Elect Chris Booth to U.S. Senate

The Amoskeag Mills were once the largest textile mills in the world, producing 500,000 yards of cloth a week, and covering a mile and a half of ground along the Merrimack River, in Manchester, New Hampshire. However, the cotton used was shipped from the south, and after World War I, Amoskeag could no longer compete with mills in the south. They tried to lower wages and increase hours, but still could not compete, and finally closed after a century of operation, in 1935.

The reason that I see no other solution than a world wide minimum wage and a tariff on any goods imported from any country without a minimum wage is because of the example of the Amoskeag Mills. My goal though, is the elimination of all tariffs, once a world wide minimum wage is established. It may not even need to be very much - as little as $1/hour, but probably about $5/hour would be more practical. What is interesting to me is that graduating from High School my goal in life was to earn $5/hour. At that time the minimum wage in America was $1.25/hour (about $8 in today's dollars).

For those who have been asking for an increase in the minimum wage, that is not a raise! Raising the minimum wage is simply a recipe to increase inflation. Our goal should be that a dollar can buy a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread today and forever, and having an average of zero inflation over time, instead of adding zeros every century.

Before the Amoskeag Mills opened in 1831, most of America lived and worked on the farm. After the mills closed, the country was in the Great Depression, which did not end until World War II. After World War II, the GI Bill allowed millions of returning servicemen to go to college, creating the middle class. The following chart shows average incomes by education in 2008:

The largest population group today is high school graduates. The chart shows that even some college increases the average income level, and the highest median income is those who receive a professional degree.

The following chart shows how household incomes are distributed, showing that the largest group consists of those with a household income of from $50,000 to $100,000, and that 10% of households have an income of less than $12,500.

Originally only the wealthy were taxed, but actually more total income is received by the middle class (those making from $50,000 to $100,000/year) than the rich, and a full 14% of all income comes from those making less than $25,000 per year, while only 9% comes from those making over $250,000 per year.

The book, The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J. Stanley, explains that of the millions of Millionaires in America today, most live relatively simple lives, and became millionaires by following some very basic financial principles:

1. Spend less than you make
2. Save for the future
3. Invest carefully

Or, more specifically, hard work, perseverance, planning, and self discipline.

Almost anyone with a middle income can follow those very simple steps and become a millionaire. If you invest at 8% over a 40 year period, it only requires setting aside less than $300 per month to accrue a million dollars. And the fun part is that if you put only $49.11 into a trust fund for your child each month it will grow to $23,576 by the time they are 18, which may sound to them like a great way to buy a Corvette, but if instead they leave it in the trust fund, adding not a penny to it their self, it will grow to $1,000,000 by the time they reach age 65, and provide a very livable retirement income of $80,000/year (at 8% return, or $40,000 at a much safer 4% return). So the choice is simple, set aside for retirement, or buy the Corvette.

For most people, their first car is an old used car, and when they buy a new car it is with a loan, but if instead of making monthly payments on a car loan, those same monthly payments are put into a savings account, and then paying cash for a car, the payments earn interest instead of pay interest, and the net result is that each car ends up costing as much as half what it would have, depending on the savings interest and on the loan interest. The best car is the one that you own outright.