Raising the Minimum wage a good idea?

[evangelist6589]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...ork-enact-15-minimum-wages.html?intcmp=hplnws

This is a bad idea. Low skill, low paying jobs such as those in Fast Food and retail are not careers and people should not depend on them. This will harm small businesses, raise costs, and also taxes. I have seen fast food worker strikes in the news which is absurd as if people think they are entitled to $30K a year for a low skill job, it is about time they get some skills so they can earn more money. I tell you that fast food jobs are not worth 30K a year so people need to get off that dream.

It is true that people working in low paying jobs will have a harder time getting some valuable job skills since they cant afford college costs, but this is an entirely different matter. Plenty of people are very lazy and have no ambition and think they can live all their lives working in fast food without bettering themselves. But for those that have ambition, desire, and want to better themselves yet cannot due to not having enough money to afford college, then perhaps maybe the government can help these people.

In my state community college costs an arm and a leg and I cannot afford to go back to school with my present salary. I make too much to qualify for a tuition free education, yet do not make enough to afford college costs without going into debt. Go figure.

 

[Rolfe]

Absolute bad idea to over-price entry-level labor.

 

[JonC]

I agree that raising minimum wage is not necessarily the best idea.

But many who work as unskilled laborers are not necessarily unskilled (I take exception to your comment “it is about time they get some skills so they can earn more money”).

As we speak….that is….as I type, I know three men who have graduated college. All have at least BA degrees. One works at Walmart as a cashier, one paints houses, and the other works at a gas station. All want to work in their field but none can find such employment. Come to think of it, I have a graduate degree that does not apply to my current employment.

Education is not the answer. Possessing an in demand skill, however, is another story.

 

[Rob_BW]

Absolute bad idea to over-price entry-level labor.

Entry level labor? I thought the every job was to supposed to be able to comfortably support a family of four?

But seriously, we can read about the Caesars in Rome passing wage and price laws. It didn't work then, and it won't work now.

 

[Crabtownboy]

Absolute bad idea to over-price entry-level labor.

Not really. If the minimum wage were raised it would reduce taxes paid by you and me for food stamps by several billion dollars. I will start a new thread on this. And since when has the minimum wage applied to only entry-level labor? How many Walmart employees are paid minimum wage who are not entry-level employees?

 

[Rob_BW]

If you are getting paid minimum wage, you are by definition in an entry level job. Or maybe a seasonal job, which amounts to the same thing.

 

[Crabtownboy]

If you are getting paid minimum wage, you are by definition in an entry level job. Or maybe a seasonal job, which amounts to the same thing.

Regardless, spending on food stamps by our taxes would go down and people would live better if the minimum wage was raised.

It also would be helpful if the tax laws were changed so that people making the minimum age paid no taxes.

 

[Revmitchell]

 

[Sapper Woody]

Maybe someone who's more of a history buff can help me out. But as far as I know, the supreme Court once ruled that having a mandated minimum wage was unconstitutional, and I can't find where that was over turned.

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[Crabtownboy]

Maybe someone who's more of a history buff can help me out. But as far as I know, the supreme Court once ruled that having a mandated minimum wage was unconstitutional, and I can't find where that was over turned.

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West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, 300 U.S.379 (1937), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of minimum wage legislation enacted by the State of Washington, overturning an earlier decision in Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261 U.S.525 (1923). The decision is usually regarded as having ended the Lochner era, a period in American legal history during which the Supreme Court tended to invalidate legislation aimed at regulating business.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Coast_Hotel_Co._v._Parrish

 

[annsni]

I've been working at my job for 11 years and just got to $15 an hour last year.

I think raising minimum wage isn't bad but going to $15 an hour and expecting to support your family on that salary is really ignorant. Yes, McDonald's will have to raise the salary of those working for them but that means that the bowls of soup are bigger but the pot is the same size meaning that there will be less bowls filled. McDonald's won't keep the same 30 workers they paid at $9 an hour and increase their pay to $15 an hour but instead will decrease their work force to be able to afford that $15 an hour.

If someone is looking to support a family on their income, JUST MAYBE they should seek to get an education, work hard and show initiative so that they are no longer working a minimum wage job. Maybe they can work up towards management. Maybe they get the education so that they get another job that pays more. I'm sorry but to expect minimum wage to be able to support a family is really dumb.

 

[Don]

Regardless, spending on food stamps by our taxes would go down and people would live better if the minimum wage was raised.

It also would be helpful if the tax laws were changed so that people making the minimum age paid no taxes.

Economics and human nature cancel out your idealism.

Take a city with a military base. Rental units close to base are higher than similar units further away. Whenever Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is increased, rent charges increase. The rent charges may be attributed to increased costs; but the truth is, the landlords watch the BAH increases. They know what the service members are receiving, and they adjust their rent costs to keep up with those increases.

Increase minimum wage, people will live better for a short time; then the folks who follow human nature will increase the costs, and we'll be clamoring for more minimum wage increases.

Look at your history, CTB. When I was 18, minimum wage was $3.35/hour. We've had continual increases in minimum wage to the current $7.25 (or thereabouts); and the movement to double it to $15. If those increases from $3.35 to $7 haven't helped, and we need to double the current minimum wage, why is that?

Increasing minimum wage isn't fixing the cause of needing to fix minimum wage. It's slapping a band-aid on internal bleeding. The only thing you're proposing is a bigger band-aid. In five years, people will be looking for another big band-aid.

Your idealism is admirable; but not realistic.

 

[Revmitchell]

You guys do not get it. Raising the minimum wage is not about helping people who only earn the minimum wage. It is about income redistribution. They want business owners and wealthy people to have less money. It is about closing their perceived gap between higher and lower incomes. They couldn't care less about people who earn those wages.

 

[Crabtownboy]

You guys do not get it. Raising the minimum wage is not about helping people who only earn the minimum wage. It is about income redistribution. They want business owners and wealthy people to have less money. It is about closing their perceived gap between higher and lower incomes. They couldn't care less about people who earn those wages.

So you want to continue the income distribution to continue upward from the poor to the rich and the continued destruction of the middle class?

 

[Revmitchell]

So you want to continue the income distribution to continue upward from the poor to the rich and the continued destruction of the middle class?

The problem is liberals do not get to have it both ways. You cannot tax businesses to death and over regulate till they pull out and have a solid middle class. Sorry, as much as you want it this is America and people and businesses are free to do business as they wish. Any attempt to stand in the way of freedom is unAmerican.

Equality over freedom is evil. Period.

 

[Sapper Woody]

I read a study last night that made an interesting case. I'm on my tablet, and so will have to find the link sometime later. But basically, the study was saying that raising the minimum wage will have no negative impacts as long as two conditions are fulfilled.

First, the minimum wage cannot be raised above what the market is currently trending towards. In other words, if the market is trending towards $10/hr, raising it higher than that it's going to hurt the economy. In the 90s, 90% of the economists who were in favor of raising the minimum wage admitted that raising it by more than 50% of the current minimum wage would hurt the economy. Also, in every era, raising the minimum wage has been viewed more positively by the general public than it has been by university economists.

Secondly, raising the minimum wage will only work if we give jobs to the needy, and edge out teenagers who are trying to earn money in high school. Right now, there is a disproportionate amount of jobs filled by teenagers that could be given to adults who are struggling.

Now, in my own opinion, even if it were proven 100% that raising the minimum wage would help the economy, the current proposed $15/hr as a federal minimum is a stupid proposition. Not all areas have the same cost of living. Here in Arkansas, a man can live comfortably on less. As an anecdote, I was working a job with a guy as a temp for a while. This guy was making the same as me in this job; $12.50/hr. And he was living comfortably on that income with a wife and two kids at home. Me, I was making that plus some disability, and I had disposable income.

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[Revmitchell]

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Secondly, raising the minimum wage will only work if we give jobs to the needy, and edge out teenagers who are trying to earn money in high school. Right now, there is a disproportionate amount of jobs filled by teenagers that could be given to adults who are struggling.

The problem with that thinking is the jobs teens have have traditionally been given to teens because they are low wage and part time at best. What needs to happen is people need to become qualified for better jobs rather than raising wages artificially. It is putting the cart in front of the horse.

 

[Don]

So you want to continue the income distribution to continue upward from the poor to the rich and the continued destruction of the middle class?

The problem, CTB, is your over-generalization. That's the biggest problem with this "social equality" mantra that's been going on for a few years now.

You start a business; you work 16-hour days, and expand your business. You open a second store; then a third; then more. You deal with the federal regulations, the state regulations, the international regulations. You deal with the lawyers, financial advisors, logisticians, and other experts that make it possible for you to continue your business being profitable. You create jobs; and pay according to what your financial analysis says you can pay those positions, and still be profitable.

People look at you as being rich. Compared to the guy that you gave a job to, whose only responsibility is to make sure the customer gets a small dipped cone and a large Coke when ordered, how much should you get paid?

(I bring up the small dipped cone and large coke because that happened to me yesterday; it took the Dairy Queen franchise employees three times to get that order correct)

 

[Revmitchell]

There is no income going from the poor to the rich.

 

[Salty]

Ann said (post # 11) she makes about $15 an hour. That is double the current minimum wage. Now when the minimum wage is raised to $15 - that means that Ann will be working at minimum wage. Does that mean her employer should raise her wage since she has more experience.
In the case of unions - they will demand a pay raise as (they think) their members deserve to be well above the minimum wage.

Of course - as has been mentioned - either the employer must raise prices (which negates the reason for a higher minimum wage) and/or have a lower staff - which means the current staff will be working harder to make up for less staff. And a lower staff means some people will be unable to even find a job.

Keep in mind - that for every dollar an employee receives - it costs the employer about $1.25.

IMHO - the government should NOT be in the business of a minimum wage.