Do we need a minimum wage?

Question

i know an employee at work that i wouldn't pay a dime to keep him/her all week. i feel underpaid all the time. who knows the most about minimum wage? is it our constitutional right to have the minimum wage? does the minimum wage hurt our economy? leave interesting facts and your opinion about what you know about the minimum wage also.

Answer 1

You don't have the right to minimum wage! It's a big lie! You don't have the right to give birth! You don't have the right to not be racially profiled!

Hurt our economy? Hell yes! Paying a person more money to do the most lowend job available is just another way to stick it to "evil corporations", and so we can help the poor sad, we-feel-bad-for-you highschool dropout. The money isn't falling from the sky! Do they think that it does? Then why not pay everyone a million dollars an hour? A minimum wage hurts everyone. If McDonalds has to pay everyone an extra $1 an hour, then they are firing a couple people to make the budget.

A minimum wage is just another way for the democrats to get the votes from the pathetic people that can't manage to do anything else. Just look at France, where HUGE vacations are required for every employee by law! There is HUGE unemployement there! Nothing is free! You can't turn a profit when you give money away! And worse when it's required by law!

Answer 2

Just like other liberal "feel good" programs, minimum wage laws cause more harm than good.

Here in Washington state, we have the nation's highest minimum wage at $7.63 an hour. It goes up every Jan. 1st. The idea is that this should be a "living" wage, but in fact, it isn't and can never be. Every Jan. 1st, all the retailers raise their prices. Poof! So much for the increase.

And, as the minimum wage goes up, businesses have an additional incentive to mechanize duties previously held by humans. i.e., Poof! Jobs go away. Here in Washington state, self-service isn't just at the gas stations and the Automatic Teller Machines at the bank. Hardware stores, grocery stores, and other retail outlets now have self-service checkout kiosks. Even the local movie theater now has a self-service ticket kiosk.

Another effect is wage compression. People arn't getting raises because the money is going to the minimum wage workers. Jobs that were above the minimum wage are now at the minimum wage. If something doesn't change here in Washington state soon, most people here will be making minimum wage, and no one will get a raise except for the Jan 1st increase. Bust your butt and do a good job? Sorry, minimum wage, same as the goof off in the next cube. Want a better job for more money? Sorry, they all pay minimum wage.

Answer 3

The minimum wage should be repealed. It is counter-productive to a free and open market society. It exists to give certain special interest groups (big unions) some clout. You are seeing the downside (in this fellow employee) of why the minimum wage does not work. Thank you for being so honest about it.

Jimmy Carter proved with gas price ceilings that artificial wage and price supports only interfers with the open market. He (we) got long gas lines when shortages developed after his price controls. What a fool.

The minimum wage does the same thing in reverse. Rather than dealing with a ceiling, it attempts to address a 'basement'. And, causes employers to pay more for some employees than they are truely worth. They both have the same effect.

More students should be required to learn about economics 101 today than a lot of the garbage being thrown at them currently.

Answer 4

The minimum wage only outlaws jobs.

Since it outlaws jobs, it creates unemployment.

If the minimum wage is $8 per hour, all individuals who do not have the skills to earn $8 per hour will remain unemployed. Even if these people would have been willing to work for less than $8 per hour.

A voluntary contract between two people has been outlawed.

Just ask yourself a simple question: "What if the minimum wage were raised to $80 per hour, or even $800 per hour?"

The amount of unemployment created would be astronomical!

Answer 5

anything program that helps people... generally hurts the economy...

what would be best for the economy is if almost everyone worked for a penny an hour... but then life would s*ck for everyone... except for management who would make billions...

low wages drive an economy, but that doesn't mean that they are good...

the real question is... do you expect employers to pay a fair wage? a wage people can live on?

I mean they pay children to work for 15 hourse a day for pennies an hour in Asia... and they live in shanty towns... is that a better world for you?

if you don't believe that business will provide a living wage, then you will have people that can't support themselves and either they will die in the street and someone will have to take care of their bodies or society overall has to step in and do something...

Answer 6

if the republican party would make the big corporation`s pay there fair share in tax`es. and make the illegal Mexican pay tax`es. and all of the other people that are in this country rather they are in this country illegal or in this country legally. and if they did not give all the immigrate`s welfare and other benefit`s they do not help pay for with tax`es. and help`ed the minimum wage work`er keep more of his/her take home pay at the end of the week. maybe they would be able to pay there bill`s and there health care. and this country would not need a minimum wage increase.

Answer 7

with no minimum wage, people are payed more what they are worth, and not what is deemed acceptable for entry level or menial labor. Since there is no work shortage and most anyone can get a job, the minimum wage isn't really relevant.

Answer 8

The low-wage earners have no reason to vote for anyone or anything since no matter what, they will not receive anything

So the conniving politician has to talk about minimum wage to bring the low earners into the voting booth.

It's a gimmick

Answer 9

Yes we do need a minimum wage. While we do have workers who should have been fired long ago.

Think about the employers. many of them would not pay squat and would expect you to work very hard for they crumbs they are throwing you.

Employers who keep goof off workers deserve what they get. All they need to do is fire them and hire quality help.

Answer 10

Without it some bosses would not pay you enough to buy your gas to work. If it goes up so does inflation so it is a lose/lose situation but if the person you work with isn't worth a dime he needs fired.