I have seen many insightful answers on here about how nobody can live on the current minimum wage and how the government needs to do something about it.
These envious amounts of logic and compassion have me inspired.
Therefore, I think we should lobby the government to raise the minimum wage to $30/hour. That's over $60,000 a year. Then nobody in this whole country would be poor.
What do you think???
2007-01-17 00:55:24 · 9 answers · asked by Time to Shrug, Atlas 6 in Social Science ➔ Economics
fangtaiyang - a maximum wage is an even worse idea than a minimum wage
2007-01-17 01:12:23 · update #1
LOL!
I think that would be the logical extension of the argument for people who believe the govt should raise the min wage and regulate wages.
It's hard for most people to appreciate that we are all better off if the govt has no control over wages. The wage issue is, unfortunately, something to be exploited by politicians.
2007-01-17 01:05:06 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
I think I like your scheme. However, there is one problem. Money does not make a person rich or poor. What that money can buy does. If I make a million dollars a year, I cannot say whether I am rich or poor. If a loaf of bread costs $1,000, I am not so rich. Proposing to increase wages that much would inject a lot of money into the economy, and that will lead to inflation with price levels increasing dramatically. This may sound like I am exagerating, but a similar situation in Germany occurred in the 1980's. Inflation became so bad because so much money was injected into the economy that employees were paid 4 times a day, because by the end of the day, the money was not worth nearly as much as it was at the beginning.
If we want to keep people out of poverty, what we need to do is instead focus on how much we produce. The more productive we as a country are, the more "stuff" is out there. That is what everyone at the end of the day cares about. They don't care if they make $5 or $5 million. What they care about is how much stuff that money can buy. So raising the minimum wage will not cure the current poverty situation.
2007-01-17 09:05:31 · answer #2 · answered by theeconomicsguy 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
bad idea. $30/hr would cause HUGE inflation. making the $30/hr the same spending power as $7.25/hr
2 things will happen.
1)the cost of running a business will increase, thus increasing prices to the point where $30 can buy you a happy meal at Macdonald's (depending on how bad the inflation is)
2) the demand of money on the supply-demand curve would shift down in a huge amount, thus causing interest rates to decrease which means the value of money is then worth less in which would cause the prices to rise again.
eventually inflation will get controlled to the point where the equilibrium will balance out
in the end moving the minimum wage up to $30/hr will eventually cause so much inflation to happen that $30 can buy what we could by now with $7.25, so in the end it really would not solve the problem.
2007-01-17 16:16:22 · answer #3 · answered by Kev C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, you're obviously being facetious.
That wouldn't work - for several reasons.
1) It would create runaway inflation and money would soon become virtually worthless.
2) Employers couldn't possibly afford to pay those wages across the board - many businesses would just go under, or close their doors and sell their assets.
3) The illegal work market would become rampant, as some employers would respond by hiring people only under the table.
This being said, a modest increase in the minimum wage might not be such a bad idea, but effects do have to be calibrated.
2007-01-17 09:05:13 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It would be a more equalizing concept to set a maximum wage. If everyone made the same, regardless of their job or position, all would have security and be able to provide for their families or themselves on an equal basis. A higher minimum wage will result in even higher salaries for those that are already incredibly wealthy. The problem is not the amount. The problem is the divide between rich and poor that grows steadily every day.
2007-01-17 09:06:24 · answer #5 · answered by fangtaiyang 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Haha. I hope that this question is in jest.
Minimum wage legislation only hurts those claimed to be helped and takes people out of or prevents people from getting jobs, thereby only increasing the welfare state and our dependence upon it.
2007-01-17 09:05:06 · answer #6 · answered by Rob Lowe 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Why set your sights so low? If a guest work/alien like Dave Beckham can make $50 million a year, we all should!
2007-01-17 11:20:57 · answer #7 · answered by KevinStud99 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
that would not work because then nobody would do anything else accept for work at fast food restaurants and other low paying jobs. It would create an imbalance
2007-01-17 09:00:51 · answer #8 · answered by SPFN9 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
we would have so much more homeless, bread would cost 15 dollars and milk $23.00 it would be strange..
2007-01-17 09:04:16 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋