Minimum Wage Increase

[Bella]

Your thoughts?

I see "St. McCain" voted against it. *sighs*

[stratesx]

I am all for it. At $5.15 an hour it is much lower than it was 50 years ago.

[Ó Cathasaigh]

Ask yourself one question.

Who works at these jobs?

High School Students? Yes
College Students? Yes
People who've dropped out of Highschool and havn't taken the time to get at least a GED? YES

Why should society cater to those who literaly don't want a better life? Yeah, they complain about their pay, but take some initiative. There are millions of people who make loads more than that who only graduated from Highschool. I don't think McDonalds should have to pay someone more who's just working there for a few months, or someone who's literaly too stupid to do any other jobs.

[harm]

Ask yourself one question.

Who works at these jobs?

High School Students? Yes
College Students? Yes
People who've dropped out of Highschool and havn't taken the time to get at least a GED? YES

Why should society cater to those who literaly don't want a better life? Yeah, they complain about their pay, but take some initiative. There are millions of people who make loads more than that who only graduated from Highschool. I don't think McDonalds should have to pay someone more who's just working there for a few months, or someone who's literaly too stupid to do any other jobs.

Life isn't about making money. People should be able to raise a family and be dumb.

Minwage needs to be raises...screw small buisness....republicans have been screwing small buisness for years, they can't compete with these corporations at all..

[Lasher]

Ask yourself one question.

Who works at these jobs?

People who were born into lower class families? Yes
People who can't go to college because they can't pay for it? Yes
People who have to drop out of school to try and support themselves/family with a minimum wage job? Yes
People who work because the only other way to make money is selling drugs? Yes
People who weren't born with near the benefits we have? Yes

How can you seriously justify not raising the minimum wage? Do you know how hard it is for some people to just put food in their stomach and a roof over their head? The minimum wage should have been raised many times over. Does everyone else think people who work a minimum job are just lazy and can't go out and get a better job? I work with people who come from lower income backgrounds and it's depressing to look at what they have and that they have little future.

Also Congress have raised their wages every year but haven't raised the minimum wage in over 10 years? What kind of bull **** is that?

[darius]

Why this irrational hatred against poor people? Common they're already down, why kick them in the belly?
Why would you raise the minimimum wage and take away their jobs?

The only thing minimum wage succeds in is creating unemployment. If you're producing for let's say six dollars an hour a company would hire you for let's say 5.50 dollars an hours giving them some profit. However if you raise the minimum wage to 7.25 the compnay sure as hell wouldn't hire you to lose 1.25 dollars an hour they'd just fire you.
By raising the minimum wage you barr the least productive from the labour market, not only preventing them from the immediate benefits of getting a job but also from the exprerience hence increased productivity and wage they'd get from working.

[LoZz]

Ask yourself one question.

Who works at these jobs?

High School Students? Yes
College Students? Yes
People who've dropped out of Highschool and havn't taken the time to get at least a GED? YES

Why should society cater to those who literaly don't want a better life? Yeah, they complain about their pay, but take some initiative. There are millions of people who make loads more than that who only graduated from Highschool. I don't think McDonalds should have to pay someone more who's just working there for a few months, or someone who's literaly too stupid to do any other jobs.

that is true of many

BUT their are those that have no choice. some people have to look after members of their family because their is no one else (son's and daughter's whos parents become crippled) so they have to drop out of school etc.

their are a few other situations and of course its only a few people who are in this situation BUT isnt is better to protect them?

No spanking of kids!: Now tell me. Is spanking wrong? If your little one isn't listening to you and you give him/her a little swat on the butt is that wrong? What is a parent supposed to do nowadays with the government wanting to tell us what is wrong with our own discipline? Should we just let our kids do whatever they want and then when they start acting like kids put them on drugs because something is "wrong" with them? I don't think so. In California they just passed a law where parents can't spank their children. That is absurd! So, if someone thinks that the way you are disciplining your child is different from yours then you should go to jail?

Think about it. You walk into a grocery store and you see a little boy making a scene, throwing cans of fruit on the floor, screaming, and then his mom gives him a swat on the butt. Ok, you also live in California. What that woman just did is against the law. She should have disciplined her son differently! She should have yelled at her son more. That's it! Idiots...

Want anymore?

off topic i know BUT the ban only effects children under 3 year olds, it doesnt effect anyone older and its only in california, i dont know why its being blown out of purportion

[JP226]

Aww that's not very compassionate Hicks. That kind of thinking doesn't make you feel good inside. You are just some sick neocon with a hellbent dislike of the poor.

[Cluny the Scourge]

Yes, the poor are unskilled, stupid and loathsome - they must be kept in their place, with only just enough money to make themselves fat and slow on fried chicken - to make them easier sport for lean, genetically-superior types like Corporal Hicks.

I've only ever worked on minimum wage in the UK - and minimum wage over there is so staggeringly low in comparison that if I lived in the States I would certainly become a career criminal rather than bear the degradation. And with so many guns around to steal for the purpose, why not?

[Erik]

IMO if somebody works full-time in any job they should at least be earning a decent living wage.
Even if they happen to be less intelligent or less ambitious than most people.

But from what I understand the cost of living varies a lot from state to state, so it might not be possible to pick a single good minimum wage for the entire federation.
On the other hand it's better for competition if wages are more or less equal across the country (so the cheap states don't suck up all the jobs from the expensive states).

[Thanatos]

Minimum wages only increase inflation. As people demand higher and higher minimum wages, coupled with union members demanding insane prices for menial tasks such as checking out groceries or cleaning toilets, the government has to increase wages for other jobs as well to compensate, or print more money.

In the end, you get an enormous amount of money that means nothing, like the yen in Japan.

[Last Roman]

Minimum wages only increase inflation.

on the flip side, minimum wage must be increased to keep up with inflation caused from other areas.

[Erik]

Minimum wages only increase inflation.

A famous Dutch philosopher once said: every advantage has it's disadvantage.

But since wages make up just (a small) part of the total production costs the increase of wages will always be larger than the inflation effect caused by it.

The market should deal with the increase in the cost of living, not the government.

The government is already heavily influencing the price of labor.

Just think about welfare: why would anyone work for less than what their unemployment/welfare handout would be?
Government taxes and regulations also have a huge effect on the cost of hiring someone (hiring somebody at 15 euro's per hour costs the employer around 30 euro's per hour in my country, for example)

You can't just remove government regulation on one aspect of the market while keeping the control on other aspects because that would mess things up even more.
So all you can do is make small adjustments to improve the existing system, or pick up that rifle and start a revolution.

BRILLIANT! Everyone who has a minimum wage job should just go out and find a new job!

That will solve all of society's problems!

Yes.
Just don't hire any cleaners and factory workers anymore.
We should all get a university degree and all do some kind of high paying, high tech job.

All that people looking for jobs as software engineers and heart surgeons would of course put pressure on their wages, and without comparisons with lower paying jobs (there aren't any) they'll be soon making minimum again.
But then they just all need to find even better jobs, as astronauts or CEO's for example.

[sdjenkyn]

A famous Dutch philosopher once said: every advantage has it's disadvantage.

But since wages make up just (a small) part of the total production costs the increase of wages will always be larger than the inflation effect caused by it.



The government is already heavily influencing the price of labor.

Just think about welfare: why would anyone work for less than what their unemployment/welfare handout would be?
Government taxes and regulations also have a huge effect on the cost of hiring someone (hiring somebody at 15 euro's per hour costs the employer around 30 euro's per hour in my country, for example)

You can't just remove government regulation on one aspect of the market while keeping the control on other aspects because that would mess things up even more.
So all you can do is make small adjustments to improve the existing system, or pick up that rifle and start a revolution.



Yes.
Just don't hire any cleaners and factory workers anymore.
We should all get a university degree and all do some kind of high paying, high tech job.

All that people looking for jobs as software engineers and heart surgeons would of course put pressure on their wages, and without comparisons with lower paying jobs (there aren't any) they'll be soon making minimum again.
But then they just all need to find even better jobs, as astronauts or CEO's for example.

Brilliant response I couldn't have explained that better.

[SovietDoom]

Minimum wages only increase inflation.

Sir, I don't think you understand economics. Inflation occurs when demand for goods is greater than the supply, thus causing the seller to raise prices. People in a minimum wage job are not going to be buying luxury items. They will be buying food and other essentials, with the occasional luxury item. Essential supplies are positively colossal in this country, thus the fact that minimum wagers can afford more means little for the price of these commodities.

[-Conan the Barbarian-]

Minimum wage causes unemployment. Look at price floors

[Lord Rahl]

America is not about to each his own according to his abilities anymore. Now it is to each his own according to his need. I think I got that right.

If people want a minimum wage increase then let that be settled by the market. Buy expensive items. Minimum wage increase, socialized health care, can't spank your kids, oh...America is going down hill.

[Shaun]

If people want a minimum wage increase then let that be settled by the market. Buy expensive items. Minimum wage increase, socialized health care, can't spank your kids, oh...America is going down hill.

Well, please explain why the things you listed above are bad things.

[Lord Rahl]

Well, please explain why the things you listed above are bad things.

OOO!

Minimum wage increase: Ok, so everyone wants you to think that raising the minimum wage helps out all of those poor people, the Democrats want you to think that especially. Well, it really doesn't. It is supposed to help stop poverty. Well, it really doesn't. According to the Heritage Foundation,

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/WM19.cfm

Increasing the Minimum Wage Would Not Help the Poor


* Just 1.9 percent, or 404,000, of the 20.8 million poor Americans over the age of 15 would be affected by an increase in the minimum wage to $6.65 per hour.
* Studies show that raising the minimum wage does not significantly reduce poverty. In fact, for some subgroups, minimum wage increases appeared to raise the level of poverty.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/wm1294.cfm

Minimum wage supporters seek to help poor, disadvantaged workers get ahead, but the minimum wage is not an effective anti-poverty tool. First, it is poorly targeted. It affects the employment of all minimum wage workers, not just the poor. Most minimum wage earners do not come from poor families. A majority are between the ages of 16 and 24, and less than a fifth live below the poverty line.[2] Suburban teenagers and college students working part time make up a substantial portion of the minimum-wage workforce.

Even while over-broad, the minimum wage discourages companies from hiring the very workers that its advocates seek to help. Minimum wage earners usually earn low wages because they lack skills and experience. Higher-skill workers are more productive and will work only for higher wages. When the minimum wage forces employers to pay higher wages, they substitute highly-skilled and productive workers for lower-skill workers, destroying job opportunities for lower-skilled workers.

Given the choice between hiring an unskilled worker for $7.25 an hour and a worker with more experience for the same rate, companies will always choose the more experienced worker, who will be more productive. By raising the minimum wage, the government makes it more difficult for unskilled workers to find work.

I've lived in a state with the lowest minimum wage (Texas) and also one of the highest (Alaska) and I can tell you, a higher minimum wage just makes people lazy.

Socialized health care: The Dems want you to think that socializing health care is a good idea too. Well, it isn't (could you have guessed?). I lived in Canada for five years where they have socialized health care. Although everyone had it and it was "free" (you still pay with your taxes) it wasn't perfect, as with every system. Many universal health care systems in the world are in financial trouble. Do you know why? Because the government runs them. If the health care system was operated and maintained more by the market then costs will most likely lower. The least market related aspects of health care such as drugs and hospitals have all been rising in cost over the years. Guess who controls those aspects, more specifically the drugs. The government!

A majority of the health care in the United States is controlled by the government so Americans pay taxes on the services. Now, if the majority of the health care system is operated and maintained by the government, what do you think the majority of the problem is situated in? I'll let you answer that. It is kind of like the education system. Do kids do better in public schools than in private schools? No. Are private schools still better than public schools even if the American taxpayer has their hard earned money pumped into the public education system? Yeah. Many, many years ago the health care system of the United States ranked up at the top (privatized health care. Now it ranks in double digits (socialized health care).

No spanking of kids!: Now tell me. Is spanking wrong? If your little one isn't listening to you and you give him/her a little swat on the butt is that wrong? What is a parent supposed to do nowadays with the government wanting to tell us what is wrong with our own discipline? Should we just let our kids do whatever they want and then when they start acting like kids put them on drugs because something is "wrong" with them? I don't think so. In California they just passed a law where parents can't spank their children. That is absurd! So, if someone thinks that the way you are disciplining your child is different from yours then you should go to jail?

Think about it. You walk into a grocery store and you see a little boy making a scene, throwing cans of fruit on the floor, screaming, and then his mom gives him a swat on the butt. Ok, you also live in California. What that woman just did is against the law. She should have disciplined her son differently! She should have yelled at her son more. That's it! Idiots...

Want anymore?

[mrjesushat]

A minimum wage increase is silly.

What is necessary is a constitutional amendment that requires all employers to pay a "living wage" adjusted for inflation and calibrated to a reasonable standard of living.

Of course, this is impossible. After all, in this technological age of marvels, it's not as though a well-paid, well-educated workforce could hope to compete with the masses of the desperate and the starving who are more than willing to take our jobs at the behest of the wonderful and humanitarian multi-nationals.