The reality of a minimum wage

[Mos Eisley]

Here's the absolute dumbest thing I've heard about this whole thing: People who are for it that make over $15 an hour now, actually think their pay will go up by a commensurate amount! I've had several arguments with numbskulls about this. They think that because they make, let's say, $16 an hour and the minimum gets raised by $7.30 they will then automatically get a raise to $23.30 an hour! I can't seem to convince them otherwise. These people have zero common sense.

 

[rc508pir]

It will stiffle furthering the education of the workers, why pay for schooling when they already have a career at McDonald's? It sounds like a program designed to deter some people from furthering their education which could be alienability to some political circles who want to keep the people int heir place for control.

Agree, but there's no will to excel either. One of my neighbors is a Bernie supporter, in her 50s', and has been a CNA for over 25 years. Kids have been out of the house for over 20 years

She was on about the minimum wage thing, and all about the she needs more money. $15 an hour is what LPNs here in Lawton make. I asked if she thought that she should make as much as a LPN that probably busted her ass to get through school. She said hell yeah. I said well then where's the incentive to go to school and better your education to get a better job? Why should a person pay to go to school, do a crap load of homework and get certified as a LPN when she can just get a job as a CNA and make as much money.

These people just don't realize, if minimum wages go up, then everyone else's wages have to go up as well. ompanies then have to pay their employees more which results in product prices going up. Then their new $15 minimum wage ends up being nothing.

To give you an idea of how uneducated this lady is, we had another argument about prisons. She swears up and down that taxes don't go to feeding prisoners

 

[YukonGlocker]

Looking forward to reading those rebuttals. Links to them here would be great. Thanks.

Here's one, and there are more: http://www.epi.org/publication/the-...s-new-analysis-of-seattles-minimum-wage-incr/

 

[doctorjj]

Here's one, and there are more: http://www.epi.org/publication/the-...s-new-analysis-of-seattles-minimum-wage-incr/

How boringly predictable

 

[mr ed]

Here's the absolute dumbest thing I've heard about this whole thing: People who are for it that make over $15 an hour now, actually think their pay will go up by a commensurate amount! I've had several arguments with numbskulls about this. They think that because they make, let's say, $16 an hour and the minimum gets raised by $7.30 they will then automatically get a raise to $23.30 an hour! I can't seem to convince them otherwise. These people have zero common sense.

If they are a union or contract worker theres a good chance their pay is tied to minimum wage and will go up accordingly.
I once worked in a union shop when that happened. About destroyed the company. overnight they had to start paying almost double.

 

[Dave70968]

If they are a union or contract worker theres a good chance their pay is tied to minimum wage and will go up accordingly.
I once worked in a union shop when that happened. About destroyed the company. overnight they had to start paying almost double.

Maybe, but it won't help when gas goes to $5/gallon, milk to $8/gallon, etc. Inflation will eat the gain, and in a few years we'll be hearing complaints about how they can't raise a family of 4 on only $15/hr.

 

[Dale00]

The interesting question about the Seattle politicians is whether they are simply naive or are actively working to undermine capitalism in order to replace it with a "worker's paradise"....aka communism (or whatever the socailly acceptable euphemism is).

 

[YukonGlocker]

How boringly predictable

Which part?...their exclusion of 40% of the workforce, the fact that the labor market was changing at the same time the minimum wage was changes (and they didn't account for this in their analyses), or something else? Do you still trust the study knowing that they purposely did *not* include 40% of the workforce (and it being a specific sector of the workforce)? The rebuttal shows several methodological/analytical problems, and it's no accident that those problems/biases are in the same politically-motivated direction. Also, the study has not undergone peer-review...it's simply an opinion piece posted on the internet (and I know how much you adore those!). I'm genuinely interested in what you, and everyone else here, thinks about the study given its problems that are highlighted in the rebuttal.

 

[Shootin 4 Fun]

The irony of the minimum wage issue is that it was created by the middle and lower middle class when the demanded low prices at their local WalsMarts.

These people would be earning $15+ in textile factories, but they demanded $.25 Fruit of the Looms.

 

[YukonGlocker]

The irony of the minimum wage issue is that it was created by the middle and lower middle class when the demanded low prices at their local WalsMarts.

These people would be earning $15+ in textile factories, but they demanded $.25 Fruit of the Looms.

Yes, the irony in supporting businesses that directly eliminate your, and your community's, jobs isn't lost. A wise man once said "life is an IQ test", and this provides validity to that.