In places and times where workers are in high demand, and workers can pick and choose where they will work, and have some bargaining power, the “minimum wage” is unnecessary. However, that is rarely the case in the modern world. Indeed, when such conditions prevail, employers complain of the “high cost” of labor and of the “unreliability” of workers who might go from job to job looking for better pay. You can argue that the “minimum wage” should be set at a level that encourages work and demand and prevents exploitation, but not so high as to cripple businesses, and that it should be maintained at that level by periodically adjusting it for inflation. It could certainly be set too high, but you would have to outdo even Seattle to do that. One might also want to have a lower “minimum” for apprentice workers; it need not be the same for teenagers as adults. One can also still dispute how often it should be adjusted, and how high it should be, but preserving its buying power is key. OR You can argue that “minimum wage” should be eliminated, and instigate a “race to the bottom” as businesses try to work out how little they can pay and still retain a workforce in the present “buyers’ market” for workers. If classical economics are correct, we’ll soon have “twice the jobs at half the pay” and the unemployment rate will fall along with median income, and the ranks of the working poor will rise. Employers will naturally like this idea if they are short-sighted (as most people are) because (except at rare times of high employment) it gives that much more power over their workforce and lowers their costs. Experience suggests, however, that such a policy will not create many more jobs, at least not enough to offset the ill effects of the policy. But standing for the elimination of the “minimum wage” is at least intellectually honest. The dishonest, and hypocritical stand is to argue that the “minimum wage” should exist, but it should be static and rarely, if ever, be raised, and never in a depressed economy (the only time it is really useful). This stand is just eliminating it by stealth, as the cartoon suggests. This is often the stand of those fools who say, with great sarcasm “Why not just raise it to $50 an hour and make every worker rich?” The best answer to which is “Why not just lower it to 50 cents an hour and cut every business’s costs, and make every business thrive?”
"Indeed, when such conditions prevail, employers complain of the “high cost” of labor and of the “unreliability” of workers who might go from job to job looking for better pay. "About 15 years ago I used to work part time at a convenience store as a favor to the manager. The company paid a minimum wage starting pay and instructed their managers not to schedule anyone to have more than 29 hours per week.. The good employees stayed for about three to six months to gain experience, then quit to work for a competitor for more money. Other employees only stayed until they found a job in a bar or restaurant. Those that stayed tended to be incompetent, emotionally checked out, and/or thieves. Thanks to the company’s refusal to pay for drug testing, we also had a stoner that got high during his shift. The manager complained to head office about the situation and the company promised to raise the starting wage if she could find two other convenience stores that paid a higher starting wage. When she did, they reneged on the deal, telling her they refused to match one competitor because they paid their employees too much.
Labor is only a small part of the costs behind an item. Do you honestly believe that if we raise the minimum wage, say, $3, a Big Mac will automatically cost $3 more?I recall back during the Obamacare debates when the crapsack running Papa John’s announced that if he was forced to provide health insurance for his employees, he would have to charge … 11 to 14 cents more for a pizza. Awful and backbreaking, right?
Henry Ford was the originator of the assembly line. He visited a shoe manufacturer who was very proud of his adaptation of that process which was highly mechanized. He needed only a few employees. Ford’s question was " Yeah, but how many shoes do those machines buy each year?"
Re. Mr. Michael and Mr. Clayton;The correct studies show that the feudal system (that we are returning to) will have, by far, the most favorable outcome. Sharecropping was also in the running, but came in second.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt first created the minimum wage in 1938, it was 25 cents. Adjusted for inflation, that would be worth $4.07 today. – See more at: http://economy.money.cnn.com/2013/02/14/minimum-wage-history/#sthash.LztJaqkz.dpuf
“May I point out that the last time there was near universal high demand for workers was during the Clinton years. When even McDonalds and Burger King had to pay nearly double minimum wage in order to get workers. And you know what? They ALL were profitable. "-Yeah, at that time people who wanted one could get a job. Race relations were better than they are now, and crime was down.-And Republicans hated it. And they vowed it would never happen again. And so far, they’ve been successful.
I have mentioned this before. PART of the reason that raising the minimum wage is another by-product of the exodus of shipping jobs overseas. There are millions of workers who were employed for 10 or 20 years at a company which either got into serious trouble (during which executive officers gave themselves “retention” bonuses), was bought out, or shipped part of, or all operations overseas. They probably have families who depend on him, mortgages, insurance and rising energy costs to contend with. After a period of unemployment, many managed to get a job at a fast-food outlet, a big-box store chain or delivering pizza. These are the UNDER-EMPLOYED. I know quite a few of them personally, as many of you may. They struggle to keep their heads from going under, plundering the kid’s college funds, their savings, their retirement investments.
Working at the above mentioned jobs USED to be a starting point for teens, part time mothers or retirees, but today, it is the only job many can get! This is a major reason for raising the minimum wage today.
Whichever party takes power in 2016 SHOULD make it a TOP PRIORITY to entice American businesses back to U.S. soil. Bringing prosperity back to the middle class will ease, if not eliminate many of the problems we now have. The top of the economic pyramid have had their rape. How about it Washington? How about the rest of us?
“If the minimum wage is increased by such a huge amount the unions will get a huge wage increase too as their wages are tied to the minimum wage.Hence more in political donations to the democrats from the unions.”-Translation: Keep poor Americans poor- any excuse to stick it to Democrats!
DLee4144: Get your history straight. The first assembly line was in England, before Ford was born, making straight pins. The Ford reference had nothing to do with shoes; it is an apocryphal story about Ford showing Walter Reuther (head of UAW) some assembly robots as a threat, saying “where are your members now?” and Reuther replying, “where are your customers?”
“We didn’t have a Drug War till we started it in 1914. “Saint” Reagan gave us the 4th Amendment smashing random drug test.”My main employment is in manufacturing. While I don’t believe in random drug testing, I am strongly in favor in drug testing as a precursor to employment and after an employee has had an accident on the job.
Hi Mechanic. Thanks for you kind words. By “intellectually honest” I mean logically consistent. That’s not the same as correct. The misogynist who says he hates all women or the bigot who preaches white supremacy and racist ideology are both wrong and honest. The one who says he likes and respects women, and believe in the equality of all people, and then promotes policies that practices that perpetuate white male hegemony is a hypocrite. I know people who honestly believe that eliminating the minimum wage is a good idea, who have such blind faith in “the market” that they really thing that eliminating it would maximize both jobs and wages, and be the best for everybody. Their view is honest and consistent. I think they’re wrong, and I think their view flies in the face of experience. But it is not hypocritical.
No handouts? So I assume you had no mentors, no student loans, no state subsidies for education, no tax abatements for housing or locating a business in a JEDD or JEDZ?No taxes for streets/public transportation? No public schools? No public libraries? No development for the shopping centers you frequent?KMA BABAY!
Rebel Strike: Sorry, you are in my lifespan now. The only textile industry jobs held by black were the same as for any other industry – janitors and porters. I lived in several towns growing up in which textiles were the main town industry.
I have worked since I started my paper route at 13 years old. I went to college, paying my own tuition. At times I worked TWO jobs. Started my own business in 2000. But, in the Fall of 2008, when Wall Street excesses devastated my customer base, I subsidized the business with MY OWN MONEY, until the Summer of 2011, when I could no longer afford it. I got a job three months later. After eight months, the company switched ownership, and as last hired, was first laid off (with a few others).You really don’t think we have a class system in this country?
Get off your f@cking, fat-ass high horse. Stop pontificating what you know s@it about!
Doughfoot almost 10 years ago
In places and times where workers are in high demand, and workers can pick and choose where they will work, and have some bargaining power, the “minimum wage” is unnecessary. However, that is rarely the case in the modern world. Indeed, when such conditions prevail, employers complain of the “high cost” of labor and of the “unreliability” of workers who might go from job to job looking for better pay. You can argue that the “minimum wage” should be set at a level that encourages work and demand and prevents exploitation, but not so high as to cripple businesses, and that it should be maintained at that level by periodically adjusting it for inflation. It could certainly be set too high, but you would have to outdo even Seattle to do that. One might also want to have a lower “minimum” for apprentice workers; it need not be the same for teenagers as adults. One can also still dispute how often it should be adjusted, and how high it should be, but preserving its buying power is key. OR You can argue that “minimum wage” should be eliminated, and instigate a “race to the bottom” as businesses try to work out how little they can pay and still retain a workforce in the present “buyers’ market” for workers. If classical economics are correct, we’ll soon have “twice the jobs at half the pay” and the unemployment rate will fall along with median income, and the ranks of the working poor will rise. Employers will naturally like this idea if they are short-sighted (as most people are) because (except at rare times of high employment) it gives that much more power over their workforce and lowers their costs. Experience suggests, however, that such a policy will not create many more jobs, at least not enough to offset the ill effects of the policy. But standing for the elimination of the “minimum wage” is at least intellectually honest. The dishonest, and hypocritical stand is to argue that the “minimum wage” should exist, but it should be static and rarely, if ever, be raised, and never in a depressed economy (the only time it is really useful). This stand is just eliminating it by stealth, as the cartoon suggests. This is often the stand of those fools who say, with great sarcasm “Why not just raise it to $50 an hour and make every worker rich?” The best answer to which is “Why not just lower it to 50 cents an hour and cut every business’s costs, and make every business thrive?”
gawaintheknight almost 10 years ago
“Every single economic study” shows nothing of the kind.
http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/min-wage-2013-02.pdf
Jason Allen almost 10 years ago
"Indeed, when such conditions prevail, employers complain of the “high cost” of labor and of the “unreliability” of workers who might go from job to job looking for better pay. "About 15 years ago I used to work part time at a convenience store as a favor to the manager. The company paid a minimum wage starting pay and instructed their managers not to schedule anyone to have more than 29 hours per week.. The good employees stayed for about three to six months to gain experience, then quit to work for a competitor for more money. Other employees only stayed until they found a job in a bar or restaurant. Those that stayed tended to be incompetent, emotionally checked out, and/or thieves. Thanks to the company’s refusal to pay for drug testing, we also had a stoner that got high during his shift. The manager complained to head office about the situation and the company promised to raise the starting wage if she could find two other convenience stores that paid a higher starting wage. When she did, they reneged on the deal, telling her they refused to match one competitor because they paid their employees too much.
Christopher Shea almost 10 years ago
Labor is only a small part of the costs behind an item. Do you honestly believe that if we raise the minimum wage, say, $3, a Big Mac will automatically cost $3 more?I recall back during the Obamacare debates when the crapsack running Papa John’s announced that if he was forced to provide health insurance for his employees, he would have to charge … 11 to 14 cents more for a pizza. Awful and backbreaking, right?
Diane Lee Premium Member almost 10 years ago
Henry Ford was the originator of the assembly line. He visited a shoe manufacturer who was very proud of his adaptation of that process which was highly mechanized. He needed only a few employees. Ford’s question was " Yeah, but how many shoes do those machines buy each year?"
6.6TA almost 10 years ago
Re. Mr. Michael and Mr. Clayton;The correct studies show that the feudal system (that we are returning to) will have, by far, the most favorable outcome. Sharecropping was also in the running, but came in second.
oneoldhat almost 10 years ago
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt first created the minimum wage in 1938, it was 25 cents. Adjusted for inflation, that would be worth $4.07 today. – See more at: http://economy.money.cnn.com/2013/02/14/minimum-wage-history/#sthash.LztJaqkz.dpuf
braindead Premium Member almost 10 years ago
“May I point out that the last time there was near universal high demand for workers was during the Clinton years. When even McDonalds and Burger King had to pay nearly double minimum wage in order to get workers. And you know what? They ALL were profitable. "-Yeah, at that time people who wanted one could get a job. Race relations were better than they are now, and crime was down.-And Republicans hated it. And they vowed it would never happen again. And so far, they’ve been successful.
moosemin almost 10 years ago
I have mentioned this before. PART of the reason that raising the minimum wage is another by-product of the exodus of shipping jobs overseas. There are millions of workers who were employed for 10 or 20 years at a company which either got into serious trouble (during which executive officers gave themselves “retention” bonuses), was bought out, or shipped part of, or all operations overseas. They probably have families who depend on him, mortgages, insurance and rising energy costs to contend with. After a period of unemployment, many managed to get a job at a fast-food outlet, a big-box store chain or delivering pizza. These are the UNDER-EMPLOYED. I know quite a few of them personally, as many of you may. They struggle to keep their heads from going under, plundering the kid’s college funds, their savings, their retirement investments.
Working at the above mentioned jobs USED to be a starting point for teens, part time mothers or retirees, but today, it is the only job many can get! This is a major reason for raising the minimum wage today.
Whichever party takes power in 2016 SHOULD make it a TOP PRIORITY to entice American businesses back to U.S. soil. Bringing prosperity back to the middle class will ease, if not eliminate many of the problems we now have. The top of the economic pyramid have had their rape. How about it Washington? How about the rest of us?
CasualBrowser almost 10 years ago
“If the minimum wage is increased by such a huge amount the unions will get a huge wage increase too as their wages are tied to the minimum wage.Hence more in political donations to the democrats from the unions.”-Translation: Keep poor Americans poor- any excuse to stick it to Democrats!
hippogriff almost 10 years ago
DLee4144: Get your history straight. The first assembly line was in England, before Ford was born, making straight pins. The Ford reference had nothing to do with shoes; it is an apocryphal story about Ford showing Walter Reuther (head of UAW) some assembly robots as a threat, saying “where are your members now?” and Reuther replying, “where are your customers?”
Jason Allen almost 10 years ago
“We didn’t have a Drug War till we started it in 1914. “Saint” Reagan gave us the 4th Amendment smashing random drug test.”My main employment is in manufacturing. While I don’t believe in random drug testing, I am strongly in favor in drug testing as a precursor to employment and after an employee has had an accident on the job.
Doughfoot almost 10 years ago
Hi Mechanic. Thanks for you kind words. By “intellectually honest” I mean logically consistent. That’s not the same as correct. The misogynist who says he hates all women or the bigot who preaches white supremacy and racist ideology are both wrong and honest. The one who says he likes and respects women, and believe in the equality of all people, and then promotes policies that practices that perpetuate white male hegemony is a hypocrite. I know people who honestly believe that eliminating the minimum wage is a good idea, who have such blind faith in “the market” that they really thing that eliminating it would maximize both jobs and wages, and be the best for everybody. Their view is honest and consistent. I think they’re wrong, and I think their view flies in the face of experience. But it is not hypocritical.
reynard61 almost 10 years ago
Teapublican motto: “I’ve got mine, and I want *yours* too!”
I Quit almost 10 years ago
If you have a minimum education and minimum skillset, why should you get a raise?
edward thomas Premium Member almost 10 years ago
No handouts? So I assume you had no mentors, no student loans, no state subsidies for education, no tax abatements for housing or locating a business in a JEDD or JEDZ?No taxes for streets/public transportation? No public schools? No public libraries? No development for the shopping centers you frequent?KMA BABAY!
hippogriff almost 10 years ago
Rebel Strike: Sorry, you are in my lifespan now. The only textile industry jobs held by black were the same as for any other industry – janitors and porters. I lived in several towns growing up in which textiles were the main town industry.
moosemin almost 10 years ago
I have worked since I started my paper route at 13 years old. I went to college, paying my own tuition. At times I worked TWO jobs. Started my own business in 2000. But, in the Fall of 2008, when Wall Street excesses devastated my customer base, I subsidized the business with MY OWN MONEY, until the Summer of 2011, when I could no longer afford it. I got a job three months later. After eight months, the company switched ownership, and as last hired, was first laid off (with a few others).You really don’t think we have a class system in this country?
Get off your f@cking, fat-ass high horse. Stop pontificating what you know s@it about!
DavidGBA almost 10 years ago
Pity the waiters: their minimum wage was set so far back, when min wage was $4.40 or such.
attarian almost 10 years ago
“their wages are tied to the minimum wage” Really?