(02-18-2021 07:57 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(02-18-2021 07:44 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(02-18-2021 07:30 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  The alternative to not raising the minimum wage, is to let it stagnate below inflation and leave people who are stuck in those jobs to rely on the government to support their basic needs and basically allow the government to subsidize companies underpaying their employees.

Who is stuck in a job paying $7.75/hr? Nobody. First, nobody pays that low anymore, because free market pressures have raised the competitive wage. Second, if you don't like what you are making, change jobs. learn a skill, take a chance, don't just sit there and expect the Democrats to take care of you all your life. Do something.

The MW is irrelevant unless it can make employers pay people more than they are worth on the open, free, market. Right now they are paying way more than the MW.

The CBO has said 1.3 million people will lose their jobs if a $15 MW is passed. I guess to some, the loss of the $12 job is offset by the extra $3/hr the ones who don't lose their jobs get. One guy gets shafted, three others get his money. The Democratic Way.

Might get worse, once Biden brings in a few million immigrants to compete with Americans for these jobs.

I think the democrats are operating under the impression that an entry level job is a career choice. You are not supposed to spend 40 years sliding hamburgers across a counter.

If you looked at my math earlier, you'd see that even a $15 per/hr wage is nothing in today's world. $2,500 per month keeps you afloat, but barely. The same concept you're talking about would be affected by raising the minimum wage. The minimum wage increase would put pressure on all wages to rise, again driving demand from the bottom up (a much more efficient way to affect the economy than top down).

Look at where wealth is accumulating right now in this country - it's not the bottom percentile of workers. Pushing wages up across the board would help be the rising tide that would raise all boats.

You make it sounds so easy to change jobs, but I don't know if you have thought through the mechanics of changing jobs or learning a skill. If you're making minimum wage and unable to save, how are you going to afford to take time off and apply for other jobs? What about pay for a class that teaches you a skill? My whole point about increasing the minimum wage is you could increase savings so, if you wanted to do either of those things, you would have the means to.

RE: the bolded. Bingo. You hit the bull's eye. Only on the wrong target. Yes, it puts pressure on all wages to rise, which in turn puts pressure on prices to rise, and this is called INFLATION, and in the end, the guys making $30K are just as bad off as the guys now making $24K. Much sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Sorry, Lad, I was once (well, more than once) a minimum wage worker. If your plan to make me comfortable there worked, I would still be there 50 years later.