California's minimum wage should be $12.00/hr (Atascadero: sex offenders, loans, unemployment)

[user_id]

This would be silly, California is a large state and the cost of living is in no sense homogeneous throughout the state. Although $12/hour may not hurt the business in San Fransisco much, it would kill many businesses in say Fresno.

[Shope]

Maybe we should just pay everyone the same wage, has this been done before? Doctors could make the same amount as bus drivers. It would be a utopia me thinks.

[Dport7674]

Originally Posted by bulldogdad

Sounds like you need to educate yourself and get an better job.

Sounds like you need "an" better education yourself.

[sjnative]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Yes, lets throw more people out of work, drive up the cost of living even more, and encourage the use of illegal under-the-table labor even more. Brilliant!

Minimum wage jobs aren't supposed to be a career.

I never thought I would do this, but I'm going to have to concur with EC.

What is really going to be accomplished by higher MW?

It will just strain employer budgets and, if anything, some employees would just get fewer hours or get laid off. The medical/dental/retirement benefits of other employees would be reduced to accommodate the MW employees' instant pay raise.

A higher MW would hurt the workers. If they really want higher pay, they will have to sacrifice the time and money to get some skills that will allow them to escape MW.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by sjnative

I never thought I would do this, but I'm going to have to concur with EC.

What's even more troubling is that I have to concur with you!

[Vascodagama]

Originally Posted by Shope

Maybe we should just pay everyone the same wage, has this been done before? Doctors could make the same amount as bus drivers. It would be a utopia me thinks.

Why would someone spend big bucks and years of hard schooling to become a doctor if they would get the same wage as an uneducated bus driver?

[BlackShoe]

Originally Posted by Charles

Lower the minimum wage to $0/hr.

Concur. Minimun wage is a starting point, not an end all. Very, very few persons remain in minimum wage jobs for a long period of time. Every time the rate is raised, the unemployment rate also goes up sharply, mostly among young people just entering the work force, and low skilled workers hoping to increase their job skills on the way to a better position. Raise the wage to $12 an hour and todays unemployment rate would seem like the good old days in a not very long time. Let the free market determine wages by competing for the best employees, not government mandates.

[sjnative]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

What's even more troubling is that I have to concur with you!

This is a dark day on C-D.

We'll just have to find a way to cope with this new normal .

Originally Posted by Don9

Why would someone spend big bucks and years of hard schooling to become a doctor if they would get the same wage as an uneducated bus driver?

It's not like doctors do it for the money. They do it because they "want to help people."

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by sjnative

This is a dark day on C-D.

We'll just have to find a way to cope with this new normal .

Does that mean I don't have to kill myself after all?

On-topic, EC is correct in the effects of MW increases but he also has a point about them never having been meant to be a career goal. Unless someone has a developmental, mental of physical, limiting disability, the only reasons they'd settle for minimum wages over the long haul would be laziness or complacency.

[Ceece]

I don't expect people to survive on minimum wage, I expect people to move up from there. If they can't or won't they can't expect to survive. At least not on their own.