Minimum Wage poll

[Ray From Cleveland]

The purchasing power of the $1.60 minimum wage in 1968 was about $11.00 in today's dollars. Since then, the purchasing power of minimum wage has dropped more than 25% while productivity has gone up more than 150%

Technology made productivity go up, Illegals and a global economy made wages go down.


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Employers are getting much more output from employees for much less money. Illegals and global economy have nothing to do with minimum wage.

Say what?

It's employers spending capital on technology that gets more productivity out of them


What do you think people still use a typewriter now?


So in your world 60 million more people in the US since 1980 doesn't dilute the wages,,, .how is that not possible?


A global economy of cheap labor doesn't lower wages in the US?


How ******* stupid are you?


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Minimum wage not keeping up with inflation is a major source of real wage decrease.

So who said it was to keep up with inflation? From what point?

The minimum wage was signed into law in 1936. The minimum wage was set at .25 cents per hour. In todays dollar, that's about $4.50 an hour.

So if you want to keep pace with minimum wage, we need to knock it down by about three dollars an hour.

 

[dblack]

I strongly suggest that you take a econ 101 class at your local junior college. Labor is a major part of the cost of everything we buy, if wages go up the price of everything we buy has to go up by the same %, otherwise the company goes out of business because the cost of production exceeds the revenue from sales. When everything goes up we have inflation where each dollar is now worth less. Nothing is gained by anyone, you just have more dollars going through your hands, in and out.

I think the theory is that the greedy business owners will simply reduce their profits to cover the raises. Maybe they weren't thinking about the "greedy" part.

 

[dblack]

I read that currently 2.7% of US workers are paid minimum wage. Elsewhere I read that 42% of US workers make $15/hr or less. So, if we raised minimum wage to $15/hr, we'd have 42% of US workers working for minimum wage. Which left me wonder what reformers see as the ideal percentage.

No, it didn’t.

It ‘left’ you to start an inane thread in bad faith attempting to ridicule minimum wage policy.

Rather than starting a childish thread on the topic, why not address the issue in a serious manner (yes, rhetorical).

Whassa matter C? Lights too bright in here for you?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

The purchasing power of the $1.60 minimum wage in 1968 was about $11.00 in today's dollars. Since then, the purchasing power of minimum wage has dropped more than 25% while productivity has gone up more than 150%

Technology made productivity go up, Illegals and a global economy made wages go down.


.

Employers are getting much more output from employees for much less money. Illegals and global economy have nothing to do with minimum wage.

What??? Yes, we are getting more production than ever before, but that has nothing to do with wages, it has to do with more investment in automation; machines replacing humans.

A machine works 24/7. It not only works much faster than a human, it doesn't take breaks, it doesn't take lunch, it doesn't go on strike, it doesn't get paid time and a half after 40 hours.

 

[Redfish]

I strongly suggest that you take a econ 101 class at your local junior college. Labor is a major part of the cost of everything we buy, if wages go up the price of everything we buy has to go up by the same %, otherwise the company goes out of business because the cost of production exceeds the revenue from sales. When everything goes up we have inflation where each dollar is now worth less. Nothing is gained by anyone, you just have more dollars going through your hands, in and out.

I think the theory is that the greedy business owners will simply reduce their profits to cover the raises. Maybe they weren't thinking about the "greedy" part.

if survival is greedy, then I guess we are all greedy.

 

[miketx]

Why do democrat filth want to remove incentive from workers?

 

[BluesLegend]

Fine, cut taxes so businesses can increase wages deal?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Now you are figuring it out, like I always said if you raise minimum wage up to $25 an hour highly skilled people will just quit their jobs and go work at McDonald's.

Sure they would. But what does their industry do without their education and talent? They have to replace those workers, and they aren't going to do it by giving them minimum wage whatever that may be.

Automation.....

Yep, as I stated in my earlier comment.

Ok how much of a raise did you get the last three times minimum wage was raised?


(What was it $5 to 7.25 over three years)


I didn't get a thing but I was making way over minimum wage.


.

Sure, we all make more money than years ago. The last minimum wage increase was ten years ago, and it was only a few cents.

 

[Redfish]

Fine, cut taxes so businesses can increase wages deal?

Trump already did that. taxes are down, wages are up. Dems hate success.

 

[dblack]

I strongly suggest that you take a econ 101 class at your local junior college. Labor is a major part of the cost of everything we buy, if wages go up the price of everything we buy has to go up by the same %, otherwise the company goes out of business because the cost of production exceeds the revenue from sales. When everything goes up we have inflation where each dollar is now worth less. Nothing is gained by anyone, you just have more dollars going through your hands, in and out.

I think the theory is that the greedy business owners will simply reduce their profits to cover the raises. Maybe they weren't thinking about the "greedy" part.

if survival is greedy, then I guess we are all greedy.

I certainly am. I hang my head in shame.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I strongly suggest that you take a econ 101 class at your local junior college. Labor is a major part of the cost of everything we buy, if wages go up the price of everything we buy has to go up by the same %, otherwise the company goes out of business because the cost of production exceeds the revenue from sales. When everything goes up we have inflation where each dollar is now worth less. Nothing is gained by anyone, you just have more dollars going through your hands, in and out.

I think the theory is that the greedy business owners will simply reduce their profits to cover the raises. Maybe they weren't thinking about the "greedy" part.

That's what people don't understand. You can tax a business more, force them into programs like Commie Care, create more costly regulations, but in the end, it's the little guy who pays for all of it.

 

[dblack]

I strongly suggest that you take a econ 101 class at your local junior college. Labor is a major part of the cost of everything we buy, if wages go up the price of everything we buy has to go up by the same %, otherwise the company goes out of business because the cost of production exceeds the revenue from sales. When everything goes up we have inflation where each dollar is now worth less. Nothing is gained by anyone, you just have more dollars going through your hands, in and out.

I think the theory is that the greedy business owners will simply reduce their profits to cover the raises. Maybe they weren't thinking about the "greedy" part.

That's what people don't understand. You can tax a business more, force them into programs like Commie Care, create more costly regulations, but in the end, it's the little guy who pays for all of it.

I think it's fair to say it would be spread out to some extent. The additional labor costs will be absorbed through some combination of higher prices, layoffs and lower profits.

 

[dblack]

I read that currently 2.7% of US workers are paid minimum wage. Elsewhere I read that 42% of US workers make $15/hr or less. So, if we raised minimum wage to $15/hr, we'd have 42% of US workers working for minimum wage. Which left me wonder what reformers see as the ideal percentage.

No, it didn’t.

It ‘left’ you to start an inane thread in bad faith attempting to ridicule minimum wage policy.

Rather than starting a childish thread on the topic, why not address the issue in a serious manner (yes, rhetorical).

And there is no ridicule of minimum wage, it was based on racism across the world from the start...

C'mon. Credit where credit's due. C is right. This thread is most definitely ridiculing minimum wage - or, rather, the really dumb arguments people are making to justify minimum wage.

 

[Dragonlady]

IDK, just doesn't sound good all around.....when everything just keeps going up, with no end in site....it can't be good for the people or the country.

Except when it comes to tax cuts for the rich of course... that's always a good thing...

the 2018 tax cuts cut the tax rate for everyone that pays taxes, not just the rich. Stop lying about this.

Except that the rich received 80% of the tax cut, and the working and middle class got peanuts. So let's be realistic here.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I strongly suggest that you take a econ 101 class at your local junior college. Labor is a major part of the cost of everything we buy, if wages go up the price of everything we buy has to go up by the same %, otherwise the company goes out of business because the cost of production exceeds the revenue from sales. When everything goes up we have inflation where each dollar is now worth less. Nothing is gained by anyone, you just have more dollars going through your hands, in and out.

I think the theory is that the greedy business owners will simply reduce their profits to cover the raises. Maybe they weren't thinking about the "greedy" part.

That's what people don't understand. You can tax a business more, force them into programs like Commie Care, create more costly regulations, but in the end, it's the little guy who pays for all of it.

I think it's fair to say it would be spread out to some extent. The additional labor costs will be absorbed through some combination of higher prices, layoffs and lower profits.

They refuse to see it that way.

All these leftist crying about global warming, pollution and cleaner air. That hit us the hardest in the transportation industry. It costs our small company tens of thousands of dollars every year to accommodate new technology and lower sulfur diesel fuel that my employer has to pass on to our customers who make products you and I buy in the store every time we shop. You don't see it, but it's there.

That's why I've always said if I were President, I would take a tip from Michelle Obama. She conned her husband into making a law that all food vendors have to put a calorie count on every item they sell. While that never made one fat person skinny, I thought it would be a good idea to extrapolate from.

If I were President, I would have a global warming cost on every product we buy. If you buy a lawnmower for $250.00 it would have a sticker on it that says $75.00 went towards making that mower cleaner. If you buy a car for $25,000, it would have a sticker that says $8,000 of that price was to make the car cleaner. If you buy a can of peaches for $1.25, 20 cents went to make that can of peaches more environmentally friendly.

Perhaps if we knew the costs manufacturers had to pass on, less people would support government intrusion into our industry that we all have to pay for.

 

[danielpalos]

The $8.00 an hour worker may be making $15.00 after a law is passed, but the $15.00 worker will be making $22.00 or more after it's passed.

So, everyone would make more money! That's a good thing, right?

econ 101. if everyone makes more, everything costs more, so nothing is gained.

lol. no, it isn't. you have no understanding of how price inflation affects costs.

 

[danielpalos]

I read that currently 2.7% of US workers are paid minimum wage. Elsewhere I read that 42% of US workers make $15/hr or less. So, if we raised minimum wage to $15/hr, we'd have 42% of US workers working for minimum wage. Which left me wonder what reformers see as the ideal percentage.

That percentage would drastically decrease from 42% back down to single digits.

What the Uninformed Voter doesn't understand is you can't increase wages on just one group of people. If you try to do that, it creates a domino effect.

The $8.00 an hour worker may be making $15.00 after a law is passed, but the $15.00 worker will be making $22.00 or more after it's passed.

It wouldn't help the poor and the new minimum wage would only be a livable wage for about a year or so until everybody else catches up. The only real change would be more investments in automation by companies, and more jobs leaving the US.

Right wingers SAY that jobs will be lost, but they aren't. Jobs increase when the minimum wages go up because there's so much pent up demand for goods and services.

Yes, prices will go up, but not as much as you're suggesting. It increases the cost of producing a burger by 10 cents to raise the burger flipper's wages by $1, so the increases in wages have a tremendous impact on the employees, and yes, wages all along the line will go up, because ALL OF THESE WORKERS NEED RAISES TOO.

The wages of all working people need to go up. Companies have managed increase every cost in their processes EXCEPT wages. Rents, property costs, equipment, insurance and materials have all gone up, and businesses survived. Wages COULD have gone up but the bosses didn't have to raise the wages so they didn't. It's time for some catch up for workers.

There is no "pent up" demand for goods and services. Where did you dream that up from? Goods and services have always been there and plenty of them. If they are not, people turn to the internet which is yet another threat to brick and mortar establishments.

Yes, raising minimum wage by one dollar will have little impact on pricing for places like McDonald's. That's because McDonald's sells 600 big macs a day, 2,000 french fries a day, 2,500 beverages a day, 800 breakfast sandwiches a day. However Earls Hardware store doesn't sell 400 hammers a day or 300 boxes of screws a day. Earl's Hardware will take a much harder hit than McDonald's.

The OP's scenario is $15.00 minimum wage. So think of how much higher prices will be. The reason people go to Walmart is because they can walk out of Walmart with a shopping cart of supplies for about a hundred bucks. That's in comparison to walking out of a store that sells American goods with only a half a cart for a hundred bucks.

People will buy less products because the prices would be much higher. I don't see that as a good thing. All you really did was increase the cost of living.

we have a demand side problem. solving simple poverty fixes that part of the equation, nothing more.

 

[danielpalos]

Why do democrat filth want to remove incentive from workers?

lol. Capitalism works. More people want to work for higher wages.

 

[danielpalos]

Fine, cut taxes so businesses can increase wages deal?

lol. tax cut economics is the only thing y'all know how to do.

 

[dblack]

... EdwardBaiamonte - would you like to weigh in?