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374 Comments
- abid786, on 10/12/2007, -85/+253Number of jobs -1
- micahglasser, on 10/12/2007, -6/+127I deliver pizza in Ohio. Recently a new state minimum wage was passed raising the minimum from $5.15 to $6.85. This was pretty cool for me because I was averaging about $5.00 an hour in tips, which in addition to my minimum wage pay comes out to about $10.00 an hour. Now, of course, I'm making closer $12.00.
Even though I personally benefited from this legislation it is interesting to observe the strain this has put on my employer who owns the pizza shop. It is conceivable that this bit of legislation may put that place out of business. Also just as soon as the increase went into effect several people were fired and we raised some of our prices. Conclusion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction... err something. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -34/+152Price of Goods +7
- sockpuppets, on 10/12/2007, -9/+102Ding fries are done!
- SakisRakis, on 10/12/2007, -36/+108Only one in four people earning minimum wage are below the poverty line; most are teenagers.
- EuphopiaB, on 10/12/2007, -103/+174Progress to Socialism +1
Progress to Freedom -2
If you want to make more, work harder or learn something so people will demand your specialties. Paying someone just for being around for an hour is horrid. Let the employer decide the wage. If the worker doesn't think the pay is fair, then they can quit. Stop using the United States Government to your personal benefit. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -77/+139Quality of Life +1
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+60@anicejew
"Here in Ontario our minimum wage is $8."
8 Canadian dollar = 6.80445692 U.S. dollar. Suckers. - positron, on 10/12/2007, -9/+57"...if you like places like Wal Mart and such, you won't notice a difference."
Except on your receipts of course because it's we, the consumers, who will be paying for these raises in the prices of goods and services. - mstrike, on 10/12/2007, -3/+50Great, there goes the McDonalds dollar menu.
- alexmat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+491.) Get loan.
2.) Get a degree
3.) Use your skills to get a good job
4.) Earn money
5.) Pay off loan..
6.) ???
7.) profit!
Sounds like what most normal people do. - Tony611, on 10/12/2007, -2/+47yay. it is 1:37 am in the morning and i am finishing up my 15 page paper on minimum wage that is due in 7 hours. Its wonderful to hear this great news because now i have to revise it so its not outdated by the time the teacher reads the paper.
- TheS3x, on 10/12/2007, -12/+50Making a minimum wage is just plain ridiculous in general, talk to any economist they will tell you its horrible for the countries economy. I may be somewhat liberal, but I look out for the good of the economy.
- NinjaBoy, on 10/12/2007, -14/+50If they are teenagers they will just dump the money right back into the stores who are having to pay min wage.
- ebcreasoner, on 10/12/2007, -13/+49One hour = Small popcorn + small drink + Soul
- Wamzlee, on 10/12/2007, -13/+45Holy *****! I would be earning $0.25 more if this raise started now :-O I am totally in! haha
- frogpelt, on 10/12/2007, -17/+47"Are you saying we should just continue to give all the wealth, more and more, to the richest people?"
@bugsy187
Why is it SO hard to figure out that the rich didn't get rich by having it handed to them? And the poor won't get rich by having it handed to them either.
Capitalism works! (If you let it...) - Muyoso, on 10/12/2007, -28/+57Minimum wage law is pretty terrible, and the best you can do is bring up a wiki with theoretical arguments.
A majority of the people that make minimum wage are teenagers that are also in school and are supported by their parents. This increase will do one of two things, it will either decrease the amount of jobs available, or it will cause increased prices. Both are bad for the economy. There ARE jobs out there which only warrant around 5 dollars an hour, yet its illegal to pay a person that. In a free society, a business should be able to offer jobs paying any amount they feel like, and its up to the people to choose if they take them or leave them. In a capitalist society, if a business tries to take advantage of people paying them only 70% of what they are worth, a new business will come along and offer 75%, then another at 80% until it works its way up to the zone most profitable both for the company and the employees. - browwiw, on 10/12/2007, -8/+37Flaming Burst Longsword +3
- knightblade2oo4, on 10/12/2007, -5/+33here in Washington (state) it gets raised every Jan 1. It's $7.93 now.
- Yez70, on 10/12/2007, -14/+42OH THE HORROR!!!!
We're going to be paying through the noses! Business will have to close and declare bankruptcy. Inflation will skyrocket! Nobody will survive!
/end_sarc
Ok, so what's this gonna cost me?
FTA: "The Labor Department says 479,000 workers paid by the hour earned exactly $5.15 in 2005, the most recent estimate available."
479,000 workers X 40 hours a week X 52 weeks a year is 996,320,000 hours of hard work a year from these minimum wage earners.
In about 2 years they'll be earning $7.25 an hour - that's a HUGE $2.10 raise for nothing?!
996,320,000 hours of work X $2.10 raise comes to a whopping $2,092,272,000
WOW - Over 2 BILLION DOLLARS more! Now that's a raise!
$2,092,272,000 is a lot of money / (300 million Americans + 10 million illegals) comes to $6.75 each
$6.75 / 365 days is just under 2 cents a day.
Huh?!
2 cents a day, per person, so 479 thousand people can afford rent and food?
What are we b*tching about again?
BTW, isn't the price of ONE B-1 Bomber about 2 Billion? - Akaji, on 10/12/2007, -8/+35Inflation +1
*sigh* - lizcaffe, on 10/12/2007, -27/+53did anyone take economics??? raising minimum wage is NOT a good thing!
- chaser324, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26Obesity - 1
Poverty + 1 - mobdragon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24"Thank you, Dennis. Before I started comedy, I used to work at McDonald's making minimum wage. You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? It's like, "Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law." Now minimum wage used to come up to about $200 a week and then they'd take out $50 in taxes. That's alot of money if you're only making $200 a week. That's kinda like kicking Monday and Tuesday in the ass. I hate taxes, I hate checks. I hate the fact that they put two amounts of money on your check. It's like: This is the money you worked all week for, and this is what you're gonna get. Don't tease me! Don't take off your bra and say: "Whatcha lookin' at?" I think taxes are the reason there's so much crime. "
- Chris Rock - darkamster07, on 10/12/2007, -9/+31I forget who it was that wisely said that increasing the minimum wage would be the worst decision to try and "help" the unfortunate in America.
- Jolls, on 10/12/2007, -6/+28Your complaining about statistics, so lets see some of your statistics. I would wager that most people who earn minimum wage are "first time job" folk like teenagers. Even unskilled laborers earn a livable income of 10 dollars an hour (livable meaning that there are 2 wager earners in a family). Some would argue that there isn't always 2 wage earners in a family, well, if you only have one, and that person is making 10 dollars an hour then there is government help to buy groceries, tax deductions, and everything else to make it possible. The only thing raising the minimum wage does is to increase the inflation rate of this country.
Personally, I'm for no minimum wage, and for a free market. (Note that I don't just support a quick change to no minimum wage, a number of things would have to happen before, at the same time, and after to make it work; but work it would) - LarianLeQuella, on 10/12/2007, -10/+31It's not as simple as that. Most Mom and Pop operations work in very slim margins. Even the graduate scale of these increases will affect them profoundly. Of course, if you like places like Wal Mart and such, you won't notice a difference. ;)
- eker, on 10/12/2007, -20/+41Why don't they just raise it to $1 million an hour? Then no one would be poor!
- RioGangsta, on 10/12/2007, -20/+40@EuphopiaB
I would have agreed with you a few years ago... But I learned that things are not black and white anymore. For everything, you must consider the context.
For example: You might have a powerful employer in a city and a large number of residents without a job. Even deserving way more than $X / hour, the employer knows that the balance leans towards him since he's one of the few in that city that can offer a job, so this employer will just offer 70% of $X and he knows he will be able to hire someone.
This is explained in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage#Theoretical_arguments posted by a previous user. - SakisRakis, on 10/12/2007, -17/+37@bugsy187
The rich don't accumulate wealth by sitting around saying, "Mmmmm, yes! Work slaves! Ha Ha Ha!"
They provide both the fiscal and mental capitol. The value of labor need but be equal to the value of the product produced. (Unless you are Marx...) - jeremyonfire, on 10/12/2007, -14/+34@Lyph4
If you're not earning a livable wage, how the hell can you afford college? - pintomp3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19actually, it was the democrats who tried to get the minimum wage increased, but the republicans attached a poison pill to defeat it.
- goatspanka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18@reed311
If student loans were based on credit history, I never would have been able to go to college. - TheIconoclast31, on 10/12/2007, -10/+27I immediately thought of Milton Friedman on Open Mind, which was Dugg earlier. Definitely worth watching, if you missed it the first time around:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6813529239937418232 - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -24/+41If you can't earn a livable wage with your skills, than you should go back to school.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20And they'll blame Bush for it.
- trunkster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Here's a map of how many states would really be effected by this:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm
Most states are already higher then the federal minimum wage, some are even higher then the one just passed.
I would not want to live in Kansas though...... - gkzhang, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22Us waiters get paid 2.13 an hour, but tips usually more than make up for it. Does anybody know how much the new minimum wage for the tip recieving species of people would be?
- RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -22/+37Yeah, there are two sides to the argument - Economists, and Democrats.
Minimum wage is a price floor for labor. It's not a good thing for the economy. - michaelb1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15kill two birds with one stone.
Pay minimum wage to people that build bombers.
more jobs. cheaper bombers. - Wamzlee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Oh *****...that means my cable bill is going to go up another $5? Just like it does every ***** year?!
- thep1mp, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17and in a few weeks, everyone will wonder why every product we buy has gone up in price, thereby weakening our purchasing power.
- corduroy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Getting a degree does not magically entitle you to a good paying job.
I received my BS in Biology last year and since then I've had to compete with MS degree holders for entry level Research Associate jobs. I applied for Med school but so far it's been competitive enough where I haven't been fortunate. So in a year of looking for a research based position (I was offered one for 24k a year, salary (~50 hours a week)... in hindsight, I should have took it). I could go for an MS degree, but they want to see real world research experience... sigh. This may as well reflect on the state of research here in the States. [Sorry, enough of my commentary]
On the other hand, I have friends who make ~50k+ a year without a college degree. The answer isn't in getting a degree, get a degree if that's the path you want to take (especially in a field you enjoy). My friends who make ~50k+ a year work hard as hell in high pressure (and some dangerous) jobs. It's about sacrifice. The lazy still won't make a liveable wage. - Stephenishere, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Haha you have one of the highest income tax rates in the united states!
- betacmag4u, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17In the 1950s and 1960s the minimum wage averaged 50% of average hourly earnings. That number decreased to 44% in the 1970s and hovered around 39% in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, the minimum wage is only 33% of the average hourly earnings, its lowest level in more than 50 years.
Today's minimum wage rate of $5.15 an hour is insufficient to allow working families to meet their most basic needs in 2002, about 2.6 million full-time, year-round workers lived in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau 2003
A recent comparison of Costco and Wal-Mart found that even though Costco's hourly wages and benefits were significantly higher than Wal-Mart's, Costco's employee turnover was lower and its productivity (profits per employee) was higher. Costco's higher-pay strategy results in a "productive and loyal workforce" with lower recruitment and training costs (Holmes and Zellner 2004, pp. 76-77).
http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/briefingpapers_bp151
The above stastic is why I shop probably 80% of the time at Costco. - nixonrichard, on 10/12/2007, -7/+19"Inflation +1
*sigh*"
I still have student loan debt . . . so I'm all for inflation right now. For people with debt, inflation is like driving a 6000 lb car. It's good for you, but it screws over everyone else. - bioskope, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1320*4 *6.45 = 516
20*4*7.25 = 580
64 bucks
Wow life sure is going to get better for us international students - chapium, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12thats assuming you can get a job
- William01, on 10/12/2007, -7/+18"The rich don't accumulate wealth by sitting around saying, 'Mmmmm, yes! Work slaves! Ha Ha Ha!' They provide both the fiscal and mental capitol. The value of labor need but be equal to the value of the product produced."
The nobility in the middle ages thought they were on top because they deserved it, too.
There is no way to prove with data that the rich work more or less hard or are more are less deserving or talented. There is only anecdotal evidence and "feelings". From my own personal experience, having been at the very bottom, and close enough to the top to get a rather good look at it, the poor work harder on average, but there are about an equal number of rich and poor that are hard working and lazy, intelligent and stupid.
I've met many ditch diggers (which I was for several years) that were both smarter and harder working than many of the CEOs I've known, and vice versa.
Financial success in our society, like most, is based at least as much on the luck of opportunity as on intelligence and hard work. I'm sure many of you have seen flattery, unscrupulousness, and incompetence rise in large organizations, while talent and hard work flounders. I'm sure, like me, you've also seen many extremely talented and hard-working small business owners fail, while others with far less of both qualities financially prosper because of family wealth and business connections.
As I said above, I was a ditch-digger for several years (and other similar low-wage positions), and no amount of hard work would have ever gotten me an inch above the bottom of the economic ladder. When you find yourself in that economic position, of being one of the bottom earners in this country, it's virtually impossible to escape from. Every day is a struggle to survive - keep a roof over your head, put food on the table, and gas in the car to get to work again. Only a stroke of pure luck allowed me to escape. I married a woman whose mother who had the kindness and financial means to allow us to live in her house with her for a very small amount of money. Only through this "welfare" was I able to get a degree in computer engineering and pull my family out of poverty.
Hard work and intelligence alone is not enough to pull people out of poverty. They must also be given decent compensation for their work, and opportunities to better themselves and their economic position. These things aren't socialism, they're the basic foundations of a humane and meritocratic society. -
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