California hikes minimum wage to $20/hr. Workers now make $0/hr

[newwurldmn]

So that’s the way the cookie crumbles. If you can’t afford to pay people living wages do you really have a viable business or are you actually sucking off of the system by underpaying workers?

Many people forget what it took to get places like Walmart to raise their wages, while they were making literally billions in profit while their workers were on food stamps and Medicaid.

Don’t think for a second underpaying workers comes at no cost to tax payers.

Wages are what the market will bear at all levels, whether it be a programmer making 500,000/year or a cashier making $15/hour.

It has nothing to do with "a viable business" - unless you think the only businesses that should be in America are law firms, doctors offices, and big tech. I guess that 500,000 dollar guy can pay $470,000 in unemployment taxes to fund the 20 guys who no longer have jobs in your world.

 

[Tony Stark]

Wages are what the market will bear at all levels, whether it be a programmer making 500,000/year or a cashier making $15/hour.

It has nothing to do with "a viable business" - unless you think the only businesses that should be in America are law firms, doctors offices, and big tech.

Government/tax payers are subsidizing businesses that pay low wages.

 

[Tsing Tao]

Employees does not lose.They get a fare wage or unemployment.Employers pay for unemployment benifits.

I don't think the amount they get from unemployment matches what they get in salary, nor is it permanent. Maybe I'm wrong...

 

[Tsing Tao]

All of this is hypothetical hogwash. There will be bumps and bruises with any change. Some will lose and others will gain. But what is true is that the idea of “working poor” is an abomination. It must fought.

Hypothetical hogwash, but nothing I said was not correct. You can be all "social justice" if you want, but math won't care.

 

[UsualName]

Wages are what the market will bear at all levels, whether it be a programmer making 500,000/year or a cashier making $15/hour.

It has nothing to do with "a viable business" - unless you think the only businesses that should be in America are law firms, doctors offices, and big tech. I guess that 500,000 dollar guy can pay $470,000 in unemployment taxes to fund the 20 guys who no longer have jobs in your world.

Absurd. Throw this in the same pot as the half baked “why not $50 an hour” specious arguments. The minimum wage is established and these mass unemployment arguments get regurgitated all of the time. Everyone freaked out when states moved to $15 an hour minimum wage but what actually happened? Maximum employment.

 

[UsualName]

Hypothetical hogwash, but nothing I said was not correct. You can be all "social justice" if you want, but math won't care.

Buddy, we have states with comparatively higher minimum wages to the federal standard and there is no problem. The truth is you guys on the right cry wolf way too much and if this ever does actually get out of control people aren’t going to see you all as reasonable because you’re always wrong. Just chill out and see what happens instead of crying wolf.

 

[Ricter]

If you need 10 people on to fulfill sales at any given time, then you need 10 people. Your inputs cost more... SHRUG.

If you're laying off people merely because an input price rose, or it turns out you didn't need that input in the first place (e.g. you only need 8 on to fulfill sales) you've been doing it wrong.

Granted, your new cost/benefit may bring some form of automation into play. See my next post.

 

[Ricter]

They'll get unemployment.

A weak form of UBI, which is where we need to go. If we can't have UBI, what is the point of all these goddamn machines and toys and clutter and noise and pollution and junk in landfills? Like, wtf are we building them for?

Anyway, automation and efficiency gains are what they are, they'll be employed at the moment their cost is worth it, regardless of whether your staff is getting paid more or not. That's what capitalism pursues, better margins, right?

 

[newwurldmn]

Absurd. Throw this in the same pot as the half baked “why not $50 an hour” specious arguments. The minimum wage is established and these mass unemployment arguments get regurgitated all of the time. Everyone freaked out when states moved to $15 an hour minimum wage but what actually happened? Maximum employment.

Maximum employment because prevailing market wages were already higher than $15 in most markets. Employers don't control wages. They are purely free market.

 

[Tony Stark]

A weak form of UBI, which is where we need to go.

Im all for it.Corporations /businesses would hate it as millions of their slaves, I mean employees, would tell them to go fuck themselves and do so constantly.