Starting to rethink my views on minimum wage...

Quote from BSAM:

Good post, brother Leaf.

As I've said here on ET before, the minimum wage should be at least $10 per hour.

Minimum wage???---Is that the ultra-conservative BSAM saying that???
Yes, it is.
As brother Leaf points out, the minimum wage is kept low in this country because the corporations own our 535 whores in D.C.
You know the particular whores I'm talking about.
The ones many of you are so proud to shake hands with, you send them money, go to their little "town meetings" and are just so eager to clap for them and express your kindest regards for them.
Oh sorry, drifting off topic a bit.

...In other words, we don't operate on a level playing field.
Unfortunately, most poor people in this country are too damn dumb to understand this.

So, if all things were equal, then there shouldn't even be any such thing as a minimum wage.
But all things ain't equal.
So, there should be a minimum wage---$10 or higher.

Let's take about 10 to 20 billion dollars away from these overpaid lazy fat cats at the top and spread some financial benefits to the real workers.
More...

Ugh, that's not really how it works. LOL.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

And you don't think doubling wages would not increase the cost of goods? I remember when I was in high school and my parents took me to CA for the first time. We walked into a McDonalds for lunch and I noticed that every item on the food menu was almost twice what it was back home, or at a minimum 50% higher. On the way out of the place I noticed a sign showing that they were hiring and paying almost twice what minimum wage was in my home state.

Payroll cost is one of the largest if not the largest cost to every employer. You can't raise that input without raising the output.

The problem is we all want to get things as cheap as possible yet earn as much as possible. Trying to beat the cost of living arb. You can't have it both ways. So we have cheap wages in this country. We also have cheap food, cheap housing, cheap gas, cheap consumer goods, etc. Raising the wage won't change the ratio.

But as others have pointed out, in a country with a lot of minorities and immigrants, raising the minimum will only guarantee poverty for those groups. Which will require the expanding of the welfare state, which will require higher taxes, which will all lead to inflation. There is no way around this.

The problem we have right now is there is a disconnect in this country because we have a federal reserve that is printing money and thereby driving up inflation without driving up wages. If the Fed didn't exist, inflation would collapse, and those low wages by default would be worth more and have more buying power thereby leading to a more equitable life.
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Here are some numbers for you.

Big Mac price Country Hourly wage paid

$2.50 Philippines 75 cents

$4.29 USA (CA) $9 dollars

$5.10 Australia(Mt. Isa) $19.27

7-11 store Coke price

$0.40 Philippines

$1.59 USA

$3.08 Australia

So...which is the better place to live?
 
Quote from peilthetraveler:

Here are some numbers for you.

Big Mac price Country Hourly wage paid

$2.50 Philippines 75 cents

$4.29 USA (CA) $9 dollars

$5.10 Australia(Mt. Isa) $19.27

7-11 store Coke price

$0.40 Philippines

$1.59 USA

$3.08 Australia

So...which is the better place to live?
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The so called "big mac" index used by economists is to compare the relative value of a country's currency and it's purchasing power. This tells you that the actual purchasing power of the Aussie Dollar is substantially greater then the US dollar. We already know this. You thank our Fed for that. Has nothing to do with minimum wage.
 
Quote from peilthetraveler:

AUD is pretty close to the same as USD. I believe its around $1.03US to $1AUD.
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No, that is the difference in "price". What the big mac index seeks to do is find the true difference between "two currencies" by measuring their purchasing power, not price differential. Again, has nothing to do with minimum wage.
 
Quote from HopelessTrader:

very good point..
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Peil didn't say it was a cause and effect. He just asked if it worked there why can't it work here. A smart question.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

The so called "big mac" index used by economists is to compare the relative value of a country's currency and it's purchasing power. This tells you that the actual purchasing power of the Aussie Dollar is substantially greater then the US dollar. We already know this. You thank our Fed for that. Has nothing to do with minimum wage.
More...

Mav, I'm sure you meant to say AUD has lower purchasing power than USD. Because $AUD4.29 buys you only about 80% of a Big Mac Down Under, mate.
 
In the United States there is a supposed lack of jobs for everyone, which makes it tougher for the jobless to get back to work. However, it might also be that what careers there are do not pay much, as fully one-quarter of private sector workers are approximated to make less than 10 dollars per hour.
 
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