Is raising the minimum wage really the best solution?

[Klingsor]

Yeah, I'm out too. Play nice while I'm gone, kids.

 

[Thikn2velvet1]

All over the world.



Country doesn't matter. You're still cool with the inequity, right? It's theirs, they earned it.

So there aren’t miles and miles of abject squalor in the US? So in a discussion of the minimum wage in America, you post pics of I guess Mumbai?

Way to stay on topic.

 

[twoton]

I'm really unsure about minimum wage increases. On the one hand, I want everyone to earn a "living" wage. On the other hand, I'm not sure that increasing the minimum wage is a long term help because it will eventually lead to higher prices.

 

[wallyj84]

2 people husband and wife both making $15/hr can do ok in lots of places in America. If you earn $50000 in NYC, you only need $18000 to
live in Lincoln Nebraska. A 60% difference.

Do you feel broke now?

As has been established in this thread, $15 is the minimum hourly wage needed to survive in America. So of course two people pooling their resources at that income level would do quite well. Are you arguing for a minimum wage hike?

Are you saying that poor people should move to less expensive cities? Nevermind that those places are cheaper for a reason. That reason usually being that less people want to live there due to the lack of job opportunities. Plus if a bunch of people tried to move to those places prices would start increase and they would be as expensive as every place else. So I don't think moving is the best solution.

In answer to your question, I make significantly more than I did when living abroad, so I am quite comfortable in my expensive city.

 

[Klingsor]

So there aren’t miles and miles of abject squalor in the US? So in a discussion of the minimum wage in America, you post pics of I guess Mumbai?

Way to stay on topic.

You asked me to elaborate; now it's my fault because I humored you?

Good to know.

 

[phonehome]

PLus you have to afford to move in the first place

 

[185248]

Don't get me wrong, I support anyone earning a higher wage and don't agree with the, "get a better job" argument of the right leaning set, but I do wonder if increasing the minimum wage is the best way to fix the underlying problems that the push for $15 movement is hoping to solve.

For example affordable housing is a big issue right now, but would raising the minimum wage solve that problem or just make it worse? Wouldn't prices just increase to match what tenants are capable of paying? Isn't the real issue a mismatch between the supply of affordable homes and the demand?

In my view raising the minimum wage is just a band-aid for underlying structural problems with the system. Does anyone agree? What do you think of the movement to increase the minimum wage?

Rising interest rates...Government/taxpayer subsidised manufacturing industries, car manufacturers, oil companies, farm produce + Trade tariffs supposedly to stop cheap imported goods imposed,to force citizens to buy locally made products they can not afford because of low or no wage growth.

Also retaliatory tariffs imposed by trading nations will further increase the price of homemade products..........

All adds up to a healthy, booming economy...right?

And, there is no substantial interest rate to stimulate an economy if and when things go belly up.

So wall, don't worry too much about affordable housing. When do you remember an interest rate was this low? At the moment yours is the same as ours 1.75%...the UK .75%.

Ours is predicted to stay at this for 2 years. And, if the shit did hit the fan.....where will the stimulation come from?

Affordable housing will happen when no-one is able to keep it.

Not being negative, but it's just the reality that people need to study a bit.

 

[wallyj84]

Rising interest rates...Government/taxpayer subsidised manufacturing industries, car manufacturers, oil companies, farm produce + Trade tariffs supposedly to stop cheap imported goods imposed,to force citizens to buy locally made products they can not afford because of low or no wage growth.

Also retaliatory tariffs imposed by trading nations will further increase the price of homemade products..........

All adds up to a healthy, booming economy...right?

And, there is no substantial interest rate to stimulate an economy if and when things go belly up.

So wall, don't worry too much about affordable housing. When do you remember an interest rate was this low? At the moment yours is the same as ours 1.75%...the UK .75%.

Ours is predicted to stay at this for 2 years. And, if the shit did hit the fan.....where will the stimulation come from?

Affordable housing will happen when no-one is able to keep it.

Not being negative, but it's just the reality that people need to study a bit.

So I should just wait until an economic collapse to buy a house? Not a bad idea, honestly.

 

[185248]

So I should just wait until an economic collapse to buy a house? Not a bad idea, honestly.

It's what most sensible people do wall....but hey...It's hotly disputed here if I have any

 

[Klingsor]

So I should just wait until an economic collapse to buy a house? Not a bad idea, honestly.

Unless the house falls on *you*.

 

[wallyj84]

Unless the house falls on *you*.

I think that sentiment exists for most of capitalism.

 

[Drifterwood]

The best thing that happened for freedom and higher wages was the Black Death.

We have a thing called the Living Wage and it can be calculated area by area. Minimum wages are a blunt instrument. Employers can sign up to the Living Wage scheme voluntarily.

 

[Klingsor]

The best thing that happened for freedom and higher wages was the Black Death.

Finally, a man with a practical suggestion.

 

[Novaboy]

I don't care how "meanial" the job is . If you spend a significant amount of your life dedicated to doing that job, you deserve to be paid a fair wage.

This is so true. I once (25 years ago) applied for a job at IKEA. At the interview they explained that they paid all of their employees the same (management may have been different, I'm not sure). Their philosophy, perhaps a Scandinavian attitude was that no one job was more important to the company as a whole than another. If you sweep the floor or stock shelves, or work the cash or in the restaurant, you bring as much value as people who build displays, work on the sales floor or design kitchens. Back then the top wage (it rose as you worked their longer) was $13 per hour. Minimum wag in Canada at the time was about $10. So even then they were ahead.

 

[Novaboy]

Another thing to keep in mind....those who make minimum wage tend to spend every cent. There is no money left over for savings. Even raising it by a few dollars per hour, most people will still spend it all. Those extra dollars go directly into the economy. In Canada, business always claims that raising minimum wage will kill jobs. They've claimed this since it was introduced decades ago. It never does.

A few years ago I remember Obama bringing attention to the fact that waitresses in (I think it was Louisiana) Were making about $2.25 per hour. Many people thought that this was just fine because "they get tips". That's $90 a week. To me, that is completely degrading. Work your ass off for $90 and hope that you get good tips that week. Wages like this keep prices artificially low...and all on the backs of the working poor.

 

[StormfrontFL]

Another thing to keep in mind....those who make minimum wage tend to spend every cent. There is no money left over for savings. Even raising it by a few dollars per hour, most people will still spend it all. Those extra dollars go directly into the economy. In Canada, business always claims that raising minimum wage will kill jobs. They've claimed this since it was introduced decades ago. It never does.

A few years ago I remember Obama bringing attention to the fact that waitresses in (I think it was Louisiana) Were making about $2.25 per hour. Many people thought that this was just fine because "they get tips". That's $90 a week. To me, that is completely degrading. Work your ass off for $90 and hope that you get good tips that week. Wages like this keep prices artificially low...and all on the backs of the working poor.

Well according to at least one person here those waitresses bring nothing to the table. They're pretty much worthless. It's that type of attitude, that if it were known, would get all manner of items added to his food somewhere between the kitchen and the table.

 

[Klingsor]

Well according to at least one person here those waitresses bring nothing to the table. They're pretty much worthless. It's that type of attitude, that if it were known, would get all manner of items added to his food somewhere between the kitchen and the table.

Yeah, I've never understood how people could have gone their entire lives without learning Rule #1: be nice to the person who handles your food.

 

[wallyj84]

Well according to at least one person here those waitresses bring nothing to the table. They're pretty much worthless. It's that type of attitude, that if it were known, would get all manner of items added to his food somewhere between the kitchen and the table.

No no no. You see, waitresses actually make a 6 figure income, that is completely untaxed, thanks to tips. I know this because my brother's wife's cousin's ex-gf's little sister's nanny's close friend was making that much and she was not at all a special case and totally representative of the situation of the vast majority of waitstaff.

 

[stax 68]

... Their philosophy, perhaps a Scandinavian attitude was that no one job was more important to the company as a whole than another. If you sweep the floor or stock shelves, or work the cash or in the restaurant, you bring as much value as people who build displays, work on the sales floor or design kitchens. Back then the top wage (it rose as you worked their longer) was $13 per hour. Minimum wag in Canada at the time was about $10. So even then they were ahead.

Awesome....now I like IKEA even more...thanks for sharing this..

 

[keenobserver]

Awesome....now I like IKEA even more...thanks for sharing this..

Ikea was caught using prison labor to keep costs down IKEA Used Cuban Prison Labor to Build Furniture, New Report Says UPDATE

How IKEA, Siemens and Aldi 'profited from slave labour in East Germany' | Daily Mail Online

Ikea Apologizes For Using East German Prison Labor Camps

Shall we put you down for a couple of bookcases?