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It isn't sustainable... we have seen the middle class disappear and the wealth gap will continue to spread.
It's ugly now and it will only get worse. You can applaud CEO's all you like but over time we will see this country fall hard.
If you want them come back, lower/remove the corporate tax and get rid of the minimum wage. Business people love to do business in USA but if you don't allow them to make profit, why should they come here?
Raising the minimum wage is not a solution to our problem. What we need is economic growth, and that isn't happening under this administration because of policies that have the economy hamstrung. Obamacare is probably the biggest factor right now. Dodd-Frank is another.
Tell your Congressman you want both repealed, because you need work.
Obamacare is an attempt to answer a problem that has existed for decades - health care costs that are rising at double the rate of inflation and eating up more and more of a percentage of income of working families than ever before. Companies can't sustain either at that constant rate of rising premium costs. You're all so quick to piont out that min wage raises prices on goods, yet you completely ignore that an even BIGGER threat to rising prices is the rising premiums companies pay out to cover those in their employ!!!! Obamacare is one step toward joining the rest of the industrialized nations of the world of a more universal health care system.. because they have gotten it! We haven't - or at least the right wing hasn't yet.
Seriously.. what do they face.. ... Umm a country that doesn't PRODUCE anything because all the actual labor that allowed for upward mobility has moved offshore.. THAT'S what they face..
College degrees in order to GET a job that pays above minimum wage that basically is the equivelent to a mortgage payment to pay back.. That's what they face.
Do you expect someone making minimum wage to buy a car.. pfft.. LOL.. yeah.. that's a real hoot. PRice tage of cars - $15,000.....MINIMUM.. new.. yes.. used.. well you better be able to have money to fix that used car you COULD afford but most on minimum wage don't make enough for that little "luxury". They are lucky to pay rent.
The jobs aren't there.. the ONLY jobs being added are min wage jobs.
But, this can't go on for too long.. because soon the rich executives are going to realize that while they stagnated wages for everyone else while awarding themselves huge bonuses and salaries, they actually killed the buying power of those that buy the stuff/services they sell and eventually they wont' have money from revenue to continue to award themselves..
As for rasing the minimum wage.. you did that, it raises the wages for everyone else.. because certainly there are jobs that deserve higher pay than others. But every working individual deserves the dignitiy of fair pay to allow them to support themselves with their hard work. Right now, we don't have that in this country. Instead we have a faction that won't give them a living wage so that they don't have to rely on government welfare adn then villify them for said welfare.. You can't have it both ways.. you either pay a living wage or you pay taxes to subsidize the businesses that refuse to pay a wage.
Me.. I pay my people $12 - $15/hour... becuase I value them and want them to feel that their work is actually getting them somewhere![/quote]
So, you pay $12-$15/hr right? Ok, so your costs other than payroll go up as they usually do, except this time some of them have really jumped so what do you do? If you're like every other business you'd raise your prices right? Ok, that's great except now you find buying has dropped off and your revenue that you previously enjoyed and depended on is going down.
Now what do you do? You can't maintain your pricing and you certainly can't do much about your raw product costs or taxes that've gone up so you're left with a choice.
1. Cut staff and make the remaining people pick up the slack unless you're already at bare bones minimum.
2. Replace staff that have low/no responsibility with lower paid minimum wage people.
3. Don't do anything, go out of business.
Please don't tell me about what I do and don't know.
and yes, there won't be dramatic changes... and that's the how point. Most in here are saying it will kill jobs, hurt growth, etc...
There is no evidence to back that claim up.
Im not saying you dont know anything , your showing it by your replies.
It will kill jobs , hurt growth , etc , IF we keep the cost of goods at the same price as they are right now. Where will business owners come up with the extra money to make up for loss of profit from the demand of MW increase?
No, minimum wage issue is about raising the wage so more taxes are paid to the federal government to pay for all of the increased welfare and governmental spending.
Simply raising someones wages, doesnt mean they are better off if the cost of everything increases, which it will, because it always does.
Urbanlife78- Your a comical person , you mention that you own your own business , so many times i have asked you what do you do exactly yet you cant say? I have told you already , that i own a pizzeria but yet for some reason you cant tell me what you do as a business owner. So , ive proved your ignorance and bad business ethics in a different thread so why are you still making noise ?
Anyone can be a so called business man, but there is a difference between a successful business and a job .
What a lot of people on here dont understand is that , when wages go up so do cost of goods. Its a big chain reaction , for instance look at gas prices. My food supplier , soda supplier, and linen supplier all charge " gas fees " . When prices go up that effect someones income/profits they will nickel and dime elsewhere to make up for it. Nobody here is against helping people or working hard for a good wage , but we have to come to the middle of the road with common sense.
When have I mentioned I owned a business? I am a contract employee to the company I work for.
WHY do people that have NO clue about running a business or economics post threads......
Companies WILL increase prices on their items to make up the wage hike. If its a small hike, sometimes they wont but( they will eventually tho ) if you go from 7.25 to 10.00 right away thats a big hit for everyone.
Thats 2.75 more PER employee an hour. Sounds like a small amount but do the math. If you have 5 employees working for you , 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. 4 weeks , thats an extra $2200 our of the owners pocket or income. This would be the low side of things too , since many people usually work over 8 hours a day and sometimes 6 days a week. Thats an extra 26K out of a small business owners income a year. This hurts the small mom and pop shops BIG TIME, the big corporations wont feel it as much and chain food restaurants.
The other problem is that most of you that cry about wanting more wage hikes probably have never run an actual business that employees people and pays rent , taxes, over head costs , etc. Just because a business reports sales of 1 million dollars doesnt mean the owner makes that much . I am in the business and i know of gas stations that that gross 3-4 million a year but their income for the year will be 100-150k . Now pay all the taxes and your personal bills at home and your down to not a whole lot of money. Just an example.
If you people are so damn concerned about helping people and saying owners only care about money then please do donate half of your paycheck then. Simple
No it's not <bold> it's more than that if you count the increased employment costs associated with pay levels.
Firstly, there's no correlation between the top and the low percentile wage. To say since the people at the top make more money, I deserve more is like saying the good students get good scores, so I deserve better score too. Should we pass a law to mandate minimum scores for bad students who can't pass tests?
Secondly, the wage is driven by the value produced by a position. How much value does a burger flipper can produce? Is that the same value as a CEO of a billion dollar company? Now, if the burger flipper can produce enough value like if he can manage to flip twice as many burgers than other flippers within the same work hour, he well deserves his salary to be doubled. This is also true for a CEO who doubles the profit for her company.
The reality is the burger flippers are still flipping the same amount burgers while CEOs are managing bigger and more complicated companies.
Sure there is no correlation if you choose to pretend their is no correlation. So I ask you, what increase in productivity has the 1% done that the 99% have not done?
Please don't tell me about what I do and don't know.
and yes, there won't be dramatic changes... and that's the how point. Most in here are saying it will kill jobs, hurt growth, etc...
There is no evidence to back that claim up.
It all depends upon the industry you are talking about. In most factory jobs payroll is the most expensive component of producing the product. The global economy has changed the nature of doing business. In order to compete we must be able to produce a comparable product for a comparable price. Blame our elected reps who give most favored nation status to countries like China, or who sign trade agreements that hurt the american workers.
Minimum wage is touchy because too many people assume that all employers can afford to pay more. No doubt many can. No doubt many can't. What good is raising the minimum wage if it results in businesses closing and more people on Unemployment?
Ok we say businesses will have to raise prices to cover the short fall. On paper that is an excellent option. If prices across the board go up then that minimum wage increase has been negated.
In my opinion minimum wage jobs were never intended to be a mainstay income. Those jobs are entry level jobs and not careers. Some folks either through bad choices or bad luck find themselves going from one min wage job to another. I am not at all sure that even raising minimum wage will fix that problem.
To fix that problem the government needs to make it more attractive to keep manufacturing jobs in our own country. That means leveling the playing field in trade negotiations. Countries that impose tariffs and high taxes on our goods should receive the same treatment for their goods entering the United States. That forces them to do what Japan and Korea has done. Open factories on US soil. Factories that pay good salaries and benefits....
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