Seven Minimum Wage Facts That Have Democrats Worried

[rightwinger]

Half of all minimum wage workers are 16 to 24 years old.

Its the old "minimum wage is a starter salary"

Minimum wage won't pay those kids college tuition, won't buy a car, won't pay the rent on an apartment

It used to

It did? When?

It did when I was making $2.10 an hour

 

[westwall]

Half of all minimum wage workers are 16 to 24 years old.

Its the old "minimum wage is a starter salary"

Minimum wage won't pay those kids college tuition, won't buy a car, won't pay the rent on an apartment

It used to

It did? When?

It did when I was making $2.10 an hour

2.10 an hour buys gas at 50 cents a gallon but it won't buy you a car. 4,300 bucks for the year (less taxes of course) doesn't leave a person much to do anything. I think the Pinto or Nova cost around 3 grand back then. Figure one quarter of that for a used car and you are spending one quarter of your years salary on a car.

Rent was around 125 or so, so that kills 1500, a Big Mac was 50 cents or so, so you could eat let's say for a buck, two meals a day is 730 bucks, plus your rent adds up to 2300 bucks. That's bare bones living.

BTW I've been conservative on all my numbers. The reality was much tighter.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Why are conservatives so hateful of people of few means and abilities?

Why don't you ask one.

They take it personal if someone suggests raising the minimum wage.

I'm not taking it personal; I'm simply pointing out the inanity of your position.

"Horse shit, bull shit, I worked four jobs blah blah." Some people are not capable of doing much beyond minimum wage jobs. I've seen this, and if you disagree then you haven't been around much.

I don't disagree at all. Those people typically are either A. Stupid or B. Incompetent. It doesn't give them the right to leech off of others.

Still, these people sometimes have families with kids.

Why are they having families if they are incapable of holding down a job that pays more than minimum wage? How about exercising a little bit of responsibility.

Double their work hours to make up for crappy wages and you neglect the kids.

Why are they having children they can't afford to take care of? How about exercising a little bit of responsibility.

Safety nets like food stamps or section 8? God fearing republicans are always there with their hatchets to chop those programs to nothing.

I neither believe in God nor am a Republican, but thanks for playing just the same.

These people are effin useless you say? what to do, kill them maybe for their own good and to set an example for others to see?

Nah, the world will always need ditch diggers.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

As long as we are talking hyperbole, lets cut it to $1 and watch all the new jobs come rushing in

The number of jobs for unskilled Americans would certainly increase if you did that. Nobody would actually pay $1 an hour anyway because the market wouldn't allow it.

If I pay someone $8 an hour to sweep floors and the wage drops to $4, am I going to hire two guys to sweep floors or will I just pocket the extra $4 an hour?

You would do neither one because nobody will work for you for $4 an hour, which you would know if you ever ran a business or even managed a payroll a single day in your life.

 

[Sunshine]

Any way you slice it minimum wage is the bottom rung. Unless you get more education or do something to improve your own lot, you will always be on the bottom.


I could wholeheartedly support educational and training benefits to those people because giving them a few cents more an hour isn't going to improve their lives. Nothing will until they wake up and realize they need more education.

 

[Sunshine]

The number of jobs for unskilled Americans would certainly increase if you did that. Nobody would actually pay $1 an hour anyway because the market wouldn't allow it.

If I pay someone $8 an hour to sweep floors and the wage drops to $4, am I going to hire two guys to sweep floors or will I just pocket the extra $4 an hour?

You would do neither one because nobody will work for you for $4 an hour, which you would know if you ever ran a business or even managed a payroll a single day in your life.

There is no job out there that entails ONLY sweeping floors. RW is stupid.

 

[candycorn]

Don't flatter yourself.

Who mentioned Armageddon?

Consider a community based pizza parlor selling 100 pies a day for 360 days at $10 each. Total revenue is $360,000. It employs 10 minimum wage workers earning $7 per hour, working 2000 hours a year, making labor costs $140,000. Assume rent, utilities, equipment, depreciation, insurance, supplies, licenses, and food costs come to $170,000 per year, leaving a profit of $50,000 for the owner and his/her family. Raising the minimum wage $1 would raise labor costs by $20,000 (paying more for the same amount of labor) and reduce profit to $30,000. The owner must either move into a smaller house or raise prices, which reduces the demand for pizza, resulting in the loss of a worker. So, the full increase in the wage cost of an increase in the minimum wage comes out of the pockets of customers or the owner’s family, and the one person who loses a job.

Why Raising The Minimum Wage Kills Jobs

However since the minimum wage is risen and all pizza chains in the entire area are affected (along with all the taco joints, burger shacks, and soup kitchens), raising the price of the sales unit (pizza) by a small amount ($0.25 for example) will net him and every other business owner $90,000 (360,000 X 0.25) right? So she nets $70,000 out of it ($90,000 in new sales minus $20,000 in new labor costs).

As for lowered demand, if you are willing to pay $10.00 for a pizza, you're actually going to tell me that $10.25 is out of the question? Especially, when you and every other worker got an $1.00 per hour raise?

You people really have tunnel vision. Read the link and educate yourself.

Was my math off?

 

[rightwinger]

It did? When?

It did when I was making $2.10 an hour

2.10 an hour buys gas at 50 cents a gallon but it won't buy you a car. 4,300 bucks for the year (less taxes of course) doesn't leave a person much to do anything. I think the Pinto or Nova cost around 3 grand back then. Figure one quarter of that for a used car and you are spending one quarter of your years salary on a car.

Rent was around 125 or so, so that kills 1500, a Big Mac was 50 cents or so, so you could eat let's say for a buck, two meals a day is 730 bucks, plus your rent adds up to 2300 bucks. That's bare bones living.

BTW I've been conservative on all my numbers. The reality was much tighter.

Back when I was making $2.10 an hour in the early 70s gas was 30 cents a gallon. I could buy 7 gallons on my minimum wage....now you could buy two
I could buy a brand new Pinto or VW for $2000 (half a years pay) ......now it would take over a years pay to buy an entry level car
My first years College tuition was $650 and I paid it on that $2.10 an hour working just summers

Point being.....Minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation. Not even close
Used to be you could get started in life with that minimum wage salary......now it barely pays your expenses

You could DOUBLE the existing minimum wage to $15 an hour and not have the buying power I had at $2.10

 

[rightwinger]

If I pay someone $8 an hour to sweep floors and the wage drops to $4, am I going to hire two guys to sweep floors or will I just pocket the extra $4 an hour?

You would do neither one because nobody will work for you for $4 an hour, which you would know if you ever ran a business or even managed a payroll a single day in your life.

There is no job out there that entails ONLY sweeping floors. RW is stupid.

OK...sweeping floors and emptying trash (my first job was mostly sweeping floors, lot of cigarette butts back then)

Question remains the same.

If I pay someone $8 an hour to sweep floors and the wage drops to $4, am I going to hire two guys to sweep floors or will I just pocket the extra $4 an hour

 

[BDBoop]

Wait! Don't you know that profit is evil, and people shouldnt make any money off thier risk, and toil, and sweat?

/sarcasm.

How about this pizza store owner. He has some really good minimum wage workers and in an effort to retain them he decides to pay them another dollar an hour.

He sells 100 pizza's a day. His labor of 10 people times 1 dollar times 5.55 average hours (2000 by 360) worked, his labor increased 55 dollars a day. He raises his pizza from 10 dollars to 10.50 ( a modest increase) and gets 50 dollars more a day covering his increased payroll and not hurting his competitive pricing.

The workers are more happy, more productive and cause an increase in business just by doing a better job for the customer. Who could care less that their 10 dollar pizza went to 10.50. Because they are buying the best damn pizza in town.

The pizza shop starts selling 105 pizza's a day, making up the loss the owner took in payroll by the increase in business.

I know, fantasy island stuff. That why the government gets involved to help low wage workers get more money for their labor.

Cause if they (government) don't do it ain't nobody else will.

where do you get the idea that cus you give a worker a raise he /she wilL be more productive. so walmart workers will be more polite helpfull and the goods you buy will be of a highter standard WHAT ROCK HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING UNDER ?

Seriously? You didn't know that?

Sorrow.

 

[rightwinger]

The number of jobs for unskilled Americans would certainly increase if you did that. Nobody would actually pay $1 an hour anyway because the market wouldn't allow it.

If I pay someone $8 an hour to sweep floors and the wage drops to $4, am I going to hire two guys to sweep floors or will I just pocket the extra $4 an hour?

You would do neither one because nobody will work for you for $4 an hour, which you would know if you ever ran a business or even managed a payroll a single day in your life.

You are still dodging the question

Make it $6 an hour. If you start paying your employees $6 an hour vs $8 an hour will you hire more employees or just keep the damn money

YOU claimed a lower wage would lead to more hiring

 

[BDBoop]

If I pay someone $8 an hour to sweep floors and the wage drops to $4, am I going to hire two guys to sweep floors or will I just pocket the extra $4 an hour?

You would do neither one because nobody will work for you for $4 an hour, which you would know if you ever ran a business or even managed a payroll a single day in your life.

You are still dodging the question

Make it $6 an hour. If you start paying your employees $6 an hour vs $8 an hour will you hire more employees or just keep the damn money

YOU claimed a lower wage would lead to more hiring

Yup!

 

[Stephanie]

Joe and I are BOTH a lot smarter than you or Staph.

So why don't you give it a try? How does a small increase in wages for a very small amount of workers (2.8%) bring about the Armageddon you right wingers claim it will?

Won't you be able to afford fries with your burger if the MacDonald s worker was getting 8 bucks minimum? That is where the minimum wage workers are most concentrated, fast food. Right? And cheap retail stores. Would the cheap Chinese shit you buy at Walmarts cost a little more? Probably not.


It will be ok if poor working people make a little bit more. Really.

Don't flatter yourself.

Who mentioned Armageddon?

Consider a community based pizza parlor selling 100 pies a day for 360 days at $10 each. Total revenue is $360,000. It employs 10 minimum wage workers earning $7 per hour, working 2000 hours a year, making labor costs $140,000. Assume rent, utilities, equipment, depreciation, insurance, supplies, licenses, and food costs come to $170,000 per year, leaving a profit of $50,000 for the owner and his/her family. Raising the minimum wage $1 would raise labor costs by $20,000 (paying more for the same amount of labor) and reduce profit to $30,000. The owner must either move into a smaller house or raise prices, which reduces the demand for pizza, resulting in the loss of a worker. So, the full increase in the wage cost of an increase in the minimum wage comes out of the pockets of customers or the owner’s family, and the one person who loses a job.

Why Raising The Minimum Wage Kills Jobs

A whole lot of assumptions in that assertation.

First, if you are running a pizza Place and you are only selling 100 pies a day, you are probably doing it wrong. Here's a hint, most Pizza Places don't just sell pizzas. And if you need to employ 10 people to only make 100 pizzas a day, then that's only 10 pizzas per employee a day.

That's a pretty high level of incompetence for a Pizza place.

lol, I can't believe this post got three atta boys...how petty can you people get?

 

[JoeB131]

It did when I was making $2.10 an hour

2.10 an hour buys gas at 50 cents a gallon but it won't buy you a car. 4,300 bucks for the year (less taxes of course) doesn't leave a person much to do anything. I think the Pinto or Nova cost around 3 grand back then. Figure one quarter of that for a used car and you are spending one quarter of your years salary on a car.

Rent was around 125 or so, so that kills 1500, a Big Mac was 50 cents or so, so you could eat let's say for a buck, two meals a day is 730 bucks, plus your rent adds up to 2300 bucks. That's bare bones living.

BTW I've been conservative on all my numbers. The reality was much tighter.

Back when I was making $2.10 an hour in the early 70s gas was 30 cents a gallon. I could buy 7 gallons on my minimum wage....now you could buy two
I could buy a brand new Pinto or VW for $2000 (half a years pay) ......now it would take over a years pay to buy an entry level car
My first years College tuition was $650 and I paid it on that $2.10 an hour working just summers

Point being.....Minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation. Not even close
Used to be you could get started in life with that minimum wage salary......now it barely pays your expenses

You could DOUBLE the existing minimum wage to $15 an hour and not have the buying power I had at $2.10

QFT!

Exactly my point.

When I went to UIC in the 1980's, I worked two minimum wage jobs and was in the National Guard. Now, I got a scholarship for tuition from the Guard, but the fees and everything else was on me.

But back then, tuition was $485.00 a quarter. I could earn that working about 150 hours on my two jobs.

Now tuition at UIC is $7,170.00. It would take nearly 1000 hours of work to pay for one Semester.

 

[candycorn]

If I pay someone $8 an hour to sweep floors and the wage drops to $4, am I going to hire two guys to sweep floors or will I just pocket the extra $4 an hour?

You would do neither one because nobody will work for you for $4 an hour, which you would know if you ever ran a business or even managed a payroll a single day in your life.

You are still dodging the question

Make it $6 an hour. If you start paying your employees $6 an hour vs $8 an hour will you hire more employees or just keep the damn money

YOU claimed a lower wage would lead to more hiring

Great point...if higher wages retard hiring, it stands to reason that lower wages would encourage hiring...

 

[BDBoop]

You would do neither one because nobody will work for you for $4 an hour, which you would know if you ever ran a business or even managed a payroll a single day in your life.

You are still dodging the question

Make it $6 an hour. If you start paying your employees $6 an hour vs $8 an hour will you hire more employees or just keep the damn money

YOU claimed a lower wage would lead to more hiring

Great point...if higher wages retard hiring, it stands to reason that lower wages would encourage hiring...

Exactly. And if all they are doing now is pocketing the difference, then it does NOT follow that they would be ruined financially if MW was raised.

It DOES follow that they wouldn't be getting rich at an insane pace off the labors of the working class.

 

[editec]

Yes it would. But you're not smart enough to understand it.

Joe and I are BOTH a lot smarter than you or Staph.

So why don't you give it a try? How does a small increase in wages for a very small amount of workers (2.8%) bring about the Armageddon you right wingers claim it will?

Won't you be able to afford fries with your burger if the MacDonald s worker was getting 8 bucks minimum? That is where the minimum wage workers are most concentrated, fast food. Right? And cheap retail stores. Would the cheap Chinese shit you buy at Walmarts cost a little more? Probably not.


It will be ok if poor working people make a little bit more. Really.

Don't flatter yourself.

Who mentioned Armageddon?

Consider a community based pizza parlor selling 100 pies a day for 360 days at $10 each. Total revenue is $360,000. It employs 10 minimum wage workers earning $7 per hour, working 2000 hours a year, making labor costs $140,000. Assume rent, utilities, equipment, depreciation, insurance, supplies, licenses, and food costs come to $170,000 per year, leaving a profit of $50,000 for the owner and his/her family. Raising the minimum wage $1 would raise labor costs by $20,000 (paying more for the same amount of labor) and reduce profit to $30,000. The owner must either move into a smaller house or raise prices, which reduces the demand for pizza, resulting in the loss of a worker. So, the full increase in the wage cost of an increase in the minimum wage comes out of the pockets of customers or the owner’s family, and the one person who loses a job.

Why Raising The Minimum Wage Kills Jobs

7 employees to make 100 pizzas A DAY?!

Clearly you know jackshit about this business kid.


A pizza shop that slow will have one worker..the owner.

 

[rightwinger]

Any way you slice it minimum wage is the bottom rung. Unless you get more education or do something to improve your own lot, you will always be on the bottom.


I could wholeheartedly support educational and training benefits to those people because giving them a few cents more an hour isn't going to improve their lives. Nothing will until they wake up and realize they need more education.

Yes ...minimum wage is the bottom rung but at least it used to get you started up the ladder

 

[rightwinger]

2.10 an hour buys gas at 50 cents a gallon but it won't buy you a car. 4,300 bucks for the year (less taxes of course) doesn't leave a person much to do anything. I think the Pinto or Nova cost around 3 grand back then. Figure one quarter of that for a used car and you are spending one quarter of your years salary on a car.

Rent was around 125 or so, so that kills 1500, a Big Mac was 50 cents or so, so you could eat let's say for a buck, two meals a day is 730 bucks, plus your rent adds up to 2300 bucks. That's bare bones living.

BTW I've been conservative on all my numbers. The reality was much tighter.

Back when I was making $2.10 an hour in the early 70s gas was 30 cents a gallon. I could buy 7 gallons on my minimum wage....now you could buy two
I could buy a brand new Pinto or VW for $2000 (half a years pay) ......now it would take over a years pay to buy an entry level car
My first years College tuition was $650 and I paid it on that $2.10 an hour working just summers

Point being.....Minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation. Not even close
Used to be you could get started in life with that minimum wage salary......now it barely pays your expenses

You could DOUBLE the existing minimum wage to $15 an hour and not have the buying power I had at $2.10

QFT!

Exactly my point.

When I went to UIC in the 1980's, I worked two minimum wage jobs and was in the National Guard. Now, I got a scholarship for tuition from the Guard, but the fees and everything else was on me.

But back then, tuition was $485.00 a quarter. I could earn that working about 150 hours on my two jobs.

Now tuition at UIC is $7,170.00. It would take nearly 1000 hours of work to pay for one Semester.

Now....Who do we get to blame for the current pathetic minimum wage?

THE REPUBLICANS

They have fought every attempt to raise the minimum wage in the last 40 years. With every attempt to raise it even 25 cents an hour we heard the same whine..

It will cost jobs
It will shut down small business
Minimum wage is just a "starter" salary

 

[candycorn]

Joe and I are BOTH a lot smarter than you or Staph.

So why don't you give it a try? How does a small increase in wages for a very small amount of workers (2.8%) bring about the Armageddon you right wingers claim it will?

Won't you be able to afford fries with your burger if the MacDonald s worker was getting 8 bucks minimum? That is where the minimum wage workers are most concentrated, fast food. Right? And cheap retail stores. Would the cheap Chinese shit you buy at Walmarts cost a little more? Probably not.


It will be ok if poor working people make a little bit more. Really.

Don't flatter yourself.

Who mentioned Armageddon?

Consider a community based pizza parlor selling 100 pies a day for 360 days at $10 each. Total revenue is $360,000. It employs 10 minimum wage workers earning $7 per hour, working 2000 hours a year, making labor costs $140,000. Assume rent, utilities, equipment, depreciation, insurance, supplies, licenses, and food costs come to $170,000 per year, leaving a profit of $50,000 for the owner and his/her family. Raising the minimum wage $1 would raise labor costs by $20,000 (paying more for the same amount of labor) and reduce profit to $30,000. The owner must either move into a smaller house or raise prices, which reduces the demand for pizza, resulting in the loss of a worker. So, the full increase in the wage cost of an increase in the minimum wage comes out of the pockets of customers or the owner’s family, and the one person who loses a job.

Why Raising The Minimum Wage Kills Jobs

7 employees to make 100 pizzas A DAY?!

Clearly you know jackshit about this business kid.


A pizza shop that slow will have one worker..the owner.

Well his [MENTION=19381]Lonestar_logic[/MENTION]) was just giving an example. But what he doesn't seem to understand is that the "lowers the demand" is a crock because if the FMW is risen, those making minimum wage at ALL of the pizza place's competitors have their wages risen as well. So Taco Bell is under the same pressure, Jack in the Box is under the same pressure, In and Out is under the same pressure. So prices will rise or shop owners will accept lower profit. Given that prices are always going up, there seems to be a consensus that they don't accept lower profit margins so prices will rise.

Using [MENTION=19381]Lonestar_logic[/MENTION] example, you sell 100 pizzas a day so 360,000 pizza's. Not sure what happened to the other 5 days of the year but that's neither here or there. All of your competitors are raising their prices too so you raise your price by a whopping $0.25 per pizza. Using [MENTION=19381]Lonestar_logic[/MENTION] math, that puts $90,000 more in my pocket. According to his math, the extra $20,000 paid out in wages is easily taken care of. Hell, raising it $0.10 would put $36,000 more in my pocket and give me $14,000 more in profit.

Surely nobody who is willing to pay $10 for a pizza will run from paying $10.10 for the same pizza...right?

So I don't care so much for the fallacy of logic in 7 employees or whatever it was. The true fallacy seems to be ignoring that the prices for labor went up across the board and all of the competitors are paying the same higher wages.