Minimum wage increased for Americans? Really?

Unless you give people a geniune tax breake raising the min wage is a good way of increasing people income. Even if wages remain stagnet living costs still rise and providing wage increases are moderate inflation dosnt become a problem. There are other factors that drive up production costs things such increases in the cost of material.

Remember if the min wage hadnt gone up you could still be making less then $1 per hour.

[edit on 17-11-2006 by xpert11]

[edit on 17-11-2006 by xpert11]

Originally posted by xpert11
Remember if the min wage hadnt gone up you could still be making less then $1 per hour.

....and bread would still be ten cents a loaf. Setting the price of labor by gov't fiat is the equivalent of price fixing.

Minimum wage laws are nothing but a political ploy intended to win votes, anyway. They are a sham. If you really wanted to help people, why not make the minimum wage $20/hr?

Originally posted by jsobecky

Minimum wage laws are nothing but a political ploy intended to win votes, anyway. They are a sham. If you really wanted to help people, why not make the minimum wage $20/hr?

That will be the day js, but the days of my mother sending me to by 5 cents of sugar are all gone.

20 Dollars an hour minimum wage will make corporate American have a hart attack. You know how much they like illegals and slave work.

Can you imagine how much everything will cost if we get such a generous increase?

I imagine that milk from 3 dollars will cost you 15 dollars a gallon.

Originally posted by jsobecky

Originally posted by xpert11
Remember if the min wage hadnt gone up you could still be making less then $1 per hour.

....and bread would still be ten cents a loaf. Setting the price of labor by gov't fiat is the equivalent of price fixing.

No kidding price fixing. And they're ALL fixed.

Even real estate and rentals are "harmonized" !?! But they get away with it.

Go figure.

originally posted by marg
Can you imagine how much everything will cost if we get such a generous increase?

I imagine that milk from 3 dollars will cost you 15 dollars a gallon.

Yes, you're right. So the "gains" would be artificial because everything is relative.

Even with this modest proposal, you can expect the price of your pepperoni pizza to go up.

Originally posted by soficrow
No kidding price fixing. And they're ALL fixed.

Even real estate and rentals are "harmonized" !?! But they get away with it.

Go figure.

And nowhere is it more evident than at the gas pump. One guy raises his prices, everybody in a twenty-block area does the same.

[edit on 19-11-2006 by jsobecky]

Great topic Marg,

Members are addressing all sides of the issue with good points.

It seems to me, from following all the arguments presented, that a minimum wage increase would not be beneficial to anyone. I do understand that the young and the old would benefit at once, but as was pointed out, very shortly the prices needed for basic living would also increase.

We call immigrants who sneak into our country, illegal. We are told that they do the jobs that no one else wants. I guess that shows that no one in America is hungry enough to need these jobs. With just the raise in the minimum wage I do believe these illegals would still be benefiting from the raise and still be a drain on our economic system.

I am sure that someone will correct me if I am wrong here. It is my understanding that illegals generally are employed as farm and service labor. When I was young these were the jobs that young people took.

Would we stop buying lettuce if the price was raised because of voluntary higher wages given by employers to Americans and only Americans. Or is all this again leading to the vicious circle of higher wages/higher prices? But perhaps if Americans were doing the working it would not be all bad.

.


Obviously, even a small "raise" is better than nothing, even if prices get raised to swallow it.

Maybe someone should look at how to stop the price fixing - so that people can get ahead once in a while?

Originally posted by Mahree
I am sure that someone will correct me if I am wrong here. It is my understanding that illegals generally are employed as farm and service labor. When I was young these were the jobs that young people took.

Would we stop buying lettuce if the price was raised because of voluntary higher wages given by employers to Americans and only Americans. Or is all this again leading to the vicious circle of higher wages/higher prices? But perhaps if Americans were doing the working it would not be all bad.

There are many aspects of the building trades that once paid a fairly decent wage, such as roofing, painting, carpentry, drywall, etc. But none of these fields are licensed, so they are being undercut drastically by illegal immigrants. Landscaping is another area.

You raise an interesting point regarding voluntary raise hikes. I can only speak for myself, but I would not be against paying for a wage that was negotiated between an owner and a worker. It is when the wage is mandated that I have a problem.

Soficrow brings up the issue of price-fixing and how to stop it. We have laws, which are next to impossible to enforce. I guess the only way to do it would be to let the market dictate what the price will be; that's the way it's supposed to work. That's all well and good with luxury items, but when it comes to essentials, we the consumer don't have much choice but to dig deeper into our wallets. I don't have any answers or even good suggestions to that question.

Mahree, Js and Sofi, we all understand the repercussions of increases in minimum wages, we all know that while it appeal to some is will eventually do more harm than good to the poor and budget conscious American.

We all going to feel the effects of the prices of mostly . . . products, the same products that mostly illegal labor favor.

Even if they still pay them under wages, just because is an increase in wages the products itself will be adjusted to that increases.

So at the end everybody benefits but the American price conscious consumer.

When you live in a budget like I do, because I have no choice I know how my budget will be affected when it comes to pay for food items at the counter . . . if I have to pay more for one particular thing in a given week.

It comes to choices, do I need that or . . . can I live without it.

I know we need capitalism, I know we need corporate power, but . . . how come is not accountability or control?

As I said before to much power, do corrupt any system that other wise is supposed to be beneficial for all.