Why don't we just raise the minimum wage to 100 dollars an hour so we can all be millionaires?

Question

Aren't the poor and down-trodden deserving of government assistance in bettering their lives? Its obviously impossible for someone to work their way up from a minimum wage job to one thats higher paying since community college costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. This deters people from attempting to educate themselves. We need more blame placed on rich CEO's for the plight of the poor and the government to force them to pay 100 dollars per hour to level the playing field. Its not like CEO's worked hard to get there. The guy who dropped out of high school, smoked weed, cranked out 4 kids he couldn't afford who hangs drywall all week is just as important to society at the doctors and lawyers out there. We need more laws to stick it to the rich and educated who run businesses and provide jobs to make the world fair again. Am I right? Think of the children people!

Sarcasm people! 4 years ago I made 6.50 an hour laying hardwood floors. I took that money, went to community college to learn a trade(machining) and today I make over 3 times what I used to and own a house. With that money, I am in college again learning U.S. History to get a teaching degree, which, may or may not pay more. The point is, with a mild amount of drive (which is all I have, honestly) and know how, you can pull yourself up, even with all the evil CEO's wringing their hands trying to keep you down in your hole. Its the people who have kids before they can afford it and have no education that end up in a rut. For all the nay-sayers, stop blaming the rich, do some work, and become one of them. My first boss owned 3 pizza shops clearing 6 figures a year and was a high school drop out, so don't give me any sh*t about the evils of free market economics.

And enough of this "the rich pay no taxes" B.S. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of all the taxes collected by the feds! The poor pay little or none, and in fact, can get more back with the earned income tax credit, so pull you head out of your a*s and see the facts.

http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=6

Answer 1

whoa I thought you were serious there up until the end.

Answer 2

We all know that government can't set market prices that is why any minimum wage is simply an artificial price point the government is setting.

There is no need for a minimum wage. If people CHOOSE not to work at a particular wage than the business will have to raise the wage in order to attract workers.

Only the market and free people determine how much labor is worth.

If the government could simply set the minimum wage and make us all wealthy then it would of happened already. It doesn't work this way for obvious reason. Someone flipping a hamburger or cutting a lawn isn't worth as much as someone programming a computer or fighting fires.

Common sense and economics / capitalism 101.

Answer 3

smarter business men than yourself recognize the need for corporate responsibility. Sure you could suck the town dry and move on but building new factories and training new employees is expensive. You'd be surprised. It is actually basic business theory that you must maintain your machines (and people, AND CONSUMER BASE!). People who are unable to pay thier rent don't make good employees (or customers), they're homeless and smell, that's bad for business, that's bad for productivity. Also health is important, your sick you can't do your job.

This is called the living wage, notice it does not say minimum wage, that is because minimum wage is below the living wage. Living wage today is between $7.5 to 8.5 on avg depending where you live. Min wage is 6.25 last i checked. This means that if you stay on minimum wage you are slowly dying (aren't we all, but you know what i mean)

You will not see any reputable business pay fulltime employees minimum wage; factories, warehouses all rely on functioning labor.

But there are some who get minimum wage, not only do they need little skill for the job, they only need a half hour training. The company doesn't care if you live or die because you can easily be replaced. You will notice though that no company who finds it difficult to replace the semi skilled cattle will allow thier workers to go under as you suggest they should.

The theory behind minimum wage jobs is that they will be filled by children and students who don't need the money or as a second income for adults or temp work for adults. but under no ones intent are people supposed to stay there. Many HR people know this and they won't give you the job for your main employment.

Unfortunately there are many small business owners who are not educated in corporate responsibility and god knows what they do with thier time and money.

Answer 4

As a conservative, I am sympathetic to your point. That said, why not simply challenge people with your initial hypothetical.

Part of the reason people generally support a minimum wage hike is that they sympathize with those who have difficult, poor-paying jobs. They also have sympathy for those who have made bad decisions in their lifetime.

Thus, a minimum wage hike is seen as an effective way to help out those who are actually working. Arguments like this from conservtives only augment the perception that those who oppose minimum wage hikes do so because they are evil and don't care about the poor.

The real argument against the minimum wage hikes is implied by your question. Tinkering with the minimum wage is, at best, a zero sum game, and usually leaves low-income wage earners in the cold.

Answer 5

dude. you are so deluded. if we raise the minimum wage rate to $100/hr then in order for you to buy anything at mcdonalds it would cost you $50 for a cheeseburger. To rent a room in a hotel would cost you $500/night for a motel 6. The premise of America is that we have the right to pursue our own dreams and freedoms. Why punish "the rich" for working hard to attain their goals ? You're ignorance is amazing - what are you proposing ? communism ? dictatorship ? anarchy ? and where do you get that community colleges cost hundred of thousands of dollars ???? have you actually looked into it because it last time i went it cost me $13 a credit and $50 in books and that wasnt that long ago. Okay I'm in CA and that may make the difference. I understand youre concerned for the world and that's a good thing but your extreme leftist BS is going to make a lot more enemies than friends.

Answer 6

I wouldn't call 19.50 an hour rich so nobody is blaming you. They are blaming the people who make a lot more than that and who also get huge tax breaks. They pay very little in taxes in proportion to how much they make. They pay far less than you for how much they make. We're talking about people that make $200,000 / year and more.

Take a look at you list again. I said over $200,000. The people making $100,000 are getting screwed, I agree. It's the really rich people making over $200,000 that are getting the breaks like I said so don't insult with cuss words. That's not a proper way to debate an issue. I hope you don't cuss at your students. You should not be a teacher.

Answer 7

Yeah, that way we can pay 100 dollars for a burger and fries because people feel it's necessary they make that much to flip burgers. Sounds good to me. Yeah, right. My son is 16 years old. he has no reason to be making 100 dollars an hour. His job is school. If he wants other things like a car and whatever, then a minimum wage job will teach him to work for it. It will also teach him he needs to go to college and further his education so he doesn't get stuck doing that for the rest of his life.

Answer 8

That's the best idea for raising the minimum wage, better than anything the democratic party comes up with! They want a level playing field? This WILL do just that. This would also that raising the minimum wage is going to kill small businesses, something the democratic party doesn't seem to understand or care about!

Answer 9

Well lets see. The effect of raising the minimum wage will be small. When the price of everthing goes up 2000% and everyone else has to make 2000% more to stay ahead. So why not? Lets call them Lira or pesos instead of dollars.

Answer 10

I love reading the postings of smug conservatives such as yourself. It's self-righteous diatribes such as these that are turning voters away from the GOP in droves. Keep up the good work!

And, to answer your question, people working minimum wage jobs don't need to become millionaires. They just need to be able to pay your rent, utilities and buy a little food to eat. That's part of the deal. The government says, hey, in exchange for not turning to a life of crime, or leeching off welfare, and instead choosing to work hard for 40 hours each week, we'll see to it that you can at least afford to take care of the bare bone necessities. Of course, when I say "government", I mean liberal government. Conservative government says "Go f 'yerselves." No wonder they got tossed out on their ear....

Answer 11

What a great Idea...
$100 per hour and free child care, full medical / dental and
life insurance....Plus a car for anyone more than 1 block from work..