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.
living wage should, at the minimum, be whatever minimum bucks they 'use to make' currently but adjusted for inflation. so like 11-12$ an hour... u can get basic crap housing, goodor bad food, have basic transport, and always have with little to no savings with that amount...
living wage should, at the minimum, be whatever minimum bucks they 'use to make' currently but adjusted for inflation. so like 11-12$ an hour... u can get basic crap housing, goodor bad food, have basic transport, and always have with little to no savings with that amount...
How would this translate to everyone else? Can we all get an across the board raise to keep up with inflation? Or should we wait until minimum wage catches up to a certain point, then give everyone else a push? Wages have been stagnant for many people.
I'm not really sure that the current minimum wages should be raised. I have a lower end hourly job, but I do ok ONLY because I've learned how to use my disposable income efficiently for the most part. I still, like most people splurge on little crap I don't really need but it's because I've also cut corners. IF my hourly wages were to go up, then my method for managing my meager wages would be blown to hell, and I'd have to do something stupid like save, or invest ( which I have no interest in).
How would this translate to everyone else? Can we all get an across the board raise to keep up with inflation? Or should we wait until minimum wage catches up to a certain point, then give everyone else a push? Wages have been stagnant for many people.
the gov manages the minimum wage to insure pvt enterprise doesn't pay people slave wages (like cents an hour). so once you're making at least the minimum, the gov loses all responsibility to hike or increases your wages....it'd be up to your pvt employer whether you'd get a raise or not. the minimum should be set at a wage that allows realistic ability to live or 'stall' before you can 'raise yourself up'. seven or eight dollars an hour doesn't provide that given people still generally opt for additional assistance in these cases like good stamps/etc
forgot to mention...taxes were i live are over 12% so that might be way i'd think the mini should be higher...
Americans could careless about there fellow Americans. If half the city they lived in lost their jobs who cares as long as they make 85k. They will never loss their job get sick or anything they are special. You can be in IT nurse engineer or security guard. Everyone is replaceable that is the bottom line. In fact the more you make the more they will try to eliminate your job. Offshoring visa workers temps part time contract work. Or just let the colleges or trade schools flood the market with workers. Driving down wages in an industry that use to pay good wages. Do not worry your industry is next on this race to the bottom. A living wage needs to happen at some point. I wish it could be left to the states and cities. But there are issues with that as well. I grow in the south loved it miss it dearly. But if there was no minimum wage they would pay 4.50 an hour. Hey your in the trades we will give you 11 bucks an hour. I am not kidding. We pay for this driving wages to the bottom. Food stamps section 8 Medicare jails free emergency room care. We always pay one way or the another. But Americans are fine with that for the most part. Sure we b**** about the taxes but who cares. I mean cities and states give tax breaks to big box stores. And people get all worked up for some low wage jobs. I see it in the area I live now all the time it is a joke. We need a living wage 7.25 is not getting it done.
As with any law, the most important thing is to weigh the overall winners vs. losers. Unfortunately, the debates too often focus on the exceptions, the single incidents that make for compelling stories that fit nicely into the 90 second sound bites on cable TV news. The fact is there are many, many, many more minimum wage earners working for employers that can afford to pay a higher minimum wage than those who do not. Will some employers face problems forcing them to reduce hours or staff because of a minimum wage inccrease? Probably. But will that harm outweigh the benefits of raising the minimum wage for all of those employed by employers who will not be FORCED to reduce hours or staff because of the minimum wage increase? Almost certainly not.
Aside from the obvious benefit to minimum wage workers, raising the minimum wage has additional benefits for the rest of us. In particular, raising the minimum wage shifts some of the costs of providing those individuals with basic life support from the government (i.e., we, the taxpayers) to the employers. By requiring employers to increase wage levels for the lowest paid workers, the government can and should also reduce the overall amount of welfare-type benefits it pays out. People who work full time should be able to support themselves. We should require that employers bear the burden of paying a wage that people can use to provide themselves with life's basic necessities. If we don't, we bear the burden of providing those necessities because to let those people go without those necessities has even greater costs to us in terms of things like health care, law enforcement, and maintaining public safety.
If the minimum wage is raised, the biggest losers will likely be the wealthiest employers. They typically have the highest number of workers. Those workers are the people who enable the employers to have the highest profits. Raising the minimum wage may indeed cause those employers to raise wages for not only the lowest paid employees but also some above them. Will that cause prices of the products or services provided by those employers to rise? Probably not. Again, in cases where the profit margins are extremely low, raising prices may be the only way to account for the required payroll cost increase. But how many of the really large employers are in that class? Very, very few. Making the highest profits while selling a product or service at the lowest profit margin seems nearly impossible. So where does the money to pay the workers come from if not from increased consumer prices? Profits of course.
Our income inequality between the richest and poorest of us is crushing our economy. Redistributing some of the current profits from the uber wealthy employers to the many lower paid employees they hire will benefit all but the few uber wealthy employers. The Walton family, the Koch brothers, and those very few taxpayers in their very select and fortunate club of billioinaires will have to suffer with a few less million dollars of income each year. Meanwhile, you and I will pay a little less for at least a few million welfare recipients. I like that deal.
Show me a working person that claims to not be able to live on their wage and I'll show you a person who is not making the choices necessary to do so! There were times in my past that I worked multiple jobs/school in order to move up...you gotta want it. Not willing to make the effort? Then that's on you!
Show me a working person that claims to not be able to live on their wage and I'll show you a person who is not making the choices necessary to do so! There were times in my past that I worked multiple jobs/school in order to move up...you gotta want it. Not willing to make the effort? Then that's on you!
I agree 100%! It's called adapt and survive with what you have.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,936 posts, read 36,962,945 times
Reputation: 40635
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ibanezguitar
How would this translate to everyone else? Can we all get an across the board raise to keep up with inflation? Or should we wait until minimum wage catches up to a certain point, then give everyone else a push? Wages have been stagnant for many people.
A COLA isn't a raise. You're being paid the same in real dollars, the only dollars that count.
There has been a reduced standard of living in the US for decades now and all conservatives say to that is ADAPT. The point is should Americans accept that lowered standard of living when wages are stagnant yet productivity and profits are high? Conservatives call it "taking personal responsibility" and "making wise choices" but it's really just a tired flawed argument. Just because you can make it work at minimum wage (by some miracle) it doesn't mean you should.
They like to say that people are being paid what they're worth but they can't really mean that AND with a straight face say that CEO compensation is tied to performance too. There's been an artificial suppression of wages in the past thirty years as employers seek out the bottom of the barrel work over seas. Meanwhile Australia raised the minimum wage to 17 an hour, yet unemployment remains low. You'd think it would rise or that employers in OZ would hire younger less skilled workers because they're legally paid lower than the minimum, yet unemployment is higher for teens than older adults.
So this is NOT an economic battle, its a political one. It's not a matter of the country being broke or employers feeling any squeeze (frankly if you can't afford the labor costs you proly shouldn't even be in business cus your biz depended on the thirty year suppression of wages). It has all to do with if the working people of America have the political will and muscle to get their share of the pie back from capital.
Yes it's that simple.
Typical conservative response: Well then you just don't understand economics 101.
Translation: you don't adhere to the school of economics I do that always conveniently benefits capital.
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.
