Posted on 12/08/2013 4:55:32 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
In his speech at the Center for American Progress this week, President Obama devoted considerable time to an issue suddenly much in discussion: the minimum wage. This is not a new debate. In fact, it neatly echoes the last time Congress raised the minimum wage, in 2007, which echoed the debates before that. Few economic issues are such sweet catnip to ideological camps, and there is precisely zero consensus about whether these minimums have positive, negative or no effect.
Supporters say that a higher minimum wage will give people a better standard of living and boost consumption. Detractors argue that it will lead companies to hire fewer workers and kill job creation. One thing no one addresses, however, is that regardless of whether the government raises the minimum wage, our society can’t endlessly coast with a system that includes wage stagnation for the many and soaring prosperity for the few, nor can the government snap its legislative fingers and magically produce income. Someone will pay for these increases; nothing is free.
You wouldn’t know that from the tenor of the debate. In Obama’s speech, he stated that, “it’s well past the time to raise a minimum wage that in real terms right now is below where it was when Harry Truman was in office.” He acknowledged that many resist the idea of mandating a wage above the current $7.25 an hour. “We all know the arguments that have been used against a higher minimum wage. Some say it actually hurts low-wage workers — businesses will be less likely to hire them. But there’s no solid evidence that a higher minimum wage costs jobs, and research shows it raises incomes for low-wage workers and boosts short-term economic growth.”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Exactly. Currency is just an arbitrary reference for exchange of value so we don’t have to barter. A gallon of gas is worth about 25 minutes of menial labor. Pay someone $60/hr to run the gas station cash register, and soon that gas will cost $25/gal.
Those responsible have been sacked.
That is a defeatist mindset that we must do away with.
That mindset implies that because not everybody can be the company president, then why bother trying?
Well in large companies, there are many positions that are very challenging and pay very well such as Regional Manager, VP of Operations, Director of Technical Support, etc.
You need not become the company president in order to have a very rewarding and lucrative career.
I just stated that even a college degree isn’t worth much in many cases today. You’ll have to start reading a little closer.
Let’s also try this argument, cribbed from I forget where.
A willing employer and a willing employee agree to trade labor for dollars. Both are happy. It is a free market, after all; if either side did not like the deal, there would be no deal.
Except some busybody steps in and raises a stink about the unfairness of the deal. What gave him a right to interfere?
But, I think our intrepid food workers are saying they're not happy. I am purporting a way to explain the ramifications of the desire to suddenly increase one's wages (either by fiat or strike, as an example) with no fundamental increase in the value provided for that wage.
Let’s look at small businesses that hire young workers. A worker hired 3 years ago for $7.50/hr - that worker has worked hard and now earns $10.50/hr. A very reliable and trained worker.
Now we need to hire an additional worker - if min wage goes up too $10.50 and I hire a new worker - OK? I either raise the pay of the experienced worker and hire the new worker or I don’t hire the new worker....etc.
This is a real life experience in our 49 worker Pizza Store.
An increase in minimum wage automatically triggers an increase in union wages for many labor unions. And those additional union dues get siphoned back into Democrat campaign war chests.
example: two teenage siblings 2-3 years apart in age, older one gets an entry level job at min-wage, gets experience and moves on so the younger one can have the job now if older gets the job at $15.00, and if there's no motivation on their part for a better life, then there's no incentive either to move on, the younger one NEVER GETS THE JOB!!!
that's because RATS aren't smart enough to understand the business model of a lemonade stand...
I view the big increase in the minimum wage as a leftist attempt to create dependency in the young from the beginning. Not finding part-time or low wage work means that more young people do not learn what it takes to make yourself EMPLOYABLE. The economic value of the job needs to determine wage. Wage and price controls have proven over and over again that they do not work and are counter-productive. Minimum wage laws are a form of wage and price controls . . . it is bad medicine.
No it is not defeatist, it is God-ist and anti-world-ist.
To be high in His kingdom and carrying out His desires, can take a multitude of forms.
And anyhow you contradicted yourself.
But the lowly secretary, for example, might BE the person that God has placed to create an influence to a great deal of good. Earthly wealth when not spent upon the things of God will only prove a bane, not a boon.
I know the drill. I’ve been through it. God finally hammered this truth through my thick skull.
Also, to be a president may, ironically, be a low-power position in spite of the earthly riches. You may find yourself surrounded by kissing-up yes men (and women) who won’t ever let you know that something has gone fundamentally wrong in your enterprise, till it’s too late.
It is already happening.
Link to Momentum Machines (automated hamburger maker manufacturer):
They call them "executive assistants" these days but since I'm an old-timer, I can still call them secretaries. Just like I still call "flight attendants" stewardesses.
They call them "executive assistants" these days but since I'm an old-timer, I can still call them secretaries. Just like I still call "flight attendants" stewardesses.
These jokes just write themselves.
That is true... the point is how to get paid more than the current minimum wage, not necessarily the maximum theoretically possible.
A good secretary is worth every penny of that $70K. She is the memory and conscience of the office.
Secretaries usually used to be men. Having them be women was actually a women’s liberation move. But our modern women’s libbers are not appreciative of this.
And a lowly “minimum wage” gofer could migrate up to being a secretary.
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