Do you agree with raising minimum wage?

Question

Wade8888 · Accepted Answer

No, raising minimum wage inflates currency and doesn't solve problems.

What needs to be done is more taxation on the sinfully rich, and then more social programs for the bottom 50% of wage earners and expanded Earned Income Credit*.

*I would however require that Earned income Credit come on a Debit Card which cannot be traded for Cash, except during a Federal Emergency anyway, and cannot be spent on Alcohol, Cigarettes, or Firearms, etc. Parents are supposed to be spending this money on raising their children, not their drug or alcohol addiction.

The top 1% of Earners has over 130 times the Accumulated Wealth of the entire bottom 40% of earners combined. They can afford to pay a LOT more taxes, regardless of how much whining Donald Trump and other millionaires and Billionaires do.

Slavery is supposed to be illegal in the United States, but the wealth disparity in the U. S. is greater than it was under slavery before the U. S. civil war. Even slaves owned their own homes and could afford to marry, while most Americans today cannot afford to own a well-built home or any home for that matter. According to the World Health Organization, 1/6th of all U. S. children are "In Hunger", which is only one step up the ladder from "Starvation".

Anyway, raising the minimum wage doesn't stop poverty, because the rich people just raise the prices of everything and inflate the dollar twice that much more, so the poor people end up twice as poor, and the rich end up twice as rich.

Raising taxes on the sinfully rich and re-distributing their wickedly acquired wealth WOULD solve the poverty problem.

For you fake "Christian" republicans, if you try reading the Law of Moses for once (First 5 books of the Bible) The Law of Moses requires a MUCH, MUCH higher tax rate on the rich than what the U. S. has today.

In the Torah, the Rich owe about 45% of their fields first harvest to the Poor directly and another 10% to the Temple and another 10% to the King. They owe their ENTIRE second harvest of crops that produce more than one harvest per season to the poor... (Example would be Yellow Squash, which produce several times until a hard freeze).

... AND they owe a further 10% of all net gain on ALL income of all goods and services to the Temple... AND they owe a bull, heifer, or goat to the temple every time they sin and once per year whether or not they sin... AND they owe all first-born farm animals to the Temple, AND they owe 3 and 1/3rd% of all wood they harvest, whether for lumber or firewood (or 10% every third year)... AND they owe 10% of all Gold they harvest to the King or Governor every year, regardless of whether it's profitable or not (See 1 and 2 Samuel for details).

... AND most importantly every 50th year (Year of Jubilee) the rich people's land is divided among the poor, which prevents any rich person from gaining a multi-generational monopoly over everyone else's lives (Trumps, Kardashians, Gates, Jobs, etc, etc, and Corporations are pretty much banned by this term)... This would be equivalent to having a 2% Annual Federal Property tax on all property above $1,000,000... as a Constitutional DUTY to God, Country, and Man.

Republicans claim to believe in the Bible and believe in God, but they disobey fundamental biblical principles of taxation and tithing... and "Christian" pastors hide their television and radio broadcasts at late-night time, so honest thinking people can't watch it and evaluate how evil they are and expose them because of it.

If you want to stop poverty, follow the Law of Moses, and stop giving actors, athletes, and singers millions of dollars every year just for being "cute" (or stupid) or singing a song or two to you, which their songs aren't even good, all they sing about is out-of-wedlock sexual affairs and drunkenness most of the time. It's garbage.

nightdrot · Accepted Answer

In theory, yes. The problem, of course, that whatever the philosophical "oughts" may be, the practical realities of the world intervene.

As Edmund Burke once said, "What is the use of discussing a man's abstract right to food or medicine? The question is upon the method of procuring and administering them. In that deliberation I shall always advise to call in the aid of the farmer and the physician, rather than the professor of metaphysics." That is the fundamental defect in the premise of the question.

Raise the minimum wage, and while the economy is doing relatively well, the small and retail businesses that usually pay that wage may be able to absorb the cost or at least pass on the cost to their customers. Indeed, in a full employment economy, a minimum wage may even become a ceiling and not a floor - allowing business to justify lower wages on the basis of the legal standard.

Under such circumstances, minimum wage families may eat comfortably and live relatively well. However, let the economy weaken and unemployment rise, thereby making wages more expensive relative to demand, and minimum wage workers will lose their jobs and while some of those families will continue to do well, most will be scrounging for dinner in a trash bin as their fathers will be among the first to be laid off.

Retail is, in particular, extremely wage sensitive. Marginal increases in labor costs will, more often than not, translate into lost market share. If you doubt that, just ask the good people at Toys R Us. Faced with competition from the likes of Amazon, they ceased to exist and all those minimum wage jobs disappeared.

While there is a case to be made for a minimum wage, its advocates are intemperate. They promise more than a minimum wage can reasonably be expected to deliver in the long run. Indeed, in the context of an economy that is increasingly high tech, a minimum wage is not only apt to do as much damage as good, but in the long run it will eliminate such jobs as they are replaced by automation - forever.

To wit, it is utterly pointless to ask if a minimum wage should provide the necessities for a family. In an ideal world they would. Indeed, in an ideal world there would be no need for a minimum wage as all would be paid in gold and live like kings and queens.

Alas, that is not the world we live in. Thus, you are left to deal with the practical problems and through that prism weigh the costs and benefits. It is drab, but is better than pining for an ideal of which the attempt to bring about its realization will only result in the ruin of its object.

WhoamI95 · Accepted Answer

Im from Australia, we have a much higher minimum wage than you guys. But in Australia we dont do tips. But a junior waiter starts on about $20/hr but law dictates the min wage is $29/hr on a weekend and $50/hr on a public holiday. But yea no tips at all. Also some places like restaurants have a weekend or public holiday surcharge on the price of the food to cover wages.

So I guess for you guys it comes down to what industry your in as to whether a increase in min wage would help.
Like a factory worker might be better off.
But a waitress might not get much advantage because people might stop tipping if they know the workers are being paid extra and the price of food will go up in restaurants too if they have to pay staff more, which again might stop people tipping.

doopayo · Accepted Answer

Yes because people should be able to have money for basic human needs like living under a roof, food/water, etc. raising minimum wage doesn’t increase taxes or make things more expensive it just makes the quality of living for others better and I’d rather make people’s quality of living better than have rich assholes benefiting from paying their workers minimum wage and getting cheap labor just to make themselves richer while the poor get poorer.

Universal housing should be a thing because we literally have enough housing in the US to end homelessness but people are too selfish and money hungry that they’d rather make luxury housing for rich people since that’s a bigger market rather than making affordable good housing for the middle class and lower class

Dragonpurple · Answer

I don't support raising the minimum wage unless they specifically do it a certain way that I know they will never do.

The way I mean is rather than just bump the bottom level up, is lets say they raise it by $7.75 an hour to bump those at $7.25 an hour up to $15 an hour, EVERYONE should get a $7.75 raise... so if someone is already making $15 an hour, they would go up to $22.75... this way it protects the purchasing power for those who have worked their way up. Otherwise all is does is take away from those already making above minimum wage when prices go up... that is not fair at all.

They can put in a income cut off, so if you make more than 500k a year you don't get, but everyone under that gets it... the cut off amount could be 250k, etc... whatever.

How would you feel if your making $16 an hour now and suddenly everything costs more and new hires are making $15 an hour and don't know what they are doing? yet you got years of experience... but your employer cannot afford to pay you more or raise their prices more cause they already had to, to cover the raise in minimum wage.

Thus I say I will only support if it EVERYONE who makes under 250k or 500k gets that $7.75 an hour. Rather than squeezing the middle class, should keep most everyone the same.

Although raising it will cost a lot of jobs, even the government report from the CBO says so.

Minimum wage hikes do encourage more automation, businesses will always do whatever is 'cheaper' if automation is cheaper they'll switch. If paying minimum wage is cheaper, they'll go that route.

Right now in my area though, we can't hire enough people. Even fast food is starting at $12 an hour and $11 an hour if 16 years old and no experience.

More jobs than people willing to work, despite so many on unemployment. Many places have signs saying please be patient with us, we are unable to hire enough help...40 minutes in a drive through line the other night just curious how long it would take to spend 20 bucks on a burger and a salad, I can't imagine how much that would go up if minimum wage went up causing supply chain and other costs to go up.

Massageman · Answer

Certainly not to $15.00 an hour! There are several reasons this is simply a folly.

Minimal skills and minimal experience deserve minimal pay, and that is NOT $15 for sweeping and wiping tables.

Raising the cost of labor will result in a net LOSS of jobs: fast food joints already have order kiosks and apps to forego the middleman.

If the minimum wage is - say doubled - then someone making a professional wage of perhaps $85,000 a year would then be justified in getting $170,000 a year, just to "stay in parity". And please drop that BS argument that the minimum wage is not a LIVING wage! IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE ! Entry level jobs were aimed at college-age kids earning money for college in the summer, moms to supplement the household income or save money for _____________________ (fill in desired material want, not NEED) , and even to have a part-time second job when needed. But they never were meant to be a living wage of a salesman, doctor, writer, accountant, musician, massage therapist, etc., wherein workers need specific study and training! My four-year-old grand-daughter can wipe a table better than most, yet that is just part of her daily household DUTIES!

In the 1950's - 1960's , one salary was more than enough to buy a home and raise a family. As people got more and more greedy and material-focused, mom had to get a job for that mink or to save for that summer vacation home. Before long that little job checking groceries may have become a full time, low-level managerial job with more headaches, not much more money, and a detrimental effect on the family/homefront.

I have been out of work for 3 long spells, but each time, I got back in the workforce. Sometimes I needed classes to learn new skills. Other times I just needed to shift to the "B pile" of choices, but every time I did get back to work.

We own our house, put two kids through college, and- something most governments can NEVER do- each year we have a surplus for our retirement.

MrOracle · Answer

Raising the minimum wage results in fewer jobs and in modern times, increased motivation to bring in ever more automation - permanently replacing many entry-level jobs.

The right way to make more money is to make yourself more valuable - if you can show that you do more work in less time with fewer mistakes, or in some other way bring more value to the company, it's not hard to either get a raise or find a better job.

When I started in IT, I was a temp making $12.25/hour. 3 years later, I was making $30/hour, and 2 years after that, it was $50/hour. But I showed up to my reviews with stats that proved I was outperforming my coworkers by a significant margin. Twice I had nee positions created for me to get around salery limits, because I made myself too valuable to lose.

Minimum wage jobs aren't intended for adults to live off of, they're intended to be entry-level jobs for people with no work experience. The free market will adjust wages as necessary, but if you are only providing entry-level value, you shouldn't be surprised to receive entry-level pay. Increase your value to the company - and be able to prove it with numbers - and you won't ever need to worry about minimum wage.

FilmGuy93 · Answer

I support it in theory, but you have to make sure that the sweat equity of the money value you spend on your employees rises along with the wage, otherwise you will only destroy retired people's savings and drive up the cost of living. In plain English; you want to make sure that the person you are paying $15/hr is doing the twice the value of the work you would pay that same employee at $7.50/hr, because the value of money will go down if you don't.

Increasing the cost of labor is going to increase the cost of obtaining goods and services. This is partially because it costs the companies more to make the products themselves. But more importantly. the cost of materials rises because all of the wages of the workers needed to obtain the supplies to make the products rise as well.

If you own an orange juice squeezing company, you need to buy oranges for your business to function. So the orange grower is going to sell you oranges at the price they need to charge to pay for the cost of the workers it took to grow your oranges. If that labor costs more, so do the oranges. This is hyperbolic, but if the grower's normal cost is $1 for a box of oranges and labor doubles in price, that same box of oranges might cost you $1.50 instead. Now you have to pay for the increased cost of oranges, as well as your own workers to squeeze the oranges.

This increased cost of living is fine if you're still working, but it's a huge problem if you have saved for retirement. Now the money that you saved up doesn't go as far as it did when you were saving.

Leavesbound · Answer

Yes. The theory that is often used by opponents is that anyone who needs enough money to live off of is responsible for getting a better paying job. The problem is that there are not enough such jobs to go around so no matter what, there will always be a small percentage (around 10%-15%) who can not earn enough to live off of even by working 60 hours and many employers ban over time and many prohibit having a second job. The other argument against is that an increase in minimum wage would put most small businesses out of business or cause horrible inflation. None of these arguments are valid. The typical businesses that pay minimum wage are restaurants and retail. In such businesses labor cost consists of about 20% of the price of an item. So a $100 price tag breaks down to $20 in labor. Wages constitute about 85% of labor costs. The rest is taxes and benefits. An increase in wage from $10 an hour to $15 an hour would be an increase from $20 to $28.5 for total labor cost which would increase the price of that item from $100 to $108.50. While that would certainly have a temporary affect on the economy it would not be enough to discourage the vast majority of people from shopping. We've already seen a much bigger increase than that in many segments in retail and hospitality over the last year. Food prices have in many cases increased by over 50% which is a lot more than 8.5%. The effect of this could be minimized by making the increase incremental like Florida which plans to increase minimum wage from $8.65 an hour which it is currently to $10 an hour in September and then increase by a dollar every September until it reaches $15 an hour at which it will increase as per inflation after that. So that means your McMeal will go from about $10 to about $10.25 as a result. Most people won't even notice.

TurboKid · Answer

My concern with it is that it might displace minorities out of the job market. It's like if you're an employer looking to hire people of bare-minimum skills (say a burger flipper), and you have the choice between an immigrant who can barely speak English or a native-born citizen who speaks fluent English, and have to pay them both the same amount... and both are not allowed to charge less for their services... I think inevitably the one fluent in English will be preferred. That's a blatant example but I suspect this also applies to some extent to racial minorities... like so:

Economists don't drill down to these things so often. Proponents talk about net labor participation rates not dropping, but they don't talk so much about growing racial disparities, for example.

Price floors make people more selective, inevitably. You force both a can of generic Cola and a can of Coca Cola and people will probably predominantly favor the Coca Cola at this point since there's no longer an economic incentive to favor the generic. The people selling generic cola are no longer legally allowed to charge less. So they lose to brand name appeal and what's popular in the market. Price floors take the negotiating powers away from the people who want to outbid what's popular by selling their products/services for cheaper.

HawkPerception · Answer

I absolutely do. And the only argument I see for people against it, is it's bad for the economy and it will cause many businesses to not hire anyone. Lots of jobs will be lost. And that is true, but shouldn't we try to come up with a solution so that the government actually helps the majority and not the minority? The people making the argument against raising minimum wage are always the ones that get much more than minimum wage so they have that level of comfort and don't want to share.

The majority of the people in the world are working for minimum wage and it usually is not enough to provide a decent level of comfort. Shouldn't the government's focus be on the majority?

I see the solution as a very simple approach. There's no reason ANYONE should be making hundreds of millions of dollars. If we distribute the wealth a little more, then most people can be happy or at least content with what they earn and minimum wage would provide a decent level of comfort. Rather than an owner making their employees wages many times over, isn't it better to reduce that a little just so everyone can live a little better? I think the wages system can be much much better than it is right now.

Bright_blue_eyes · Answer

Anyone who studies economics will you that outcome of raising minimum wage has 2 outcomes. 1. low wage workers have more money to spend, and since they're not good with money they spend 100% into the economy. (that's good). 2. Employers like Starbucks, Kroger, Walmart, Amazon, McDonald's, Walgreens, CVS, The vape shop, the local liquor store etc... each of those companies need to come up with the extra money to employees $15 Per hour. They DO NOT absorb those extra cots and have less profit. Some of those stores don't make enough profit to survive if you take employees from $7 per hour to $15 per hour. Some will go out of business. Rather than go out of business, they raises prices to make up for the difference. That's BAD. Consider this. The person making $7 per now now makes $15, but now Gas is more expensive to buy, food is more expensive, restaurants are more expensive, everything at the grocery store is now more expensive (for everyone). That's bad. All those people now make more money, but because of increases prices (called inflation) they can now buy less. Example: Starbucks goes from $3 to $5. Increased Min wage is BAD.

Crazybeeguy · Answer

I would have to say no, inflation will happened. I think the focus for governments. Affordable housing, healthy foods, transportation, and affordable education. There is factors for people that can't take time off work to study with children. Also, I don't know how but incentivization of tax relief for employees that are paid higher then market pricing for work. So, let's say warehouse worker, market is $15 per hour; the employer is going to pay $19 per hour, but they are able to be a bit more choosy on their employees they keep. They should be able to get tax relief for paying the higher wages as long as the employee is with the company for a period of time. If the basics including utilities, are affordable, you work harder you get paid more, you live a better life. If there are people that need help because of issues, then they should get the help they need to do better in life. There's grants everywhere but they are not accessible to the general populace, people don't qualify the right way.

errorgoodnameunfound · Answer

I actually argue for no minimum wage and less regulations, but also less regulations for employees/consumers as well. Way too many restrictions for the average joe. No weed, no prostitutes, satanism is restricted even when its supposed to be protected by the constitution, a car is necessary for most jobs even if the job's wage barely even covers it, etc.

For example, take a barber shop. To be a barber in the US, from what I know, there's several things you need to know about the structure of the hand, the head, etc. For fucking hair-cutting. Then people wonder why there's crime, riots, etc? That and similar reasons is often why. Not to mention having to pay for a haircut license, etc. or whatever. But then, how many regulations does Great Clips and such demand they not have?

As I've said before, nowhere do we have truly free markets. We have socialism for the wealthy only. People with wealth can spend how they please, but I see no reason to give them socialistic benefits for it.

And that's just businesses. What about politicians? Did you know that politicians have a tram underneath the capital building to get from place to place, even if it's maybe a 20 minute walk? Yup. YOUR tax dollars fund it and the same ones who say public transit is too expensive. I do agree public transit may not be the key to anything, but then, why do politicians get it in DC? I think they should walk too and face whatever elements their taxpayers face. How about that?

0112358 · Answer

Do I agree with redirecting more income to low income including working poor? Yes.

would I exclude self employed from that? No. Would I raise the funds to help working poor people by imposing a tax on hiring low income people? No - it would be better to fund it almost any other way, you'd rather tax something else to avoid discouraging the hiring of the very people you're trying to help. Effectively, minimum wage increase is the same thing.

so given the opportunity I'd actually reduce minimum wage while creating a ubi or negative income tax, and allow a smoother transition from those living entirely on government redistribution through a group receiving some mix of income and redistribution to those who are net contributors to the system.

raising minimum wages in areas where the market wage is close to the minimum wage doesn't cause too much damage.

our idea of a "living wage" continues to increase over time (and if you fully account for healthcare and retirement it's a lot higher). The reality is a significant number of people can not actually generate enough economic activity to cover that "living wage". The better solution is not to ban them from employment, it's to supplement their income.

humanearth · Answer

No I do not, all it does is force price for goods and services to go up. Thats called
Hyperinflation. (see for note on the meaning)

So all thats going to happen is make the county even more poor, crime higher and worse off then before.

What we need is someway to bring cost and spending down. So we can have more money to have.

Like one way, smaller goverment means less taxes, end prop. tax, end gas tax and so much more. Then the price of goods will go down and everyone has more money.

(Foot note)
What Is Hyperinflation?
Hyperinflation is a term to describe rapid, excessive, and out-of-control general price increases in an economy. While inflation is a measure of the pace of rising prices for goods and services, hyperinflation is rapidly rising inflation, typically measuring more than 50% per month.

Although hyperinflation is a rare event for developed economies, it has occurred many times throughout history in countries such as China, Germany, Russia, Hungary, and Argentina.

Ad_Quid_Orator · Answer

Well I would prefer that all businesses be run democratically as worker cooperatives, if this isn't done then I think we should raise the minimum wage.

Also if you're going to use these arguments, know the counter:

-It will hurt small businesses because it will be harder to pay their employees: because people will be paid more, there will be more people willing to buy whatever good they're producing (demand side economics).

-It will encourage automation: Just because something's easy for a person to do doesn't necessarily mean it's easy to automate. I mean a "computer" was once a skilled job title but a burger flipper is still in demand as it was in the 50s and 60s.

-It will increase unemployment because small businesses won't be able to pay as many employees: Because they're making more, fewer people will have to work multiple jobs thus opening up positions.

-Businesses are in business to make money, not pay their employees: And the economy exists for our well being, not the other way around.

WhiteSteve · Answer

Theoretically, yes. I just don’t think it’d make a difference. Unfortunately, one of the flaws of a “free market” economy is that it allows corporate greed to run unchecked. So when people have more money in their pockets, and when companies have to pay employees more (both the minimum wagers and others who feel their value should be proportionately the same distance from minimum wage as it was before), the businesses will just raise the costs of their goods and/or services, so the people meant to be benefitting from a raise in minimum wage will really just be making a lateral move. It’s not the wages that are the problem as much as it’s the system we’re in.

Effably · Answer

I am absolutely baffled that so many people believe a minimum wage is volatile for industry. It is volatile for ineffective industries. Beyond that it is a simple redistribution of earnings.

Also, don't be silly people. The minimum wage - like every other wage - should be increased on a yearly basis (assuming progress but hey, always is). It also historically has been increased. Now it has been what? 10 years since? More? Even just adjusting for expected inflation that should be a 22% or so increase to maintain the same level of income - not to increase it. If we also adjust for the increased productivity we could very well choose a much higher number and still have companies be much better off. Discussing the number is fine. Discussing the need to raise it while defending its existence is idiocy.

Not wanting one at all is honestly less silly but is about as naive as advocating we all just share and rely on people being nice to each other.

ChrisMaster69 · Answer

Yes I do (UK focus), it should be a living wage as opposed to simply minimum.

however society would need to accept an increase in unemployment and people in certain sectors accept they will loose their jobs.

a mate of mine runs his own pub, when he took it over, he asked the staff if they wanted minimum wage or real living wage rounded up.

it’s an increase from £8.72 to £9.50 but he rounded up to £10 an hour. ( or whatever it was then but it’s now £2 over average for bar staff).

he explained to do this he would need to lose 1 member of staff. They accepted it and 1 person lost their job.

Also in companies you run the risk of having say cleaners on minimum wage moved up to close to say manufacturing personnel who then feel a bit devalued.

it can have a knock on effect, however over all it should be done, I know as an organisation we have no one on minimum wage, although we still get bitching and moaning lol.

FlySwimmer · Answer

Ofc, anyone who doesn’t is not properly educated about the subject, here is why, it is a cycle, think about it this way, when people have more money, they spend more money on those businesses, those people then get higher quality items, and those businesses are making more money, when the businesses pay their workers more they are not loosing money nor are they gaining money, but the quality of life goes up for everyone that works for the business, and the business will not actually loose any money :)

Qdbrown · Answer

I understand the sentiment, but it will end badly. Economies should be left alone. This will destroy a lot of jobs. Only a fraction will get the wage, the rest will remain unemployed.

It's not just $15 minimum. What about the people who are more experienced at $20 now? They will expect a raise for their level of experience and training, and this trickle with all pay.

It will add inflation. Economist are saying it will not be linear, or as bad as conservatives claim, but the prices we pay now for virtually everything will increase, which will negate the purpose of the minimum wage. If rent costs $1,200 now, in five years the same rental could exceed $2-3,000. The gallon of milk now $3.50, but $6 in about five years.

All said, for low earners, their expectation is to have even a much larger minimum wage that would make our currency as competitive as a Peso. It's zero sum.

kyleelyn199723 · Answer

No. Inflation of prices happens along with minimum wage hence why we keep raising it and nothing has changed. People used to make $4 an hour and they thought changing it to $8 would do something. Now here we are still in the same position only now in some states like mine people at McDonald’s are now making just as much as people with degrees which in my opinion is disgusting.

Floppy2112 · Answer

It doesn't matter how high you make the bottom, it's still the bottom. If you increase the minimum wage to $15 dollars, you have about 6 months before the market catches up, and it's no longer a 'living wage'. All this leftist marxist ideology is fun with words, it doesn't mean anything. If you are making $15 an hour, but a hamburger costs $12, then it doesn't really matter that the wage increase happened. All it does is cause inflation. And all the money your parents saved for retirement becomes worthless. Because a dollar when they saved it bought what 5 dollars buys now.

Cathy7734 · Answer

I watched a Chris Rock video where he is working at a fast-food place for minimum wage. Someone asked him how is he doing?
"How am I doing?"
"How do you think I'm doing?"
"These people will pay me $1 an hour if they could."
Well, it was hilarious they way he said it.

Dazed0N0Confused · Answer

If you dont agree that people who work in the restaurants deserve a living wage, stop going to restaurants & cook your own food. If you dont think your bartender deserves a living wage, drink at home. If you dont think that the farmers or the people who harvest the crops or your butcher deserves a living wage, grow your own damn food & slaughter your own damned animals. Its not fair that corporate CEOs are making millions while their employees are barely scraping by.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

I think that my job should at least enable me to survive reasonably.
This of course requires a fair payment.
However - recently we 'here' had a question about job loyalty; where quite a number of responses stated to give no shit about the employer.
An employment is a two-way relationship.
In my personal world, a minimum wage does exist since decades already: if the offer isn't agreeable, I just won't take it. No 'law' is required about it.
But then there are those who drop out from school, don't mind studying and qualifying, or who can't be bothered with taking adult responsibilities in their lives. These, too, need a certain protection... although they aren't worth it.

RingOfFire · Answer

The real question is:

Do you agree with paying more for everything you buy because of raising the minimum wage?

Money doesn't come from nowhere. Wages are a business expense. Raise wages and you have to increase the price of your product to pay for it.

And even if you earn more as a consumer, you also have to spend more. In the end all it does is HURT the poor and middle class because it causes inflation and unemployment.

The only ones who benefit from increased minimum wages are corrupt union officials and corrupt Democrat politicians who they pay off to raise the minimum wage.

Nikolai2004 · Answer

No, because that stops the encouragement to improve and move further a person who is paid 15 dollars an hour and also benefits won't need to work harder to live a satisfactory life but if a worker starts out at 7 dollars an hour and gets skilled enough he can bump his pay grade to onwards of 45 dollars an hour. (I'm giving this example of a lumber mill, I refuse to flip burgers McDonald's) instead America should promote education for skilled labour instead of giving jobs to immigrants Americans should study and become skilled professionals in their own nation.

Moondrop · Answer

People keep saying prices will go up but forget that the corporations and businesses underpay and do not provide benefits in order to increase the money going into their own pockets. The prices have been rising while the minimum pay continues to be the same.

TheBigGuy9 · Answer

I just mentioned this in a comment yesterday. In the first few months of the Biden presidency things have gone to h*ll. Inflation went up 4.2% last month on everything. Gas, you pay on average over a dollar more per gallon.
If minimum wage was raised, it wouldn’t make a difference because it would all even out with inflation. The only way something like that happens is to happen naturally and under Trump things were happening. I remember when Taco Bell managers were getting paid $100,000.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taco-bell-100000-salaries-paid-to-some-restaurant-managers/#textTaco20Bell20will20pay20a20241002C00020annual20salaryits20company-owned20stores2C20the20fast-food20chain20said20Thursday

danielp27 · Answer

No. People don’t understand the economic consequences. Raising the minimum wage sounds good, but it actually hurts the people it’s meant to help. Small businesses often can’t afford to pay employees $15/hr. So there’s less jobs available for poorer workers. Ideally, there should be no minimum wage. A good example of a place that does this is Switzerland. No minimum wage, yet their lowest payed employees tend to make around $20/hr in the equivalent of USD. Because there’s no minimum wage, there’s more jobs available for entry-level workers. So businesses compete with one another for a lower available supply of these workers. In Switzerland, entry-level workers are more in demand and thus get paid more.

The_Maphio · Answer

Find me one who'd disagree with this.
Some might be bringing absolutely valid economic reasons why that'd be a mistake, but as far as the single individual goes, find me one who'd say no to "you gonna get more money every month, you ok with that?"

jennifer_bloom · Answer

Raising the minimum wage raises the price of living and might make minimum wage guys worse than they were before as they have to pay more for tomatoes or avocados or eggs and milk. A good system I think is having a company trust where long term workers get housing support and transportation support and 95% health support and free tooth paste and toiletries.

Daniela1982 · Answer

Yes, right now even $15 is not a living wage as far as I am concerned. Especially if they have a family to feed. That's only $2400 a month before deductions. Here a cheap apartment goes for $1,000 or more. I don't see how a single person can manage on it.

John_Doesnt · Answer

I think it's sad that we have to force greedy companies who make billions to pay their employees a living wage. But greedy people will never stop their ways unless forced to.
The people against raising minimum wage are the idiots who think they'll get rich one day, but they don't realize the game is rigged from the beginning and they'll never get rich.

hellionthesagereborn · Answer

No. I don't want people to lose their jobs to machines just so that a bunch of middle class people can feel good about themselves mettling in other peoples lives without knowing what the consequences are and without ever having to worry about those consequences themselves.

Anonymous · Answer

Of course.

Criticising things like - the 5 day working week, the 40 hour work week, minimum wages, etc... has always been met by the lie of industry "This will ruin jobs! The Economy!" and is always always always bullshit.

WhiteWolf69 · Answer

Yes and no. Yes I agree with it because I have 1 full time job and 2 part time jobs just to take care of myself and my child. I make $ 19.75 an hr with all three jobs combined. I make the federal minimum wage or barely above. Just to pay rent put food on the table and make sure my child has what they need. We have no tv no internet and there are days I go hungry just so my child can eat. On the other hand i dont agree with it because it drives prices on everything up. I can't afford to pay more for everything.

Kaneki05 · Answer

Don't know anything about economy really especially not america's not gonna pretend i do. Only thing i do know is England's Minimum increases all the time and nothing really changes. It don't seem to improve nor hurt anything. So i guess i do agree since are country does it all the time not that changes much that i am aware of.

Curmudgeon · Answer

In the absence of doing anything else to bring down the costs of goods and services (raw materials, taxation policies, hidden mandates that raise the costs of labor without actually raising wages, immigration policies for unskilled labor), this just guarantees stagflation.

Still-alive · Answer

well that guy blocked me lol. anyways yes the minimum wage should be raised and no there's little to no evidence that prices of everything else will go up if we do that as the last few times we raised it shows.

Celtero · Answer

No.

Raising the minimum wage usually results in prices going up, outsourcing, or companies automating labor. People aren't supposed to be cashiers for 40 years until retirement. We already have plenty of welfare programs if they are hellbent on spending their lives as a minimum wage worker. Money doesn't grow on trees.

DaveToo · Answer

Absolutely! The lower class worker that makes a smidgen of what a middle-income worker gets will be raised out of the poverty level. When you put more money in their pockets, you will put more money into the treasury

ShortCircuit · Answer

No. We should end the Fed instead, so we can curb/reverse inflation, thereby lowering the cost of living, so people can afford to live comfortably on the wages they already have.

It's an alternative way of solving the same problem, but without introducing a whole host of externalities like raising the minimum wage would do, such as pricing low-skilled workers out of the workforce, increasing unemployment, and causing the price of consumer goods to rise even more.

DeeDeeDeVour · Answer

No. Raising the minimum wage in our country will again push businesses to outsource jobs to countries that exploit their populations and give those countries the technology and capability to compete against us who gave them the business in the first place. If our citizens wanna keep the jobs in hometown grounds locally, they have to compete for those jobs by ceasing to demand for more pay and, instead, fighting against increases in costs of living.

Agape93 · Answer

Yeah absolutely. People make shit when it comes to the costs of living. You shouldn’t have to work two full jobs at 60-80 hours a week just to be stable enough to not need food stamps.

TheSpaceGnome · Answer

When you raise minimum wage, prices go up, so all you acomplish is devaluing the dollar with more inflation.

The only way to combat cost of living being too high is to have laws that cap prices on products, services, land, housing, etc. and to have appropriate wages per job for whatever the costs are set at.

The reason minimum wage is never raised in a video game is because the sword of unyeilding doom never costs more or less than 25,000 zeni, no matter how long it's been around.

blondfrog · Answer

Raising minium wage. Because than you have to also impose laws that won't allow places to increase their costs. Like for it to work you would have to make landlords not increase the rent for apartments and other businesses not to increase the amount for items for like at grocery stores. This already shown to fail. Just ask California, New York, and other states like Washington.

SGTAdam · Answer

It does sound great at first, but when you raise the wages than you'll have to raise the prices. I think California is a perfect example. When the wages go up without the prices going up there won't be a lot of jobs because there's nothing to gain of the prices to pay the employees the wages

Feelicks · Answer

Unfortunately it doesn't trickle up, it inflates the dollar and while prices go up middle wage earners lose ground.

It requires heavy unionization to keep wages in line with inflation. US workers lack the will for that.

There's no easy solution.

Anonymous · Answer

Absolutely not. Minimum wage is for jobs filled by high school kids, not people who need a living wage. If you're supporting yourself or family you should not be flipping burgers at McDonalds. There are tons of jobs available that pay a higher wage. Just find one. If you're not earning as much as you want at your current job, find a better one. It's not the job of government to tell employers how much to pay their staff, it is the responsible of people to find employment that suits them.

Not_Average · Answer

No it would hurt the economy more than help it. Price floors have serious economic ramifications. We need to focus on employment right now. A lot of small businesses are hanging on by a thread right now. We also need to stop depreciating the US dollar.

JackSmy · Answer

I don't think it is a question, now, with SOOOO many places needing to hire! They have to pay more, and more BENEFITS!!

Browneye57 · Answer

No. These are entry level jobs that pay commensurate to the type of work. If you raise the minumum then there are less of those jobs available so less entry level people working.
Worse, they move the jobs onto the higher ups, which overloads them, and the old minimum wage position gets eliminated.
You really haven't thought this through, have you?
Flipping burgers was never meant to be a career.

Mehzmeh · Answer

I totally agree. Why? 60-70 year's ago. Some one could save all their money for a year to buy a house. With no mortgage and live comfortably. Now we can't do that with out having a really high paying job. If everything would have worked out it was suppose to. We wouldn't have a need for credit or credit cards. Because the minimum wage would have been almost or over 30 dollars.

BlackTealLazer · Answer

Yes. Why? Because, how are people like me--no money, no family support, no nothin'--supposed to afford a house when their parents kick them out?

Anonymous · Answer

Sure why not, along w everything else that’ll go up in price. The lower to middle class will always be where they’re at unless we learn how to manage that money as far as making it grow for us. We tend to spend it as soon as we get it on stupid things. I can’t remember who said it but basically it was said that even if all the money was given to the lower class the rich would get it all back w in months cause we don’t know how to manage it.

Anonymous · Answer

Have you seen minimum wage employees? Most of them are not worth it. There are WAY to many programs to help them get out of poverty which they don't take. It will hurt small business owners who actually run the economy through taxes, and account for 99% of businesses in USA. They are usually hard working and immigrants, who start off as minimum wage workers and through hard work run businesses. And it will cause inflation which will hurt everyone. They implemented this in Canada. If anyone wants to move there and see the seventh ring of hell its turned into be my guest.

Caliguy88 · Answer

Not really. I do believe there should be one but as long as there is a strong economy you should let demand decide. But I do believe in it. Just this 15 an hour across the country seems dumb. In experience areas it’s not enough and in poor areas it’s a lot... that’s a hard one to place. I’d actually probably say each city or zip code should set it based on average income... maybe even age... (I know that is frowned on but a kid and a mother should not make the same...)

crazy8000 · Answer

Sure.
Depends on how low it is compared to the rest of the scale and that they doesn't raise the salary over a certain level.

The backside is that products gonna raise in price and effect other parts of society until it stabilizes if the whole salary scale gonna stay fixed for the whole transition time to normalize.
If it doesn't gonna stay fixed you gonna get funny escalation and oscillation for a long time.

Surely · Answer

It has good points and bad. Raising the minimum wage will certainly raise the price of the products and increase the use of automation.
So, people may loose those jobs in the end.
Also, if you make more money, you pay more in taxes and some may loose government assistance by only a buck or two.

Jakeofalltrades93 · Answer

yes and no. yes because it would be nice for me and no because it would cause the prices of almost everything to go up, countering any benefits that would have came from the increase. Instead we should try to lower inflation and lower the cost of living so people can work with what they got

PenguinMan_ · Answer

Honestly, raising minimum wages won't benefit anyone. Lowering cost of living will. My dad used to get paid minimum when he was at my age, but gas would be as low as 0.35$ a litre. In fact, he says that he was able to buy more gas with minimum wage back then compared to now. It's just an example. He's like 100$ used to be so valuable and now it comes and goes.

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