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Inflated wages? You realize that more people make above minimum wage that at or close to minimum wage. Those manufacturing jobs that have gone overseas weren't minimum wage jobs.
Very true....the good paying jobs are gone for some.
We wanted a service driven economy...now we have it.
So working class Americans that make above minimum wage is the real problem? Should all working Americans be making below minimum wage to make America more attractive to businesses?
bluesjuke didn't mention anything about Americans working above minimum wage is the problem or that they have to work below the minimum wage. It's just you have some people who do not want to advance themselves thinking everyone from businesses to the tax payers owes them something because they simply exist. No one is forcing them to stay on minimum wage. The minimum wage is basically an entry level position in the work force. It's not meant to be something you live on to support a family. I once worked minimum wage but decided to advance myself by making the effort of obtaining skills to where I could make more. If I were still making minimum wage today it's because of the choice I made (no else did that...I did). I don't go around crying a river to blame everyone for my own actions. I went from being homeless to owning a business so no I don't buy the argument that someone owes me better pay or job. In the end, it's what you invest in yourself that makes the difference. If you don't like where you work because there are no opportunities for advancement then there are others that will compete for your skill set. Let's say if I were a business and I want a raise. In order for me to do that I would have to raise the "value" of that product or service (if there is a demand) that another business or consumer (the market) is willing to pay for. If the supply is low but the demand is high I can raise my price to what the market will bare. A Burger King CEO is paid more because he or she brings more value to the company to help create more profits and jobs. They wear more hats than the person who has less tasks simply taking out the trash or flipping a burger. It's value for value. If there were a supply of 5000 CEOs in that company then the demand would be lower than a few capable of doing the actual job. However, not everyone can be a CEO because the position requires a more complex skill set which makes it more valuable. If everyone in the corporation made the same wage it would simply go out of business. The more profits a company makes the larger it grows. You then have more jobs created due to those profits. When there are more cuts (ie taxes, regulatory fees, labor, loss of sales etc) in the profit margin the there will be cuts and higher cost increase (products and services) passed on down to the minimum wage consumer who will suffer the most to make up the difference. Most businesses will (not may) offset those costs in order to stay in business.
Last edited by urbanologist; 05-17-2014 at 10:26 AM..
bluesjuke didn't mention anything about Americans working above minimum wage is the problem or that they have to work below the minimum wage. It's just you have some people who do not want to advance themselves thinking everyone from businesses to the tax payers owes them something because they simply exist. No one is forcing them to stay on minimum wage. The minimum wage is basically an entry level position in the work force. It's not meant to be something you live on to support a family. I once worked minimum wage but decided to advance myself by making the effort of obtaining skills to where I could make more. If I were still making minimum wage today it's because of the choice I made (no else did that...I did). I don't go around crying a river to blame everyone for my own actions. I went from being homeless to owning a business so no I don't buy the argument that someone owes me better pay or job. In the end, it's what you invest in yourself that makes the difference. If you don't like where you work because there are no opportunities for advancement then there are others that will compete for your skill set. Let's say if I were a business and I want a raise. In order for me to do that I would have to raise the "value" of that product or service (if there is a demand) that another business or consumer (the market) is willing to pay for. If the supply is low but the demand is high I can raise my price to what the market will bare. A Burger King CEO is paid more because he or she brings more value to the company to help create more profits and jobs. They wear more hats than the person who has less tasks simply taking out the trash or flipping a burger. It's value for value. If there were a supply of 5000 CEOs in that company then the demand would be lower than a few capable of doing the actual job. However, not everyone can be a CEO because the position requires a more complex skill set which makes it more valuable. If everyone in the corporation made the same wage it would simply go out of business. The more profits a company makes the larger it grows. You then have more jobs created due to those profits. When there are more cuts (ie taxes, regulatory fees, labor, loss of sales etc) in the profit margin the there will be cuts and higher cost increase (products and services) passed on down to the minimum wage consumer who will suffer the most to make up the difference. Most businesses will (not may) offset those costs in order to stay in business.
bluesjuke didn't mention anything about Americans working above minimum wage is the problem or that they have to work below the minimum wage. It's just you have some people who do not want to advance themselves thinking everyone from businesses to the tax payers owes them something because they simply exist. No one is forcing them to stay on minimum wage. The minimum wage is basically an entry level position in the work force. It's not meant to be something you live on to support a family. I once worked minimum wage but decided to advance myself by making the effort of obtaining skills to where I could make more. If I were still making minimum wage today it's because of the choice I made (no else did that...I did). I don't go around crying a river to blame everyone for my own actions. I went from being homeless to owning a business so no I don't buy the argument that someone owes me better pay or job. In the end, it's what you invest in yourself that makes the difference. If you don't like where you work because there are no opportunities for advancement then there are others that will compete for your skill set. Let's say if I were a business and I want a raise. In order for me to do that I would have to raise the "value" of that product or service (if there is a demand) that another business or consumer (the market) is willing to pay for. If the supply is low but the demand is high I can raise my price to what the market will bare. A Burger King CEO is paid more because he or she brings more value to the company to help create more profits and jobs. They wear more hats than the person who has less tasks simply taking out the trash or flipping a burger. It's value for value. If there were a supply of 5000 CEOs in that company then the demand would be lower than a few capable of doing the actual job. However, not everyone can be a CEO because the position requires a more complex skill set which makes it more valuable. If everyone in the corporation made the same wage it would simply go out of business. The more profits a company makes the larger it grows. You then have more jobs created due to those profits. When there are more cuts (ie taxes, regulatory fees, labor, loss of sales etc) in the profit margin the there will be cuts and higher cost increase (products and services) passed on down to the minimum wage consumer who will suffer the most to make up the difference. Most businesses will (not may) offset those costs in order to stay in business.
That would be the assumption that everyone makes minimum wage, all minimum wage is is setting a standard of what the minimum pay can be to prevent people from being taken advantage of by paying them below minimum wage.
You once made minimum wage, would you have done that same work for less? No one is trying to make minimum wage a high paying job, just trying to set the minimum one should be paid in order to keep up with inflated costs. Inflation happens regardless if minimum wage is raised or not.
I will say this. When I was 26 I was working for minimum wage, and continued working that job for almost three years without a single raise. The entire time I worked that job, they kept trying to promote me and I turned them down every time. In fact, I could have been making $50k a year or more if I had taken a job that was offered to me. I didn't, and I wouldn't, and I don't regret it at all.
Everyone who worked there thought I was crazy. They called me "the least ambitious person" they had ever met.
I didn't want the job with the higher pay because I had the easiest, lowest-stress job in the world, and I didn't need the money.
Even more, most of the people who worked for the company I worked for were making minimum wage or barely over, and most of them were older. In fact, about a third of them were actually collecting social-security and were mostly only working to give themselves something to do.
And yes, many of them had college degrees. In fact, my aunt who had a Bachelor's degree, and was a professional who made great money for years, ended up working there for a couple years before she retired. She said she couldn't stand working in the professional world, too much stress.
I think people obsess too much about minimum wage because they think its going to create equality. It isn't.
In truth, income only matters to the extent that you can afford your basic necessities. In my opinion, what really hurts the poor, is the high prices of housing and transportation. If you really wanted to help the poor, you need to try to understand why housing and transportation is so expensive. And try to create a policy that will reduce their cost.
Let me add, public-housing is not a solution. Public-housing is garbage, has always been garbage, and will always be garbage. It has nothing to do with the quality of the structure, it has to do with the quality of the people. People need to be able to afford independent housing, not be tossed into government housing.
Public housing was actually a decent, if spartan, place to live, until 1969, because MINIMUM income requirements kept out the underclass. People like the Kramdens lived in public housing. A "welfare rights" movement emerged in the 1960s, and when Congress passed the Brooke Amentment, those minimum income requirements went away and the underclass proceeded to move in and drive out the working class which quickly fled.
Today we have public housing - what's left of it - and Section 8 for the underclass and the elderly, and nothing for the working class. Even today's so-called "workforce housing", pursued by some high-cost cities, really has never been intended or designed for workers at the bottom of the wage scale.
"Poor" can be a temporary thing.
It is not a skin color, ethnicity, or a disability that you have to live with your whole life and you have no power to change.
My second job paid 90 cents an hour. This was less than the prevailing minimum wage at the time because I worked for an exempt employer and was only 14 anyway. (The first job, a newspaper route, did not pay that much.) Now my income taxes are $39 per hour.
A huge fraction of today's top quartile of earners earned the minimum wage at the beginning of life. A low minimum wage is a healthy inducement to become more valuable to the rest of society.
But a lot of posters here seem to believe that one is born into a certain class or level and can have no hope of improvement. Which is a load of crap.
That would be the assumption that everyone makes minimum wage, all minimum wage is is setting a standard of what the minimum pay can be to prevent people from being taken advantage of by paying them below minimum wage.
You once made minimum wage, would you have done that same work for less? No one is trying to make minimum wage a high paying job, just trying to set the minimum one should be paid in order to keep up with inflated costs. Inflation happens regardless if minimum wage is raised or not.
The government has been telling us for years that inflation is very low..like 1 or 2% low.
So bump min wage by 2% to keep up with inflation then..2% not 200%.
My second job paid 90 cents an hour. This was less than the prevailing minimum wage at the time because I worked for an exempt employer and was only 14 anyway. (The first job, a newspaper route, did not pay that much.) Now my income taxes are $39 per hour.
A huge fraction of today's top quartile of earners earned the minimum wage at the beginning of life. A low minimum wage is a healthy inducement to become more valuable to the rest of society.
But a lot of posters here seem to believe that one is born into a certain class or level and can have no hope of improvement. Which is a load of crap.
It is easier to think they have no hope of improvement than get out of bed in the AM.
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