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My neighbor insists that every time they raise the minimum wage here in the US the cost of living goes up too so that nothing ever improves financially for anyone and often they are worse off then before . He said he has seen it happen over and over again in his life and if they raise the minimum wage again to $15 dollars and hour all over the US the same thing will happen again things will become more expensive.
Is that true ? Does the cost of living always go up when the minimum wage increases?
I find these claims to be from traditionalist excuse, prone to wage-slavery and other unsightly mishaps mostly by the guy or girl who wants their mega-house floor-washed and steam scrubbed with hand-maids. Those who don't want the minimum-wage increase are probably CEO's or some small business that can't adapt, or don't want to.
If the wage goes up, yes there is a % price increase but on the other hand you get more customers because they can afford to spend to buy the product in the first place. NY just went up to $15 not too long ago.
If you keep cutting back and being cheap then your going to get less customers, then the customers cut back, etc. What many CEO's seem to forget is that their workers are also, like customers depending on situation.
If you keep bleeding them out, you can possibly loose out. . I find it ironic that California and NY are and were the first ones to raise minimum, yet being one of the more expensive states, broadly speaking, to live in.
You don't have to be massively rich to buy stocks, bonds and real estate.
Yes you do! The people who are rich today were always rich. There is maybe 1% of people talented enough to pull themselves up from nothing. Buying a few stocks with birthday presents from Grammy and Grampy doesn't make you a billionaire. Inheriting a 40M trust fund might if invested properly.
Our economy has been progressively gutted for ~40 years now so a handful of people could get massively wealthy. The "young people" who are now experiencing the brunt of this, who should be out protesting this money grab and getting arrested, do nothing. If they do manage to get upset they merely complain and target the old people. Confuse, divide and conquer.
OWS was roundly chastised both by the 1% that was in their cross-hairs and also by most of you in the 99% on whose behalf they were protesting. Now you say they should be protesting. They did. They probably will again. Whether Sanders wins or not he has reignited the flame of revolution in the Millenials. Give them some love this time around.
Fantasy world right there. How much were toasters when they were made in the US? How much would they be now with more advanced automation? Maybe $15. Maybe $5.
Since we are now talking about the free market... has anyone been keeping up with the phenomenon of "wage theft" and how it applies to even corporate entities like... McDonalds? Apparently it does. It is a real thing... that's why they can offer better than minimum wage. Because they have no intention of actually paying the wage they offer!
What is wage theft ? Is that when they deny people overtime pay that they have actually worked ? I know there have been lawsuits over that,or is it when they hire you as a full time worker but then lower your hours drastially I believe legally full time can be as low as 20 hours per week (definitely as low as 32 for sure) even if you have been given 40 hours in the past.
"Generations" aren't responsible. You seem to suffer from the delusion that all us minions actually have a say in the matter.
Our economy has been progressively gutted for ~40 years now so a handful of people could get massively wealthy. The "young people" who are now experiencing the brunt of this, who should be out protesting this money grab and getting arrested, do nothing. If they do manage to get upset they merely complain and target the old people. Confuse, divide and conquer.
40 years and people have voted for the status quo over and over allowing Media outlets transition from true journalism that provided a checks and balances to propaganda outlets.
Sure there could have been a lot that could have been done as people vote for who is running things.
Things are so corrupt now in politics it seems we are just waiting for this thing to implode to rebuild when things come crashing down.
I pointed out the COL, as a realistic metric, AND, the immediate problem of low wage earners in Portland Oregon suffering the unprecedented rise in housing cost. I'm left to wonder if you think there is a type of logical metric that supersedes this need for wages to be somewhat in line with COL, your "median wage" notions make it sound as though there is a precise scientific logic tied to it.
Yes, there is a scientific logic in it, because the MW a society can sustain is not based on costs, but median wages. This makes sense if you compare poor countries and rich countries. A poor country may cost half as much as a rich country, but their wages are 1/4.
If they try to have a MW that is half of a western country, then it will lead to a massive failure. It will become too high and cause unemployment.
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"Build more houses and apartments"---Portland has been on a building spree for years, all at "market" prices.
No there is no real building boom in Portland, in fact housing perimits collapsed after the crisis and is still too low compared to population increase.
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It is the presence of low wage earners in the various government help lines that serve as testimony to the fact that YOU are paying that difference between wages that allow for a true Independence OR wages that create a "needy class" of workers. Dumping low wage earners on the back of taxpayers all while demonizing them for their plight is an old media ploy supported by the merchant class that pays the freight in ad revenue for that same media.
Most of the people on benefits are not full time workers. Hence a MW will not support the government. While low wage workers do get some support, to for instance health care, other countries provide free health care.
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It's not lost on me that we may be looking at a very real rise in prices in some sectors should the wage floor rise, BUT, is that less tolerable than the thought that your prosperity is riding on the back of someone's suffering a punishing poverty?
You are picking the wrong solution, minimum wage is just a floor on how much employers need to pay MW workers, it is not a subsidy. You are not actually giving anything to low wage workers, you are just hoping that a higher MW will benefit them. I do not think it will, it will make it much harder for them to find work, especially full time work.
If you really want to help them, how about reducing social security taxes for the poor?
Sure there could have been a lot that could have been done as people vote for who is running things.
In theory, but in practice it's easy to manipulate the masses. Confuse, amuse, divide, and conquer. Nobody knows what the hell is going on.
And we have electronic voting now. Good luck...
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