Posted on 01/05/2006 9:06:49 AM PST by NormsRevenge
As the year begins, we find Sacramento once again considering raising the minimum wage. Only this time, Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated he might support a bill raising the minimum wage to $7.25 next year, and $7.75 the year after.
In the wake of high energy costs, high building costs, high liability insurance costs, and workers compensation reform that doesnt reduce costs nearly as much as we need to, we cannot afford to drive up the costs of doing business in California even higher. Even if you do not pay the minimum wage to more than a handful of employees, the inflationary impact it has on the entire salary scale can be significant.
The current federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. In California the minimum wage is $6.75 per hour. Left wing political rhetoric has succeeded in confusing the people into thinking that a wage is an entitlement, not the price that the worker is worth in the marketplace for the job performed, the skills possessed, or the desirability of the worker to the employer. I think it is time we remind ourselves that wages are, in fact, a price paid for labor.
Everyone is familiar with the harmful economic effects of arbitrary government price controls in other aspects of the economy. Rent control results in fewer rental units. Price control on any goods results in fewer of those goods. Price control on labor results in fewer jobs.
It is an emotionally charged issue, which fails to take into account the side effects of the law. If an employer has to pay an employee more than that employee produces for the company, the employer is losing money. So either the employee is fired, or the company goes bankrupt. Either way, the employee loses the job. This is government forced unemployment.
A forced minimum wage deprives the workplace of some lower skilled workers who would be capable of rendering beneficial services to an employer if that employee were allowed to be paid what his effort was worth, making that employee a productive member of society. The worker has been deprived of independence and self-respect which comes from self-support, even though he or she would otherwise be willing to do the work at a lower wage. Even worse, the best way to get a higher paying job is to do well at a lower paying job.
According to an analysis produced by the National Center of Policy Analysis, The primary cause of low income, , is no wages, not low wages. They conclude that most of those who earn low wages are either teen-agers or other secondary earners spread rather evenly across the income distribution scale. According to a summary of their analysis, While the single mother trying to support her child on a full-time minimum wage job is a better story, the 16-year-old hamburger-flipping student with college-educated and employed parents is a better fact. Low-income families have a large number of people without jobs and without the skills to get a job. A mandated minimum wage forces them even further out of the job market.
Increasing the minimum wage increases the cost of goods and services, forcing many of the people who lost their jobs as a result of this government intervention to either pay higher prices, or do without. The government has deprived them of a job they could perform, and which would form the basis of further training to acquire higher wages, and has increased the price of goods that they might otherwise have been able to buy. All of this is sold to the public in the name of helping the poor. Some help!
Low-income families do not benefit from a minimum wage, and neither does the taxpayer. Once again we will consider increasing the cost to employers in California for a program that has never shown any legitimate long-term benefit to the poor, and that has far more often been shown to be a detriment not only to employers, but to the very poor the program is supposed to help. After all, you can only make the minimum wage if you have an employer who is providing a job.
Oh, the horror.
Go out and invent something useful, and you too can live the high life.
Neither the employer or the tax payer owe you anything, either work and pay your own way in this world or lay down and die!
Eliminate welfare and the minimum wage.
Who says the worker has to work for THAT employer? Employers will pay what the workforce market requires.
And who says the taxpayers have to pick up the difference? Ever hear of people working more than one job? I've done it, my husband's done it, my son is doing it now.
Market forces should determine wages paid.
Actually, the best thing we can do for wages is not to make more laws, but to enforce the IMMIGRATION laws we have.
I wish I could agree with that but I just cannot anymore. Market forces are manipulated by the wealthy (usually) and they live like Kings and Queens while paying their workers a meager salary. I wish we could leave it up to market forces, but I just can't believe that McDonald's or Wal-Mart, etc... cannot afford to pay their workers more. I just can't believe that.
Watch the Live Webcast of the Governor's 2006 State of the State Address here Thursday, January 5 at 5:00pm.
Live Stream will be made available shortly before the webcast begins.
So maybe their employees should find better jobs. That's what I did.
I can't believe people settle for that kind of job. We should just outlaw fast food jobs and save the workers from having to work for only $7 an hour.
Market forces are entirely voluntary. In a real free market, those who aren't making enough would obtain the skill level necessary to better themselves on their own, and earn more money without the need for artifical controls or regulations that do more harm than good.
Nobody owes you anything, and nobody is forcing you to perform a job you find unsatisfactory.
I wish we could leave it up to market forces, but I just can't believe that McDonald's or Wal-Mart, etc... cannot afford to pay their workers more. I just can't believe that.
Most of the Wal-Mart and McDonald's workers are part-timers, kids in high school or college, or those using it as a 2nd job. If you consider Wal-Mart or McDonald's a lifetime career choice, then something is seriously wrong with you.
Fair enough. But can you believe that many Wal-Mart customers cannot afford to pay Wal-Mart's workers more? They are the ones who would bear that cost.
Last time I checked, McDonald's here locally was paying $10/hour. They had to because of competition for workers.
Market forces do work, and would work even better if we stopped making new laws and enforced the IMMIGRATION laws that we have.
Perhaps you should join the ranks of the "live-like-kings" wealthy and run your own McDonald's franchise. You will get the joys of only having to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week; dealing with problem employees; dealing with government regulations and paperwork; wondering how you're going to cover payroll this week; suing customers who don't pay and suppliers who don't deliver; and so on. Everyone I know who runs a small business deals with these risks, and none of them "live like kings". Some may live well, but none are super-rich.
Hey, I want $100/hr for minimum wage here in Calif!
Thus we can instantly create a society of affluence and wealth, eliminating not only poverty but the middle class.
We will all be wealthy elites.
Wonder if it would affect prices at Burger King though.
There are people who just can't believe that...
...George Bush won fairly in 2004
...George Bush won fairly in 2000
...George Bush is not a racist
...9-11 was not a Jewish conspiracy plot
...The NOLA levees weren't blown up on purpose
...Texas beat USC
...Bill Clinton would abuse women
...The Air Force does not have a UFO hidden in Area 51
...the moon landings were not faked
and so on.
Have it your way, for a $60 Whopper. I'm lovin' it.........
You betcha! But when has the left ever allowed reality to intrude into politics?
The real effect of this "raise" will be to drive more jobs out of the state and increase the number of "under the table" jobs worked both by both citizens and illegal immigrants.
Irrational, unsubstantiated SUPER-SCARY!!! conspiracy theory (from someone who has WAAAAAAY too little experience in struggling to beat competitor after competitor after competitor?).
"Can't?" You mean you've been REFUSING to understand. Suggestions: Keep taking Econ 101 until you pass, and build a business up to where YOU're becoming wealthy.
"Politics is all about getting and keeping power, and in politics, the professionals in the business soon learn that the only way to get and keep power is to force people to talk to them. A full-time legislature thinks of more and more things to regulate and discuss." -- California Assemblyman Ray Haynes, here: http://freedomkeys.com/politicians2.htm
And "MINIMUM WAGE, MAXIMUM FOLLY" by Dr. Walter E. Williams, here: http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4173
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