Does anyone else think increasing the minimum wage is a bad idea?

Question

Where I live the minimum wage is the federal minimum, $5.15/hr. Increasing it to $7.25 seems really extreme here and I think it will only cause prices to raise and thus hurt salaried employees who do not get a raise as a result of all this.

Other thoughts?

Answer 1

Minimum wage is pointless because the small business will raise prices to compensate for the increased wages, and the low skilled will be pushed out of work by increasing the wage. Cash transfers or tax credits on lowest income earners would be more efficent. Can set it up where up to the poverty level in that locality you pay a negative income tax that means you make less than the poverty level you get tax credits till you hit above the poverty level in that local area. Should look at Scandivian system of cash assitance to help the lowest income earners, but also low wage workers most times are high school kids just starting out working.

Answer 2

Raising the minimum wage raises the cost of employing people, Companies are going to have to do something with that additional cost. They will raise prices or cut employees. Either way this hurts the very people you are trying to help. Minimum wag should be increased lsowly to match inflation. Big jumps put a strain on small companies and force the large ones into bad decisions.

Answer 3

Raising minimum wage doesn't matter. Wages are going up, but real income isn't and the cost of living won't remain constant either. People will still have to work extremely hard at those wages to make ends meet. Prices everywhere are going up. I used to help do pricing for a previous employer. We were sitting around waiting for minimum wage to go up. When it did, our prices went up. Businesses are going to overcompensate for the increase of wages.

Also, when people make more money, they will spend more money. People and the economy will not be better off until spending habits are changed.

Answer 4

Raising the minimum wage will in no way effect the person recieving it. $7.25 is still well under the cost of living a decent life its just a way to pacify the poor and give the rich business owner an excuse to keep from giving hard working Americans thier just wage.

Answer 5

it doesnt make a difference because if you look at what the actual worth of our money right now; what can you buy with a dollar? Some candy bars cost more than that! 10 years ago you could buy one for 40 cents. Raising the minimum wage will have very little effect on the economy. Our money is worth less and less every few years anyways.

Answer 6

We need to stop concentrating on minimum wage increases, unemployment extentions and food stamps.....and start asking ourselves why is it that our country is clearly now a country where more and more of our population needs these types of programs and policies.

Do not take me wrong, I am no Republican, and I think that the citizenry actually needs the help. But.......it is the wrong path to concentrate on putting band aids on symptoms of the real problems and not addressing the real problems that are causing the population to be increasingly destitute while corporate profits are extremely high and a small concentrated smaller than 1% share of the population is increasingly controlling more and more of the country's wealth and income.

We clearly are now reaping the results of very bad policies that have been in place for a long time...and the funny thing is that the very people that have been fattening up are still complaining that they are being persecuted, and that they do not have enough and that the ones they are bleeding dry and who are suffering have too much.

Answer 7

yeah if someone is making minimum wage that means they arent that valuable as an employee, otherwise they would be making more than the minimum. so thats make these people expendable. companies are just going to lay off some of their workers to adjust their cost, otherwise they would have to increase the prices of goods and services sold in order to cover the cost. I guess you can just hire illegal immigrants and pay them under the table then you dont have to worry about minimum wages.

Answer 8

It's just going to bring up inflation. It's really a kick in the pants also, for the people who work their way up in a company, and dont see any monetary raise because of the new minimum.

If you had worked your job for 2 or three years to finally be making $7.50/hour, it doesnt seem fair that all the new people suddenly have their salary bumped up, and you don't.