ENKA — U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-Cherryville, addressed income inequality in America and the importance of education and training to resolve the issue during a May 2 breakfast meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners at A-B Tech’s Haynes Conference Room. 

About 40 people attended.

McHenry, who was an unscheduled speaker at the CIBO meeting, also got to speak first.

“I wanted to speak for two or three minutes and then find out what’s on your mind,” McHenry said, noting that he “just got in from Washington” and that he represents “the economic center of the western North Carolina  — Asheville and Buncombe County.

“The debate on inequality is what I want to bring to you. The idea that we’re having a discussion on equality is right and good. The discussion, though, completely misses the point.

“The idea of lifting up one group of people over another” is off-base, McHenry asserted.

“The average family... the median family, in this country — they make about the same as they did in 2000 and in 1989, not adjusted for inflation.”

In the United States, he said, $51,000-plus is the median family income. “The cost of things has gone up,” McHenry said. “The cost of housing has normalized... but the cost of cars, the cost of transportation to fuel up those vehicles, the cost of health care, the cost of education ... has gone up.

“So the median family has actually fallen. The median family spends over 50 percent on the cost of housing and transportation. So gas prices are”  important.

McHenry then asserted, “The most important thing is education and training — those things will lift those families.

“Are we going to be a low-cost producer like China? I think that’s already been done well, or are we going to be like Germany? I think that’s a possible course.”

During a brief question-and-answer period that followed, CIBO member Mac Swicegood asked, “As a sidebar, I read where the national transportation fund is going to be insolvent... If people can’t get to work, that’s going to be a big problem.”

“You’re right,” McHenry replied. “You’re right. North Carolina has the largest gas tax in the Southeast. The way we fund our roads is through the gas tax. With more efficient cars, we have diminishing returns on our gas tax....

“So what we have to do is use the revenue streams that come off the resources from the public land. If you look at Louisiana, they generate about a third of their income from public lands.... I think that’s a very important point you’ve made.”

Another CIBO member asked, “I don’t know how familiar you are with union attempts.... Can you tell us anything about the strength of the union” movement in North Carolina “and their attempts to have more power against their employers.”

“Well, North Carolina is the least unionized state in the nation and that’s resulted in economic benefits over the past decade,” McHenry replied. “The process now is you must have people calling for an election through that secret Card Check process. ... That’s one piece of legislation, but it’s dead... It won’t pass the House of Representatives... It’s a troublesome agenda. You see private-sector unions dwindling in the United States. Simply joining a union doesn’t mean you’re going to have a job next year.”

Another questioner asked, “What are your thoughts on the minimum wage?”

“That doesn’t lift up the family,” McHenry said. “The largest group is high school students,” who, because their starting wages are low, are able to obtain their first jobs.

“My first job, I worked for the minimum wage — and I worked for my father,” McHenry said with a bit of attitude, prompting laughter. At age 11, young McHenry thought he  deserved higher pay, but his father said, “You’re my child, so the laws don’t apply to you.” The CIBO crowd laughed even louder.

On a more serious note, McHenry said, “So what I saw out of that is a training wage is a very meaningful thing. If you talk to the fast-food industry — if there’s a fry cook who shows up on time, very soon he becomes assistant manager and eventually part-owner of a fast-food manager.... I don’t think raising the minimum wage in this economic environment is the right approach.”

He added, “They say it will cost between a half million and a million jobs in America”  to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. “If you want more jobs, focus on education and training,” instead.

For North Carolina, McHenry said, “I’d like to see an economy like North and South Dakota,” where he noted “the minimum wage there is $15 to $16 an hour — and they can’t even” find enough qualified applicants to fill all the jobs in their roaring economies.

“I think a strong economy will lift more people up than raising the minimum wage,” McHenry said.

CIBO member Dwight Butner, owner-manager of Vincenzo’s restaurant downtown, said an issue that should be addressed is the need to shift the debate from getting a college degree for future success to several options, including getting a technical education, such as in the culinary field.

Agreeing, McHenry said, “That goes back to the diversity of training program. The pre-college track is not right for everyone. You have experienced welders who make a lot more than middle-class wage. You think about plumbing.... So we need to get back to career and technical education,” without exclusively pushing a college education for everyone.

At that point, McHenry bid goodbye, triggering applause when he said, “Thank y’all for what you do for business and industry.”

In other presentations, CIBO heard updates on the Buncombe County STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program from School Superintendent Tony Baldwin; Asheville’s new graffiti ordinance by Assistant City Manager Cathy Ball; and the city stormwater utility fee increase proposal.

As for the STEM-themed high school program, Baldwin said about 800 students in Buncombe (including Asheville) participate. He stressed that it is “giving our kids workplace experience.... If there’s ever been an effort on school outreach, this is it. In my 29 years, I’ve never had a program that go so much enthusiasm in the community....

“We closed down our career education center three years ago. UNC Asheville is one of the partners in this (STEM) school. We’re going to bring those professors in to make sure students get as many colllege credits as possible,” Baldwin said. “The second partnership is our partnership with you.... We’ve learned we’ve got to do a better job in the business of education.”