Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,587,616 times
Reputation: 9169
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by Three Wolves In Snow
That's exactly what we've been telling them. I used to live in Seattle, I've been there when they increased the min wage higher than almost every other place in the country. The result? EVERYTHING got more expensive. I didn't get a wage increase so my money bought less.
I left Seattle in 2003.
Miami was cheaper.
Houston, the 4th largest city, was cheaper.
And of course Maine was cheaper. In fact, I was in Maine from 2011 to 2015. When I left Maine, in 2015, the prices were just starting to match up with what I was paying for things in Seattle in 2003.
I'm in CA now (long story) and the prices are cheaper than Seattle. Califrickenfornia and the prices are cheaper than Seattle was in 2003. That's what I have to go on: 2003 because that is the last time I spent a penny in Seattle.
So I'm comparing today's prices to Seattle's 2003 prices, and every single time, Seattle has been far more expensive. That's why I laugh when some people in certain states tell me that the cost of living is really high where they are because of where they are....I'm sure the food is expensive in certain particular states, but if every other place I've lived, south, east, and even Cali fricken fornia is cheaper than Seattle in 2003, then I don't think I'll be too shocked by prices in certain states I've been looking at.
The reason those prices are so high in Seattle is because WA state has one of the highest minimum wages in the country. It always has. Seattle is nothing to write home about. There's nothing spectacular about Seattle. It's a city. It's near some water (a lake). Miami is on the ocean...a beautiful ocean. Way less expensive. So you can't say it's because of the water. More people want to vacation in Miami than Seattle...so it's not like Seattle has anything great to offer. (They don't.) You get drizzly days, you get slow drivers who gawk at everything, you get the Farmer's Market, but that bit of interest lasts all of a few hours, you have the Underground Tour in Pioneer Square...that lasts about an hour, you have the pier, you can find the pier in many cities....other than that...a day's excursion...Seattle has nothing. There's no reason for the prices in that city to be that high. You can't even count on a job at Boeing or Microsoft. They lay people off all. the. time. It's why I always laughed at those who would brag about their new job at either of those two places. Go on, brag. We'll see you in a year telling us you got laid off.
The only thing that caused Seattle to grow was that CA threw up and some of the population landed in Seattle. So they turned it in to CA lite. And look: Nothing to offer, ridiculously high prices for no reason at all. And the min wage doesn't help anyone.
These people who support this are being disingenous, and I think they know that they are. No one can be this stupid.
The problem with most studies is that they lump all businesses together.
Large and mid-sized companies are unlikely to suffer with a minimum wage increase. Small businesses, and some industries regardless of size, will suffer.
The end result of a study that finds, 'raising the minimum wage doesn't reduce the number of workers' isn't accurate. It would be like doing a study on the effect of upper respiratory infections on people ages 3 to 75 and then reporting that such infections do not bring about additional health risks. It doesn't work that way - they do a study on the effect of upper respiratory infections on people over the age of 65, let's say, and find that there can be additional complications that can occur in people that age who have an upper respiratory infection.
Lumping all businesses together is skewing the data.
Why would anyone who isn't completely callous support a wage that won't let that worker afford ANYTHING other than maybe food and gas? I'd like workers to get something for their time.
Signed,
A worker
P.S. I don't work for minimum wage, doesn't mean I can't support those who do
Because minimum wage is not supposed to be a "comfortable living wage", it's a starting wage. It's for people just starting out in the working world to gain experience, or people who want a second job. It's not supposed to be a lifestyle.
You need to gain skills to become better paid. And now, even this is proving that raising the minimum wage is doing nothing for the unskilled because all that's happening is that employers are hiring skilled workers for those wages leaving the unskilled out in the cold.
Why do YOU oppose unskilled workers being able to have a job at all? The raise in min wage is not only costing them money (the workers now make $125 LESS per month) it's costing them their jobs.
The problem with most studies is that they lump all businesses together.
Large and mid-sized companies are unlikely to suffer with a minimum wage increase. Small businesses, and some industries regardless of size, will suffer.
The end result of a study that finds, 'raising the minimum wage doesn't reduce the number of workers' isn't accurate. It would be like doing a study on the effect of upper respiratory infections on people ages 3 to 75 and then reporting that such infections do not bring about additional health risks. It doesn't work that way - they do a study on the effect of upper respiratory infections on people over the age of 65, let's say, and find that there can be additional complications that can occur in people that age who have an upper respiratory infection.
Lumping all businesses together is skewing the data.
Approximately 99% of all businesses in this country are small businesses. Those are the businesses that give these people their jobs. They are asking to destroy the very people who give them their jobs. How stupid are they?
Because minimum wage is not supposed to be a "comfortable living wage", it's a starting wage. It's for people just starting out in the working world to gain experience, or people who want a second job. It's not supposed to be a lifestyle.
Actually according to the president who implemented it you are wrong.
Lets look at what Roosevelt said when it was implemented:
Quote:
No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.
By living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level—I mean the wages of a decent living.
It sounds like its supposed to be a bit more then comfortable, its supposed to be decent.
Because minimum wage is not supposed to be a "comfortable living wage", it's a starting wage. It's for people just starting out in the working world to gain experience, or people who want a second job. It's not supposed to be a lifestyle.
You need to gain skills to become better paid. And now, even this is proving that raising the minimum wage is doing nothing for the unskilled because all that's happening is that employers are hiring skilled workers for those wages leaving the unskilled out in the cold.
Why do YOU oppose unskilled workers being able to have a job at all? The raise in min wage is not only costing them money (the workers now make $125 LESS per month) it's costing them their jobs.
Says who? Census Bureau says as of 2012, 48.5 percent of minimum wage workers were 25 or older. Sounds like a lot of people are living on minimum wage.
And there's a ton more companies in Seattle than Boeing and Microsoft, including headquarters like Amazon, Expedia, Nordstrom, Costco, etc. plus all of these tech companies including Google, Facebook and Apple among others.
It is stunningly beautiful and the only area that increased the minimum wage (over seven years) to $15. is downtown Seattle. Because we are getting 236 people a day on average moving here. But if someone doesn't like it, I say great, tell their friends, because we don't have enough houses for the people that want to buy.
It is liberal; Trump received only 8% of the Seattle vote. For those that don't like it, there are a lot of red states they can move to.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
