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Until the artificially inflated wages raise the cost of everything relative and we're all back to where we started.
That wouldn't happen to any large degree. Consumers would still shop for the best deal in town, and profit margins would still be thin in retail. Prices would rise marginally, but not enough to offset increase in the standard of living these people would experience.
They would still be priced out of many markets, so they would have little effect there. Home values in my neighborhood wouldn't increase, because it would still be out-of-reach to a worker making $15/hour, so demand would remain stagnant. What's more likely is that poor neighborhoods would become lower-middle income neighborhoods, and crime would likely go down. I may end up paying 5% more at the grocery store, but that isn't of much concern to me. People who experience hardship due to a marginal rise in prices would likely see a pay raise as well, and the market would still compete for our business.
...a robot can be “hired” to do the job instead of an employee. The technology is already here: San Francisco-based Momentum Machines recently announced a new robotic burger-flipper that does the work equivalent of three full-time kitchen employees. That’s 360 burgers per hour, with no strikes, benefits or wage demands.
At current labor costs, Momentum’s burger-flipper pays for itself within the first year. But at $15 an hour for an employee, the investment would pay off in a matter of months.Link
Do you think that there's a magic money tree that employers can just pick from or something? Many businesses - especially the very large ones - work on very thin margins. If you think you can raise the minimum wage any non-insignificant amount without a dramatic corresponding increase in the price of goods and services in every business and industry, you're a fool. Doubling it? The economy would inflate so fast it would make your head spin.
I really don't understand why it's so freaking difficult for people to understand such a basic concept. Are you all just so caught up in the hype that you've had to turn off your brains in order to manage?
Your wrong. If Dole increases wages of workers, that increase will be made up over a crap ton of pineapples, resulting in a small increase in cost. It will mean less money at the top, but it won't cripple the economy.
And, just for the record, I don't think McDonalds workers will see $15/hour anytime soon.
I voted for higher price/higher wage McDonalds. This extra dollar or two makes no difference to me, but would greatly improve the workers' living standards.
Of course, you didn't have to wait until this McDonalds with the $15/hr wages and higher prices showed up.. The option has always been open to you to slip the counter boy at the Macs you do go to, a tip under the till, or buy him a tank of gas every now and then, etc., at the present wage he is making. Then you could improve his living standard without waiting for some employer to bump hsi wages.
How long have you been doing that... since the extra dollar or two makes no difference to you, and the opportunity has been open to you for years?
Of course, you didn't have to wait until this McDonalds with the $15/hr wages and higher prices showed up.. The option has always been open to you to slip the counter boy at the Macs you do go to, a tip under the till, or buy him a tank of gas every now and then, etc., at the present wage he is making. Then you could improve his living standard without waiting for some employer to bump hsi wages.
How long have you been doing that... since the extra dollar or two makes no difference to you, and the opportunity has been open to you for years?
Me alone giving the guy at McDonalds $2 wouldn't increase his standard of living though, you'd have to as well, and then the guy behind you, and so on.
A dollar here or there doesn't make a difference to me. Making up a $7/hour pay raise ($7/hour x 30/hours per week x 52 weeks in a year) would though.
Me alone giving the guy at McDonalds $2 wouldn't increase his standard of living though, you'd have to as well, and then the guy behind you, and so on.
I was wondering when we would get around to that.
As you point out, the only way any of this stuff would have any effect, is if everyone were forced to pay more for the same goods, whether they thought it was a good idea or not.
In other words, only if massive and rampant coercion and theft were perpetrated on everyone, could these people achieve their goals.
As you point out, the only way any of this stuff would have any effect, is if everyone were forced to pay more for the same goods, whether they thought it was a good idea or not.
In other words, only if massive and rampant coercion and theft were perpetrated on everyone, could these people achieve their goals.
Thanks for making that so clear.
What you call "coercion and theft," I call it not being cheap. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
Your wrong. If Dole increases wages of workers, that increase will be made up over a crap ton of pineapples, resulting in a small increase in cost. It will mean less money at the top, but it won't cripple the economy.
You're wrong.
Unemployment would skyrocket. I GUARANTEE it.
Have you ever worked in retail? Ever managed or run a business that utilizes low cost labor?
I said earlier in the thread that we'd have to fire our own son if the minimum wage was raised to $15/hr. If we wouldn't be able to continue to employ FAMILY, working with better margins than many businesses, what do you think would happen to all the other small businesses around town?
Labor is typically the largest cost to a small business, next to maybe cost of goods, depending on the business. You can't double that cost (remember, it's not just the wage that doubles - so do all the taxes associated with employing that person) without forcing that business to make some dramatic changes to TRY to maintain the cost of doing business. Jobs. Would. Be. Lost. Period. Prices would rise. I really don't understand how anybody could fail so miserably to grasp that.
Sure, Dole would be fine. Their low cost labor is picking pineapples in Latin America, and they would be unaffected by any minimum wage laws in the U.S...
Have you ever worked in retail? Ever managed or run a business that utilizes low cost labor?
I said earlier in the thread that we'd have to fire our own son if the minimum wage was raised to $15/hr. If we wouldn't be able to continue to employ FAMILY, working with better margins than many businesses, what do you think would happen to all the other small businesses around town?
Labor is typically the largest cost to a small business, next to maybe cost of goods, depending on the business. You can't double that cost (remember, it's not just the wage that doubles - so do all the taxes associated with employing that person) without forcing that business to make some dramatic changes to TRY to maintain the cost of doing business. Jobs. Would. Be. Lost. Period. Prices would rise. I really don't understand how anybody could fail so miserably to grasp that.
Sure, Dole would be fine. Their low cost labor is picking pineapples in Latin America, and they would be unaffected by any minimum wage laws in the U.S...
^ Minimum wage is not going to increase to $15 because McDonalds workers went on strike Thursday, and even so, the impact of raising minimum wage isn't economic collapse. The economy didn't collapse last time we raised minimum wage, and it didn't collapse the time before that, or the time before that, or the time before that... nor were there mass layoffs.
All this crap being repeated about how raising the minimum wage will ruin our economy is bunk. It just doesn't work like that no matter how many times you people repeat it.
If wages rose with inflation minimal wage would be around $15 by now. $7.25 was fine in the 90's but it's chump change now.
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