Minimum Wage

Discussion in 'Senior Employment' started by Mal Campbell, Apr 20, 2015.

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Should the minimum wage be raised?

  1. Yes, but only be a few $ an hour

    3 vote(s)
    25.0%
  2. Yes, to the proposed $15 a hour

    2 vote(s)
    16.7%
  3. Yes, but phase it in over the next few years

    3 vote(s)
    25.0%
  4. No

    3 vote(s)
    25.0%
  5. Undecided

    1 vote(s)
    8.3%
  1. Mal Campbell

    Mal Campbell Supreme Member
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    I saw a poll on another site that asked if we thought the minimum wage should be changed to $15 a hour. The results were interesting - 41% for it, 40% against it and 18% undecided.

    I understand the plight of the minimum wage worker, but it scares me if it's raised by that much, inflation is sure to follow. I might support an increase of $1 or 2 an hour, but to double it?? That's just too much. These types of jobs where never intended to be "careers", they were intended for teens looking for a few extra bucks, for housewives that wanted to work a few hours while the kids were in school, or seniors who wanted to supplement their fixed income. To think that you're going to be able to get married and raise a family working at McDonald's is a little naive.

    By the same token, unemployment is a huge problem and these jobs are sometimes the only ones available, and it's better to be working for minimum wage than nothing. Of course, a lot of people have found out that they can live better on welfare than by working for minimum wage.

    If they raise it that much and inflation does result, what happens to those on Social Security. I know quite a few people who are barely making it on SS and you know they won't raise SS payments by that much.

    A complex issue, to be sure.
     
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  2. Mal Campbell

    Mal Campbell Supreme Member
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    Sorry, I meant to include a poll in my other post. What are your thoughts on raising minimum wage? Why do you feel that way?
     
    #2
  3. Admin

    Admin Forum Administrator
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    I've merged them.
     
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  4. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    The thing is, those minimum wage jobs at convenience stores or fast food places were never intended for being a family-supporting wage. Those were jobs usually filled by teenagers out of school, or after school, families who needed an extra income besides the full-time income of one of the partners, and even as supplemental incomes for retired people.
    The people who are saying that they can't live on that job are correct; but the solution is for them to get a better paying job and not for the minimum wage to be raised. Once they raise the minimum wage, then all of the other wages have to go up to keep thingss working equally; so then everything costs more, and they still can't live on the higher wage they are now making.
    Plus, income taxes are determined by how much income you have; and often times, a raise simply puts you into a higher tax bracket, and you end up paying more taxes and actually having less money to spend.
    Overall, the IRS is the one who benefits from wages being raised, because then everyone pays more taxes; but still lives at the same level as before.
    It just costs them more to do it.
    Even the fast food places have room for advancement; so if you are a McDonalds worker, then strive to become an assistant manager, or even the manager. Then you can make a living that can support a family.
     
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  5. Sheldon Scott

    Sheldon Scott Supreme Member
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    Companies don't hire people just for the fun of it. They hire people to do work that benefits the company so they can make a profit.

    A beginning unskilled worker makes minimum wage. As that worker gains some skills that benefit the company his pay will go up. If the minimum wage is too high that unskilled worker won't be a benefit to the company.

    If a company is forced to pay unskilled workers more than the company can benefit from, the company will be forced to either hire less people or not give deserved raises to skilled workers. Either way the company will suffer and in some cases may go out of business
     
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  6. Tina Randall

    Tina Randall Veteran Member
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    If you look at the economy every time the minimum wage has been increased, you will realize that the economy improves historically, so I think raising the minimum wage is a good thing. However, to jump immediately to $15 per hour for unskilled labor is ridiculous and puts an undue burden on many businesses. There has never been that large a jump that I'm aware of.
     
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  7. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    The main thing keeping wages down in the United States is the fact that our government refuses to control our borders. If there weren't people willing to work for less, people would willingly pay more. Artificially increasing wages through a minimum wage simply puts smaller businesses out of business, decreasing the availability of jobs.
     
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  8. Sheldon Scott

    Sheldon Scott Supreme Member
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    People talk about the price of burgers going up but there is much more to it than that. If the minimum wage is raised to $15 all the people now getting the minimum wage of $7.25 would get a raise.

    So would millions of other workers who are making above the minimum wage but less than $15. Sales clerks, factory workers, and many others. They will all become "minimum wage workers". And those workers who are getting more than $15 dollars an hour can forget about getting a raise because the younger, less skilled workers will be getting the raises.

    A lot more than burgers will be going up in price.
     
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  9. Brittany Houser

    Brittany Houser Veteran Member
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    You nailed it! That's exactly the problem. Also, to the poster who thinks that historically the economy improves with the raising of minimum wage: No it doesn't. It has the opposite effect. When minimum wage goes up, even large businesses won't hire as many people, resulting in a huge loss of jobs. It really is simple math. Any time the government sticks its nose into private enterprise, the said enterprise goes into a tailspin, most notably, the housing market, with rent subsidies, medical care and food. The government has no money of its own, only what it takes from us, the taxpayers. When it dictates what the private sector ought to do, the private sector has to go into survival mode.
     
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  10. Mal Campbell

    Mal Campbell Supreme Member
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    I couldn't agree more. The government has no business, being in business. That's not what they are elected to do. Most congresssmen have no experience or education when it comes to running a successful business. We need to let the private sector do what they do best. Yes, they are "money grubbing capitalist" who only care about making money and their bottom line. But that's what makes our economy work.

    Of course, they are going to pay the least amount they can for their workers, and charge the most they can for their product or service. But, when the salary gets too low, they can't find good workers and when the price gets too high, they can't find customers. They are pretty good at finding the right balance.

    If you look at the business where the government has put their two cents into it, you find that model doesn't work. Prime example - GM. Deemed "too big to fail", the government bailed them out, allowed them to go through a questionable, fraudulent "bankruptcy" and didn't require that they change their business practices. And what do we have - GM doing business exactly the same way they did before the bailout - they are building crap cars, charging too much for them. They closed down the dealerships that didn't agree with their politics. They continued to pay their executives huge salaries, with even bigger bonuses. Look at the amount of recalled cars that GM has had lately. And even worse, they have known safety problems that the government hasn't made them recalled. Can you say "Failure".

    The banks are another example - they are still continuing their mortgage lending under the same policies that almost brought down the whole house of cards and caused the housing market to collapse.

    I say - the government should stay in the business of governing us and let the private sector continue to run businesses in a successful way. If the business can't survive on their current business model they either need to change or go out of business.

    Sorry to rant - but as you can tell, this is a hot button issue for me.
     
    #10
  11. Jennifer Graves

    Jennifer Graves Veteran Member
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    I'm on salary so the minimum wage doesn't affect my life, personally. But I have so many wonderful people working for me that don't deserve to struggle so much. Kifle barely speaks English, at all. I'm not sure which country he came here from but I know its in Africa. I have never in my life seen someone who can do such a good job in so little time. I can't put him on the register since he only knows a few words, but he has a family to take care of. He has never called out, I never have to worry about catching him slacking, he won't steal, he really is the perfect employee. But I'm not allowed to pay him more than $8.00/ hour. It kills me to see such good employees getting screwed because my boss's think minimum wage is al they HAVE to pay them , so it'll be fine!
     
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  12. Pat Baker

    Pat Baker Supreme Member
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    I feel the wage should increase so that people have the ability to have a better life. As the salary increase so do the taxes that are deducted, the employee may not take home much more than before the increase in salary.
     
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  13. Jennifer Graves

    Jennifer Graves Veteran Member
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    Ideally, the minimum wage is supposed to go up at an equal rate with the cost of living increase. Inflation isn't supposed to happen until people are getting paid more, so they can spend now. Unfortunately, evil republicans have decided that billionaires aren't getting richer, fast enough. So they are allowing inflation. The big business d-bags are raising the prices on everything, and not paying anymore in labor. It's a d-bag win/win situation. And the D-bags running the government are helping. Thank god we have republicans in office. For just a second I was worried we would get more democrats, and who's going to screw me in the butt, then?
     
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  14. Hannah Davis

    Hannah Davis Veteran Member
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    To me yes minimum wage should be raised but certainly not to $15. Individuals don't realize what a can of worms they are opening by proposing such a thing. There are some places out there that can't afford to pay their employees that much an hour especially those working for minimum wage. As a result this could lead to more lay offs. So, yes it should be raisded but I think only by a dollar or two, not something too major and jarring.
     
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  15. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Unskilled kids just out of high school aren't worth $10 an hour, let alone $15. Businesses will simply refuse to hire such people. If we would secure our border, it wouldn't be long before businesses would be willing to pay more per hour, without a mandate. A high minimum wage simply raises the cost of living, as everyone has to raise prices in order to pay for it, so no one gains except for the government, who is able to collect more taxes.
     
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