$15.00 per hour might be the right figure for San Fransisco or Seattle but what about Peoria? What about Rock Springs? What about Tupelo?
A funny thing happens at $15 per hour...
- Thread starter Snarkhund
- Start date
An increase in minimum wage is warranted since all other costs have increased since the 1990s but the min wage has not. More than half the states are already well above the min wage level anyway. So restaurant and bar prices inch up a bit more, is that going to break the economy if luxury items like eating out go up a bit. restaurants dont implement the full min wage anyway since half the workers are on tips.
When McD puts in kiosks and hires less cashiers nobody complains about job losses. Slightly higher min wage will create more tax revenue and better standards of living for many people which will drive the lower income economies. Any job losses at restaurants is minor since those fuckers charge you $5.00 for a coke that costs them $0.50.
When McD puts in kiosks and hires less cashiers nobody complains about job losses. Slightly higher min wage will create more tax revenue and better standards of living for many people which will drive the lower income economies. Any job losses at restaurants is minor since those fuckers charge you $5.00 for a coke that costs them $0.50.
Classic capitalism versus defense contracts and minimum wages were top of mind recently because I’ve recently became a indirect beneficiary of government money.
I currently have a contract with a major trucking company that has a self dispatch electronic load board. I can choose when and where I want to go. If I don’t want to go where it’s cold, I don’t have to. If I don’t want to deal with tolls, high state road use taxes, traffic congestion, or with states that have strict enforcement practices, I don’t have to. If a prospective load is heavy, hazardous, or a shipper has too many rules, I can let that load pass by.
When I finally choose a load, I can decide what my level of service will be. I can choose to perform the minimum I’m contractually and legally obligated to, or I can offer “Full service”, where I take the initiative in certain areas along with a can do, problem solving attitude. The price the shipper is willing to pay is key.
I’ve recently starting hauling for an agent who has a contract with a shipper who is paying stupid big money for my services. Part of it is related to market conditions. The other part is this shipper wants more capable drivers. I make more now just on standby, or guaranteed availability for a load for a single day than most people make in a week in the US. When I am under load, my income is higher, much higher. Nothing illegal or particularly dangerous work required.
To sum up my relationship with this agent and shipper, when they ask something of me, my answer is always the same: “Done”. Anything that comes up, and things often come up, such as operational and equipment issues, I take care of them as I would if I were an owner and inform my agent accordingly.
Classic capitalism is very efficient at creating price discovery and potential lowest costs of production. However, subjective areas such as quality and anticipatory market changes often lag other economic systems. Government contracts often offer above average compensation for a service performed. A government contractor is often provided a strong financial incentive up front and ample financial resources allow that contractor to not just fulfill their contractual obligations, but to take care of related items not initially anticipated. Those contractors who regularly go above and beyond get awarded more work, while those who do just the bare minimum, may not.
Minimum wage laws, specifically, the $15.00 minimum wage, is a controversial issue. In the past, I was against forcing employers to pay a minimum wage because of the likelihood of jobs being rationed and fast service suffering as in the fast food industry. The more young people exposed to jobs, especially for the on-the-job training that most fast food restaurants provide, the better equipped that person becomes when going for higher paying and increased responsibility jobs. It seems that for basic jobs, where there are few ways for a worker to distinguish themselves from another, minimum wages simply impair the employer’s business model and denies an important stepping stone for many newly entering the job market. However, what about a company or industry that is very profitable yet does not pay “Living wages” for their employees, whether in the US or elsewhere? Should that employer be required to pay more to their employees, reduce the prices they charge to consumers, or allow such employers to be incentivized to provide substantive on-the-job training? Seems to me, for entry level jobs, the answer always comes back to the same: Get as many people in the door as possible and teach them practical, real world skills, that will open doors for them in higher paying jobs.
While it can be reasonable for the government to provide lucrative contracts that let the contractors decide how best to fulfill that contract, it is not most efficient for the government to tell an business how they should run their business or how much they should pay their employees. Unfair trade practices excepted, of course.
I think that is a good point and there could be a way to address it. G-scale federal salaries have a minimum level on the levels which are then adjusted for cost of living if your job is in NY v. Houston. In other words a GS-12 in NY earns more than a GS-12 in Phoenix due to cost of living differentials.
I'd like to see a MW that's too low for San Francisco but too high for Rock Springs. Spread the population out a bit. Give people a choice in tradeoffs.
Yes its clearly easy for minimum wage employees to pull up and move across the country since they have so many resources.
But imagine in a more urban or suburban setting paying someone $8.00/hour for 30 hours a week....
That is $960 a month BEFORE all taxes. You expect to pay rent and feed yourself and maybe someone else and commute to work (doubt you can afford a car), health care, and not sleep on a floor for that much when rents all over have gone up with the cost of living?
But when that person goes on welfare you call them losers and lazy.
Increasing the minimum wage to more reasonable levels which is open for adjustment in different areas of the country lifts up a whole sector of the economy. I dont give a shit if now I have to pay a dollar for my chips and salsa at a restaurant or bread...that shit was already included in the cost anyway. If a restaurant has to cut one staff member and raise prices a little, I guarantee the net gain in tax revenue and people earning more can offset that job loss with gains elsewhere. Even in South Dakota, $7.25 might be welfare wages and a study can be done but in most other regular parts of the country, getting off of $7.25 is easy but let the State and fed work together to see where it should land or phase it in.
People crying about paying an extra dollar to eat out (usually middle and upper class families) is nothing compared to getting more people off of welfare with a better wage.
That is $960 a month BEFORE all taxes. You expect to pay rent and feed yourself and maybe someone else and commute to work (doubt you can afford a car), health care, and not sleep on a floor for that much when rents all over have gone up with the cost of living?
But when that person goes on welfare you call them losers and lazy.
Increasing the minimum wage to more reasonable levels which is open for adjustment in different areas of the country lifts up a whole sector of the economy. I dont give a shit if now I have to pay a dollar for my chips and salsa at a restaurant or bread...that shit was already included in the cost anyway. If a restaurant has to cut one staff member and raise prices a little, I guarantee the net gain in tax revenue and people earning more can offset that job loss with gains elsewhere. Even in South Dakota, $7.25 might be welfare wages and a study can be done but in most other regular parts of the country, getting off of $7.25 is easy but let the State and fed work together to see where it should land or phase it in.
People crying about paying an extra dollar to eat out (usually middle and upper class families) is nothing compared to getting more people off of welfare with a better wage.
It would take time.
Nice try. Go to the link that Ricter posted earlier:
https://www.brookings.edu/policy202...cut-the-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-pay-for-itself/
$7.25 isn't enough anywhere.