UAW Strikes
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You guys keep making these claims and then not substantiating them. Abolishing the minimum wage will NOT wreck the economy. We've already established that only 2% of people are actually earning minimum wage as it is. The bottom income earners are not the engine of economic activity, and lowering existing wages will not destroy consumption.
Removing the minimum wage will allow more people to get jobs legally. It will not wreck the economy, and I don't think it will even wreck anyone's life as an individual earner.
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Here are the facts behind minimum wage in America (as of 2005, the most recent data I could find- Chuck):
4.3 million: Number of Americans who have fallen into poverty since President Bush took office
$5.15: Federal minimum wage
26%: How much the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage has eroded since 1979
0: Number of times minimum wage has increased since 1997
7: Number of times Congress has increased its own pay since 1997
$0: How much more a year people earning minimum wage earn today compared to 1997
$28,500: How much more a year members of Congress make today compared to 1997
$10,700: Amount a person making minimum wage will earn in a year
$5,000: Amount below the poverty level working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year at minimum wage will leave a family of three
7,300,000: Number of workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage
72%: Percentage of adult workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage
1,800,000: Number of parents with kids under the age of 18 who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage
11 million: Number of jobs added to the economy in the four years after the last minimum wage hike
$8.70: Amount minimum wage would have to be today to have the same purchasing power it had in 1968
2.5 years: Amount of health care for two children which could be bought by raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25
86%: Percentage of Americans who support raising the federal minimum wage
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An estimated 13.0 million workers (10% of the workforce) would receive an increase in their hourly wage rate if the minimum wage were raised from $5.15 to $7.25 by 2009. Of these workers, 5.6 million workers (4% of the workforce) currently earn less than $7.25 and would be directly affected by an increase. The additional 7.4 million workers (6% of the workforce) earning slightly above the minimum would also be likely to benefit from an increase due to "spillover effects."
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$5.15 today is the equivalent of only $3.95 in 1995 — lower than the $4.25 minimum wage level before the 1996-97 increase.
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thrash;187589 wrote:
You guys keep making these claims and then not substantiating them. Abolishing the minimum wage will NOT wreck the economy. We've already established that only 2% of people are actually earning minimum wage as it is. The bottom income earners are not the engine of economic activity, and lowering existing wages will not destroy consumption.Removing the minimum wage will allow more people to get jobs legally. It will not wreck the economy, and I don't think it will even wreck anyone's life as an individual earner.
But you haven't substantiated your claim either. Who is to say that a lot of employers that are currently paying minimum wage (or slightly higher) wouldn't lower the wages of their existing employees? There is no safeguard for the worker in that regard. I'm willing to bet that even at my level of my company that I would take a major pay cut (or no increases at least) if minimum wage was eliminated (and I make a fairly good living). How can I substantiate this? I can't....but neither can you. The snippets I've included above illustrate that MILLIONS of employees (2% seems like too small of a number) are being paid the minimum of what their employers are required to pay....imagine if they weren't required to pay anything (1920's labor comes to mind....people building dams for $1/day....substantiated from family history of my grandfather making $1/day while building a dam to create a man made lake near Balta, ND)
IF the minimum wage were to be eliminated, I think it is safe to say that rural america would completely disappear. Min wage earners would move to larger cities to earn money....the business owners would follow suit....leaving the farmers as the lone income earners out there. As the would have limited places to sell/buy products, many of them would pack it up as well and move to larger towns leaving us with a shortage of food producers (its happening already) OR more corporate farmers.
Again, I like the "idea" of marketing yourself at fair market value to your employer, I just don't think it will work. Please give me one example of any country that is having the success that this country is that has no minimum wage.
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Chuck, you are giving me a headache with all those stats put together by some pro-minimum wage entity. I like how they put things out that make no sense whatsoever:
- 7,300,000: Number of workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage.
*Well duh, what are they talking about? If you raise the minimum wage to what? If you raise the minimum wage to $40/hr I'd bet that it would be a heckuva lot more than 7,300,000 people who would benefit from it, you think? I could prove rediculous of about 3/4 of the stats you posted because it is meaningless drivel put out by some left wing web site.
:icon_geek:
DaveH
'94 Supra- 7.77 @ 176mph -
And the fact that the definition of being in poverty or not well off includes families who ONLY own 1 or 2 vehicles, ONLY have digital cable/satellite and not the other and plenty other amenities that nobody really needs to survive. Statistics like those posted are pretty worthless IMO.
One I especially love is
[quote
86%: Percentage of Americans who support raising the federal minimum wage[/quote]
As if they are all experts on whether or not a raise in the minimum wage would actually benefit them.This is the same group of people who for the most part supported the war in Iraq/Afghanistan and are now saying we never should have gone there.
Also I see a nice little flaw in that statistic...
$10,700: Amount a person making minimum wage will earn in a year
This brings us back to the question of how many people actually earn minimum wage? Does the statistic of this number include 15 year olds working their first job? Does the statistic show how many of those people are single vs married?These are like the stats that also label people with Masters/PhD's who aren't working in a field generally accepted as a Masters/PhD field as underemployed or working below their means. Oh the PhD is only earning $40,000 a year? boo hoo.
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Admittedly, that was a copy/paste from the United States Department of Labors website Dave. thrash asked for something to back up what I've said, it was the best I could find on short notice.
I'm still waiting for someone to show some proof that removing the minimum wage has helped any economy in any country.
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I'll see if I can find it again....i searched google and it brought me there...
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How many people have actually worked for minimum wage?
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I have
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I have never worked for minimum wage.
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Only once; my first job as a dishwasher, but after 2 weeks I got a small raise.
Of course, being in the military, if you go by the 'you're on the job 24/7' rule, then I'm getting paid less than a dollar an hour, or something small like that.
-Peter
1991 240SX
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tjamz;187681 wrote:
I'll see if I can find it again....i searched google and it brought me there...I found it, it wasn't quite the Department of Labor tho. LOL
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/06/14/fast-facts-on-the-minimum-wage/
DaveH
'94 Supra- 7.77 @ 176mph -
http://www.house.gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/minimum/50years.htm
Some good stuff here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage
According to a claim by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy[36], the passage of the first Federal mandated minimum wage in the United States in 1938 led to an estimated 500,000 blacks losing their jobs via replacement by higher skilled and more educated white laborers. Milton Friedman, 1976 Nobel Prize winner in Economics, called the minimum wage one of the most "anti-negro laws" for what he saw as its adverse affects on employers.[37]
For example, during the apartheid era in South Africa, white trade unions lobbied for the introduction of minimum wage laws so as to exclude black workers from the labor market. By preventing black workers from selling their labor for less than white workers, the black workers were prevented from competing for jobs held by whites.[25]
I mean.. the proof is in the pudding. Look at who wants to increase minimum wage
- big businesses wanting to snuff out smaller competitors
- people that want to price-protect their current jobs
- politicians that want to buy votes from the uneducated poor (and keep them uneducated and dependant)
I don't think i've ever seen any small business support a higher minimum wage, but big businesses love it. Why do you suppose that is? Why is it that allegedly anti-business "progressives" and "leftists" are so in favor of a policy that appears to only help big business?
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DaveH;187697 wrote:
I found it, it wasn't quite the Department of Labor tho. LOLhttp://thinkprogress.org/2005/06/14/fast-facts-on-the-minimum-wage/
Ehh....I was incorrect in my source...I know I was on the DoL site for a bit as well to verify some of the info....my bad.
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thrash;187700 wrote:
http://www.house.gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/minimum/50years.htmSome good stuff here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage
I mean.. the proof is in the pudding. Look at who wants to increase minimum wage
- big businesses wanting to snuff out smaller competitors
- people that want to price-protect their current jobs
- politicians that want to buy votes from the uneducated poor (and keep them uneducated and dependant)
I don't think i've ever seen any small business support a higher minimum wage, but big businesses love it. Why do you suppose that is? Why is it that allegedly anti-business "progressives" and "leftists" are so in favor of a policy that appears to only help big business?
The "spin" on your quotes is this: Introducing a minimum wage increased the talent level of the people hired. The downside was that initially there were a number of people who lost their jobs because they were replaced by more talented individuals....those against affirmative action should have no problem with this (I'm against affirmative action btw).
But yes, I am one that wants to price-protect my current job. At present I am living at my means, not above, not below and I'd be extremely pissed if my wages were lowered significantly as it would mean that I would not be able to afford my current lifestyle....I'd have to sell my house, and car not to mention I have no idea how I'd pay for daycare.
And again, I can assure you I make WELL above minimum wage, but if minimum wage were to drop I am fairly positive that I would take a very significant cut in pay...not because my company would necessarily want to, but stockholder pressure would demand it and they would comply.....I haven't had a cost of living increase in 3 years, I've only had my quota raised and commissionable percentage reduced...and this is with minimum wage going up....next monday (new fiscal year) for example, my quota will be going up 33% over this year while my pay will remain exactly the same (actually less since I'll have to sell 33% more to earn the same wage.) All of this is due to stockholder demands to lower costs....nm our CEO got a multi-million dollar pay increase PRIOR to his 2.5 million dollar severance package.....
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