Little impact in SeaTac from $15 minimum wage

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: LOSTinAMERICA

What destroys small business is not how much they pay employees its how much your overhead is IE cost of living.

Rent and insurance and business license and taxes, those are the small business killers not paying your employees a decent wage.

Oh i forgot, most small business's already pay their employees more then minimum wage, this is going to have an impact on big business more than anything, thanks for the input though.

It's both actually. I just started my first small business in August last year, and I am already downsizing 6 months later. I've burned through $20,000 in fees, taxes, licenses, insurance, and everything else the Government wants from me.

I have to downsize before I'm broke, and can't do anything other than file bankruptcy.

To all you anti business people, I say to you : You have no freaking clue what it takes, and every single one of you should go out, and start a business, and see what it's like before you run your mouths.

i started a pizza restaurant 3 years ago. It is a small family owned business. For the first two years just to get by we had to pay all our employees minimum wage. My brother and I paid ourselves, about half of minimum wage, roughly 3 dollars an hour. We are the owners. We had to do this just to make it by. We were losing money quick for a year.

If we were forced to pay our employees $15 minimum wage there is no possible way we could have stayed in business. I would be homeless and broke with my brother.

Saying rent kills small business just makes no sense(supply and demand)
Insurance, not that expansive.

I would possibly trade paying taxes for a 15 dollar minimum wage, that might work.

Haha Imagine that... The government makes it a law to pay workers minimum 15 dollars an hour, but you don't have to pay taxes.

In the real world, government forces you to pay your workers 15 dollars an hour. Those workers end up paying more taxes on their paychecks. Government also forces me as an employer to match those extra income taxes paid by my employees...

Just an estimation: this would end up costing my small business around 8 to 10,000 dollars more a month.

This would put just about any restaurant out of business, and make it nearly impossible to start one...

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: bigx001

and today that would be over $15 an hour to give you the same buying power, rethink your logic

Show me the freaking numbers, if you want me to rethink my logic...lol geez To use "buying power" as your calculations is pure speculation, so what logic are you using at all?

In 1968 minimum wage was 1.60 and that is the best it has every been. If we convert that 1.60 to today's inflation rate it would be 10.90, so you are wrong in the buying power of today should be 15+ to match 1968. I'm also talking about the best case not the average that would put it closer to 9 bucks or less.

What you want to do is to almost double minimum wage over night, so the question to you is do you think inflation has doubled in the last few years?

see this is what happens when you work to discredit people, you use only information that supports your position or you follow these steps, which you have done.

1. What the public doesn’t know, we are not going to tell them.

2. Don’t bother us with the facts, our minds are made up.

3. If we can’t attack the data, we will attack the people; it is much easier.

4. Do one’s research by proclamation, rather than investigation. It is much easier and most people won’t know the difference.


in 1968, the federal minimum wage was $1.60 an hour, the purchasing power then would be equivalent to $10.90 an hour in 2013 dollars. what that means is that being paid $1.60 was the equivalent of being paid $10.90 an hour. go look at the cost of goods and services back then and determine if the minimum wage then allowed you to purchase more or less than now.

here's a hint gasoline was only $.33 a gallon in 1968, what would it cost you to fill a 20 gallon tank in 1968 ? and how many hours would you have to work to pay for it ?

now run those same numbers today, even with our lower cost in the past 6 months

you logic is following the 4 steps above, the minimum wage adjusted to give you the same buying power would really need to be closer to $20 than $15, but we'll settle for $15

originally posted by: booyakasha
i started a pizza restaurant 3 years ago. It is a small family owned business. For the first two years just to get by we had to pay all our employees minimum wage. My brother and I paid ourselves, about half of minimum wage, roughly 3 dollars an hour. We are the owners. We had to do this just to make it by. We were losing money quick for a year.

If we were forced to pay our employees $15 minimum wage there is no possible way we could have stayed in business. I would be homeless and broke with my brother.

Saying rent kills small business just makes no sense(supply and demand)
Insurance, not that expansive.

I would possibly trade paying taxes for a 15 dollar minimum wage, that might work.

Haha Imagine that... The government makes it a law to pay workers minimum 15 dollars an hour, but you don't have to pay taxes.

In the real world, government forces you to pay your workers 15 dollars an hour. Those workers end up paying more taxes on their paychecks. Government also forces me as an employer to match those extra income taxes paid by my employees...

Just an estimation: this would end up costing my small business around 8 to 10,000 dollars more a month.

This would put just about any restaurant out of business, and make it nearly impossible to start one...

not really, the cost of a McD's big mac meal would only go up a little less than $2

the price you sell a pizza for would also go up, but then again more people would be out spending on your restaurant since more would now have disposable income.

i'm sure you know exactly how much it costs to make a pizza, how much you need to charge to cover that cost, plus overhead, plus employee wages. all you need to do is increase the overall price to cover the increase in wages. it's not that much

originally posted by: bigx001

here's a hint gasoline was only $.33 a gallon in 1968, what would it cost you to fill a 20 gallon tank in 1968 ? and how many hours would you have to work to pay for it ?

now run those same numbers today, even with our lower cost in the past 6 months

you logic is following the 4 steps above, the minimum wage adjusted to give you the same buying power would really need to be closer to $20 than $15, but we'll settle for $15

Gas is not a good example because the price is not only affected by inflation, but any how... Based on $ 10.90 and $1.60

.34 = 3 hours of work in 1968 for 15 gallons of gas
2.19 = 3 hours of work TODAY for 15 gallons of gas
1.35 = 6 hours of work in 1982 for 15 gallons of gas

Milk

1.07 = .67 hours of work in 1968 for a gallon of milk
3.67 = .37 hours of work TODAY for a gallon of milk

Beef Steak

1.99 = 1.24 hours of work in 1968 for 1 pound
4.81 = .44 hours of work TODAY for 1 pound

National Average Rent

130 = 81 hours of work in 1968 for 1 month of rent
650 = 59 hours of work TODAY for 1 month of rent

Cheap new car

2200 = 1375 hours of work to buy a cheap new car in 1968
15000 = 1376 hours of work to buy a cheap new car TODAY

House

26600 = 16625 hours of work for a average 1400 sq ft house
250000 = 22900 hours of work for an average 2700 sq ft house TODAY


Finally found something higher, but then the average size is double today. But even at $100 per sq ft cost a 1400 foot house today would take 12800 hours of work, cheaper than 1968....

a reply to: booyakasha
Like I said I do not think this 15$ thing means anything. In fact even in seatac or everywhere its not happening, even to companies who can afford it, its all basically just fluff. And besides the only mom and pop business are niche businesses, kind of like yours. In fact I worked around the area, and at the airport the palce were the whole thing started. Well i seen those companies literally spend $50,000 within 30minutes. In fact I think for one plane they spend as much if not more on the fuel alone. So ya! Some of them they could afford it even if it went to that. But its not qoing to, in fact all the airlnes around there spent and pulled money, over a few million I think. Just to make sure the law does not go through or that if it does, then technically there except from it.

So ya! It depends on who your asking and why. I do not think anybody is going to expect you to be spending that much money for you pizza bussiness. Besides the big boys have there ways of putting you guys out of bizness. If you have not notice we are practically living in the golden age of corporate america, and for the most part mom and pop stores are a myth. And like I said before even those that exist cater to the big corporation or there business. For instance in the same area.

Well a guy I worked with now works for one of those plane food delivery business, from what he told me they cater to a certain demographic ie Kosher or more expensive fancy stuff. And he started at 15$ and I think the employes there were getting paid that before this supped law went into effect. The guy has been there a year now and is making more then he did at the other job, or he started at, and doing less actual work, and a more set schedule. The job is more demanding, but its still better then other option by far...In all just an example of a smaller business working, though its basically and like I said there because of niche market and catering to big business needs.

In fact the same business they have around the same area is a more bigger business and in the same thing, they have probably over 200 employees were the other business my friend works at is more of a smaller business. Anyways the big corp you get paid literally peanuts compared to the same one he is doing, and doing pretty much the exact same thing, it all just depends on how you structure it. I even asked the dude to keep me up if there hiring last time I seen him, but for the area, its not likely anybody is going to quit and go work for something which pays a lot less and is a lot more of a hassle. So I do not think anybody is going to be a quitting, and now a days that's pretty much how you find jobs, somebody quits and they need somebody...So!

So ya! It all depends on what your talking about. Most of this stuff though, is just fluffer so Obama or politicians can quote or people to see. Really they have little to no influence on the real things and they themselfs just work for them as well. The whole of government may as well be like NASCAR were everybody goes around with the logos of there corporate sponsors on there suits. In all reality, its not so much about what you know, its more about who you know. That has been true for a long long time. Even back as far as the dark ages.

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: bigx001

here's a hint gasoline was only $.33 a gallon in 1968, what would it cost you to fill a 20 gallon tank in 1968 ? and how many hours would you have to work to pay for it ?

now run those same numbers today, even with our lower cost in the past 6 months

you logic is following the 4 steps above, the minimum wage adjusted to give you the same buying power would really need to be closer to $20 than $15, but we'll settle for $15

Gas is not a good example because the price is not only affected by inflation, but any how... Based on $ 10.90 and $1.60

.34 = 3 hours of work in 1968 for 15 gallons of gas
2.19 = 3 hours of work TODAY for 15 gallons of gas
1.35 = 6 hours of work in 1982 for 15 gallons of gas

Milk

1.07 = .67 hours of work in 1968 for a gallon of milk
3.67 = .37 hours of work TODAY for a gallon of milk

Beef Steak

1.99 = 1.24 hours of work in 1968 for 1 pound
4.81 = .44 hours of work TODAY for 1 pound

National Average Rent

130 = 81 hours of work in 1968 for 1 month of rent
650 = 59 hours of work TODAY for 1 month of rent

Cheap new car

2200 = 1375 hours of work to buy a cheap new car in 1968
15000 = 1376 hours of work to buy a cheap new car TODAY

House

26600 = 16625 hours of work for a average 1400 sq ft house
250000 = 22900 hours of work for an average 2700 sq ft house TODAY


Finally found something higher, but then the average size is double today. But even at $100 per sq ft cost a 1400 foot house today would take 12800 hours of work, cheaper than 1968....

so you've chosen 4. Do one’s research by proclamation, rather than investigation. It is much easier and most people won’t know the difference.

and it's amazing how you think the buying power of $1.60 in 1968 equates to the same buying power today.

again the actual buying power today is lower than the minimum wage.

but if you want, lets take a new car in 1968, in fact lets take a chevy camero it's still around. in 1968 it was $2,881 - $3,539. today it will cost you between $25K and $50K. could you buy one on minimum wage in 1968? absolutely, in fact you could buy the upper end one. today is a different story, with the buying power that is lower than minimum wage it is IMPOSSIBLE to purchase the bare minimum car let alone the top end. however if the minimum wage were to have maintained the same buying power through out the years then the minimum wage would be closer to $20 than $15, but we'll take $15

a reply to: Xtrozero


you're seriously deluded, do you have a problem with a living wage? because minimum wage was a living wage in 1968 and it isn't now. do you live in fear of the poor gaining wealth?

by the way i like how you cherry pick things, what was rent for a single bed apartment in 1968? you can't house and feed yourself today, but you could in 1968, and buy yourself a new camaro

i have news for you, the peasants you so readily piss on are coming for you in the very near future.

originally posted by: bigx001

you're seriously deluded, do you have a problem with a living wage? because minimum wage was a living wage in 1968 and it isn't now. do you live in fear of the poor gaining wealth?

I took prices from 1968 and broke them down to how many hours of work it took to buy at 1.60, then I did the same for items today at today's price for 10.90. It's just math so how am I deluded? I gave a wide range of examples where 10.90 wage today is equal to 1.60 in 1968 for buy power. Pick 20 random necessities and do the same comparison...

Minimum wage is the lowest wage for zero skill, zero education, zero experience needed type jobs...you want this a living wage? Also what is a living wage? In most parts of the world it is what a family can make using combine resources. Here it seems like one wage for one person to live, and get the majority of consumerism junk.

by the way i like how you cherry pick things, what was rent for a single bed apartment in 1968? you can't house and feed yourself today, but you could in 1968, and buy yourself a new camaro

I didn't cherry pick. I pick things I thought were staple times then I researched their prices. I showed you the national averages in my other post... A camero in 1968 was an average car, it is not an average car today, so I showed what a cheap car cost in 1968 and compared to a cheap car in 2014... once again it is math, and I didn't know any numbers until I looked them up.

National Average Rent

130 = 81 hours of work in 1968 for 1 month of rent
650 = 59 hours of work TODAY for 1 month of rent

i have news for you, the peasants you so readily piss on are coming for you in the very near future.

I'm retired military, have at it with your pitchforks... hehe

My best advice is get better skills, education, experience above zero and so you will not need to worry about minimum wage ever again. I do understand that because of the total screw up of the administration to not get the recession under control in 6 YEARS there are a lot of people under paid for their skill level. Don't blame the guy who has the 10 buck an hour job, blame the administration for only creating low paying jobs.... those jobs are like a turd, they pay what they are worth, not what the employee is worth, you can polish it or even gold plate it and it is still a turd job worth about minimum wage.

A 30 year old man trying to support his family on 10 buck an hour job because it is all he can get doesn't mean the job should be magically worth 15 per hour because it is not a 16 year old kid doing it.

originally posted by: Xtrozero
A 30 year old man trying to support his family on 10 buck an hour job because it is all he can get doesn't mean the job should be magically worth 15 per hour because it is not a 16 year old kid doing it.

^ Great point.

NYC did the same thing in reverse with rent controls.

Here's the million dollar question:

Do you really think the politicians advocating for the minimum wage really care about you, and are doing this for your benefit?