Who supports raising minimum wage to $10.00 per hour?

[jeter]

I was thinking. The problem with the US economy is that there is not enough stimulus right? That's why Bush keeps pumping all this money. We need to "inflate" the economy in order to avoid deflation.

The nineties saw services cut and personal debt rise. Whatever money is left is given to wealthy people. That's why standard's of living are falling or remaining stagnant. This is the real problem with the economy today.

Solution. Raise minimum wage to $10.00 per hour. People would truly have more money in their pockets. It is an incentive to work. And the economy "deflates" itself naturally.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. a living wage...I DO!

[G_j]

4. agreed

why should ANYONE work full time and not make a living wage?

[sandnsea]

2. YES!!!

Slowly, over 3 years so as not to shock the business owner. But YES we've absolutely got to get people's salaries up to living wages. Otherwise we will be in a continued downward spiral, workers will get more and more desperate and accept less and less, and CEO's and stockholders will move offshore to the Bahamas and bask in the sun on the backs of our own stupidity. The Gilded Age anyone?

[Iverson]

3. not any specific number, but up

I could go along with ten dollars.

Here is a link to the Minimum Wage Issue Guide for those interested in research.

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguides_minwage_minwage

[PaDUer]

5. That's not even a 1/4

of what they're making in DC & that we're paying for...guess they don't like living with "normal people".

[tsipple]

6. Mr. Contrarian Here...

...No, I don't. Here's why:

1. Teens (summer jobs, etc.) Ten bucks per hour is still a lot of money to these workers, and a $10 minimum wage would likely worsen teen unemployment.

2. Free trade. When folks in India, China, and elsewhere make a few cents per hour, $10/hour will accelerate job losses to those countries. A worldwide minimum wage, well...

3. No benefits. If we boost the minimum wage, let's do it in such a way that healthcare and retirement benefits are part of the equation. Much as I hate government telling people how to spend their own money, especially the working poor, I do think everyone needs healthcare and retirement security.

4. Lousy tax policy. We could help the working poor far more by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), providing federally-funded exemptions to regressive taxes such as the sales tax, and returning our tax system to more progressivity. Minimum wage workers are still paying taxes. Why? Cut those taxes or even make them negative. Lift the cap on FICA contributions (payroll taxes), and reduce the rate.

[liberalmuse]

10. A livable wage should've been put into effect a long time ago

We've been programmed to accept low wages, when those higher up on the company ladder get a hundred + times more. What's wrong with a livable wage AND good health insurance/retirement benefits? I'm not trying to slam you, you have some really good points, but it's just too bad that we have to compromise on this. We're nothing more than slaves if we don't work towards changing this situation.

People all over the world should be getting a livable wage, especially if American companies are the ones providing the jobs. There is no excuse for the kind of exploitation of the poorest in the world American companies (our government included) are guilty of. Especially when theses companies CEO's are getting huge tax breaks here in America, kickbacks, multi-million-dollar bonuses, etc.

Unfortunately, this dream won't work unless the entire human race wakes up, because if one group demands more money, another group will be willing to work for piss poor wages, and all is lost. But isn't it madness that we are considered presumptious to even think of such a thing as a 'livable wage', when you really think about it?

[MiltonLeBerle]

22. When you really think about it-

Why should people feel entitled to a job at all, let alone a 'livable wage'?
and just what is a 'livable' wage?
All you need to 'live' are food&water, clothing & shelter- and there are a lot of people who 'live' with the barest minimum of all of them.

So- are you talking a 'livable' wage, or a 'livable in the lifestyle to which I've become accustomed' wage?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. "Mr. Counter-Contrarian Here..."

1. The value of the job done is commensurate to the age of the employee? I think not.

2. Jobs aren't being shipped out to India and China right now, as we speak? I think not.

3. 40-70 million Americans don't have health care right now. We're unable to have both in the richest country in the world? I think not.

4. Just return the upper income tax bracket to pre-Reagan levels(60% or so, iirc)and lift the cap on FICA and we'll be just fine.

Is it really that hard? I don't think so.

[tsipple]

25. Some (1st) Contrarian Responses...

1. Actually, yes. Teens are (usually) dependents, with basic needs (e.g. housing) already paid. They're also often apprentices, learning valuable job skills. It's important for employers to have some incentive to bring teens into the labor force. Let's see if we can meet in the middle and say that employers could devote some amount of a minimum wage to actual apprentice-related expenses. (See Germany for something akin to this idea.) If we just raise the minimum wage for every teen we'll penalize those few employers who are actually investing in their job skills.

2. My point is that, absent some counterweight policy, job loss to India and China would accelerate.

3. Re: healthcare, my point exactly. I'm arguing that some or all of the increase in the minimum wage ought to go toward employee healthcare (and retirement security), because both these items are necessities just like food and shelter.

4. That's much of what I suggested, yes. But I'd go several steps beyond in helping the working poor. I would expand the EITC and make it part of every paycheck (rather than making employees wait until the end of the year), rebate sales taxes (also immediately, upon purchase, using special debit cards already commonly used for food stamp benefits), and lower the payroll tax percentage concurrently with lifting the cap. I'd also restore corporate income taxes, eliminate loopholes and deductions, and return the income tax to Reagan-era progressivity.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

28. Fair enough.

I think we're roughly on the same page here.

[liberalmuse]

7. Definitely...

but your small business owners are going to complain that it will hurt them. I work for a small company, and I really don't get paid that much, especially for what I do (digital cartography). The boss is already switching medical insurance on us to cut his costs. I get raises every 6 months, but they are small. I'm not complaining, though. I wouldn't trade my wage for more money in a larger company that treats its employees like cattle. My boss is trying to get profit sharing started up to make up for the low wages.

I don't know if raising the minimum wage would truly hurt small business owners. My boss says he wishes he could give out bigger raises and provide dental insurance, but he can't afford it. However, he can afford to travel and take vacations, and do a lot of work on his house. Granted, he does own the company. Are there any small business owners here that could enlighten me on this subject?

[donco6]

26. I once owned a small business - does that count?

I can say that if I were not making an acceptable profit, I would sell the company and start something different. What other logical alternative is there, really?

[donco6]

8. I can't support it.

We're funded by the gov't, and there's no WAY they'll raise our funding to accommodate the change. So we'll be stuck laying off people. I don't think that benefits anyone.

[liberalmuse]

11. Especially not under George Herbert Hoover Bush

Hopefully we'll get someone in there more sympathetic to small business instead of someone who ONLY caters to the huge multinational corporations. That isn't helping America. We need both small/local businesses right along with larger companies in order to have a diverse, healthy economy.

[Clete]

9. Not me.

Minimum wage should be $13.00 an hour to meet basic cost of living expenses and that is if health insurance is provided as well.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

32. $13.00 An Hour and Health Insurance

would put many small business owners out of business not to say what it would do to the cost of a Big Mac

That's why my political science professor said it's so important for Poli-Sci majors to take an Economics course.


Since the minimum wage is $5.00 an hour and you are suggesting a $13.00 an hour minimum wage that means the portion of a business that is devoted to wages would go up by 260% .

Wow.

So, say 50% of a business owners goes to wages he would have to raise prices by 130% to compensate.

He'd have to raise prices by 130%

or get way more productive

or start firing people.

I think we should raise the minimum wage a $1.00 then tie it to the CPI

[Kamika]

12. I think 10 is too much

Remember minimum wage should be "minimum" our goal shouldnt be to raise minimum wage it should be to get more ppl jobs that doesnt pay minimum

[TahitiNut]

29. I'd strongly support an immediate increase to $6.25/hour ...

and another increase at the beginning of 2004 to $6.50/hour and inflationary/CPI adjustments annually thereafter.

[w4rma]

13. As long as something is put in place to keep small buisnesses afloat

A living wage would help immensely, considering the only jobs that will be left in America soon will be the minimum wage service jobs.

[Clete]

14. As a small business owner myself, once I know the

biggest help would have been a national health care system, daycare for parents and free transportation. All could be done if tax money were directed to programs to help the people, not the mega-corporations. Also, if there was an agency where a small businesses could get short term loans, like over 30 to 60 days to help him ride out slow economic periods, so he could meet payroll demands until things picked up or he re-tooled his operation.

There are many more do-able and affordable things government could do to help small business owners. These are the ones I am thinking of off the top of my head.

[donco6]

15. Yes.

Many of our employees work JUST for the health benefits. If this were provided, I don't think we would need such a large increase in the MW.

[greekspeak]

17. The ONLY problem with raising the wage

that I see is that it will just cause inflation. Give more to the workers, then raise costs to make up for it. By the time the ripples settle, the $10.00 is worth no more than the $6 or $7 is now. If there was just some way to keep the inflation factor at bay.... I personally think the average working Joe and Jane SixPack deserve a hell of a lot better than they are getting. Now is the time to make every single Joe and Jane out there understand what progressives are willing to do for them.

[Proletariat]

18. No because what employers are going to pay that?

It's already too high in some states (like Washington) and you can't even find a job.

[meow2u3]

19. I actually support TWO minimum wages (don't flame me)

The first, which I'd set at $7 per hour, would be exclusively for workers under the age of 18. The second, which I'll call the full-time minimum wage, would be set at $10 per hour.
Not only that, but any business which employ more than 25 workers that conspire to, or actually do, inflate prices to offset the raise they have to give workers, would be prosecuted as alleged thieves.

[donco6]

27. So what do I do with my food service workers?

I run a school district. We hire food service workers at ABOVE minimum wage to prepare and serve food. We receive just barely enough from the feds and from meal prices to break even each year. You're saying I wouldn't be allowed to raise meal prices to offset the wage increase, which is by far the largest component of my per/plate costs?

Hmmm..

[MiltonLeBerle]

20. It might be an incentive to get a job.

But it's going to be a very big dis-incentive to hire anyone, or for a great many- to even stay in business at all. Unfortunately, It would do MUCH more harm than good.

[zoidberg]

21. I think $20 an hour would be better

After all, that would be twice the stimulus as your plan. No downside at all.

[MiltonLeBerle]

23. Why stop there?

You're thinking small-

just think of the benefits of a $50/hr. wage, or $100...how about $1000? Pretty soon everyone will be a millionaire, and we'll all be living on Easy St.

right?

[tinanator]

24. myth and measurement

http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/5632.html

[MaverickX]

30. I'm thinking that'd be too much..

May cause a larger degree of unemployment.

[BrettStah]

31. Some questions, and a suggestion...

First, the suggestion... How about this - find out what the minimum wage was back when it was first implemented, adjust for inflation to 2003 dollars, and then repeat each and every year. Do the same everything... salaries for all government jobs (including Congresspeople, judges, the President, cabinet officers, etc.) Wait, this may actually free up enough time in Congress for real stuff to be debated! What am I thinking?!? :)

Now, some questions...

1) If you raise the minimum raise to $10, won't that effectively drive up prices on goods and services, and therefore negate the raise?

2) Why stop at $10? Why not make it $50 an hour?

3) I've worked for minimum wages... and it's a great motivator to improve your knowledge and skills in order to get a job that pays higher than the minimum wage. (OK, this one's not a question).

[Yavin4]

33. DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE DEMAND!!!!

Yes, small businesses would have to pay their workers more. However, they'd also get an immediate boost in demand. The value of the increased business would more than outweigh the increased cost of business.

[Garage Queen]

34. $10/hour? Yes, please!

Basically it comes down to this: if we DON'T raise minimum wage, and we KEEP sending jobs overseas, pretty soon there won't be anyone left in America who can afford to buy ANYTHING, and the economy will crash.

Henry Ford (a man with many, MANY faults) at least got one thing straight: when he started paying his assembly line workers $5/hour (an unheard of wage back then), he basically *created* the class of people who could afford to buy his products. Money in, money out.

IF we start paying folks $10/hour, and have to raise the prices of products at the same time, that's ok, because those people will be able to afford the products they're manufacturing.

[bearded_cat]

35. If it was raised to $10 per hour

those currently making $10 per hour would feel the need to have theirs raised to $15, and so on up the money tree. The end result would be no different than now. What is needed is a change in practices from the top down. CEOs should not receive the outrageous salaries they do. The money should be invested in retooling, upgrading, whatever. Health insurance should be a right of every person in this country. Whatever's left over can go into the fat cats wallet. I'm sure he or she will still still be living the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed, but everyone elses backs won't be breaking to support it.