If you raise the minimum wage, doesn't the price on everything else rise (food, clothing, etc?

by 666_Maggots~PassionForGlory BN-1 Posted 2013/02/14 12:55:14

Related Topics: Family, Money, Clothing, Minimum Wage, Price, harder, Honest, Job, Food

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If so, doesn't that defeat the purpose? Also wouldn't that make purchasing items even harder for the people who don't have a job? And yes, people who don't have a job are capable of purchasing items- like borrowing money from family, etc.

***Also, this is a completely honest question out of curiosity. So don't come here insulting me for asking this****

+16

Kat 2013/02/14 14:02:02

+11
Yes everything will go up.. including taxes since they'll claim you have more to give..
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Mountainman 2013/02/15 22:55:14

Minimum wage was never meant to be pay for an experienced full time worker...it is for entry level jobs for new employees that have no training...I couldn't hire a worker worth anything for less than $9.50 an hour if I wanted to...and I live in one of the poorest states in the union...in a small town with a population of 800. If you can't make more than minimum wage...then you need to get creative and start your own business...you can get $10.00 an hour raking pine needles or mowing yards.

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Lady Whitewolf 2013/02/15 13:57:35

+2
It doesn't have to...

But the Richies will bitch and whine because they might miss a few pennies in their pocket.

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Prime T... to Lady Wh... 2013/02/15 15:43:46

+1
That is what is happening,companies never complain about the rising cost of doing business with the biggest increases in fuel costs,transportation costs,taxes,etc.but complain about an increase in the minimum wage,which in realitiy has little effect on them.If their profit margin is so small they are not running their business properly and should not be blaming an incease in wages for it.

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Lady Wh... to Prime T... 2013/02/15 16:30:58

+1
You nailed it....

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Mountai... to Prime T... 2013/02/15 22:20:52

+1
There is no one in the oil patch working for minimum wage...try $20.00 plus!

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Prime T... to Mountai... 2013/02/15 22:22:35

Very true,I have heard even people working at fast food joints their are earning $20 per hour,that sounds more reasonable for minimum wage.

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Bill 2013/02/15 08:53:52

+1
yes! it's happened before!~

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Mike McCullough 2013/02/15 08:45:57

+1
Yup. If you are an employer, you also cut full time employees to part time. Lay off your poorest help or most recently hired, so that you don't have enough full time employees to force you to provide insurance. and so on and so on and so on

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santa6642 2013/02/15 03:59:07

+1
Yes and there will be job loses, and you will have to make up the load.

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Kaimeso 2013/02/15 03:13:05

+1
It will have the largest impact on small businesses with less than 10 or so employees. Hours will be cut and one or two of the bottom feeders will be out of a job.

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Azrael-In GOD we trust 2013/02/15 01:32:30

+2
Seems to me, everything would increase, including people being laid off/fired.

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Cause Unknown 2013/02/15 01:27:59

+1
I still think it was a mistake. Sure it sounds easy on the wallet, but it was far from the truth. Raising the wage and then raising prices thereafter almost defeats the entire purpose. Well except just to screw with honest working americans, yet again.

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dru dixon 2013/02/15 00:18:46

+2
It will go up a little, but prices are steadily going up anyway no matter what min is.Just go to the grocery store on a steady basis. You can't stay 7.25 forever.

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Lady Wh... to dru dixon 2013/02/15 13:57:59

+1
AGREED

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dru dixon to Lady Wh... 2013/02/15 17:54:25

Thank you Lady White Wolf! We get the same old tired argument every time the min goes up that people will be laid off and prices will go sky high. Not from the young lady that asked this question, but from some of the nit wits that answered it.

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Kurt 2013/02/14 23:38:02

+1
Of course it does, but increases the amount they will tax us.

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xprimale 2013/02/14 22:02:27 (edited)

+2
Yes. It will also cause a bump in inflation.

Here's the worst part about raising minimum wage: it means that employers will never be able to reach equilibrium (due to the price floor) therefore causing a surplus of people who want a job, and fewer who will be admitted.

If you need to pay each worker more, you're not going to admit as many in because your goal as a business-owner is to generate profit as positive as possible. So more people will be laid off if they can't do as much work as they're paid for and fewer will be hired, therefore making it MORE DIFFICULT for people to get jobs.

And Obama wants to raise the minimum wage. He's thinking with his heart, not with his brain.

(PS your question inspired me to ask a question)

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Anna 2013/02/14 21:56:42

+1
To an extent. Some 40 years from now though, a ton of things will be free including cars though, so I'm not gonna worry.

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boneman1 2013/02/14 21:41:04

+1
Makes you wonder why the geniuses in Washington can't figure it out. If you increase the cost to deliver a product that cost will be passed along to the consumer. The alternative is to try and deliver the product at the same cost, but with fewer employees. Neither scenario is good for the economy.

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Osama M... to boneman1 2013/02/14 22:48:42 (edited)

+1
Another alternative is to make the products closer to end market since the increase in the transportation costs (from the distant manufacturing facilities) will start to equal the higher cost of manufacturing it closer to the end/retail market. With fuel costs rising, a number of companies have started to move their operation back stateside since it is getting more expensive to ship.

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MW121 2013/02/14 21:38:15

+2
Absolutely.. I don't understand where people think that companies will just keep eating all the added costs, taxes, etc.. In the end it all gets passed down.. lower wages, lower number of employees, fewer benefits, higher prices...

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Charles White 2013/02/14 21:34:50

+3
I understand your concerns because I feel the same way. But what the President suggest was that minimum wage should be adjusted to the rate of inflation and during that would help offset the increase in purchasing goods and services, , , However, there is Congress who must approved this measure and with this Congress it is very likely that we will not see a minimum wage increase until 2015. That why it is so important for WE THE PEOPLE to elected people in office that is working on the behalf of working class people and not the wealthy.

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Lady Wh... to Charles... 2013/02/15 13:58:46

+1
WELL SAID

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hippycat 2013/02/14 21:01:43

in other words - who cares about other people and their needs - just as long as i can buy cheaply. do you ever think about anyone but yourself?

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666_Mag... to hippycat 2013/02/14 21:08:26 (edited)

+1
I asked a simple question. Don't get your panties in a bunch. Answer it like you have a brain.

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hippycat to 666_Mag... 2013/02/14 21:51:51

okay: it does no impact on prices. and you should know that anyhow. otherwise your parents might as well stop paying for your education.

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666_Mag... to hippycat 2013/02/14 21:53:18

+1
Hehe wow, because I take AP Macroeconomics next year? One can only take so many classes within 2 semesters a year. V_V

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Just me... to 666_Mag... 2013/02/15 02:06:32

+2
Yes, it'll make all the prices on everything go up. When you raise your employees wages, you have to raise the prices of the products you sell to cover the loss of revenue OR you could lay off a bunch of employees and demand that the remaining ones try to pick up the slack.

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Biki 2013/02/14 20:56:50

+1
yup. Also less people will hire employee's stagnating the workforce.

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ALofRI 2013/02/14 20:22:04

+2
The number of people on food stamps goes down, child welfare goes down, the people whose income goes up spend more because those are the people who NEED things. Those people will pay more taxes, both income and sales, they are the ones that NEED a new car, a new refrigerator, a new furnace, clothing, etc. Every cent that comes in is coming in to someone who NEEDS something, not to someone who is going to send it to a Cayman Island or Swiss account. They will get their teeth fixed...probably long over due (and their families). THAT is what drives business IN AMERICA, not investment in China. No, taxes will NOT go up, more people will be paying them so they can come DOWN.

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brittany 2013/02/14 20:18:27

+1
you know i never thought about that. it's not like things aren't going up already but raising the minimum wage may make things more expensive.

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Straud1976 2013/02/14 20:10:17

+1
When you raise minimum wage prices may go up on many things but not at the same rate.

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lucky 2013/02/14 19:45:17

+2
Its more complicated than that. Its a gamble of whether it will help or not, it really depends on whether it will increase the demand enough to offset the costs it will cause companies and that largely depends on the consumers themselves.

But no, raising minimum wage does not auto mean that prices will go up.

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firelooker 2013/02/14 19:33:34

+1
The left doesn't care if it's policies don't work, it's all about doing things that make them feel good & make people think their doing something. Raising minimum wage makes everything else go up. But that doesn't effect the fools in Washington cause they have their money. The left believes in spreading the wealth around so let's force them to share every last penny they have w/ us. Then maybe they'd get the message.

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Steve 2013/02/14 19:19:58

+4
Of all the costs of most businesses, very little goes to pay minimum-wage workers. Overall, the net effect is tiny on prices. However, specific kinds of businesses that use a lot of minimum-wage employees (e.g., fast food) may have to raise prices a bit.

There is a bit of reduction of the number of minimum-wage jobs from raising the minimum wage, but not a lot. There are some marginal value potential employees (e.g., illiterate or otherwise relatively undesirable) who won't be able to find a job at a raised minimum wage.

Overall, the net effect is to shift wages and salaries in the economy a bit more to low-income or middle class workers. With increasing income disparity, that's exactly what the economy needs.

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⚜3rd Street Boss⚜ 2013/02/14 19:13:55

+1
I would hope not..

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FAWKES' NOOSE ~ ΔTX 2013/02/14 19:00:58 (edited)

+4
NO.

Wages paid are tax write-off's for the employer. The more cash available to the working class the more cash they will spend. Individual spending grows the economy. Demand for products and services are increased and more jobs are created as a result.

Clinton raised the minimum wage twice. What happened?

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TheBadOne 2013/02/14 18:53:21

+3
I guess it depends on what actually drives up costs and value. Some will have you believe that minimum wage will drive up the cost of everything (companies have to pay their employees more and in turn, have to raise prices to cover their margins), others will have you believe that the escalating costs are driven by the lack of a maximum wage on the higher end (wealthier individuals are able to spend more on goods and services, businesses want to charge more to cater to those individuals, and offer credit-spending for the other individuals who don't have the capital but want the goods.)

I argue that an increase to minimum wage would not drive costs up because inflation still occurs regardless. Minimum wage was the same between 1997 and 2006 yet there was never any stability with inflation during any of those years. As each year progressed, inflation drove the value of the wage down. Ironically, the only time we've experienced deflation in over 50 years was 2009, and that's when minimum wage actually increased to it's current level today ($7.25/hour.) Also, if a person's trying to support a family on a minimum wage job, then they're probably also taking advantage of assistance programs and tax deductions because they make so little; which ultimately means we the pubic ar...

I guess it depends on what actually drives up costs and value. Some will have you believe that minimum wage will drive up the cost of everything (companies have to pay their employees more and in turn, have to raise prices to cover their margins), others will have you believe that the escalating costs are driven by the lack of a maximum wage on the higher end (wealthier individuals are able to spend more on goods and services, businesses want to charge more to cater to those individuals, and offer credit-spending for the other individuals who don't have the capital but want the goods.)

I argue that an increase to minimum wage would not drive costs up because inflation still occurs regardless. Minimum wage was the same between 1997 and 2006 yet there was never any stability with inflation during any of those years. As each year progressed, inflation drove the value of the wage down. Ironically, the only time we've experienced deflation in over 50 years was 2009, and that's when minimum wage actually increased to it's current level today ($7.25/hour.) Also, if a person's trying to support a family on a minimum wage job, then they're probably also taking advantage of assistance programs and tax deductions because they make so little; which ultimately means we the pubic are paying for them to not be dirt poor instead of their employer.

One point that is fair is whether or not this should be mandated by the Fed or left to the states (because what someone has to spend to get by in NYC probably isn't the same as what they'd need to get by living in Perry, Oklahoma) and whether or not there should be exemptions for small businesses (Wal-Mart would get by if the minimum wage increased, but the guy running a small pizzeria could find that a bit more challenging.)
(more)

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Ha'ouli 2013/02/14 18:49:52 (edited)

+1
That's it exactly. It's surprising just how many people are just how much smarter than our president. Things hat seem obvious to people like you and me just confound the hell out of these morons we have running our government. Oh yeah nd Marco Rubio drinks water and that's what the thins wejokingly call journalists focus on, not the stupid assed suggestions of this incompitent clown we have in the White House.

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Prime Time Lime 2013/02/14 18:30:27

+2
The price of everything is on the rise because of many factors,the price of fuels,the price of transportation,the rising prices of raw goods,the cost to run a business.Minimum wage increases contribute to a very,very small part of the increase of costs of goods and manufacturing.

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