Should the federal minimum wage be raised, kept the same or lowered?
in my opinion, the only thing raising the minimum wage does is raise the cost of living and devaluates the dollar. I respect having a minimum wage, but lowering it would actually help in forcing a recession.
The issue with the minimum wage is not how much you're getting paid per hour, it's how much buying power your money has. For example, if the government started printing $10,000 bills, that's a really bad sign and proof of hyperinflation. Some economically-illiterate duffus might think to themselves, "woah, a $10,000 bill. I can buy a lot with this", not realizing that denominations cap how much debt people can pay off at once. Zimbabwe introduced this form of currency in 2008, right alongside the U. S. housing crisis, and the printing of this bill was evidence of an impending disaster for their economy.
Scarcity is what makes money valuable, so printing more of it or printing very large denominations, makes it increasingly worthless. According to this article, the M1 money supply (which tabulates how much liquid currency is floating around in the market) reported a massive spike in 2020. It went from ~4 trillion to ~16 trillion, representing a 300% increase in the money supply. All dollars from 2020 onwards--regardless of when they were printed--are now 120% less valueable. Due to the rise of inflation in a fiat currency economy, money is always deprecating, but now the loss proposition has accelerated considerable. For example, between 2015 and 2020, it appears that money had a delta of ~7.79% meaning that $1 was actually worth $0.92-- which is still not good, but it's still closer to parity with the expected value of a dollar. However, in the span of a single year (2020) the delta went up by 120% or 1.2x. If you make $1, you've actually made a loss of -$1.20.
Therefore (assuming these numbers are accurate), increasing the amount of money people make per pay period isn't going to magically make their money more valuable. If anything, it will simply exacerbate the already-problematic levels of inflation we've seen. We need to pay off the debt, not open a new line of credit.
There shouldn’t be a minimum wage. People should negotiate with their employer the terms of their employment contract. If an employer doesn’t offer a livable wage from your point of view, then you should find the balls to say no thanks and walk away from the opportunity to look for work elsewhere. If an employer isn’t competitive in pay for labor, they will not find much labor to be bought on the open market. It’s a matter of supply and demand. Only a slave needs a minimum wage, because they assume they just have to do work because it is available. They have no personal value and not ability to set standard and demands. Any free person will set their own terms for work and come to an agreement via negotiation. Those that want and need work the most, will likely work for less, but that gets their foot in the door to gain experience and opportunity to move up.
but people are desperate to pay rent and family needs. so minimum wage protected the poor for cleaning jobs etc. but raising minimum wage from my experience just caused raised prices so need m. w. but preserve.
@strateguy632 Minimum wage was actually a racist policy that was put in place to prevent immigrants and the poor from competing on price with middle class White workers historically. It created a minimum bid for contracted work so that Whites wouldn't have to work for less than Blacks and Chinese, and thus Whites would land more work due to a longer track record of experience at the same price point. People might take a risk on less experienced labor if the price was significantly lower, so minimum wage laws were created to eliminate that possibility. Look up the history of the Davis-Bacon Act. That was crafted to ensure Whites landed government contracts over "colored people". Rises in minimum wage always lead to job cuts of workers who are of low skilled, young, and/or minorities. Thomas Sowell has a lot to say on the subject. You should go listen to what he has to say.
You can raise it but you can't lower it once it's been raised. Do you see anyone in Congress who do not retire as millionaires? For working 4-8 years they get a nice retirement, and that is in addition to their SS or private sector retirement benefits. It's a scam if ever I've seen one. Yet they don't pay it forward and help the citizens they are supposed to be serving. We really need term limits. Kick the asses of the asses.
i agree about term limits in congress but the lawmakers won't limit themselves? who would say set a limit to my own job?
@strateguy632 Anyone who is honest.
@daniela1982 i agree, can't lower it. Im barely making it and i make above min wage.
I believe a low minimum wage benefits everyone, including the people who make minimum wage. When minimum wage used to be $5.00, a cottage cost $10,000. Now minimum wage is $16 and a cottage costs $500,000 or $750,000.
I'm barely making it and i make above min wage. What the hell you talking about? Cost a houses have been going up and min wage has stayed still for 20+ years. You do realize min wage is only $7.15 an hr right?
Its not 16 an hr in Texas.
@Mansearching I live in Canada Ontario where minimum wage used to be 4-5 dollars and is now around 16 dollars and cottages cost 60 times more then they used to.
That's Canada. Not here. Min wage here is 7.15 an hr. Each state is different. A 80,000 dollar house is now 280,000. And min wage hasn't moved for 20+ years.
@Mansearching And in Canada a house is 1.4 million because our minimum wage is higher.
In some states the houses are that amount and wage hasn't moved because of inflation.
@Mansearching I learned LSAT logic in high school but I don't remember the name for this, but the idea I will say, is, just because one system is unpleasant, does not mean an alternative system is better, it might be even worse then the current system, so if changing your gains depends on other criteria beyond changing the systemization that pays you. An example is, I watched about golf caddies who used their volunteer position to network with rich people who mentored them and gave them jobs that led to business connections and they became very rich through business ownership.
So to make it, I have to work 3 to 4 different jobs and never see family to make it in life or be happy?
I'd rather work one job, make it, and be happy.
Opinion
55Opinion
Though I would not vote to lower the minimum wage as this would induce unnecessary hardships, this can otherwise be answered relatively quickly. According to a study by the Congressional Budget Office, the minimum wage increase just implemented - over three years - by the Biden administration, will result in a minimum loss of 1.3 million jobs. That is either in layoffs or - if you include jobs not created, 3.2 million jobs.
Of course, the CBO projections are based on projected economic conditions. In 2020, the economy shrank by 3.5% - the largest one year decline since World War II. Throw in the transition of the economy that began in roughly the 1980s from a manufacturing/extractions base to a service/high tech base, and the time it is taking for the education system and labor force demographics to catch up to that transition, and it is not surprising that job cuts AND lost hours will result.
Just to add then that, as a general rule, where the minimum wage is increased in a weak economic environment where wage growth is slow, unemployment will rise and working hours will be lost. Where it is increased in a strong economy with low unemployment and high wage growth are the norms, it is apt not to matter very much.
Thus the paradox. When it is needed most, as a social matter, it is apt to be counterproductive. When it is not needed, it will over time, be largely beneficial at the margins and mostly inconsequential.
So in some sense I agree with you, but neither raising it or lowering it will make things better. The issue is cost of living. If the cost of living can be controlled, then even a simple minimum wage could be tolerable. Rent needs to go down, and the cost of food, gas, and other living expenses, but high rent is the biggest evildoer of today's society. When these things start to go down in cost, then people are more able to comfortably afford them instead of having to work two jobs and rent a room or have roommates in order to survive. Many of my own friends are in this exact situation. But it's not easy for married people either, some have to deal with expensive, exorbitant child day care and even the cost of feeding them and their kids.
Our government and all the corporations out there know this, but they have no care to do much about it because they make more money from a suffering society. People today work two jobs more than they ever have, this provides the government with even more tax dollars, and they don't want that to go away.
You make some good points but what you're leading to is the need for a recession. It's why the feds started raising interest rates; in order to slow the growth. That, in turn, slows the amount of people buying new homes, ultimately forcing costs down.
The same can be said for lowering the minimum wage. As wages are lowered, manufactures can produce goods at lower costs and, ultimately, have to reduce the price of their goods.
But by trying to lower the minimum wage at this point, it will make life harder for millions of people who won't be able to keep up with cost of living, and companies are going to produce goods at lower costs at a slower pace than it will take for people to finally be able to catch up to it financially.
and inflation getting worse, now.
@strateguy632 And seems to be all these interest "rate hikes" aren't helping.
It's a lose-lose situation. The whole system is rigged.
If you raise minimum wage, the people paying minimum wage raise prices for the goods and services provided by the people they are paying minimum wage to account for the extra cost, and the cost of living goes up.
If you don't raise minimum wage, the people paying minimum wage raise prices for the goods and services provided by the people they are paying minimum wage to make more profit, and the cost of living goes up.
The other thing that devaluates the dollar is your government printing more of it constantly to pay their bills. There's nothing like working for $5/hr your whole youth away, then the government just prints up more money so the 10,000 hours you worked over 5 years to make $50,000 is now barely a decent wage for a single year.
minimum wage vs. nominal value
now 7 dollars each in some shops. more than 100 times.
@strateguy632 I literally just had smoothies today, it was $8.50 for a 16 oz smoothie and where my sister lives, I think it is $10-$14?
This is the problem that Bitcoin cannot completely solve, but it can go a long way towards a good start by decentralizing currency away from government printing. The government can still tax and regulate, but they won't be able to devalue it by printing more out of thin air.
The minimum wage is harmful because it prevents people that are worth less to employers than the minimum from getting a job. Almost every employee (perhaps 99% of all employees) makes more than minimum wage because they are worth more to their employer than minimum wage. Although the world is not perfect and there are a few exceptions, generally people earn what they are worth. Competition for employees from other employers for better employees prevents that from being otherwise.
All raising the minimum does is cause people earning less than the new higher to lose their jobs. That will not be instant because it takes a year for companies to adjust to the new minimum wage law. Therefore, not all will lose their jobs because in a year they will have a year's experience and will be worth more to their employer than the new higher minimum wage. Regardless it increased the number of people that cannot find employment.
If minimum served any worthwhile benefit and did not result in higher unemployment, the minimum wage should be raised to $50 per hour and everyone would be middle class or higher.
I think the minimum wage should stay the same. the old people do not get why it need to go up. They say well back in my day. well back in your day thing cost less.
the old people just want the minimum wage to match the effort of the person working for it and it good they do not want over pay someone to not do much. Some time people work too hard for too little and they need get more and sometime people get pay just for standing there and I do not like it.
also minimum wage is just so you can stay alive but people on it want more and have thing they can not have and rich people do not want poor people to say why they can not do thing and be rich like them.
pizza 5.50 for driver and they pay less then minimum wage and if you ask for less than minimum wage at a job interview they start to ask if you an illegal immigrant. I guess it have go up with the cost of living
The rich people say all people should get 50 dollars per hour cause that how much you worth. We can tell how much to ask for celebrities by how much they make so we know how much to ask for when we kidnap them.
People like sex work cause they get what they are worth for there time and people can set how much they make and how much there time worth.
any way if your on minimum wage then people should try help other who want to ( not the lazy people) move up end get better jobs in this world. I don't know who dose but there should be a school or government programs to help people work and do and make more.
also all the old people get mad the higher education is not free and I get it should not be but it should be affordable so people who want a better life can try and get it and move up.
People think it cool we have 100k cars and thing and it is but it also be nice if we have affordable car if not we just have people who do not have cars. A lot people I know do not have car and it be nice if they did. I want help the poor but I not doing good my self.
i believe minimum wage is a horrible idea for any economy. it's not only bad for the economy but also for the people. because it inflates prices. because any penny that a company is legally forced to pay "more" for labour will be reflected in the price that the consumer pays. and if we're speaking about an exclusively domestic market, that makes the very people who worked to make these product as poor as they were before minimum wage, cause not only is their wage higher but also the prices are higher.
and if we then consider global markets, that means companies who are forced to pay more by minimum wage laws are in competition with products from countries where such laws do not exist. meaning they can not possibly compete with imported products. so specially people who have little money will prefer the cheaper imported product over the more expensive but same quality domestic product. meaning that value will leave the country, unless import tax is so high that it compensates, at which point exporting countries will be massively discouraged from actually selling their products to us.
there's another bad effect of minimum wage. the argument is that it prevents wage dumping by setting a limit. fair enough. but at the same time it shows companies an option of "how little they can get away paying people", compelling companies to actually pay less, cause why pay more than they legally have to? it's not like there's an abundance of well paying jobs so people can pick and choose. people are forced to just take minimum wage.
so yeah. i think minimum wage is very bad ESPECIALLY for poorer and lower educated households, cause they suffer more from the negative financial consequences than more wealthy households.
people who think that forcing a floor for a minimum pay do not understand that the value of money goes down, as the abundance is artificially rised. so in effect no real "wealth" is generated. just the uneducated stupid feeling that you're getting more money simply by the number on your bank account getting bigger, when really you're getting less thanks to inflation and the fact that this bigger number can buy even less now.
That its fucking necessary to force billionaires and corporations to pay their workers a minimum wage, should make any rabid capitalist hang their head in shame.
Instead they come up with bullshit sophistry and deflections to cover it up. Without wage laws they would engage in slavery and exploitation of the working class. In fact it's one reason why they take production "offshore" into countries that have slavery or lower working wages.
The "inflation" bullshit has little relevance to wages. If anything, lowering wages will mean higher inflation as more people working longer for less pay, means sicker people and less spending power.
As the old joke goes. "politicians always scream "there are millions of jobs! things are going great! But will run when the working class tells them they have three jobs, but still can't pay rent and bills".
@mrshaunYour humor was not lost on everyone. Well-played.
Working a minimum, wage job should not be something that people aspire to. I started working for 2.10/hr. I worked 40 hours a week and than half a day on Saturday and I got time and a half. I grossed a hundred bucks a week. I did not expect to be able to buy a house or raise a family. I was 17 and was trying to save for college.
If they raise minimum wage to 30 bucks and hour people will have to pay 20 bucks for a hamburger , Businesses will invest in technology that will eliminate a lot of these jobs.
The free market economy will set the minimum wage. Where i live ChikFilA is paying 18-22 bucks an hour. Minimum wage is much less than that. People are still collecting money from Covid programs so nobody wants to work so these places have to pay more than what you can get from covid relief payments.
Joe Biden is retarded and makes $400,000 per year for hiding in his baesement. The federal minimum wage hasn't been raised in 14 years. Let's make the market dictate what retarded presidents make. Also, let's abolish unions. Why should a broom pusher at GM make more than a broom pusher at Target? Do you seriously think the free market dictates this, or does the mafia?
You dodged the question. You talked about market driven wages, and then dodged the question about unions. My cousin is retarded, and makes 100k per year. Do you seriously think that union wages are market driven, or about the mafia? Why do you suppose the government raises their wage, but hasn't raised the minimum wage for 14 years?
@Karen444 The union is not the mafia. I have a friend that is a union carpenter. He never went to college, His father was in the union and that is how he got in. For years he made more money than I did and I had a college degree. It is just the way it is. I could have gone to trade school and worked as a carpenter for a while and I probably would have eventually got in the union somehow. There is a public transit system that has an unbelievable pay scale. Bus drivers can make 100K their first year. You can retire after 22 years. The problem is that you have to bw related to a politician to get in or else some kind of affirmative action hire. It sucks and I agree it is not fair but that is the way it is.
I think you are probably the best guy on this site. My name isn't Karen. I chose it to see how many fucktatards would use it against me. Many have. When I say you're the best guy on the site, I really mean that. I just wanted to rattle your cage. I know you have a nice wife, and you have some kind of vacation place on an island back East. I know you like computers. My passion is computer programming, even though I suck shit at it. I understand a little bit of Javascript, but does anyone understand Java? Or C++?
I watched the video of the guy who wrote the software for Twitter. He said, imagine the dumbest thing on the planet. Then try to teach it to do something. lol
He nailed it.
I met a guy who was 80ish. He was a software engineer in the military. He has no regrets for the stuff he created, because it was his job. I'm pretty sure we stold buckets of dimes, but I'm not sure. lol
I Know right? I went to McDonalds and didn't come away without paying $20.
JavaScript is the only one I can make heads or tails of. Java and C++ are way above my head. Python is kind of friendly.
Google bought an AI company from the UK. It was called deep minds. They hooked the AI up to an old game light. Pac-Man. The software wasn't instructed what to do and wasn't given any programming. The software was just instructed to make the score go up. That's it.
When the scientists returned the next morning, the computer had the highest Pac-Man score in history. With machine learning I don't think programmers are going to be needed anymore.
$100,000 a year for a bus driver? You got to be kidding. I didn't make that much money as a Tram Driver at Disneyland. Was I robbed?
Look up Jacques Fesco on YouTube. He passed away at 112 years old, but he was a genius. He predicted that artificial intelligence would replace politicians. I've suggested that on this site, but people get violent about it. They say that AI is only good as those that program it. But at least AI would know what day it is, unlike Biden.
Anything is possible if you take greed out of the equation. I don't know if you've ever watched Star Trek the next generation. But three hundred years from now, there is no longer money. If you really want to piss people off on this site and make them foam at the mouth, suggest a society with no money. They will call you a lazy POS just for talking about something you will never see. (unless reincarnation is real)
Most people online are simpletons. They can't see that technology and machines have been replacing labor for many decades. Many moons ago, women took their laundry down to the river and pounded them against rocks. Now they have machines to do that. Are you planning to ride your horse to work tomorrow?
So why would anyone work if there was no money involved?
Cuz when you bring a herd of cats into town and you ain't lost of one of em', there ain't no feeling like it in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE
@Karen444 I have wealthy relatives that do not have to work every day. They go on nice vacations and work at fun jobs that don;t pay squat. I wondered what it would be like to be rich. Then Covid happened and I filed for unemployment and collected a check for a year and a half. It was not as much fun as you think. I was mostly bored and i think that Capt Picard spends a lot of time thinking about what he is having for lunch.
I've been working since I was ten years old. Working is all I know. But the day will come when if you choose to work, you will just do it because you like your job. It's hard for people to imagine that, so they prefer to just insult you and call you lazy.
I would ask the question just for shits and giggles, but the mods would delete it for being spam.
You'll find some charity work to keep you busy. I had a friend who worked at a doggy daycare. He said at a certain time of day, it was lights out, and all the doggies took a nap. lol
All the doggies had mats and my friend had a hammock. I couldn't stop laughing. It reminded me of kindergarten.
You're a smart guy, you will find a fun free job when you retire. I will teach guitar lessons, but if you don't have the eye of the tiger, you're gone. I taught guitar lessons in college, and my biggest pet peeve was lazy students that thought all you had to do was show up. Really? I practiced 10 hours per day for my senior recital.
One of my heroes is Andres Segovia. He said that if he missed one day of practice, he could tell it in his playing. If he missed two days of practice, his wife could tell it in his playing. If he missed three days of practice, everyone could tell. Andres said that without work, there is nothing in life.
My passion is the classical guitar, but I gave up on teaching. It's not the blue pill or the red pill, it's hard work and you have to love it.
But Julian Bream was the best of the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz8TeDpal-w
I played this at my recital.
Minimum wage has generally kept up with inflation since they started it. It's a stair step and sometimes goes a little above the inflation rate, and sometimes a little below. But it more or less tracks it. Having said that, it is a fair amount overdue for an increase, but it should not be raised outrageously high like some people want.
People need to realize that it's a national minimum wage. The increase that some people want would make it into middle class territory in many parts of the country. The places with high costs of living already have minimums above the federal. So the federal does not need to be nearly as high as some people want.
The 'secret' lies in the 'purchasing power' of the unit of currency.
In my youth, 7-10 cents would purchase a 10-12 oz. soda. Today it can be as much as $1+!!! SAME soda!
The 'cost' of the ingredients & production has inflated but the VALUE remains the same.
Its an ongoing 'cycle' like a pet chasing its own tail... a wage increase ONLY lasts til the next thing YOU buy raises its PRICE without increasing its VALUE to you. There's a reason you're termed a 'consumer' vs. being a valued 'producer'~ : (
I think the value of the dollar turning to shit is the real problem. I've watched $45,000 houses turn into something that costs half a million dollars. All this money printing and free money lending has already been and is going to do so much damage.
We're still stuck with Boomers running the show that somehow think we can still get a college education, buy 2 cars, buy a house, and raise a nuclear family from a basic McDonald's job. So... in my humble opinion... it's going to get a lot worse before it starts to get any better.
As a Union Worker I’m all for & on the fence when it comes to a minimum wage & I stand with my fellow workers all the time when it comes to contracts, negotiating, safety, money & more. Do I believe there should be a minimum wage, yes I do within reason. Do I believe businesses should be competitive with their salaries, yes I do. Do I believe that entitled workers that are on their cellphones all day should be able to walk in a company making big bucks, no I do not. If you are a worker you should get paid & paid well for being productive but if you are not productive companies should have the right to lower your salary.
Raising the minimum wage is a red herring. Nothing will change for the better until every last person involved in wall street, hollywood, and the federal government has been purged. Wall street robs the people of money to pad their pockets. Hollywood brainwashes people to be compliant and complacent. The government spies on everyone and conducts illegal experiments on its people and uses hard force to keep its subjects in line when its methods of soft power don't work. The United States is the most evil machinery of tyranny to have ever existed. Making $15/hour is meaningless.
A minimum wage should be a wage that provides for some income for people, but I don't think it should be so high that people are comfortable working a job that only pays minimum wage. They should be incentivized to advance into a better paying job.
In the US, the federal minimum wage is $7.25, and has been that since 2009. It's time to increase it, but the $15 level that some states are now using is, in my opinion, too high. A $10 minimum wage would be fair, high enough to give people income, low enough to encourage them to move up.
the problem that happens is that sure let's raise the minimum wage up to 20 an hour.
Great, but what happens to all of the people that were making 20 an hour that have more job skills, their wages will need to go up, so now they make 25/hr.
So for all of those skilled people that were at 25/hr are now making 30/hr, and so on all the way up the food chain.
So now everything that you buy now costs more because of the labor factor so for those that are making the new minimum wage have no more buying power than before.
Look at all of the automation that has come into the fast food industry since the minimum wage was raised.
There are now less people working at our dinky little McDonalds that there were before, so you have eliminated a crap ton of jobs for young kids across the country.
That sure didn't help. anyone.
I had multiple minimum wage jobs at a time until I was older and had developed desirable job skills so I made more money.
I looked at the minimum wage rates from 1938 through 1997 and they seem to run between $6 and $12 an hour today’s money (adjusted for inflation). They usually land at $8-9 an hour with 1968 the highest at $12.
It’s fine where it is. We just need higher paying jobs than minimum wage. Trump was giving us that and then it all stopped and went back to pre-Trump economy. More of the same coming. Dumb voters.
The best solution is not to artificially boost wages, but to lower costs.
The only reason we can all afford all our gadgets (PC, phones, tablets) is because their prices went down. Innovation is inherently deflationary, by allowing a better production/cost ratio, whether by (1) increasing production at the same cost, (2) lowering cost for the same production, (3) increasing production and lowering cost.
Rent & energy are the two best sources of help. Allow developers to build non-single-family dwellings. Allow for more residents within one unit.
Greater housing supply will make life much more affordable, especially for the poorer.
As to energy: use the most cost-effective resource. Depending on geography, this will probably be nuclear, hydro, or oil.
All it does is make it harder for teenagers and people with limited job experience to get experience. If the employer can hire someone for $9.00 an hour for desktop support they would have a job and be able to move up with experience and training. But because the minimum wage is $15.00 an hour their labor isn't worth $15.00 an hour and they would have to train them on how to work.
So instead the employer will just hire people from the Philippines to do the desktop support for less money than hire an American. Raising it just makes it harder for people who need experience to get experience cause all the entry-level jobs will get outsource to a cheaper country. And with remote work it's even easier to just have someone from another country to handle tech support over the phone.
Raise it to a living standard.
I saw a chart about 3 years back, the U. S. A. among develop countries literally ranks dead last at keeping up with inflation.
America just doesn't like to pay employees their fair wages regardless if they are middle or below.
This country just loves worshipping the ultra rich while they continue to abuse and rob the common man and woman nickel and diming them with the same BS society year after year.
* middle class
That, in turn, leads to more expensive costs of living for everyone.
If one wants to earn more, one needs to receive better skills through a more through education. It's why the student loan program shouldn't be paid off. Offer the loans at low or no interest and require payback once the degree and, thus, better employment received.
Cost doesn't have to go up, it's the myth they sell so they don't have to pay you ish and they pocket more money to themselves.
All develope nations will disagree too, right?
How brainwashed you guys by the system is amazing to me.
A minimum wage is simply a law banning me from working for less than X number of dollars. This is similar to other laws which effectively ban me from working for more than 40 hour a week in effect.
If I happen to really enjoy the job I could be in a pickle.
I would for example very much like to work more than 40 a week at times but that is prohibited by my job on the account of federal rules which would require them to pay too much for the extra time.
So I can't stand theses rules, But I also understand why democrats insist upon them. They have soo flooded the country with cheap labor competition via high levels of immigration and trade deals, and raised the cost of everything via regulations and taxes that the only way to tell their people they will solve the problems they created and blame on others somehow.
Ultimately the local minimum wage works only by driving people out of their cities.
So you clearly don't know economics, even in a pedestrian way. Inflation is good, it shows a growing economy. Stagflation and hyperinflation are bad, but so is a recession. While increasing the minimum wage, the process if living increases by a lesser amount. So a 1% increase in the minimum increases the price of living by 0.1%. So a 100% increase of the minimum wage would only increase the price of living by 10%. I could give you entire books on this, but since you probably never even saw an economics class, even in passing, I doubt you'd understand it.
Stagflation is when prices increase without wages
Hyperinflation is rapid inflation
Abolish it. It is a barrier to work. If you have a job that is only worth $5/hr; but the minimum wage is $8/hr you are loosing money hiring people for it. So instead you have two options. One hire someone under the table for $5/hr (since most people don't want to get paid less than the minimum wage this drives illegal immigration; as they are the only ones who will work for less than the minimum). Or two, have your current employees pick up the slack from not hiring someone to fill this position. Which only puts a strain on them.
Or three.. invest into automation and a machine that can do the job
Shaun, you're too old to be this stupid.
What the fuck do you think impacts inflation, Shaun? And you can't use minimum wage because that's absolutely false.
McDicks in the USA pays under $12/hr and they charge more than the EU countries who pay $15/hr.
Not to mention the EU ingredients are actually food and don't have nearly as many additives as USA food does.
Shaun, go read some economics books. You must have too much free time if you're this stupid.
Minimum wage is the symptom, not the problem. And raising it would be like if someone was bleeding profusely from a torn artery and the doctors solution was to go to the blood bank and start adding more because he didn't want to stitch it up. But the wound keeps getting bigger so you crank the pump up.
The issue is that lobbying has created a situation where monopolies are legal now.
If the minimum wage is too high, it will reduce the number of available jobs. If its too low people receiving minimum wage will not have much incentive to work, and will required a lot of additional government support.
My guess is that its considerably too low now. I'd like to see it raised gradually but continuously (maybe at 2x the inflation rate) until we see it start to impact jobs
Abolish it. It infringes on my right to contract. I have no food for my kids, barely keeping the lights on, I can sweep offices though. I have no other skills really. You're required to pay me $15/hour, but my services aren't worth that to you, so now I bring home nothing. I'd gladly do it for 10, and you'd pay it, but the government says no. Thanks for looking out for me.
but... the offices need to get clean so they hired "someone " to whom they must pay 15.
@strateguy632 Or they just clean up after themselves and hire a once a month person instead. I'm not paying more for a service than I need to when there are other ways around it.
The problem isn't minimum wage, the pertinent is greedy CEO's and companies whose profit has increased thousandfold but their workers are still struggling to make ends meet. But raising the minimum wage will only make companies raise their prices in turn which means that the people making minimum wage are still in the same boat if not worse off since companies tend to over-correct in order to make more profits that only the top 1% will actually see
Government intervening and artificially influencing the economy will mess things up. I'd prefer that the government didn't tamper with the economy in such ways.
It is one of those things that sounds good but it really does more harm than good.
Every state minimum wage is different and when it comes to the cost of living for an apartment, bills, and to taking care of yourself before you have a family of your own, can be very expensive nowadays. For me, I believe Minimum Wage should be $19.50 (at a full time job of 80hrs) in every state.
The only reason prices are going up is corporate greed. Every company's profits went up during covid and during the supply shortage. Giving their employees a living wage would barely cost them anything compared to how much they make in profit. It's greed.
I have a construction company and I can't even get uneducated carpenters to apply to my $40/hr job posting. People need to start picking jobs based on where they can find employment not worrying about minimum wage. Minimum wage should be for students not careers.
1. The real minimum wage is zero for those who cannot get hired.
2. In a slow economy, it really hurts the people in #1 and small companies. Big companies often support it because they can absorb it and still make a profit while the mom and pop shops go under.
3. In a growing economy it is unnecessary. Where I live, inexperienced fast food employees are starting at $18 per hour and up, far above the minimum.
Minimum wage jobs are meant for high school students who have no job experience and typically live with their parents.
Raising the minimum wage will only damage the dollar way more than it already has. I am not even sure what place still pays people wages that low anyway.
Minimum wage should be changed slightly, a small startup might not have the ability to pay minimum wage but yet if successful could see better returns for the employees who put effort into producing value for that startup, super massive companies like Amazon have no problems paying higher minimum wages, but this only locks out competition for them.
Min wage should reflect the minimum standard of living no matter the job. AI and automation/robots will continue to replace low and "unskilled" jobs year after year and soon the unemployment % will skyrocket to highs never seen in modern history. UBI will need to be implemented in order for modern 1st world western nations to function in all aspects but particularly economically.
I don't know where you're getting your facts. I make above min wage. I can barely make it paycheck to paycheck. I may have to give up house and live in car. Yes ill be homeless and making above min wage.
Make the pay fit the job being done (or not).
Wiping tables does NOT deserve $15 an hour, no matter what!
A "FMW" implies that the cost of living is the same nationwide, which it simply is not.
I actually had more real income when the minimum wage was $5.15/hour. I would support lowering the minimum wage back to around $3 or $4 per hour.
You have to raise it at least a little eventually just because inflation is happening regardless.
That's the way to do it. Little by little. Not all at once.
@Mansearching I legitimately do not have the expertise on the economy etc to say how exactly the minimum should be raised and to what extent, I just know it needs to sometimes. Lots of people say that the current raises we're seeing tend to be more drastic because they're so long overdue that they aren't even close to reflecting the value they "should" be in our current economy.
I don't have that experience either. I just know minimum wage isn't cutting it anymore. Do know if you raise it to fast, the companies would have to lay-off employees to cover cost and put more responsibilities on the ones that were able to stay.
@Mansearching I've definitely heard about that. There's also discussion about whether or not minimum wage should mean minimum living wage or be some other measure of how little you're allowed to give someone in exchange for their time from a moral perspective. Minimum wage wasn't always assumed to be a living wage in the US.
True. But the cost of living has gone up severely and the wage hasn't.
In which I'm all for.
Yep. Only thing is its a cycle. As soon as min wage goes up, everything else does too. If they could hold prices down so consumer can catch up. Then it won't be so bad.
I know it doesn't make sense. You would think if people who make min wage would stop spending so much. But they don't. They'll get loans and cc then don't pay them back. That drives up prices too. You wouldn't think so, but it does. Example: person doesn't pay back, bank loses money, bank has to make money back, raises prices and interest rates to businesses and other borrowers, in turn makes businesses raise prices. Its a circle.
But somewhere and sometime that circle or bubble will pop. Maybe like at end of Fight Club movie... lol
I have conflicting feelings on raising the minimum wage.
My heart says to raise it.
My head says otherwise.
It looks like a good idea but it made a whole lot of people poorer due to the boss not having to pay market rates, here in the U. K. I think I dropped about 15% in income without a drop in hours worked.
If it's to be a thing, raise it to overtake inflation. Otherwise do away with it. Go to a better system.
Abolish the unions, and then we can talk. Most politicians are retarded on a good day. Most union workers are retarded on a good day.
Can't get rid of unions. They protect rights of workers.
I'd like to see middle wages grow faster. People worming 20 to 30 years aren't getting raises that keeps them out of being pay check to pay check.
it isn't a good policy and won't help people by raising it. but i'm all for it as it will put dumb people out of work and punish them directly for their own stupid policies.
good lessons come from stupidity
Raise it, or don't let congress raise theirs.
forget the minimum wage: you want the living wage.
but if you want the living wage, you gotta fight for it.
Keep supporting minimum wage raises and then keep complaining that housing costs continue to climb.
people who thinks it’s to high are lack empathy and have a very filtered view of poverty. And the myth that it’s not supposed to be a living wage is patently false. look up the history
I think it should be raised in several steps. I do not know how some people with families or high rent do it.
Make the dollar mean something?
Minimum wage was supposed to keep up with inflation. But we haven’t updated it in decades. Economists say it should be $32/hr.
The problem is people want to make a career out of a minimum wage job and employers only want to pay minimum wage. A minimum wage job was meant to get you started in the job market. Not sustain you for life.
The middle class arguing with the poor class over the purpose of minimum wage is what benefits the upper class the most.
Then you have disgruntled workers. If you're going to lower the minimum wage, at least cut your hours, or make it s a 4 or even 3 day work week
I think it should be raised significantly so the youth can afford to buy more guns.
When cannibals get sent to nature reserves the economy fixes itself autimatically.
As someone whose country used to be communist - it doesn't work.
None of the above. Don't settle for minimum.
its not a "living wage"...
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