Raising minimum wage to $15/hr... (Seattle, Everett: 2013, unemployment, to buy)

[sean98125]

There's no problem with the ACA that single payer healthcare won't solve.

[Botev1912]

Actually medicaid is free if you have a low-income job starting January 2014. This means people who work at restaurants will most likely qualify for free health insurance.

[Gentoo]

[Arushan]

I think Australia dodged the recession because of Chinese demand for iron ore and coal, but who knows.

[djtx93]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

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It also has a higher cost of living.

The recession is irrelevant. Using your same logic, why didn't France dodge the recession? It has a minimum wage of $12.

[djtx93]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

img

It also has a higher cost of living.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by djtx93

It also has a higher cost of living.

The recession is irrelevant. Using your same logic, why didn't France dodge the recession? It has a minimum wage of $12.

France's economy is tied to the EU and the Euro.

How about this one; the city of San Francisco has a higher minimum wage than the rest of CA, over 2 dollars more and it too did better during the recession. What would be your explanation for that? The state of Washington also fared a bit better with the highest state minimum wage in the country.

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

France's economy is tied to the EU and the Euro.

How about this one; the city of San Francisco has a higher minimum wage than the rest of CA, over 2 dollars more and it too did better during the recession. What would be your explanation for that? The state of Washington also fared a bit better with the highest state minimum wage in the country.

I'm on "your side", but isn't SF insanely expensive, even by CA standards? When we were looking to move there at the beginning of the year my husband was technically getting a 10-15% raise that really equaled a 30% drop in lifestyle (i.e. NO savings, just living). Aren't those $2 just dealing with the inflation and not really an increase?

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

I'm on "your side", but isn't SF insanely expensive, even by CA standards? When we were looking to move there at the beginning of the year my husband was technically getting a 10-15% raise that really equaled a 30% drop in lifestyle (i.e. NO savings, just living). Aren't those $2 just dealing with the inflation and not really an increase?

Yes it is and it has been expensive like that decades before it raised it's minimum wage. the raise was in response. SF is a special case, because it has 800,000 people in only 49 square miles, space is at a premium and therefore, rental space for businesses is sky high. Berkeley has a similar though less severe problem with this and they are also playing around with a minimum wage increase. However, their anti corporate pro small business stance means they never get the votes for it.

Those two extra dollars help when you don't live in the city and most people who work there don't. Other wages are generally higher as a result of that.

[Old Monkey]

Some people have already alluded to this issue on this thread. The discussion of raising the minimum wage, keeping it the same, perhaps lowering it (???) constitutes the trees in a far more frightening forest.

minimum wage =trees

real wages = forest

Raising the minimum wage doesn't really address the broader issue of the decline of U.S. real wages since the 1980s; nor does leaving minimum wage the same the underscore the plight of genuine small businesses. Everyone is actually earning less, except for a small of elite of corporations who seek profitibility over investment back in the economy (that is, instead of creating jobs, they increase dividends for share holders; that's one of the reasons why we're an economic recovery without job growth).

Real Wages Decline Again