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An Open Letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Scrooge of the Lone Star State
Are There No More Prisons…No Union Workhouses?
Governor Abbott,
I normally don’t write this type of letter; when I want to be ignored, I’ll just make a quick stop at the DMV. But your announcement yesterday that Texas will opt out of the additional $300/week Federal unemployment benefit on June 26 has forced my hand. After all, the Texas state motto is “Friendship,” and friends are supposed to look out for each other.
Your rationale for this move is that the additional unemployment benefit is keeping Texans from going back to work because they allegedly make more on unemployment. You are partly correct; using only the $300 Federal benefit, it comes out to $7.50/hour assuming a 40-hour work week, which is a massive $0.25/hour increase over Texas’ current minimum wage of $7.25/hour. I can see why such ridiculous generosity would give you pause.
But here is a question you may not have considered, given your busy schedule of suing the Biden administration every other day. Why is Texas’ minimum wage so low in the first place? That $7.25/hour comes to $1257/month. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Dallas area is $1198/month, so before taxes a single person working for minimum wage has $59 left for…
