$10.10 Minimum Wage Proposal

FU11307 · Guru

$10.10 Minimum Wage Proposal

Date: Nov 9, 2013

Cost of merchandise would go up. Cost of everything sold would go up so it voids the increase in wage. Me thinks.

I think NY already has $10 hr minimum wage. Pack of cigs is $10+. To rent a small hole in the wall in NYC would be a house payment anywhere else. Don't know for sure just thought I have read it over the years.

Justin72 · Senior Member

The whole point of a min. wage increase is that inflation has gotten so bad that it is now impossible to make a living on min. wage now rather than just very difficult. Increasing wouldn't increase merchandise costs by a noticeable amount and would make it a teeny bit easier on people who can only get min. wage jobs. It has my full support.

Date: Nov 9, 2013

My wife and I both work at Kroger with a child and no help from the government and we bought a house and put money into savings every week living on min. wage. We now both make two dollars over min. wage. It is about Americans wanting more then they can afford and not knowing how to save money. The government should teach money management classes instead of worrying about a wage increase. People broke making $7.70 an hour will be broke making $10.10 an hour.

Along with the insurance crisis and talks of a wage increase - pretty soon there will be no full time jobs and you'll be lucky to get 10 hours a week, 3 hours of which will cover the cost of a hamburger.

Date: Nov 9, 2013

couldn't help but laugh about the government teaching people to manage money.

maybe they already did teach them.

wrcousert · Member

Those who make a little more than minimum wage will probably be stuck at minimum wage. Don't expect a raise if you currently make $10 or $12 per hour.

Minimum wage is a horrible idea. If you want more pay, get a better job. Raising minimum wage just means higher prices for everyone else.

4hourrush · Guru

Minimum wage is a horrible idea? And yet you work at Kroger, so I guess you'd be ok with making $5 an hour?

AnonymousCutter · Guru

Its a very bad idea. When minimum wage goes up you have more inflation. I remember 5 years ago when you could get a 20 oz coca cola for $.99 cents. Now its a $1.68 after taxes.

wrcousert · Member

4hourrush wrote:
Minimum wage is a horrible idea? And yet you work at Kroger, so I guess you'd be ok with making $5 an hour?

People should be paid what they're worth. It's wrong to force an employer to pay an amount greater than what the employee is worth.

If you don't like your pay, ask for a raise. If you don't get the raise, find someone who is willing to pay your asking price.

What's wrong with this?

FU11307 · Guru

I like to consider myself a libertarian, but even so, I think it would be a bad idea to get rid of minimum wage all together. If Kroger had the option of paying the employees $2.00 an hour, I could definitely see them do it.

One fact that I feel often goes over a lot of Republicans' heads is that a lot of people don't work retail because they want to. It might be the only job available in their area. Or, they might not have reliable transportation to get to another job. It's simple to say something like "if you don't like it, get another job," but I feel that saying such a thing lacks empathy and ignores the reality of the situation.

Now, as for this current minimum wage increase proposal, Obama was originally going for $9.00 an hour. I think that could get a lot more support than $10.10. Heck, I'd even be okay with $8.00 and hour at this point, because minimum wage just hasn't been keeping up with the times. I'd even be okay with $10.10 an hour, IF there was a TON of caveats. One interesting argument I see from the supporters is that raising the minimum wage would mean people welching less off the government.

What I'm really interested in at this point is the actual statistics to show if increasing minimum wage really would increase product prices by a lot more. I've seen a ton of arguments by both sides, but have yet to seen any actual proof from either side. Wouldn't businesses lose, ya know, business if they raised the prices too much?

What I'm really scared of though with any talks of minimum wage increases is its affects on small businesses. Will they be able to survive?

wrcousert · Member

I currently earn just a little more than minimum wage. While I would absolutely love a raise, increasing minimum wage is not the way to do it.

grubberd · Newbie

The point of minimum wage is not to live off of it. It is for the uneducated adults to make a bit of cash, high school/college kids, and others looking for side work.

FU11307 · Guru

grubberd wrote:
The point of minimum wage is not to live off of it. It is for the uneducated adults to make a bit of cash, high school/college kids, and others looking for side work.

Well, the problem with that line of reasoning is reality. Some families are at least trying to live off of minimum wage. They can't, so they rely on government programs. Supporters claim with a higher minimum wage, it would decrease the cost of the government programs.

Unless what you're trying to say is that people would be better off not having jobs at all? Or, are you saying people should get educated to get a better job? If so, where does one find the time and money to get a decent education? Especially if they don't have outside help and are legitimately poor?

Date: Nov 10, 2013

FU11307 wrote:
grubberd wrote:
The point of minimum wage is not to live off of it. It is for the uneducated adults to make a bit of cash, high school/college kids, and others looking for side work.
Well, the problem with that line of reasoning is reality. Some families are at least trying to live off of minimum wage. They can't, so they rely on government programs. Supporters claim with a higher minimum wage, it would decrease the cost of the government programs.
Unless what you're trying to say is that people would be better off not having jobs at all? Or, are you saying people should get educated to get a better job? If so, where does one find the time and money to get a decent education? Especially if they don't have outside help and are legitimately poor?

THE POINT IS...Not what you'd LIKE to see happen, not what SHOULD be happening, but what IS happening!!! Things have changed, and the world is just not the same place it was when I was younger. When I was younger, you didn't see a ton of foreclosures. You didn't see SO many people competing for the same limited number of jobs. You didn't see EDUCATED people having to look this hard for work that would make their educations pay off. You didn't see so many jobs/professions/entire industries fall by the way side, either, like there is now. As technology gets better and budgets get tighter, even more jobs will probably be lost. Inflation will keep going up. I even hear that Kellogg's is laying a bunch of people off, because people are not buying cereal like they used to.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/cereal-maker-kellogg-cut-jobs-breakfast-sales-slide-8C11518988

We need to start looking at the reality of how things ACTUALLY are NOW, and not how we want or believe them to be. There's a "bigger picture" being missed here...

FU11307 · Guru

Anonymous wrote:
FU11307 wrote:
grubberd wrote:
The point of minimum wage is not to live off of it. It is for the uneducated adults to make a bit of cash, high school/college kids, and others looking for side work.
Well, the problem with that line of reasoning is reality. Some families are at least trying to live off of minimum wage. They can't, so they rely on government programs. Supporters claim with a higher minimum wage, it would decrease the cost of the government programs.
Unless what you're trying to say is that people would be better off not having jobs at all? Or, are you saying people should get educated to get a better job? If so, where does one find the time and money to get a decent education? Especially if they don't have outside help and are legitimately poor?
You didn't see SO many people competing for the same limited number of jobs. You didn't see EDUCATED people having to look this hard for work that would make their educations pay off.

Thanks for bringing this up. There's plenty of people WITH college educations that are working minimum wage jobs as well. So, I guess the argument that people who aren't happy with their current job should just get more education doesn't necessarily hold much weight anymore.

wageslave · Veteran Member

grubberd wrote:
The point of minimum wage is not to live off of it. It is for the uneducated adults to make a bit of cash, high school/college kids, and others looking for side work.

Yeah? Well I happen to have a degree, in Computer Science, no less. I was making $30 an hour when the crash came, living in a house I paid (borrowed) $130,000 for. I've been looking for a decent job ever since, and there aren't any out there. The house I used to live in is now worth $60,000, and the amount owed on it is nearly $200,000 because my total take home for a month is less than the mortgage payment. Add in $30,000 in student loans for a degree that is less useful than toilet paper, and I may never see daylight again.

People are no longer working minimum wage jobs to bring in a little extra here and there, they're trying to survive, and you just CAN'T do that on $7.35 an hour, even if you're lucky enough to be working full time (which most of us AREN'T, thanks to companies like Kroger and Walmart.)

Date: Nov 10, 2013

But what does this do for people who already make 10 an hour? Nothing. I worked hard to get 10 an hour and now everyone makes as much as me?

Yunqi · Member

The way things are = if the minimum wage is increased, the # of employees will be decreased.

Yunqi · Member

Anonymous wrote:
FU11307 wrote:
grubberd wrote:
The point of minimum wage is not to live off of it. It is for the uneducated adults to make a bit of cash, high school/college kids, and others looking for side work.
Well, the problem with that line of reasoning is reality. Some families are at least trying to live off of minimum wage. They can't, so they rely on government programs. Supporters claim with a higher minimum wage, it would decrease the cost of the government programs.
Unless what you're trying to say is that people would be better off not having jobs at all? Or, are you saying people should get educated to get a better job? If so, where does one find the time and money to get a decent education? Especially if they don't have outside help and are legitimately poor?
THE POINT IS...Not what you'd LIKE to see happen, not what SHOULD be happening, but what IS happening!!! Things have changed, and the world is just not the same place it was when I was younger. When I was younger, you didn't see a ton of foreclosures. You didn't see SO many people competing for the same limited number of jobs. You didn't see EDUCATED people having to look this hard for work that would make their educations pay off. You didn't see so many jobs/professions/entire industries fall by the way side, either, like there is now. As technology gets better and budgets get tighter, even more jobs will probably be lost. Inflation will keep going up. I even hear that Kellogg's is laying a bunch of people off, because people are not buying cereal like they used to.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/cereal-maker-kellogg-cut-jobs-breakfast-sales-slide-8C11518988
We need to start looking at the reality of how things ACTUALLY are NOW, and not how we want or believe them to be. There's a "bigger picture" being missed here...

Date: Nov 11, 2013

Y'know what's sad? When a fast food meal on average costs more than minimum wage.

Or, when a gallon of milk is about half of minimum wage.

Yunqi · Member

The comment above is an interesting way of looking at it.

3 meals a day = 15 out of 40 hours a week going towards food. So, 25 x 4 = 100 hours a month towards rent etc.... before taxes!!!

$10 per hour is much better, but then higher prices......

FU11307 · Guru

Yunqi wrote:
The comment above is an interesting way of looking at it.
3 meals a day = 15 out of 40 hours a week going towards food. So, 25 x 4 = 100 hours a month towards rent etc.... before taxes!!!
$10 per hour is much better, but then higher prices......

But, some people can't even find full time jobs.

nocturnia · Guru

The One Percenters own the world. They own all major American businesses; they own the U.S.A. Government.

And they absolutely do NOT want to pay any one for ANYthing. If these people had their way, slavery would be revived like a dormant venereal disease. With the way things are clearly going, I'd move to Canada or Mexico.......But those places are owned, too. Sure, this is a radical post.

But PROVE ME WRONG.

Date: Nov 15, 2013

Ok, seriously...HERE is what's going on...

http://news.yahoo.com/share-young-us-adults-move-hits-50-low-050317604.html

And I can't expect that things are going to change for the better any time soon, because I keep reading stuff like this! And I've BEEN hearing this stuff off and on for the past five years! What change? The writing's on the wall, people!!! Maybe if Congress would get their act together, too to help the situation we in this country find ourselves in...but, aw hell...who am I kidding??? I could get blood out of a turnip faster!!! And they may be the next ones on the unemployment line come elections!!!

FU11307 · Guru

The minimum wage debate is now apparently job #1 for the administration according to the Labor Secretary. I wonder what that makes healthcare D=

Date: Nov 18, 2013

FU11307 wrote:
The minimum wage debate is now apparently job #1 for the administration according to the Labor Secretary. I wonder what that makes healthcare D=

Somewhere along the bottom, along with other policies that they've butchered one way or another and that they'd rather forget about.

Also, forget it. We won't be getting a raise in minimum wages for a while. The lobbying firms working on behalf of the companies are "contributing" to those Congressmen's re-election funds.

And sure, they might pass it, but they'll do a quick 180 right after. Remember that bailout package that the large majority of the population vehemently opposed and that the House (miraculously) voted against? A day later they come out and say "lol, guess what? We gots a new deal hammered out and already approved!".