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.
I'd really love to know the exact number of people in the US making $10.00/hr or less, which was pretty much the OP's point. I think the number would probably be much more staggering than most would like to admit.
It would also be meaningless without ALSO knowing how many of those people are the primary breadwinners in their household.
Minimum wage controversy is really about the lack of full time jobs.
Retail and food services have been the largest employment sectors since the 80's when IBM was toppled from first place. These sectors trended part time employment because of the desire for scheduling flexibility and to avoid OT. Most of these employees don't know their schedules week to week which makes it challenging to patch together more than one job.
Increasing minimum wage is a political maneuver. Interestingly, it is supported by the overwhelming majority of people regardless of politics.
I fear higher wages, if forced, will simply accelerate " labor substitution". While that may be good for corporations in the business of selling machines and software, it's not going to do much for the people who once occupied eliminated jobs.
You can have those call centered jobs that pay minimum wage. Have at them.
Gee, talk about being a sore loser.
I guess you're not going to respond to getting burned on your False Dilemma.
You should be in your 5th Economy right now. R&D should be approaching 20% of your GDP.
So....who the hell needs manufacturing when you've got great paying R&D jobs?
I tell you what.....why don't you refuse to back down on your ideology and keep supporting the idiots whose policies destroyed your education system and prevented you from advancing into the 5th Level Economy with great paying R&D jobs.
'Cause, you know, that seems to be working out so well for everyone.
Except there are some who didn't make foolish choices.
In rural areas especially, when one industry after another, from manufacturing to mining to lumbering started to disappear in the 1980's the competition for the remaining jobs became intense. What was the result of that? Wage rates for those jobs stayed flat. When they left all that remained were jobs at the local truckstops as janitors or the same at the nursing homes. Many of those impacted didn't make "bad" choices but in reality did what they were supposed to: graduated high school, reported for their Induction physicals, etc. They then came back and got jobs which then left. The local power structures are not blameless, many of the "old" families did all they could to keep new businesses out. Things like a Cabela's or a Wal-Mart Distribution Center. Even a brewery, which was planned for a "dry" Township.
Some of us moved to where there were jobs, others didn't, for whatever reason.
Now, in 2014, many of those areas have the opportunity to get some good paying jobs back in lumbering or natural gas extraction (fracking). But, guess what? Many of the same people demanding the increase in the minimum wage are also the same people who are absolutely opposed to those types of industry. Even prisons are opposed.
It's like some people have a mental disease, they disparage business owners, call them the 1%, marginalize their "you didn't build that" accomplishments, demand they pay $10 an hour for $5 an hour work, and then the same people complain when businesses shut their doors, or move out of state.
We need fossil fuel energy until we discover an affordable, reliable, dependable replacement, so trying to prevent fracking or even denying the the Keystone pipeline are actions that are killing those potential jobs, and depriving the nation potential revenue and cheaper energy.
Like it or not, at this point in time, the economic engine of this nation runs on fossil fuels.
And, we're not talking about raising the minimum to $15 here.. we're talking only like $3.00 more! $15 is what I pay and for good reasons; all the reasons I pointed out.. it keeps my employees happy and motivated to do a good job.
I call total BS.
Why don't you explain how much it costs to pay $3.00?
Calling...
Nobody in this thread has ever claimed otherwise. In fact, it's been pointed out at least once before, by me.
Those who have claimed that raising minimum wage has any major effect on inflation are the ones claiming this. Anyone who knows a thing about inflation knows that their are many major factors and minimum wage is a minor factor.
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.
