Quote: (02-09-2019 09:05 AM)TigerMandingo Wrote:
Here's an idea to reduce welfare handouts, but one that many of you guys probably aren't gonna like: raise the minimum wage to a living wage. It could be $15, or it could be slightly less or slightly more depending on the region of the country. Make it a state decision.
Now, I can already hear the libertardians marching forward, so let me make a few points. As far as I know, there aren't many (any?) places in the US where you can survive on $8.75/hr. When I say survive, I mean pay the rent, have enough for groceries, and afford a vehicle. What's the average rent for a studio apartment in a mid-sized US city? Let's say, for the sake of argument, it's around $700/month, and I'm being conservative here. The minimum wage slaves can barely afford that. So, when employers aren't paying people enough to survive, they are obviously going to turn to the government for help. So the taxpayers end up subsidizing these poor folks despite the fact that many of them are working full-time but still can't make ends meet.
Now, a lot of times folks on the right make the argument that these low-wage jobs are "meant for teenagers" and shouldn't be used as a crutch to make income. But the truth is, a ton of adults, for one reason or another, work these jobs. It could be because they are low IQ, unlucky, or who knows, maybe they actually do enjoy working 50 hours a week at Panera bread. Whatever it is, there is no reason why they should be struggling to make ends meet. Companies like Costco understand this and why they have a good reputation.
Companies that pay shit are forcing the rest of you to subsidize the poor. It's really that simple.
What did I just read? This is the type of Economically Illiterate stuff I'd expect to read from Alexandria Occasion Cortez or Bernie Sanders. This type of economic stupidity is what leads to mass starvation.
You seem to lack any understanding of business other than "OMG those evil oppressive capitalists".
In business everything has a cost. If you want to have a business that builds computers you have to source the parts and get people to build it. Labor is just another business cost.
Raising the minimum wage is a stupid idea. It always has and it always will be. Every laborer has a price to the company that they have to pay (Salary of the person). If you raise the price of labor for a worker and the price is higher than what the person produces then the company loses money just by having that person.
Only thing then is to fire that person or reduce their hours. You can't Feelz and socialism your way to solving a fundamental math problem. If you are paying a person more than what their labor is worth then you lose money.
Now the minimum wage issue. Raising it to lets say $15/hr will mean all workers whose labor is worth less than 15 just become unprofitable to hire. So those workers are then reduced or fired. OR the company goes under. Either way you end up with people making less. So on top of losing a certain percentage of businesses that go bankrupt (and the tax revenue)... You also end up with a lot of people earning less money.
Guess what? That tax revenue is also lost. So now instead of someone making lets say $9/hr. You raise the minimum wage to $15 and they suddenly make 0/hr. All the economic activity for that area dries up. And then people like you come in and still blame those evil business owners.
Here is an example
About 22 mins in listen to the german farmer harvesting Asparagus. Thats the result of raising the minimum wage.
You just have to accept that some skills are only worth so much. People need to find better solutions like getting trained in something else instead of demanding they get paid more than they are worth to the company.