crazijoe

House to vote on minimum-wage increase which is currently at $5.15/hr and likely change it to $7.25/hr.
Do you think it should be raised?

carsey

The more money the better in my opinion.

crazijoe

However the more money an employer needs to payout means higher prices for consumables.

yustr

Not necessarily - though the money does have to come from somewhere. Prices cannot rise above the level that consumers are willing to pay - or can get the elsewhere. There are so many hands in the pot of most consumer products (all making well above minimum wage except the guys in the silly shirts behind the register) that the retail price is only marginally effected by what these minimum wage earners add.

Of course, that's not how the Republican's and thier business partners will portray it. And given that the American public are, as a group, basically ignorant morons (at least in the eye's of our elected officials) that is what will happen.

Said another way, the price of a CD will go up $2.00 and BB will blame the increased minimum wage. But the guys in the blue polo shirts only add pennys to the current price. And the sad part is that nobody will object...bah baahhh baaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh

A-Nick4me

Increasing the minimum wage works...until such a time that it becomes high enough...that someone who is willing to specialize in a certain (labor related) job, is able to do it by contact for less money. At which time that particular minimum wage job will disappear.

40sondacurb

California an above regulation min wage and the sky has yet to fall.

A-Nick4me

Heh your right....just because a minimum wage job disappears does not mean that the sky falls. I have personally seen some minimum wage jobs disappear, and the sky is still in good shape.

There are also those among us who are homeless yet the sky is still in good shape.

Myth-UK

Minimum in the states sucks!

Even with that increase it would still be less than £4 an hour over here in the UK, you couldnt even pay for a gallon of petrol or even buy a pizza with that.

It seems to me that the American Goverment's agenda is for war, not for it's people.

dai

the min here equates to about $9.80us
while goverments set or interfere it is always going to only barely enough to survive on

crazijoe

Taxes are usually higher in the UK and Australia than in the states. Gross pay may be higher abroad but net pay is probably the same. Correct me if I'm wrong.

dai

on 300 a week they take about 30 out in tax but as a low income earner you get it all back at the end of the year,but we pay a lot in hidden taxes

-=Rousseau=-

You're forgetting conversion rates. The price numbers are about the same over there for the same items. Yeah they make more, but they pay higher prices for stuff as well. (In addition to higher taxes). But they can come over to the states and get alot pretty much half off... haha. (I've been in London and paid for stuff that I have gotten in the US as well - the numbers were usually very, very close)

bry623

We just passed a state minimum wage increase. I voted against it. Where is the drive to do better? But, I guess if you're 50 and uneducated, you need the increase to be able to afford your smokes.

crazijoe

Well said bry. Well said.

linderman

if youre 50 you need the increase to get your smokes ?????? that is really outta touch with society!


when your sons and daughters get out of college do you think they will start earning a living at 100K a year!

I feel for the people who are stuck in that predicament; even if both husband and wife work 40 hours a week they will be lucky if they can afford a very modest apartment!

shame on the people who have it soo good they have no empathy for the unfortunate that are WILLING to WORK but havent got the skills or education to break outta that mold!

i hope I never get that insensative.

crazijoe

I don't think that's the problem. The problem is that people want to make a living flipping burgers because they have no motivation to pursue a career. I have started at the bottom pleanty of times knowing that to make more money, you have to earn it. This is one of the reasons why businesses are using immigrants to fill jobs because the youth of todays generation don't want to start out at the bottom and are to lazy to work. They expect to be paid higher and have everything handed to them like they have all their live's.
I find it ironic that people fresh out of college expect to make more money than someone that has more experience but no schooling. I had an employer that pointed out, "I would rather hire a person that has 5 years of experience than someone fresh out of college."
Minimum Wage jobs are supposed to be for people just starting out with a job or for middle aged Johnny that can't support himself with his full time job because his cost of living is more than he can afford so he has to get a part time job.
But then again, when minimum wage goes up, let's see how many of these jobs are still around when employers have to axe jobs to cut overhead.

Tumbleweed36

Hi,

I guess that it is not possible to refute your statement and I am not trying to even do that.

However, after spending some time in California (and other parts of our country), I did happen to notice the prices for goods and services in California are "way over the norm" for the same goods and services in most (not all) places as you travel around the country. Honestly, I don't know, but could the higher priced minimum wage have an effect upon this factor of higher goods and service fees?

No, I am not arguing in favor or against, just asking.

dai

here you employers looking at the minimum wage and saying to themselves,if that's all i am oblighed to pay that's all i am paying
i am not refering to box boys trolley collectors and the like i am refering to managers,supervisors,foremen,trades people
with the last round of changes you have companies sacking their whole workforce and then offering them their jobs back at greatly reduced rates and you see no reduction in the price they charge for their goods and services
when you see the likes of pollies receiving pay increases of 30 40 and 50 thousand dollars a every year in pay increases and you are earning 15 to 20 or even 50 a year gross
it does not go down well
with an annual review we wait months for a decision and the next reveiw starts 12 months after it is handed down,so i don't know why they consider it annual
to me in 5 yrs on annual means 5 decisions handed down not 2 or 3 and then it is the end of the world and businesses will go broke when a 30cent an hour increase is granted
i put in 20yrs unpaid fighting for better conditions and pay and was very successful at attaining all goals i set
there is always a price to be paid,in my case being blacklisted from the industry
but as the saying goes
as one door closes another opens
problem is it is not always that easy to find that door open as you get older

linderman

C-joe; you make some very valid points, and stir thought process!


but to lump all people into one basket is very inaccurate.


I see all the people working in restaraunts, retail industry etc hordes of them are working 3 & 4 jobs, they would love to get a higher education and better paying job but how do you accomplish that and maintain the bills ?

I agree with you about the young generation, I work as a manager for a mid sized construction company, the young people we hire are spoiled rotton, they have no skills because mom and dad never made them do anything! they look at a skillsaw with bewilder eyes, trying to figure out how to "start" it

I often see them quit after their first week, they look at their check in disgust. They have informed me numerous times. " my parents give me more money than this in a week to play with!"

its the parents who are to blame for the lazy kids, we are all guilty. American couples have to work gads of hours to make a living for our familes, most often the wife is working too, we feel guilty we are not spending quality time with our children so we give them a hundred bucks to go play and figure that makes up for our lack of time spent within the family structure, this relieves our guilt. All the while we are destrorying our childrens reality, they are the ones who will pay the ultimate price.

We used to see kids living with their parents in New York City until they were 30! We used to joke about this, but now I see this trend spreading to all of america. Kids fresh out of college cant afford to live on their own until they work their way up the pay scale.

I saw some young people the other day answering an add for employment displayed at a local cell phone company while I waited in line; for ever, to pay my cell bill.
They were only taking college educated applications that dressed in suits and well groomed professional looking ladies, rate of pay $11.50 starting. Oh yeah; dont forget a car is needed to make onsite sales visits! arghhhhhhhhh

damn am I happy I am not a kid again, not when a lower scale two bedroom apartment is $850.00 per month.


and like Dai stated above; union busting and rescinding benefits is a common way of doing business now for corporate america. bull crap changing ownership of corporations just so they can rape the pension funds, and abolish them at the same time / the airlines are doing this now.
We have a local pharmacitical (wow; I butchered that) company that closed its doors, busted the union, re opens with non-union workers and threatens if they try to unionize they will fold again permanently. Yet the upper most management lost nothing, they get raises now! thats disguisting and depressing

the rick get richer; the rest of society gets the trickle down crumbs.

cjessee

What's the cost of living average out there again? Ouch.