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Should we raise the minimum wage?

Should the minimum wage be raised?

  • yes, raise to $15 an hour

    Votes: 2 9.5%
  • yes but not as much as $15

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • adjust for inflation

    Votes: 3 14.3%
  • no, keep it the same

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • no, lower it

    Votes: 1 4.8%
  • no, abolish it

    Votes: 10 47.6%
  • other

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • not sure

    Votes: 1 4.8%

  • Total voters
    21

Masterhawk

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The current federal minimum wage in the US is $7.25 per hour. In the 2016 election campaign, Bernie Sanders said that the minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour where it is already such in Seattle. California is on track to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2020 and is currently at $11. In other states, the minimum wage has been raised through ballot measures.


The green states have a minimum wage above the federal wage, blue states are the same as the federal, red states are below, and yellow states don't have any minimum wage.
US_minimum_wage_map.svg.jpg
Minimum wage as of January 1, 2018

Economists can't seem to agree on whether or not minimum wage helps the community but there are some things going for and against it:

For

542,000 workers earn the federal minimum wage and 1.3 million have wages below that

Half of minimum wage workers are over 25

Most Americans seem to favor raising the minimum wage

Raising the minimum wage has the potential to raise living standards for those on it

Against

Minimum wage is often seen as a starting place

Some places such as McDonalds and Costco have a minimum wage above the federal wage

Only 2% of men and 3% of women made minimum wage or less

Just 3% of black Americans made minimum wage or less. Whites and hispanics were at 2%

Even amongst 16-19 year olds, minimum wage workers were in the minority at just 8%

Minimum wage has the potential to increase prices and layoffs as well as hurt small businesses

Minimum wage could speed up automation, especially in Seattle where it is the highest and is home to a growing tech industry

Source:
https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm
 
Do we want the Federal Government to supplement the income of full time workers who are working on wages far below livable or place that burden upon the employers? Short term, this will definitely hurt the brick and motor/family owned shops far more than it'll hurt Amazon, Wal-Mart or McDonalds but honestly I feel a person working 40 hours a week should be able to sleep in a bed he can call his own, with a warm meal in his belly.
 
Do we want the Federal Government to supplement the income of full time workers who are working on wages far below livable or place that burden upon the employers? Short term, this will definitely hurt the brick and motor/family owned shops far more than it'll hurt Amazon, Wal-Mart or McDonalds but honestly I feel a person working 40 hours a week should be able to sleep in a bed he can call his own, with a warm meal in his belly.
You do understand the Federal Government supplementing income still places the burden on employers as well as everyone else that pays taxes, right?
 
I think a more germane question would be "How many threads on minimum wage does this forum need? :lamo
 
I think a more germane question would be "How many threads on minimum wage does this forum need? :lamo

You’ve been here what, six weeks?
 
IMO we need to do something about inflation.

Back when money was based on some precious metal standard, inflation was limited by available cash.

Now that the government can effectively print as much as it wants by "borrowing" from the Federal Reserve there is so much money in circulation the "little people" can't afford much of anything unless the supplement via credit debt in one form or another. (Payday loans, credit cards, reverse mortgages, etc.). The Fed. is supposed to control this via it's interest rate scale...but that's just to help the Investment and Big Business sectors, not the common citizen.

All raising the minimum wages does is either cause a raise in prices to ensure corporate profits, or cause a loss of jobs as employers either automate, cut staff, or use more part-time employees to reduce hours and eliminate benefit/overtime requirements.

Meanwhile, there is no point in saving anymore as interest rates are almost non-existent so savings devalue rapidly, while fixed incomes for retirees are fast putting them in financial trouble.

I am not sure what we can do about it in a free market economy, but I sure don't want to see us turn socialist/communist.
 
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You do understand the Federal Government supplementing income still places the burden on employers as well as everyone else that pays taxes, right?

It costs employers (and most individuals) less to supplement the earnings of a few with taxation than to pay many workers more (and to pay higher prices for most goods/services).
 
Voted other for one reason, what would you propose we raise minimum wage to?

(And yes that is a trick question, no matter what the answer all it boils down to is how much further we go with an economic distortion with the silly expectation that nothing else happens.)
 
Let's start here...jimmy smith, for what ever reason isn't very intelligent. He's fortunate to have found a job at which he earns $8 an hour. He's not industrious or ambitious, but he does a good job. Now, let's say that the government artificially raises the minimum wage to $13 an hour. There is a wider group of people to choose from if you have to pay that wage. What happens to jimmy? No pie in the sky emotional answers please...

There are many, many people who aren't worth a salary of what lefties say should be the minimum.
 
if we change minimum wage laws, it should be for everyone, including waiters / waitresses. tips should not be used to make up for the fact that restaurant owners are paying their servers $2.15 an hour.
 
You do understand the Federal Government supplementing income still places the burden on employers as well as everyone else that pays taxes, right?

Considering the big businesses like Amazon, GE, and big auto currently pay close to nothing in taxes I think that renders your point moot.
 
Other.
Raise min wage to $20/hr.

Actually, by the time we get anywhere near doing this, it'll need to be $25/hr.

So let's shoot for that.
 
IMO we need to do something about inflation.

Back when money was based on some precious metal standard, inflation was limited by available cash.

Now that the government can effectively print as much as it wants by "borrowing" from the Federal Reserve there is so much money in circulation the "little people" can't afford much of anything unless the supplement via credit debt in one form or another. (Payday loans, credit cards, reverse mortgages, etc.). The Fed. is supposed to control this via it's interest rate scale...but that's just to help the Investment and Big Business sectors, not the common citizen.

All raising the minimum wages does is either cause a raise in prices to ensure corporate profits, or cause a loss of jobs as employers either automate, cut staff, or use more part-time employees to reduce hours and eliminate benefit/overtime requirements.

Meanwhile, there is no point in saving anymore as interest rates are almost non-existent so savings devalue rapidly, while fixed incomes for retirees are fast putting them in financial trouble.

I am not sure what we can do about it in a free market economy, but I sure don't want to see us turn socialist/communist.
In a way, the problem now is that we're stuck thinking of things in terms of how much money it costs, when in reality the amount of money available is technically unlimited (because gov can print as much as it wants to).

The only real limitations on how much money there is are those imposed by how changing the amount would impact the economy.

On the plus side, as opposed to the gold standard, it means the USA cannot run out of money. Talking about the deficit and how much we owe is completely pointless and a distraction. We can create as much money as we need to in order to pay our creditors.

On the down side, it means the value of an individual dollar is more malleable.
And as a result, drastic changes in that value can crush individuals and groups financially.

The various crypto-currencies are an aspect of that - attempting to establish an artificial version of a "gold standard", in a way.
 
Minimum wage earners are overpaid now.They have no job skills.The untermensch they are.
 
I say why stop at $15.... Most of those workers have kids so they will still qualify for government assistance. Let's make it $40 per hour. Then skilled people worth the money can install and operate automated equipment and we won't have many of those unskilled jobs left. problem solved.

Back when I did some hiring I evaluated whether that person could make money for the company right away (start him/her out higher) or would he be a loss while he was being trained (minimum wage).
 

412 million dollars to an almost trillion dollar company is about as literal to a drop in the bucket as one could be. Which just further stands my statement that companies like Amazon "pay close to nothing in taxes."
 
412 million dollars to an almost trillion dollar company is about as literal to a drop in the bucket as one could be. Which just further stands my statement that companies like Amazon "pay close to nothing in taxes."
Amazon reported about 900 million in profit not a trillion.
 
Amazon reported about 900 million in profit not a trillion.

They paid almost half their profit in taxes? Really? That's piss poor management if it's true, and I will assume it is.
 
The correct way to answer this question is to rephrase it:

"How many people should we make unemployable in the legal market by denying them entry to it?"
 
They paid almost half their profit in taxes? Really? That's piss poor management if it's true, and I will assume it is.
Could be different years. That might have been total taxes and not just income tax. Just shooting down the "Amazon pays no taxes" mantra.
 
The current federal minimum wage in the US is $7.25 per hour. In the 2016 election campaign, Bernie Sanders said that the minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour where it is already such in Seattle. California is on track to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2020 and is currently at $11. In other states, the minimum wage has been raised through ballot measures.


The green states have a minimum wage above the federal wage, blue states are the same as the federal, red states are below, and yellow states don't have any minimum wage.
View attachment 67232663
Minimum wage as of January 1, 2018

Economists can't seem to agree on whether or not minimum wage helps the community but there are some things going for and against it:

For

542,000 workers earn the federal minimum wage and 1.3 million have wages below that

Half of minimum wage workers are over 25

Most Americans seem to favor raising the minimum wage

Raising the minimum wage has the potential to raise living standards for those on it

Against

Minimum wage is often seen as a starting place

Some places such as McDonalds and Costco have a minimum wage above the federal wage

Only 2% of men and 3% of women made minimum wage or less

Just 3% of black Americans made minimum wage or less. Whites and hispanics were at 2%

Even amongst 16-19 year olds, minimum wage workers were in the minority at just 8%

Minimum wage has the potential to increase prices and layoffs as well as hurt small businesses

Minimum wage could speed up automation, especially in Seattle where it is the highest and is home to a growing tech industry

Source:
https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2017/home.htm


This probably where I separate from most conservatives on,I support minimum wage. I think it should be adjusted to inflation or preferably the cost of living.I think it should be adjusted to the cost of living because in many parts of the country or even different parts of a state the dollar will stretch farther. I am pretty sure in Oklahoma a dollar will stretch much further than it does in New York and a dollar in some tiny town of a 50 thousand people will stretch much further than a city of half a million people.
 
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