Lets get everyones opinion on minimun wage. Who thinks that raises in the minimum wage are actually good for the economy?
I'll kick start it with my opinion. It's bad all around and the only one who makes more money from it is the government. And this is why I think that. When you raise the minimum wage, you cause businesses to spend more money on labor, which causes them to raise the prices of goods. What ends up happening is, the lower and lower-middle class people and of course the young and elderly who have to work for minimum wage end up spending more for the things they used to spend less for. Which means just as much money left in their pockets. Now why does the gov prosper? Because when you force businesses to raise the cost of goods, that raises the amount of taxes you pay for them. So poor people end up with the same amount of money, and since they now pay more money for their goods.....they also pay the government more money in taxes on those goods. Businesses don't spend money on taxes in the long run because everything they have to spend in taxes is offset by what they charge for their goods. So businesses aren't really even hurt by it because they pass their costs off to the consumer.
It's all about money management. Minimum wage may seem low, but truthfully if people were better with money it wouldn't be such a big issue.
imo there should be no minimum wage at all. Supply and demand should be allowed to take it's course. The government has no right to dictate what wages should be paid. just because there is no min wage, companies will still have to pay competitive wages in order to keep reliable help. You would see lower prices and more efficiency if this were the case. i also concur with the 1st 2 posters. If federal or state minimum wage didn't benifit the govenrment in some way, then it wouldn't exist. .02
Most companies that can afford it are outsourcing to other countries so they don't have to pay competitive wages.
To me this seems a bit arrogant. I don't work minimum wage, and I am guessing those who do not support minimum wage, or an increase in it, or want to abolish it, do not work minimum wage either. I make good money per hour (I got some skills that allow me to set my own rates for my services), but I am not that stuck up that I do not think others should make a good living as well, no matter how menial their work may be. Fuck, I respect anyone working and not sucking on the tit of the nanny-state. And all who do work full time should have a respectable income. And no-one should have to work more than one full time job to make ends meet. That is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. That is what should be required to make enough to have a full life. Hell, if it was up to me, minimum wage would get a healthy increase tommorrow.
Exactly... why Democracies fail. Short term solution for a long term problem. I'll pick one reason why I think minimum wage sucks. Imagine a healthy, free economy without a minimum wage. There is no base or standard pay, so business are forced to compete for what constitutes as entry level pay, or menial jobs. The current system allows stagnation of wages, because it is "okay" for a company to pay minimum wage. In a free market, without government protection, "okay" would not be, and wages would grow with the economy and inflation. We're being fed by the hand of government, and held back by it as well. We have to wait for legislation and politicians for our businesses to choose what constitutes as a good wage. Separate the government from the markets, give it back to the people.
You do realize all of the "outsourcing" of domestic jobs are done because corporations do not think minimum wage is low enough, right? And that those who benefit from that isn't you and me, but the owners of those companies, right?
I said in a free market, unperturbed by the hand of government. No coercive taxation for excessive governmental expenditures. No easy credit booms followed by middle-class-killing busts. Our economic policy for the last century has doomed us. We live way beyond our means.
Well if minimum wage goes up any higher, the price of all goods would go up, so it really doesn't matter, they just raised minimum wage, and look now, the price of everything has gone up.
Why do you seem to think the work week should stop at 40 hours? Just because this is how you were raised into the system. Shit back in the day work days were longer and more often. I know plenty of people working 55+ hour work weeks.
If the company you are working for is profitable, then it does benefit you and me. If the company fails then you and I are out of a job.
Well, actually, I usually work less than 30 (billable) hours a week, and still I make a good living. But then again, I do not work minimum wage. All I am saying is that anyone who works 8 hours a day 5 days a week should have a respectable income. One that allows a mortage on a moderate house and a moderate car and raising kids. That is all. Sure people can work longer for less, but where do minimal wage end and slave-labour start? It is a matter of decency. And as far as I am concerned, anyone who puts in the hours, are entitled to the reward. That is a place to live, food to eat, cash to spend on fun. And if one got responsibility for a child, a tax break to do the child caring job proper. That is, not running from job to job just to make ends meet. One job should be more than enough. Put that in your pipe and tell me that is not sensible. And if you want more, do an extra effort, nobody will be stopping you. I know that. I do not follow any rules being self-employed. But I am not assuming my way of doing stuff is right for everyone. It isn't. I am privileged, most are not. I decide my own rates within the market, most cannot. My skills are wanted, most are just doing a function that can not be automated and require little if any skill. I benefit from capitalism, most are victims. But I am not a capitalist predator. I could very easily be one that makes minimum wage, and I do not like that scenario. At all. And I do not like that people actually have to live on such a low income. Not in the developed world at least, because we are supposed to be better than that. We are supposed to take care of eachother, not feed off eachother.
Dude it would take too long to write out everything bad with minimum wage and minimum wage hikes. Heres two websites about it: http://www.epionline.org/study_detail.cfm?sid=32 http://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/tst042904a.cfm Read if you care. I'm going back to blazin
USD 5.15 an hour???? Is that the current US minimum wage? Before tax? Let us do some math: 8x5.15x5x48 (hours times dollars times days a week times weeks in a year [minus 4 weeks of vacation total]) equal 9880 USD a year. Less than 10k US dollars. I've made that much in a month! Hell, in a good two weeks of a lot of work! It is disgracefull. Sure the cost of living is lower in the US than here, but not by that much, and certainly not if you factor in health insurance, which we don't have to worry about. You'll be hard pressed to find any norwegian working for less than 25 USD an hour in any full time job. Hell, even MickyD employees here make more than 20 USD/h. It is called having strong unions, and not taking shit from corporations.
Eh no, it is entirely possible to reduce the profit margin of the owners. What is a real danger to any economy is removing the middle class jobs. You know, anyone engaged in export industry at whatever level. Service jobs are usually the minimum wage ones, as they require little if any skill besides a smile and a good attitude. Keep exports up, and your economy will do good and one can afford decent wages to all. Outsource your industries on the other hand, and you'll be left with the poor working for next to nothing, and the really rich feeding off foreign cheaper labour. Not how you build a good harmonic society. The price of everything goes up not because the poor get more wages, but because the rich have dismantled your economic ladder. Outsourced your industry. Trade deficit means less money in your country. The average american now owes more than 32.000 USD in foreign debt alone, not to mention their personal debt. As a contrast, the average Norwegian have 40.000 USD in surplus if all the Norwegian liquid state wealth was spread equally. Not counting for personal debt or assets. There is something seriously wrong in the US of A.
If our dollar wasn't suffering as the result of a ridiculously flawed policy and privately owned bank maybe we could all live comfortably. You know, the teenage mother that wasn't "better with money", the single struggling mother, all these people that are in need because of their circumstance, not because of their spending habits, we could all live comfortably with money that's actually backed by something. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.