The real problem is that minimum wage isnt keeping up with inflation.... There have been times in the last ten years where you could "live" off of minimum wage, sure maybe you couldnt afford to buy your loved ones christmas gifts or spring for satalite tv but atleast you didnt have to worry about having $15 dollars a week for grocerys after paying taxes, rent, gas (car), electric bill, and car insurance.
I personally dealt with this for 8 months eating nothing but ramen w/ chalula or Parmesan and scrabbled eggs. Couldnt afford cereal cause the milk was to expensive, and this was me working full time 40-45 hours a week. Over those nine months the only frivolous spending i did was $80 for new bass strings, a tuner, and a decent instrument cable.
If minimum wage in america isn't enough to live on how much should it be raised by?
FUS RO DAH!
2012/03/26 16:57:56
I personally dealt with this for 8 months eating nothing but ramen w/ chalula or Parmesan and scrabbled eggs. Couldnt afford cereal cause the milk was to expensive, and this was me working full time 40-45 hours a week. Over those nine months the only frivolous spending i did was $80 for new bass strings, a tuner, and a decent instrument cable.
Regardless, a minimum wage exists for a reason: so you won't be paid next to nothing, where you can't survive no matter how many hours you work.
Oh wells, just my thoughts.
You would pay one of your current employees a few bucks more per hour to do the sweeping, restrooms, and trash... You are exactly able to do that now. What is stopping you from paying a current employee more money? Unless you were only going to pay them 3 dollars an hour to begin with, then you would end up paying less than minimum wage even with the few extra bucks: how does that benefit anyone but the employer?
Do you want to live in a world where employees are paid 1 dollar an hour? Sure it would be nice for the employers, they can use the employees even more so like slaves. But that isn't going to benefit the employee.
I don't buy this mutual benefiting nature that you have surmised, nor the idea that employers are losing money in the process.
1. Walmart pays their employees minimum wage, they are a multi-billion dollar company with billion dollar profits.
2. McDonald is a multi-billion dollar company while paying minimum wage, and so fourth.
What it sounds like to me, is: employers are far more greedy than I expected, and wants even more revenue: even outside the outlandish profits they already produce on the backs of the working class...
If anything, employers are underpaying most of their employees, by forcing them to accept minimum wage for all j...
You would pay one of your current employees a few bucks more per hour to do the sweeping, restrooms, and trash... You are exactly able to do that now. What is stopping you from paying a current employee more money? Unless you were only going to pay them 3 dollars an hour to begin with, then you would end up paying less than minimum wage even with the few extra bucks: how does that benefit anyone but the employer?
Do you want to live in a world where employees are paid 1 dollar an hour? Sure it would be nice for the employers, they can use the employees even more so like slaves. But that isn't going to benefit the employee.
I don't buy this mutual benefiting nature that you have surmised, nor the idea that employers are losing money in the process.
1. Walmart pays their employees minimum wage, they are a multi-billion dollar company with billion dollar profits.
2. McDonald is a multi-billion dollar company while paying minimum wage, and so fourth.
What it sounds like to me, is: employers are far more greedy than I expected, and wants even more revenue: even outside the outlandish profits they already produce on the backs of the working class...
If anything, employers are underpaying most of their employees, by forcing them to accept minimum wage for all jobs. Employers always abuse the process of their employees employment; therefore, how can you say that they wouldn't abuse the power of dictating any arbitrary wage? They already discriminate against race, disability, and so fourth; they already underpay and under respect the workers under them, there were already shows that demonstrated that the employers hated being an employee in their own company for a day and thought the work load was already too much, employers are already trying to bypass regulation to protect workers by forcing them to leave through abuse.
Do you think that we should just trust companies to do the right thing, and somehow everyone will benefit? How is that even conceivable when employers could pay employees 50 cents an hour if they so desired?
Sigh, I hate when people impassions me to no end... LOl.
That's the point. I could pay a current employee even three to four more dollars an hour, which would motivate them to maybe work a little harder, and still save more than having to pay an additional a minimum of $7.25/hour to do a job that doesn't produce as much as it costs me to hire them. It benefits both the current worker who makes more and me who gets the same amount of work done for less money. Too bad for the person that doesn't get hired.
I want to live in a world where people get paid what the market dictates a job is worth not some artificial number the government has created.
What it IS is business owners doing what they are in business to do for themselves and their investors and that is to make a profit.
When someone that can get a job that pays only minimum wage isn't being forced to work for it. They always have a choice to say no to the job offer. No one is holding a gun to their head and making them say yes.
I hate it when people think someone who has little to no marketable skills to offer should get paid more simply BECAUSE they want it.
You are referring to a perfect capitalistic economy, that just doesn't exist. People if they can pay a worker only 1 dollar an hour, will only pay 1 dollar an hour: and people who have nothing will have to take a job that pays only one dollar an hour out of necessity; to think any other way is absurd to reality: is idealistic.
Reverting back to what you said before: but your own philosophy, employers won't pay an employee fairly if no gun is being held to their heads either.
People should pay what is fairy and just and sustainable for the current economy. Workers shouldn't be abused by employers who don't know a good day's work simply because they make their money on the backs of the working class.
Take care,
First off, if minimum wage is such a good thing, then why is 95% of the work force NOT paid minimum wage? If minimum wage was the only thing holding back national scale exploitation in the workforce, then why are only 5% relying on it.
Second, minimum wage and govt regulations do not bring people out of poverty. Its entry level jobs that provide valuable work experience for the individual allowing them to move up. This is especially rewarding for teenagers, not the other way around. If a teenager is half as productive as a market valued janitor at minimum wage, then he should be paid half that of the janitor. Simple Math. But what happens if he needs this experience to help him become a more experience productive worker, then either the employer has to overpay him, or the job wont be created. The first one usually happens.
Third, Market value. Theres a reason CEO's, doctors, and teachers get paid different wages. In your fairy tale world, CEO's and doctors would be paid less, right? Read john adams quote on price controls, the loss is felt somewhere and if felt by the provider, it makes the in...
First off, if minimum wage is such a good thing, then why is 95% of the work force NOT paid minimum wage? If minimum wage was the only thing holding back national scale exploitation in the workforce, then why are only 5% relying on it.
Second, minimum wage and govt regulations do not bring people out of poverty. Its entry level jobs that provide valuable work experience for the individual allowing them to move up. This is especially rewarding for teenagers, not the other way around. If a teenager is half as productive as a market valued janitor at minimum wage, then he should be paid half that of the janitor. Simple Math. But what happens if he needs this experience to help him become a more experience productive worker, then either the employer has to overpay him, or the job wont be created. The first one usually happens.
Third, Market value. Theres a reason CEO's, doctors, and teachers get paid different wages. In your fairy tale world, CEO's and doctors would be paid less, right? Read john adams quote on price controls, the loss is felt somewhere and if felt by the provider, it makes the industry less lucritive driving investors out. AKA the doctor is paid less driving down lucrative demand therefore reducing the competition and funding of the industry, reducing the quality of doctors. Doctors are paid what they are because people are willing to pay them that amount, and they're highly competitive and its a very lucrative industry. Therefore they are not overpaid. If we pay a govt worker way too much money, it is overpaying. Why? Because govt is force, and forcing taxpayers to overprice a govt worker is overpaying.
All wealth is created in a capitalistic form. FACT. Even with all the socialistic programs the western european countries maintain, they are still capitalistic.
Again with market value, no one would work as a doctor for 1$ an hour. Do you understand Free Market Economics? Being a teacher is a competitive and not very lucritive profession, so you only get paid ..eh 40k a year.If the schools decided to pay their teachers 30k, then 20k, then 10k a year, eventually teachers will strike, bargain, and leave. Worse yet, the worse teachers that have less bargaining power are willing to work for less, therefore keeping a disproportional ratio of more bad teachers.
Its supply and demand, and market value, how lucritive an industry is. In the auto industry, its very VERY competitive, however its a very lucritive industry making it very profitable, therefore companies can survive well and profit.
You talk like employers can pay people 50 cents an hour without a minimum wage. Employers want and would try, but it wouldnt happen