Minimum Wage = Maximum Nonsense - A Masochistic Invitation to Derision

reply to post by greencmp


In many ways I believe that setting a static minimum wage can be self defeating. If the idea is to make sure people can afford to live on the money they make then increasing the minimum wage will only make companies increase the cost of the products and services they offer thus defeating the purpose of the wage increase.
I think that the people behind increasing the minimum wage are thinking about an older generation that has lost work and are now trying to support a family and can't. If every minimum wage job was held by people with families then a minimum wage might help but only in the short term.
I feel what we really need is a more dynamic and flexible system. I propose that we toss out minimum wage requirements entirely and instead enact a cost of living wage. Every state and locality has a different cost of living. We all know that there are some areas that are cheaper to live in than others. If the federal government was able to do a cost of living analysis on areas and then direct companies to pay an cost of living wage to make up the difference for specific areas, then we would have a more flexible and sensible wage for everyone.
To give an example. Let's say you would need to make 10 dollars an hour to be able to afford to buy food and live on your own. A company pays you 5 dollars an hour. You would get a cost of living wage of an additional 5 dollars an hour. This cost of living would be after taxes and wouldn't be included in overtime pay. As an employee's wage increased, the cost of living would decrease. So once a person is making 10 dollars an hour, then the cost of living wage would be 0. Cost of living could be re-assessed on a yearly basis so the wage could go up and down based on current economic weather.
This also means that if the cost of products and services goes up, then so does the cost of living. Essentially companies wouldn't ever be able to increase the cost in order to make up the difference as that would end up being self defeating. This would also make sure that you are paid fairly for the area that you live in.
I'm sure the idea itself isn't perfect but it makes more sense to me than have a constant increase in the minimum wage.