$15 minimum wage in KCMO? Are you serious? (crimes, unemployment rate)

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Has anybody ever noticed that most of the people who are against raising the minimum wage are people who are mostly established and already have a good paying job?

I don't see anything wrong with raising the minimum wage, however, just because the minimum wage is raised does not mean that everybody else gets a raise to offset the cost of raising the minimum wage. To do so defeats the purpose of raising the minimum wage and the people who work for minimum wage are in the same financial shape they were in before the wage was raised.

[MLSFan]

have you noticed the ones that want higher minimum wage are the ones that doesn't want more responsibilities in their jobs that come with pay raises? I'm not against the raises because I'm making more money, I'm against it because they don't offer any new skills to warrant it other than they can't "afford" things... their entire argument is that they can't afford the COL on current rates, but they never talk about doing what it takes to get more skills either. IE they just want to stay at the same jobs.

I don't mind minimum wage hikes, but I expect it to be done in increments and not doubling it in a short time just so those low wage workers can buy more crap. You know they won't be better off with $15 minimum because they'll still spend it all and be back where they started, IE still living paycheck to paycheck... They won't use the surplus to invest, go to school, start a business, etc, they just want the next itouchthingsV5 electronic

if they want higher minimum wage, they should take a class on life planning, debt management, and financial planning first (have to pass it too, not just show up) :S, I don't care about the drug screen testing that seems to be popular, I just want them to correlate that they are poor because they spend their money on crap, not because they don't make enough. And yes... I don't believe young couples should have a family if both are making minimum wage... if they want a family, they need a plan to get better jobs too >.>, part of life planning to me. If they can't plan where their next meal is coming from, they have no reason to think they can plan to feed another person (baby).

[TwinbrookNine]

[quote=Ivory Lee Spurlock;40019722]Has anybody ever noticed that most of the people who are against raising the minimum wage are people who are mostly established and already have a good paying job?


I'm against it for two reasons: 1) Price inflation (you have to be growed up to realize this) is proceeding at a break neck pace already, due to many things not even having to do with wages and bennies. It's multifaceted. How will that $10 Big Mac or $8.50 Taco Supreme, hamburger $8 a lb set with you with that $15/hr job. Do the math. 2) They'll just wind up hiring half as many people. So 50% of those with jobs on the entry level today go without a job. Then you can't even afford a $3.50 Big Mac.

You can't have it both ways.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

When I hear somebody like Rush Limbaugh who makes 57 million $$$ a year railing so passionately against raising the minimum wage, it makes me want to puke.


So what if the price of a quarter pounder goes up 50 cents. Big whoop. You can't afford an extra 50 cents? If they don't wanna raise the minimum wage, maybe these fast food places should start allowing their cashiers and other employees to accept tips.

[MLSFan]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

When I hear somebody like Rush Limbaugh who makes 57 million $$$ a year railing so passionately against raising the minimum wage, it makes me want to puke.


So what if the price of a quarter pounder goes up 50 cents. Big whoop. You can't afford an extra 50 cents? If they don't wanna raise the minimum wage, maybe these fast food places should start allowing their cashiers and other employees to accept tips.

so why don't you puke when they don't put in the effort to get more skills but want more money for doing the same thing?

they don't even make a good compromise/negotiation... They "want" $15, what are they offering up though? They don't want more responsibilities, they don't want more skilled work, they don't really want much of anything except more pay at no "cost" to themselves. They don't even want to give up their smartphones

[The Grim Reaper]

Raising the min wage to 15 would only make things worse for people who are skilled workers. I'm sorry, but the guy ringing up your Little Debbie cakes at 7-11 shouldn't be making more than minimum wage, or 8-9 an hour.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by eyeb

so why don't you puke when they don't put in the effort to get more skills but want more money for doing the same thing?

they don't even make a good compromise/negotiation... They "want" $15, what are they offering up though? They don't want more responsibilities, they don't want more skilled work, they don't really want much of anything except more pay at no "cost" to themselves. They don't even want to give up their smartphones

You are putting all minimum wage workers in the same category and that is just plain wrong. Look, I don't have a problem with students living at home making minimum wage, but an adult out on his own and supporting a family should be paid more than that.

[MLSFan]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

You are putting all minimum wage workers in the same category and that is just plain wrong. Look, I don't have a problem with students living at home making minimum wage, but an adult out on his own and supporting a family should be paid more than that.

so why is he taking jobs that are for the student living at home? Yes I think he should be paid more... no I don't think he should be working minimum wage jobs then...

if he wants to stay at the company, he could at least work his way up to manager..

you are one that is putting everyone into one category by raising minimum wage, you said you don't mind students living at home making $8/hr minimum wage, but you want to raise it so the adult can make more doing the same job? That doesn't work that way, you can't raise it for just one set of people, if it goes up, then everyone gets more, not just the adult...

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by eyeb

so why is he taking jobs that are for the student living at home? Yes I think he should be paid more... no I don't think he should be working minimum wage jobs then...

if he wants to stay at the company, he could at least work his way up to manager..

you are one that is putting everyone into one category by raising minimum wage, you said you don't mind students living at home making $8/hr minimum wage, but you want to raise it so the adult can make more doing the same job? That doesn't work that way, you can't raise it for just one set of people, if it goes up, then everyone gets more, not just the adult...

I don't agree with eyeb very often, but he's on-point here.

I'm in favor of "equal pay for equal work". But it cuts both ways. On the one hand it means you can't pay a woman (or a minority, or a senior citizen etc) less to do the same job at the same performance level. But on the other hand, it also means that you can't pay a parent, or a middle-aged person MORE to do the same job as a bunch of high schoolers.

I believe that we, as a wealthy society, DO have an obligation to assist the poor. But raising the minimum wage is the laziest, sloppiest and least effective way to do it. It's the government forcing businesses to help the poor, but also helping a lot of people (high schoolers, for instance) simultaneously who don't need it. If we've determined that there's a demographic that's not making it - not able to feed their kids, keep their utilities on, pay their medical bills, etc - we need to be helping them directly, not indirectly.

And that's exactly what many people, and non-profits, are doing. So let's get on board with that, and satisfy ourselves with simply keeping the minimum wage consistent with inflation (while perhaps also taking into account the ridiculous rents in some urban centers.)

[Zapruder]

The one thing that I haven't seen discussed here yet is loss of government assistance.
This has happened in many areas where they have raised the minimum wage to notably higher levels.

Suddenly a single mother working a full time minimum wage position receives a raise via a new minimum wage law and then sees a reduction in welfare amounts.

I have seen this discussed on the national news where now their loss in assistance is greater than the minimum wage increase due to moving into a higher tax bracket.

Be very careful what you wish for.