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$15/hour for minimum wage?
The U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in April, the strongest month for job growth in two years, the Department of Labor said Friday. That number blew away economists' forecasts, and stocks rose following the news, although they have since fallen back.
The oft-quoted unemployment rate fell to 6.3%, down from 6.7% in March.
Also, today Mayor Ed Murray unveiled his proposal for a $15 minimum wage, a plan he said has broad support across the local government, business and labor communities.
Washington already has the nation's highest state-level minimum wage of $9.32. The Seattle proposal would be more than double the current federal minimum wage of $7.25.
Mayor Murray's plan would take effect over several years and apply first to some large businesses starting in 2017, and ultimately to all businesses by 2021. FULL STORY.
Is Obama leading the U.S. into a healthy economy? At 6:30pm ET on Crossfire, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Andy Harris (R-CMD) go head-to-head in a debate joined by Newt Gingrich and Van Jones.
We want you to weigh in: Do you agree with the Seattle Mayor that the minimum wage should be raised to $15/hour?
Vote by tweeting Yes or No using #Crossfire or comment on our Facebook post. View results below or through our Poptip results page.
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OK raise the minimum to $15 per hour and while your at it raise Social Security to a minimum of $2400 per month as that is what $15 is monthly that would be fair to those who are retired.
Here's the thing: if you're trying to raise your family on minimum wage then you should be ashamed of yourself. You are an embarrassment to your children. Your family should be your motivation to become more ambitious so that you can provide for them. The problem is that some on minimum wage are subsidized by the government. If they try to make more money then they lose their subsidies and could wind up making less money.
Is this an attempt to get people off of Obamacare since they claim 7 million people signed up for it? Now the Federal Gov't has realized they can't support the sheer number of citizens who want it for free. They've already instituted hefty fines, a new law passed over Memorial Day weekend when no one was watching. Now if an employer cuts hours in an attempt to throw their employees into the Federal marketplace, they can be fined thousands of dollars PER EMPLOYEE PER YEAR if they do this. Next will be a law that fines employers if they lay off people they can't afford to pay. What's next? Another example of the government overstepping it's bounds, hurting everyday common sense businessmen, and controlling our lives. This is not freedom. There is nothing liberating about a liberal government.
The minimum wage was never meant to be a living wage. It is an entry level, part time wage for jobs requiring little skill, and in most cases no chance of advancement. As an educated (MS degree) professional with a high skill set, I find a $15/hr minimum wage insulting. Many professionals similar to myself with 20 yrs of experience and a high level of responsibility make less than 2x $15/hr. I view a $15/hr min wage as a another form of welfare disbursement that discourages advancement through education that will just further erode the American middle class. Sad state of affairs.
If $15/hr minimum wage is great, why stop there? We should aim for $1,500/hr minimum wage!
Any small business that desires survival will just relocate. Eat it seattle, you bring this upon yourself.
My grandfather used to say"invest in people and you'll see the best in people!! Do the right thing America. Don't listen to the cynics. They have no vision. America was founded by visionaries!!
raising M wage to $15 an hour. Just another byproduct of the participation trophy generation.
Minimum wage jobs are paid at $7.25 because it's for people who are unskilled. People who are saying they can't live on $7.25 by reading the signs in this post and hearsay , will really have a hard time living if this wage does go through. Everyone benefiting will be above the poverty level and will you will lose all of your state and federal aide. Trying living on $10.10 per hour and pay for everything at 100% on your own. You will really have a struggle then if you think your life is hard now. Join the crowd of millions of people who are having to work, two and three jobs just to survive. These are the days, you need to just count your blessings for what you do have. If deserve a raise and earn it then you company will give it to you.
I'm not in favor of a minimum wage at all. All the minimum wage does is artificially raise the bottom. The best economic system, even with all of it's problems is capitalism. The problem with capitalism is that there are winners and losers. Now you are a loser at a higher wage. Though I don't believe in minimum wages, I do believe in the right for workers to organize and I believe in minimum work rules and health care for workers. All this does is create inflation. Nothing more.
Those that don't understand economics see this as great I'm part of Occupy and i know what this will do. This will raise the price of everything in seattle and the disabled and elderly better fucking run now before its to late. if you raise the min wage and not those on subsidies? Look out for the people who need help the most
Unfortunately technology is replacing a lot of human labor, the next on the hitlist are construction workers, due to contour crafting. The service sector itself, is being replaced by automated systems. Agriculture is being made obsolete through the use of aeroponics,aquaponics, and hydroponics, vertical farms, putting many farmers out of business, Scranton PA has it's first industrial sized vertical farm 17 million plants to be grown there. grown year round.
Achieving abundance is something we have been able to do, for quite some time. Access to the things we need, not depravity is what's needed. The Right to life, the right to be self sustaining is an unalienable right. It is unacceptable that we waste more than we consumes 1.3 million tons of fresh food is thrown out annually, this is more than enough to feed the planet,let alone citizens of the US, and that is just through traditional agriculture methods, what happens when we establish vertical farms and produce up to 10 times more than traditional agriculture, are Americans still going to be deprived?
For every 3 people in America today, there is only one job, the game is already rigged. And with the automation of the service sector, that leaves the jobs that require education, R and D, medical, technical, IT. It would be in the best interest of America to ramp up Education and adult training, not have education put us into more debt with no way out.
We currently have no education safety net put into place to train for the more advanced sectors. When people can't afford the things they don't need, they stop buying them. As someone who is extremely below the poverty line, with an education, this is unacceptable my right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is being highly infringed upon.
$20 minimum wage and 90% tax on the rich. Taxes traditional have been high on the rich as the rich pay such a small part of their rate.
No the answer lies in the amount of waste we create. Waste is very expensive, we need to stop perpetuating things that have been made obsolete. Think about it like this we have audio, video, and digital media, yet we still generate paper to communicate, why it's a huge waste or resources.
We have aeroponics, which uses 75% less water and nutrient resources than traditional agriculture, and yields up to ten times more, agriculture IS a huge waste of resources.
Supply is not an issue, demand is mostly manipulated, all that leaves is distribution, but considering we can move water to where ever we want it, the need to live by it has been rendered obsolete. We need to stop wasting resource perpetuating things that have been rendered obsolete.
The rich already pay 90% of the nation's taxes. Now you want them to first, pay minimum wage workers more, and second, pay almost all of their profits in taxes rather than using it to invest in more jobs? If they have to pay 90% in taxes then where are they going to get the money to pay the higher wages? Where are they going to get the money to expand their businesses so that they can hire more workers? You're a special kind of stupid. Aren't you?
Raising the minimum wage is a terrible idea!
Expenses for me:
– 33% of income to Uncle Sam
– $300/month to pay off student loans
– $1500/month rent (next to low income housing, might I add)
– $400/month for health insurance (from BC/BS)
– $25/month for auto insurance (at Insurance Panda)
– $150/month for gas
– $300/month for food
Expenses for a minimum wage employee on government aid:
– drugs and alcohol
– McDonald's and KFC
– expensive clothes and jewelry
Who is better off?
My expensive never include fast food or alcohol, and I make 8.50hr this is why this country is the way it is because of people like you.
Being unskilled and poor is no one's fault but yours.
Everyone will be in the same sinking ship, except for the rich. Everyone will have to 100% fend for themselves financially, because a lot of people will be no longer be considered to be in poverty anymore.
It is very mean to assume that everyone who makes minimum wage spends their money in alcohol. I make a little bit more than minimum and can barely survive... and I am skilled! I am a teacher. You may say, well why you chose that career..but some people think of others and humanity well being when looking for a career. If I cannot make it – having just one daughter to raise – paying a lot more car insurance than you, house, utilities, food, cellphones etc I cannot imagine people who earn less than me! I do agree that $15 an hour would be at least reasonable. It is still not a lot of money if you think about it. It will help people be able to take at least a vacation a year, keep one job and have to use credit cards less.
You forgot to mention tattoos,body piercings and tanning beds. You would be surprised at the amounts of money people will spend on what they want, but claim they don't have the money for what they need like nutritious food, medicine and a flu shot. This is why they don't have the money for what they really need like healthcare and education. Waste not want not.
The GOP Prayer/Mantra/Solution: Dear God...With your loving kindness, help us to turn all the Old, Sick, Poor, Non-white, Non-christian, Female, and Gay people into slaves. Then, with your guidance and compassion, we will whip them until they are Young, Healthy, Rich, White, Christian, Male, and Straight. Or until they are dead. God...Grant us the knowledge to then turn them into Soylent Green to feed the military during the next "unfunded/off-the-books" war. God...Give us the strength during our speeches to repeatedly yell........TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH!!!..........and........GET RID OF SS AND MEDICARE!!!
In your name we prey (purposely misspelled, or is it?)........Amen
You do know that Democrats voted against freedom for slaves and that Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King were both Republicans. You may want to look at the history of Human Rights in this country before you buy the "party line" the Dems sell you.
It should be about blaming anyone for what's wrong. It should be about creating opportunity for everyone! Punishing the so-called "rich" with 90% taxes, will prevent them from hiring the rest of us with decent jobs!
Lincoln would be a democrat today. A left leaning democrat at that.
I don't have a problem with Mayor Murray implementing his plan in Seattle. I think cities, counties and even states should experiment with various options to help people who, for various reasons, are stuck in low-wage jobs. But I would strenuously object to a federal mandate to do the same across the nation. There are many reasons for my position, but just one primary reason is the COLA for each state and locality. It costs more to live in Seattle than say Youngstown, Ohio. It costs far more to live in Los Angeles county than it does in Platte county, Missouri. My point: Federal intervention across the varied parts of the USA is almost never equitable. And it stifles the creativity of local and state governments.
If minimum wage is going to be increased for entry level jobs in the fast food industry, then the same has to be made for salary employees. As a former worker in the fast food/customer support industry, the workers are treated without any support from the companies. When I worked at a call center we were always stressed of everyone calling to yell. It takes a toll on all the employees and we would be forbidden to use FMLA or sick leave because the stress levels would cause us to have mental breakdowns. That is why we need to be able to pay those working in those industries because if they have to put up with the petty complaints of everyone around the country, they deserve to be paid at a higher amount because they have to work with stress unlike most people.
As for salary workers, they too should be paid an increase. Due to inflation, we have seen several items increase in price from chewing gum up to prices for homes. Indeed the housing bubble caused several homes to loose their value but the bubble has been slowly increasing again. Now people that were once downsized they need to be able to afford new homes since several companies are using the financial crisis as a means to prevent wage increase.
If everyone is upset over why the wage increase should not be covered because it covers medical coverage, then we might as well remove our social security benefits and other services to help us when we retire. I don't expect to work until my dying days when I'm at least 70+ years of age because those are my years I get to properly relax, not to stress myself to be able to afford my medication(s).
15 dollars per hour as minimum wage would result in gross income of $60K/per year if a man and wife (ok, to be PC, or a man/man or woman/woman) each held minimum wage jobs. Not too shabby... until they find that such jobs are even harder to find than at today's minimum wage. I am sure prices will remain constant despite doubled labor costs, too.
I agree. These people have all got their tongues wagging and salivating at the thought of making $15 per hour. That will lead to making only $15 per week when the already bankrupt economy starts laying off people. It's already happening at the current min wage in NC. I lost my job back in September 2013, a casualty of Obamacare. So far the only jobs I am being offered are those shovel ready jobs that Obama promised he would create and the employers are only offering 15 hours per week or less, with no guarantee of that. All of these jobs I am being offered are in the next county as our current town has become a sleeper town. People only sleep here because the jobs have gone somewhere else. By the time I factor in my gas for commuting round trip, it would cost me $36 per week in gas for a jobt that only offers 15 hours @ 8-9$ per hour. No benefits either except for maybe worker's comp if I get hurt on the job and I lay you odds an employer would fight that one too. They usually do. One employer was only going to offer me 11 hours per week, spread out over 4 days. I asked them couldn't they work with me and let me work 1-12 hour shift or over 2 days at 5.5 hours each to save me on commuting expenses. He said, "No take it or leave it. I left it."
Increasing wages to combat inflations is a fool's race... Inflation will take a huge jump because of wage increases making it cost more to make those products and make America even less competitive on the world market.... if we increase wages, we can take what little bit of exports we have now and look for a way to absorb that sales volume back into our country because American products will cost far too much to compete with foreign manufacturers!
Minimum wage does not need to be $15/hr because minimum wage jobs are not meant to be a career. Plain and simple.
The government must sieze all corporations by military force.. Take all the profits and distribute it to those who do not have it.
Death to America and Death to all who oppose us!
At least you are honest and transparent, something you should teach this administration. Tell me. Are you fascist or communist?
We deserve more becausewe worck hard and kids that we have to tack care of an we have billes to pay and the money that we get is not enough to do all of the tneings we need to do
The above comment is an example of why people are making minimum wage.
Amen. Learn to spell or at least learn to type.
It's interesting how fast people are out with the boilerplate "let's not bother to think this through" arguments against ... if you don't like the solution, at least give us a signal that you understand the problem.
Google "inflation calculator" and pick the U.S. Treasury one. Put in $1 for 2014 and look at what it was worth in 2000, just 14 years ago. Quickyy$0.77.
When I was in college in 1994-1996 I worked as a lifeguard and phlebotomist, both of which required mild levels of skills so they paif $7-$9/hr versus the minimum wage of $5.15 at the time. My college tuition was an unbelievably low $1500/year. I still graduated with $6000 debt.
The same college today costs $5000/semester base with premiums added for specialized technical degrees such as the one I earned. My masters degree which cost $6000 total mid-nineties costs $28000, in-state, today. $45000 for out of state.
$7.25/hr in 2014 is $5.59/hr in 2000.
When the value of money goes down but minimum wage stays the same we are transferring dollar equity from the lowest skilled and most vulnerable labor to capital holders, many if not most of which are overseas and not even American. There's nothing inherently capitalist or virtuous about that, it's a disease condition in the system. Low relative wages at the bottom are a symptom of the disease. Excessive, Mexico-like Roman-style inequality is a symptom of the disease. A great middle class made this country, not a great Gilded Class and not a history of favellas.
So: I know you think we liberals are econo-challenged but here's the thing: we have heard and already understand every one of your boilerplate "minimum wage is bad" arguments. Oh too: we also read the Wealth of Nations, the whole thing and not just the two words about the "invisible hand".
If you don't like a higher minimum wage ... fine. But show that you understand the problem and that you are willing to search those great texts of Western civ for some answers.
We do understand the problem which is why we are against it. Go back and refresh on your Macroeconomics and microeconomics, basic laws of supply and demand. I took both in college and made an A. A raise in the minimum wage, will lead to an increase in prices. It will also lead to employers laying off employees when they can no longer afford to pay this amount for wages and taxes on those wages. If the hourly wage goes up, it's a matter of time before the mandatory FUTA and SUTA goes up on their payroll. There ain't no free lunch. Something else you will learn in an economics class. We've already stopped eating at fast food joints, not only because of the weight gain associated with it, but we no longer have the discretionary income to pay $6 for a Big Mac. If the price of groceries start to climb because of this, then there will have to be an increase in food stamps and welfare for the employees that may and probably will get their hours cut This is only going to lead to a snowball effect.
Ask the North Korean government how their economy is doing and you'll hear great news too. The headline unemployment figure (u3) is fake. Look at the U6 for any basis in reality.
Seattle has already convinced most minorities to leave the City. NPR has done dozens of stories about the black exodus from Washington. Increasing the minimum wage will be the nail in the coffin for the poor. Seattle's low income workers will not be able to compete with the droves of late 20's college grads who are still chomping on the silver spoon and living in their parents houses. $15 per hour will be the 'new poor' an 'today's poor' will be priced out of jobs as criteria for the positions rise.
Is that for the hard working citizen, or for the state to get more tax money?
You will still be paying for their food and medical through higher prices. Higher prices for goods and services will erode any benefits the workers–and you–gain from wage increases. There will be many unintended consequences from this in the near future.
The issue can be resolved with better jobs creation for adults who need to support a family. Skilled jobs. Leave the minimum paid restaurant, stores, non skilled jobs to the teenagers who are starving for jobs. Raising minimum wage for unskilled jobs will just compound the issue as employers will need to raise prices to make up for it and we all end up losing and will again have to raise wages in a few years. Teenagers no longer can get jobs that were easy for us when we were teens, now you see mothers, fathers, grandpas and grandmas working at Target, grocery boxing, fast food, hostess at restaurants, etc.
First let me state I am pro capitalism, but I am anti-corporate greed. There needs to be a way to tie the level of pay that the corporate elite receive and the amount that they make their employees slave for. I remember when days ago we were a customer service industry, go to a store there are plenty of staff to help you, now it's all about low wages and productivity with the corporate office stating we are customer service oriented. B.S. I do not have enough time to get the work required done and to pamper a customer so corporate can buy a new jet. Something has to give, Walmart the largest retailer in the world has the worst customer service survey after survey, and they wonder why?
How long do you think Walmart will be in business, after 3d printing matures? As it is people are already using the technology to make the things they need. What happens to jobs, when people become prosumers and leave the world of consumerism behind? Automation is far more efficient and cost effective than human labor, and that's the bottom line. Americans NEED education, and training. Look at it like this, would you rather have millions of uneducated Americans, or millions of educated Americans advancing the age of technology, because the bottom line is the industrial age is over, and America is caught behind the grade.
@ wigglwagon, The American Consumer drove those jobs overseas with their demands for lower prices and higher wages. Everyone wanted to save a few pennies on a purchase but wanted dollars for raises, so the jobs left for other countries along with those wages and now we have neither, enjoy your foreign made goods that you save a few pennies on while you set at home with no job.
It's pathetic that some people in our society actually think they can and should "survive" on a minimum wage job. Sad that our government is trying to make minimum wage jobs "career" jobs because some are incapable of learning, growing or making themselves more valuable and employable in jobs other than menial minimum wage jobs. The fact that the government is trying to force a whole new way of thinking on society by basically telling low wage workers to believe that a low wage job is something okay for success and getting ahead is pathetic. Most normal people who take minimum wage jobs don't expect these jobs to be self sustaining jobs. They take them while they are young and in school or retire and looking to get out of the house and pick up a few hours for extra spending money. Companies never promise minimum wage workers a lifestyle of luxury and privilege. Nor should they ever be expected to. As soon as minimum wage gets to too high a level, the unskilled and unmotivated people who take these jobs as "careers" are going to be harmed the most. Companies will have higher expections from their workers, and higher educated people who never would have taken a minimum wage job will not look at these jobs as okay. Maybe this will finally force our society to have better customer service standards by only hiring the BEST candidate for minimum wage jobs. $15 an hour for a sales clerk at Walmart is ludicrous.
As a small business owner i would just cease to have employees and do it myself.... i already have to much overhead why would i want to pay out more for people to do the job and for me to pay out more in taxes also i would end up coming home with little to no net worth. Why even have a business if you receive nothing for it
But you're just not getting it. You have to stay in business so that you can support all the takers out there.
Unless the government plans on regulating Corporate Structure, Salaries,Profit Margins,Etc increasing wages will only further inflate the prices of all goods & services. Change things all you like but if you fail in completing the task in entirety you will be doing more harm than good.One Party or No Party. Overwhelm your resistance with logic & betterment. Repeatedly challenge them to refute your claims. Publicize their refutation. But be weary of the ignorant who are susceptible to disillusion.
"But be weary of the ignorant who are susceptible to disillusion."
Be wary of the uneducated who are ignorant of the facts of history. We could abolish free trade and there would be no need for a $15 an hour minimum wage. Competition for workers would drive wages up. Of course, that is why they dreamed up free trade agreements in the first place. American 'entrepreneurs' were tired of having to pay so much in wages and benefits to mere mortals.
I like dis idea of $15 per hour. I hope that it will still be low enough so that I can get my free Obamacare and my free Obama phone. I need dese things and the gubment need to help me and my 11 children. I move to Seatle where they give deese things to me better than here in Texas where I have to work to make money. Free money = Freedom!
Your really that hard up where you can't work for your own money.. Why should us hard working America's should just hard you money over your no special then the rest.. by the way nobody told you to have that many kids. It was your decision now take your consequences to your actions.
DaDa's comment sounded like scarcasm to me. At least I hope it was...
Synergy
[sin-er-jee] noun, plural synĀ·erĀ·gies. the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements. From dictionary. com
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.
The proposed rate is $15.00 per Hour, which is a raise of just over 206% for non-skilled labor.
A person in a low skill job making $10.00 per hour. said that is not fair to me I want a 206% raise to $20.60 per hour.
A person in a mid level skill range making $20.00 per hour said what the hail (sic)! I want a 206% raise also. His pay would become $41.20 per hour.
A high level skilled person making $40.00 per hour said Ā£Ā¢ā¬ā this ****, I want a 206% raise to $82.40 PER HOUR.
Low level managers with a salary of $30,000.00 per year ask for a 206% raise, as well, to $61,800.00 per year.
Then mid level managers that receive a salary of $60,000.00 per year gingerly demand a 206% increase from $60,000.00 to $123,600.00 per year.
The high level manager making $120,000.00 per year tells the CEO since all of our employees received a 206% raise then I deserve an increase in salary to $247,200.00 per year and I expect a 206% bonus increase as well.
The CEO and the CFO get together and determine that consumers will not be willing to accept a 206% increase in product cost to offset a 206% labor increase, therefore; they assemble all employees and announce the following.
TO ALL EMPLOYEES:
WE HAVE DETERMINED THAT IN ORDER FOR US TO STAY COMPETITIVE IN TODAYS WORLD MARKET PLACE, WE ARE ANNOUNCING A NEW GLOBAL STRATEGY. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY WE WILL BEGIN A PROCESS OF CLOSING ALL US OPERATIONS AND REESTABLISHING OUR SYNERGY IN CHINA, MEXICO AND OTHER COUNTRIES. WE HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND THE DIFFICULTY IN OUR DECISION AND WISH EACH OF YOU THE BEST IN EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES.
Southerngent, also another idea is; management calls everyone together and announces, as of the next pay period, whereas the government wants to dictate the pay of our company, everyone from the coffeepot (grounds) cleaner to the senior engineer will ALL make 15.75.
Yep! Also another is, companies could say everyone is now making good money, so we will raise our prices to 300%. Then the non-skilled people will complain and want to raise the minimum wage again. Notice in the synergy example that although in each progression the percentage was the same but the differential pay gap increased.
The truth is in reality it doesn't happen this way. The non-skilled will get their raise and the middle-class gets screwed and liberals will blame the republicans for not caring about the working poor or the middle-class. So, the rich get richer the middle-class get poorer and the poor and the working poor are clueless as to the consequences.
The Americans can, buh bye corrupt people and institute co-ops, instead of corporations.
The point of the raise in minimum wage is to prevent businesses from indirectly benefiting from government subsidies. Even with Washington State's current minimum wage standard, a single person working minimum wage 40 hours a week qualifies for basic food assistance and Medicaid. If they have children, then they can qualify for a number of other programs such as child care and WIC. Basically, you can work at McDonalds or Walmart full time and get benefits because it isn't enough to go beyond the qualifying threshold. If they paid a decent wage, we the public wouldn't need to supplement their crappy wage. The $15/hr minimum pay would reduce those that qualify for food stamps and the like.
Let's just make it $30, that should solve all the problems
Why stop at $30? Let's make it $10,000 per hour. Then, all those poor people will be rich people.
Then we can tax the c r a p out of those 1%-ers. Excellent!!
How about we get rid of a corrupt currency system altogether, remove the banking institution from the private sector, revert back to silver and gold backed currencies, kick the imperialists to the curb and live as our founding fathers wanted us to.
Well Shucks,
I pay a guy 500 dollars a day to do all my worrying for me. Where do I get the 500 dollars? That's the first thing he has to worry about.
"How about we get rid of a corrupt currency system altogether, remove the banking institution from the private sector, revert back to silver and gold backed currencies, kick the imperialists to the curb and live as our founding fathers wanted us to." Replying to this comment. Better yet, why not go back to the barter system. I'll trade you a chicken and some eggs, for part of your beef?
So, now we are going from $10.10 to $15? Why not $25? It really makes no difference because prices will rise and inflation will set in. I was there in the 80s and 90s. It was ugly getting a home loan for 16% and going from 50=cent gasoline to $1 gasoline. This is just a smoke screen to persuade the poor that Dens are looking out for them.
If we make the wage 15 dollars an hr, what do we pay the guy who worked his way up to 15 dollars an hr.
Their wage would double or the employer will lose them to a minimum wage job with fewer hours and less responsibility.
And therein lies the problem? Not only that, but most union contracts are tied in some way to the minimum wage. When the minimum goes up, so do the union wages proportionately. So, people who are already making good money get more. And the people who pay? Taxpayers (for public unions) and consumers (for private unions and others). Can you say $10 for a loaf of bread and $15 for a head of lettuce?
I love the sign "I can't survive on $7.25". The minimum wage was never designed to be an amount that you "survived on".
There was also once no minimum wage at all but only people who know nothing about demand and growth want to go back to those days
If the minimum wage doesn't reflect the poverty level (the line below which you could qualify for gov't assistance)than what was it's purpose,to allow business to enslave it's workforce at the govt's expense.
Actually, you can absolutely survive on $7.25. I've done it. What you cannot do is raise a family of 4 and pay $130 a month for cable and $120 a month for your iPhone. Choices have consequences. If you fail to acquire skills and can only earn minimum wage, then you have chosen to not be able to support a family on your minimum wage salary.
The thing is, once you could have survived on minimum wage. It hasn't kept pace with inflation. If it did, minimum would be over $20/ hour.
When I started working in the 80s, minimum was $3.11/hour. Decades later, there are waitstaff that don't make even that.
The American worker has been so devalued that we automatically accept that it's not our place to complain.
Well, the French don't take any and they have decent wages and mandatory paid vacations. Start complaining.
Make it ANY amount you want..It will still be entry level pay and at the bottom of the ladder..
End NAFTA, bring all of our auto related jobs back from Mexico, make all of American cars back in the US. We will have a strong middle class again.
Machines make cars , not Mexicans.
Well,
You are living under the Lyndon Johnson Plan to Print more money and make the war on poverty a success. Lyndon Johnson was a protege of that great orator Franklin Deleno Roosevelt. Roosevelt couldn't get socalised medicine passed at the time but it was just a matter of time. Finally Obama managed to get it passed but employers are not sure what fiasco they will have to deal with next so jobs are scarce. Raising the minimum wage will probably just kill more jobs so.... you are on your own.
Look at the charts. The economy was doing ok until the so called free trade deals and Regan cutting taxes on the wealthy to the lowest levels in all of US history.
ABL.... what history books are you reading? When Regan took office, we had inflation of 12.5% and gasoline rationing when Regan took office. His supply side economics saved this country from an all out depression.
10,000 nation-wide franchises * $5,000 fixed monthly franchise fee = $50,000,000 monthly income for corporate HQ.
$50 million per month * 12 months = $600 million annual income for corporate HQ.
How much of that $600 million came from an individual franchise owner? $60K!
A $5 raise times 7 employees times 40-hour-week times 4 weeks per month equals $5,600 per month, not including payroll taxes. That's just with 7 employees getting a $5 raise.
Should franchises in California, New York, Arkansas, Florida, and even the rest of Washington state subsidize Seattle's franchises by giving back not only the $5,000 franchise fees to Seattle's franchise owners, but coughing up additional funds as well?
CNN reported that 3.3 million American jobs pay minimum wage. I'll bet money that whoever compiled those numbers did not count the 8 million or more illegal workers. There are probably that many working in convenience stores and motels.
I agree a better measure would be those who qualify for food assistance
Under the Seattle proposal, any franchise whose parent corporation has more than 500 employees nationwide, must immediately phase in the raise in 3 years or less. Therefore, franchise owners across the nation must subsidize Seattle's franchises that do not earn enough money to pay employee wages at $15/hour.
Sounds great, doesn't it? Does the term "independently owned and operated" mean anything?
A franchise owner is independent of the corporation at large. It pays the corporation a monthly franchise fee. 10,000 franchises nationwide, each paying a $5,000 monthly franchise fee, equals $50 million per month for the corporate HQ or $600 million per year for its shareholders. But the portion that the individual franchise owner paid was only $5,000 per month.
Seattle is basically telling US corporations that it does not want franchises in the city. The monthly franchise fee itself would be less than the additional payroll that franchise owners would incur. Therefore, to make the plan work, the corporations would have to subsidize Seattle's franchise operations.
Let's redistribute the franchise fees from across the nation to back-fill Seattle's franchises so they can pay their workers more.
15$ is a bit much. But 7.25$ is way too low. That means that a full-time job pays about 17k a year. I dare anyone, anyone at all, to balance their checkbook each month on that salary.
A good question, however, would be what happens to the economy with such a minimum wage. I'd be more than intrested to see what the economy in Washongton does with such a high minimum wage.
I do know what it will do with poverty, poverty will go waaaay down, that's for sure.
The only reason America ever had the MOST PROSPEROUS economy was because America had the BEST PAID employees and consequently, American businesses had the customers with the most money to spend.
Turning raw materials into finished products is the best way to achieve that prosperity. Unfortunately, Democrats and Republicans got together and decided that American workers were making too much money so they helped the 1% move their factories to Mexico, China, or where ever. Now, minimum wage laws are about the only way left to achieve that prosperity.
The better paid the employees the stronger the nation is, true
You must have never taken economics101. Poverty will not go way down as you suggest, instead prices on everything from durable goods to food will go way up leaving the most vulnerable in destitution (think senior citizens and the disabled who are on ssi & won't be getting a raise adjusted for inflation cause by higher wages).
There's actually a Country in Africa where eveyone in that Country is worth millions in their currency but a loaf of bread costs something like a hundred thousand dollars, 60minutes did an article about it years ago.
dlsmit1, you must have never owned a business, did you? Most business owners will not admit it but every single one of them knows that prices are not determined by the cost of production. Prices are determined by what the market will bear. Economists call that the law of supply and demand. Ask any used car salesman. None of them are naive enough to sell a car for $5,000 when customers will actually pay $6,000 for it. That is why the asking price started out at $7500.
I don't think the prices of goods are the things to worry as there's still competition.
I think rents will skyrocket without controls.
You are a very simpleminded person, aren't you?
I also wonder how much money these people have actually tried to save/ My grandma always told us it isn't what you make that counts, but what you save. I saw a woman on the Oprah show who devoted every penny of her minimum wage paycheck, no matter how many hours she worked per pay period to a 60-20-20 rule-60% of her paycheck went in her checking account to pay her bills with, 20% went in her pocket for discretionary spending and when it ran out, she didn't spend on things she didn't really need, and the remaining 20% she put in savings, on CDs, or in a money market account. The lady retired well off by only making minimum wage. I was impressed with what she said, and I do that now.
I just watched crossfire and Rep Barbara Lee, was making very good points about raising the minimum wage, and all Rep Andy Harris was doing Was giving his rebuttal with that stupid smart ass smirk on his face, people all across the country are hurting and in bad situations and Mr Harris and Newt laughed about it.when are they going to take the People serious?
Never. They raped the system early, they don't need us any more than they need to work. They got theirs, now they want to make sure they keep it.
Employers pay the unemployment insurance, not the employees.
The insane are running the asylum.
According to your logic, if we lowered the minimum wage to $0.50/hr the American workers will have an economic boom time.
Don't encourage these idiots with idea's.
Dems support OWS so why not push their agenda of $100.00 an hour.