So-Called

The littlest things can actually say a lot. In today's short quip, Council Fails to Override Veto of Living Wage, it starts off with the statement, "The so-called living-wage ordinance..."

This article is about the City Council's inability to override a veto from Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley. The ordinance would have forced larger employers (read as Wal-Mart to many) to pay higher wages, something like $10/hour plus some amount of benefits, if my memory is correct.

But why the editorial phrase "so-called"? Is it because this wage would not in fact be enough to provide a living wage? Because to put the recipient above the national poverty level would take a few more dollars? I really doubt it. And it isn't a coincidence that the use of the phrase "so-called" is applied to something that would help working people. I don't see the paper reporting about the so-called Patriot Act, or any of the other long line of insidiously misnamed laws and propositions that come before us on a regular basis.