Tonight, Asheville City Council approved a slight tweaking to their living wage ordinance. The ordinance originated through efforts of the activist group Just Economics, which at the time published materials availed by another community organization, ACORN. The group believes people should make at least $9.85/hr with benefits, or $11.35 without, in order to live in Asheville where the cheapest acceptable apartments rent for around $560 a month, without utilities.

There seemed to be a disconnect in discussions tonight. Having sought work in the Asheville area for several months recently, it became obvious that anybody who was not fluent in 56 verbal and ten programming languages couldn’t earn more than $7.50 an hour, and that was for maybe 8 hours a week. Even so, non-evading folks piecing together a career of eight minimum-wage jobs will contribute tax dollars to subsidize what Brenda Mills, the city’s administrative services manager and ex-stimulus czar, calls a “bump” in costs to the city for paying all employees and most contract workers a living wage.

Mills did not know exactly how many dollars equal one bump. However, since (1) the right hand knoweth not what the left hand taketh, and (2) Marxist philosophers are probably teaching that money isn’t fungible; then one is not allowed to conclude anything unfair is going down.