the core of the impact debate over a livable wage⁴:

How do I survive at the poverty level? I don't.

I strongly encourage debaters interested in poverty narratives from an academic perspective to check out this highly accessible article by Barbara Ehrehreich, which is an excellent introduction to the problems of poverty articulated within an academic framework⁵. This topic defines the terms of engagement to exclude these impacts by definition. By limiting the scope of analysis to "the economy", the topic's framing gives debaters a highly limited set of intellectual tools for analyzing the minimum wage debate. While the broader macro-economic effect of raising the minimum wage is certainly worth considering, it is not the sole consideration. Defining the debate over minimum wage solely in economic terms - as this resolution has done - obscures discussions worth having, and makes the human impacts invisible. The fear and suffering and pain felt by these people only becomes relevant when articulated in economic terms. Starvation isn't relevant, but "loss of productivity" is wholly topical. "Job quality" and "abuse by employers" isn't relevant until the employee leaves the job, and then they're only relevant insofar as they are another tally mark in the frictional unemployment spreadsheet. The framing of this resolution - and the unspoken presumption it reinforces - is that the suffering of people in poverty matters to the extent that it affects corporate bottom lines, and that's it. This topical framing has two impacts. First and most directly, it directs research away from human impacts and towards calculative economic impacts. Research about starvation and anxiety and minimal quality of life becomes a waste of time to read, because it doesn't prove the topic as written true or false. Debaters thinking strategically will ignore literature about the justice and fairness of minimum wage, and instead focus on abstracted statistical models and job forecasts because that's what the resolution calls for. Rounds will be won or lost on whose study has the best methodology and the biggest numerical bang. "The aff/neg solves _____ net jobs, so I voted aff/neg" will be the RFD on the vast majority of NCFL ballots, because of how the topic is phrased. The second impact is less direct, but perhaps more important. While the topic's phrasing directs research, it's framing simultaneously suggests that such a research direction is valuable. Not only do debaters research the economic perspective on the topic, they actually begin to think in its terms and see from its worldview. Laura Sjoberg, a feminist scholar of international relations theory, has a critique of Just War Theory that parallels this issue. Sjoberg criticizes war theorists for ignoring certain forms of violence deployed in war - like domestic violence - and in many cases, making those impacts irrelevant by definition. Sjoberg's pointed critique of Just War Theorists parallels the criticism I levy of the topic here in many ways. I've removed the term "war" and replaced it with "economy" and "minimum wage" as appropriate⁶:

This inadequacy is in itself complicity: without a moral framework to judge these impacts of [the minimum wage], they will continue to fly under the radar. The [purely economic analysis] is isolated from the everyday life impacts of global political [economy]; this isolation helps obscure those impacts. Instead of taking account of [suffering] and [starvation], the [economic analysts] create the illusion that the moral problems with [the economy] are being fixed.

The choice to frame the minimum wage debate in purely economic terms is therefore not a neutral choice, but one which has consequences for how we think about - and act on - the minimum wage. Given "the economy" as the measure of value, this topic's framing suggests to debaters that the important part of the minimum wage debate is how much profit is gained or lost, how rapidly GDP. The human concerns are irrelevant. The way-of-thinking impact is neither theoretical nor hyperbolic - political opponents of the minimum wage regularly deploy the tactic of redefining the debate in purely economic terms to marginalize the relevance of human suffering. Don't believe me? Watch this segment where Stuart Varney, a prominent media figure and economic analyst, make this exact dehumanizing argument⁷: (the good stuff starts at :10 and runs to 1:05) Both in the video and in public debate on the subject generally, demands for change that are grounded in appeals to human suffering are recast as "irrational", "emotional" and "illogical", and then contrasted against supposedly "objective", "neutral", and "fair" economic forecasts. Here⁸ are⁹ a¹⁰ half¹¹ dozen¹² more examples¹³. The last one actually makes the argument explicitly:

Supporters of the minimum wage embrace emotional "thinking" over truly rational thinking, and generally therefore really can't be taken seriously.

This simplistic way of thinking lumps all criticism into a singular, undifferentiated pile and defines it as irrelevant per se. Not only is that highly dangerous intellectually (John Stuart Mill's writing on dogmatism comes to mind¹⁴), it's dangerous practically when people like this make federal legislation¹⁵. Such dogmatism often reduces complicated social science to simplistic sound-bytes, but an introductory methods class at any political science program worth its salt would tell you that claims of objectivity and neutrality are impossible, because every analysis - statistical or otherwise - inevitably includes subjective value judgments (including judgments about data-set selection, selection of economic indicators, and selection of models of analysis). In fact, specific to economic inequality, these subjective choices have such a powerful impact on results that scholars can legitimately draw opposite conclusions from the same data, depending on how they manipulate it¹⁶. There's also nothing irrational about discussions of fairness, justice, and survivability. In fact, many of those discussions can be discussed comfortably in quantitative terms. For example:

1. Survivability¹⁷: Today's minimum wage isn't enough for a family of two to live above the poverty line, according to the EPI study. In fact, it takes an hourly wage of $10.20 per hour for a single person to afford basic needs in America's cheapest county, according to a July analysis from Wider Opportunities for Women.
2. Reasonability¹⁸: At the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, a couple with two children would have to work 155 hours a week to meet basic needs. [Note: there are 168 hours total in a week. That remaining 13 hours leaves a little less than 2 hours per day for sleep, let alone other parts of a fulfilling life.]
3. Fairness and proportionality¹⁹: Lawmakers would have to propose a minimum wage increase even well beyond the $15 minimum wage that fast food workers demanded in protests earlier this year in order to establish a minimum wage that's kept up with productivity. Some researchers estimate the wage floor would be as high as $21.72 per hour if it kept up with increases in worker productivity. The chart below from EPI pegs it at about $18.30 per hour.

Elizabeth Basch, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Law and Social Policy, sums of the importance of remembering the human element in the minimum wage debate. She argues that questions of employment shape broader questions of identity, personhood, and interpersonal relationships, because "jobs provide far more than a paycheck". Instead "jobs are a significant part of many people's social identity", in no small part because "most adults spend a significant portion of their waking hours at work"²⁰. She notes that the "quality of jobs affects almost every aspect of our lives: the productivity of our economy, our income and economic security, our relationships with our families and communities, and our health and emotional well-being"²¹. The economic impact of the minimum wage is definitely worth considering - but cannot be justified as the only consideration. When debaters research this topic, I hope they consider the politics of invisible impacts, and choose to remember this topic's human element.

Works Cited

1. B.T. "Eggnog was Limitless". Stories of Poverty hosted by "Voices of Poverty", founded 2011. Published November 30, 2012. http://thevoicesofpoverty.org/poverty-stories/story/eggnog-was-limitless
2. J.G. "'I FEEL RICH WHEN I HAVE FOOD.' STORIES FROM THE WAR ON POVERTY" Al Jazeera America. January 15, 2014. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/1/15/stories-from-thewaronpoverty.html
3. Ibid.
4. Vo, Lam Thuy and Kim, E. Tammy. "America's Have-Nots: What it Means to be Poor" Al Jazeera America. January 8, 2014. http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/povertyᇆyears/
5. Ehrenreich, Barbara. "Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) getting by in America". Harper's Magazine Folio 1998񮖟. http://tinyurl.com/EhrenreichArticle
6. Sjoberg, Laura. "Gender, Justice, and the Wars in Iraq". Chapter 2. Jan 1, 2006. Lexington Book Publishers.
7. Stewart, Jon. "The Amazing Raise: Stuart Varney vs. Pope Francis". December 5, 2013. www.tinyurl.com/JonStewartMinWage
8. Marcus, B.K. "The Economics and Emotions of Minimum Wage". Luwig von Mises Institute. April 14, 2005. http://archive.mises.org/3473/the-economics-and-emotions-of-the-minimum-wage/
9. Posmer, Jim. "Don't let emotions dictate policy on minimum wage". The Hill. January 13, 2014. http://thehill.com/opinion/letters/195300-dont-let-emotions-dictate-policy-on-minimum-wage
10. Fox News. "Senate GOP Expected to Block Minimum Wage Bill". April 30, 2014. http://fox17online.com/2014/04/30/senate-gop-expected-to-block-minimum-wage-bill/#axzz30hu25z1d
11. In fact, this narrative framing has been going on for a long time. This article is from 1987. Pounds, Marcia. "‘Emotional', ‘Scientific' Debate Rages Over Minimum Wage Law". The Sun Sentinel. May 27, 1987. http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1987ᆙᆬ/business/8702170856_1_minimum-wage-coalition-wage-proposal-wage-increase
12. Flynn, Mike. "Top 5 Myths About the Minimum Wage". Breitbart. March 10, 2013. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/10/topLJ-myths-about-the-minimum-wage
13. Perry, Mark. "Quote of the day: Henry Hazlitt on the minimum wage". American Enterprise Institute. February 15, 2013. http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/02/quotation-of-the-day-henry-hazlitt-on-the-minimum-wage/
14. Mill is generally dense-but-excellent to read. The relevant portion starts at section 22. Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty: Chapter 2. http://www.bartleby.com/130/2.html
15. This article quotes Rep. Dennis Ross. Willies, Egberto. "Hard Working Citizen Challenges Congressman Over Minimum Wage (VIDEO)" April 17, 2014. http://egbertowillies.com/2014/04/17/dennis-ross-minimum-wage/
16. McKay, Andrew. "Defining and Measuring Inequality". Overseas Development Institute in Conjunction with the University of Nottingham. March 2002, http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/docs/3804.pdf
17. Berman, Jillian. "$10.10 Minimum Wage Would Actually Create New Jobs: Study". The Huffington Post. December 20, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/19/1010-minimum-wage_n_4474183.html
18. Ristau et al. "The Job Gap: Family Budgets". Jobs Now Coalition. March 2010. http://www.jobsnowcoalition.org/reports/2010/cost-of-living2010.pdf
19. Berman, Jillian. "$10.10 Minimum Wage Would Actually Create New Jobs: Study". The Huffington Post. December 20, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/19/1010-minimum-wage_n_4474183.html
20. Basch, Elizabeth. "Opportunity at work: improving job quality" Center for Law and Social Policy. September 2007. http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/conference2009/Opportunity%20at%20Work%20-%20Improving%20Job%20Quality.pdf
21. Ibid.