Raise minimum wage, make lives and economy better - CNN.com

Study from the Univ. of Vermont:

Most studies have found that the entire net effect of an increase in minimum wage results in a slight decrease in employment. A 10 percent increase would most likely lead to only a 1 percent reduction in employment. The more pressing issue is the matter of a livable wage. Even the state with the highest minimum wage does not meet the criteria for a livable wage. Over 24 cities throughout the United States have enacted a livable wage requirement, in order that people are able to meet their basic needs, such as food, shelter, heat, and clothing. This requirement has resulted in a minor cost increase for employers and a 2.2 percent decrease in employment

remember the Golden Rule

They are. He who has the gold rules. This is an excellent use of Maslow's Hierarchy of Need Theory. The more a people's needs are met, the more they will go outside their personal confinement and take on a cause, get involved. The less a people make, they will be so consumed with survival that they will not pay attention or act on the ills of the world. We need a revolution people.

Minimum wage is so low, that it has always been slave wages adjusted for inflation. No one can live off minimum wages thus they are working for nothing just like a slave.

it doesn't matter how much money the corporations make. If you keep raising minimum wages sooner or later the average person will not be able to afford the product.

The middle class will disappear.

What do you have when the middle class disappears? A Third World Country

While I completely agree with everything you've said Radio Free America, what is the solution? If you raise minimum wage inflation will raise and everyone else will be marginally closer to earning minimum wage. So what's the solution?

ZIP2

Why is it a discussion on whether or not to raise minimum wages, when it is those who want the lower minimum wage that are making exorbitant wages themselves? I do not think raising the minimum wage will cause inflation. It is too low to do that. There are more people making more than minimum wage and if their wages do not cause inflation, neither should an increased minimum wage.

There was a time not too long ago when most people were able to live off the wages they made. What is forgotten, is that most customers are someone's employee. No employees, no customers. Companies are concentrating on one customer, the government. It is called privatization of government programs. Thus paying their employees dissent wages is not necessary since the government is the main customer. That is temporally not necessary. With fewer employees paying into the system, their new single customer will be broke. It is evident with the deficit being large portion of our GNP.

The answer has always been with the joining of the workers. That is why there has been such an effort to break the unions. The money is there. It has not gone anywhere. It is just concentrated at the top.

I do not think raising the minimum wage will cause inflation.

Do you think the executives will take the extra money out of their pockets out of the goodness of their hearts which we've clearly seen a lot of lately (that last bit was sarcasm BTW), or do you think they'll raise the price of their products to cover the extra wages.

There are more people making more than minimum wage

If you raise the minimum wage there will be more people making minimum wage though. A company isn't going to raise all wages simply because the minimum wage is raised, so someone that was making $10 an hour previously, will then be making minimum wage, and the real buying power of that $10/hr will be decreased to that of what $7.25 (or whatever it is in your state) is now.

so someone that was making $10 an hour previously, will then be making minimum wage, and the real buying power of that $10/hr will be decreased to that of what $7.25

May be. There is a strong possibility. Yet I know a time when more people made more than minimum wages and inflation or the avoidance of it was not such a big issue. My concern is to be so brainwashed that something bad might happen so therefore accept the status quo of some making much more than minimum wages off the back of those who make minimum wages. We the labours deserve a bigger slice of the pie and should not buy into the inflation scare.

But the raising of the minimum wage doesn't have any impact upon the concentration of wealth at the top 1%. Instead it has the same effect as redistribution of lower-middle-class wealth ONLY (or rather having lesser and lesser impacts the further up the economic food chain you go). It's for that reason that I am not convinced that raising the minimum wage would have the desired effect over the long-term.

But the raising of the minimum wage doesn't have any impact upon the concentration of wealth at the top 1%. Instead it has the same effect as redistribution of lower-middle-class wealth ONLY

So are you saying that when they raise the minimum wage that companies will take the money from those who are making more than minimum wage to and give it to those not earning the new minimum wage? Are you saying they will not dig into company profits to pay the raised minimum wage? I understand it may cause a rise in prices but, then I believe in the Supply and Demand Curve and that products will priced more than the people will pay. I know I have cut several items out of my spending list just because they are way over priced, i.e. mayonnaise, candy, ice cream (smaller size as price remains the same or is increased), unnecessary clothing...

Are you saying that we should continue to pay the lowest wage earners who cannot fight for themselves the same low wages out of fear of inflation and supposed higher pricing? We are already experiencing higher pricing without higher wages. We are already experiencing what is feared. We are being scammed into believing we should not be paid the wages we worked so hard for and are due. It is being in-brained in the younger generation. Yet it is alright for those who have convinced us of this farce to make high wages. We are contributing to our own suffering.

So are you saying that when they raise the minimum wage that companies will take the money from those who are making more than minimum wage to and give it to those not earning the new minimum wage?

No, I am saying that the price of goods goes up which disproportionately impacts those making just above minimum wage to those in the top 1%. Those on the lower-end of the economic scale will lose buying power, and their employers are not going to give anyone a raise that's above minimum wage just because they have to raise the wages of those making minimum wage. Try to understand that there's more to purchasing power that the face value of cash being paid, just ask anyone from Zimbabwe where a day's pay could be in the tens of millions but a loaf of bread now costs more than a million bucks.

Are you saying they will not dig into company profits to pay the raised minimum wage?

Are you naieve enough to believe they would dig into company profits rather than raise the price of goods? Corporate boards are elected by stock holders who choose people that will earn them the most money, not do ambivilant good works with their profits. Why do you think they were paying as many of their employees no more than the legal minimum as they could get away with in the first place?

I understand it may cause a rise in prices but, then I believe in the Supply and Demand Curve and that products will priced more than the people will pay.

That's called lowering the median standard of living. That's not heading in the right direction IMO.

We are already experiencing higher pricing without higher wages. We are already experiencing what is feared.

The higher prices we're paying now are a direct result of higher energy prices (higher input costs). If the cost of labor is raised, the prices will go up further.

Are you saying that we should continue to pay the lowest wage earners who cannot fight for themselves the same low wages out of fear of inflation and supposed higher pricing?

The lowest wage earners certainly can fight for themselves. They can work their way up the corporate ladder, they can apply for other better paying jobs, they can get an education.

Zip2

Trust me I understand what you are saying. I am not disagreeing. I am just trying to get the two of us to solve the issue (=:. It is a dilemma from which the poor should not suffer.

The lowest wage earners certainly can fight for themselves. They can work their way up the corporate ladder, they can apply for other better paying jobs, they can get an education.

Good in theory. The reality is that this is not true. Yes years ago it was part of the American dream. You did not need a costly education to move up the ladder. No they cannot fight for themselves that is why Maslow Hierarchy of Need Theory has the higher wage earners fighting for a cause. History tells us for the poor to be heard, there has to be a vast movement. We are going to continue to disagree on minimum wage. It is insulting as slavery. Its justification is like the justifications that were made before the Civil War for not ending slavery. Paying slaves would raise the cost of goods sold and hurt the economy. I agree with the poor of our history that fought for higher wages and unions. In our capitalistic country, justice has a price the poor cannot afford to pay. That is the idea of keeping them poor and not paying what they are worth. It is a scary time for the workers to they deserve lower wages and must make the sacrifice for the cost of goods sold. Those who think minimum wages are just should work for them, themselves and try to live off minimum wages.

Trust me I understand what you are saying. I am not disagreeing. I am just trying to get the two of us to solve the issue (=:. It is a dilemma from which the poor should not suffer.

I think it might be helpful to clearly define what the issue is to begin with. I see the problem as being the concentration of wealth in the hands of very few people. Do you agree that is the issue or do you have an alternate proposal for what the heart of the issue is?

Good in theory. The reality is that this is not true.

Yet that's exactly what I've done. I have been counted among the destitute poor before. There were times in my life when all I could afford for food after paying rent and water was a loaf of bread that had to last a whole week. I've had to work 2 and 3 jobs just to make ends meet before... but I fought my way out of that situation. I busted my arse at times to get promotions and at other times to find better paying jobs, and finally to get a college education with the help of student loans. If I could do it, others can too. That's not to say it shouldn't be easier to pull onesself out of poverty, but it's also not impossible either.

No they cannot fight for themselves that is why Maslow Hierarchy of Need Theory has the higher wage earners fighting for a cause.

The cause of lower wage earners must be to better their own situation.

I think it might be helpful to clearly define what the issue is to begin with. I see the problem as being the concentration of wealth in the hands of very few people. Do you agree that is the issue or do you have an alternate proposal for what the heart of the issue is?

I agree whole hearted. This is why I say to raise the minimum wages. One reason so much is concentrated at the top is due to;

1. lower wages - more money in the pockets of those at the top. Prices are not going down due to a lower employment cost. They are rising.
2. higher waged people asked to do more for their wages due to layoff of co-workers. Again more income for the top

Yet that's exactly what I've done. I have been counted among the destitute poor before. There were times in my life when all I could afford for food after paying rent and water was a loaf of bread that had to last a whole week. I've had to work 2 and 3 jobs just to make ends meet before... but I fought my way out of that situation. I busted my arse at times to get promotions and at other times to find better paying jobs, and finally to get a college education with the help of student loans. If I could do it, others can too. That's not to say it shouldn't be easier to pull onesself out of poverty, but it's also not impossible either.

So have I. Yet, I know everyone is not like me. I know everyone is not living in the same circumstances which I live. I am just one example and do not represent everyone.