Do you think the idea of living wage is determintal to our economy?

Question

Many Democrats support the idea of raising the minimum wage
to $15-20 per hour.

Ted Kennedy for example.

Remember $10 an hour works out to $20,800
per year. The argument being this is insufficient
to support a family on...thus the "living wage"

The idea has been floating around for awhile.
However, good point, I will try to get the
source.

Here's a Harvard study fact sheet.
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~pslm/livingwage/factsheet.html

Finally, even at $20 an hour it would be a deal
in lieu of granting universal health.

Answer 1

Bad idea. Let the market determine the wage. If you are a poor worker and only worth 2.50 an hour because of your laziness, then you should not be paid anymore than that. A wage based on actual worth would be some incentive to become a good worker and reap the rewards of a decent wage. If the employer is forced to pay a living wage, the employee that is worth $3 per hour and actually getting paid $15 an hour will never strive to become a better, more productive worker. The incentive to work harder would be gone for many people. Those workers would become complacent. It would be harmful to the people careers and harmful to the employers and the economy.

Answer 2

Well the poverty line is somewhere around 19,000 for a family of four. One person making $9 an hour, assuming a 40 hour work week will pull down around $18,000. While it would be nice for everyone to have what would be considered a "living wage" the truth is, most small business can't afford to pay the more basic positions between 32-42k a year.

Also we need to look at why people are stopping and settling for these lower rung jobs which used to stepping stones to a career. 20 years ago, people didn't try to retire from bagging groceries. That was a job you took while you were in school to get your career training done. Now people are making it their career and bemoaning the fact that they aren't making a living wage. Well the wage was never meant to support a wife and children. There needs to be some realism in what we are asking for.

Answer 3

Doesn't matter who supports it. It's naive to think that you can arbitrarily raise wages without raising the cost of products or services. From where do you suppose the money will come? And, if you raise it for the folks on the bottom rung -- those without an education or marketable skill, using the seniority system, what makes you think that those above them won't then demand an appropriate raise to reflect their time in service over those below them? As a business owner, I've already had to raise my rates to meet the state imposed raise in Minimum Wage. Everyone had to. Suddenly, that raise means nothing. The cost of living was just artificially raised by stupid and greedy people.
Here's a hint, minimum wage was never intended to be a means of support. It's meant to be a training device, a means of indoctrination for high school students. If you are an adult making minimum wage, I submit that you have missed the boat somehere. If you want to make more than minimum, if you want to be able to aford things like health insurance, get an education. It's a capitalist country, not a socialist. We base EVERYTHING on privilege. And *sigh*, with wealth comes...

Answer 4

Ted Kennedy needs to be a BIG RICH example by passing out HIS MONEY to at least a few workers in Massachusettes.
Wages go up...employers either CUT the staff (fewer jobs, more work for those staying) or automatically raise prices. Liberals cannot fathom that CORPORATIONS pay NO taxes...they just raise prices on everybody's goods and services to make the bottom line the same as before. If you pass a law against a large business because they are the ONLY one that large ie WalMart...WalMart will have to abandon that area altogether or accommodate with HIGHER PRICES. Either way is a LOSE-LOSE situation...jobs are GONE because WalMart is trying to minimize paying benefits or WalMart just leaves and ALL the jobs are GONE.

Answer 5

Yea, God forbid people are actually able to pay their bills. A living wage of a reasonable amount isn't a bad thing, and actually would help our economy, but maybe lying about what Democrats want the wage to be so you can make yourself look a little cooler --- well, I digress.
And when did this happen? Kennedy never said that, that I ever heard or read about. Please cite your source.
And hey, Strike Eagle, the CA minimum wage will (next January) be raised to $8 per hour, don't state numbers you know nothing about. Furthermore, anyone who lives in Cali can tell you, $8 is NOT a living wage with how expensive it is out here.

Answer 6

where are these many democrats? if that is what they wish why did they just raise the federal minimum wage to $5.85 from $5.15 per hour. what a great advancement from the democrats. the democrats want a living wage because they all use illegal labor. Cali has the highest minimum wage at $10 and change per hour. the reason being is the t the majority of the laborers in Cali are illegal and don't get to cash in on that minimum. it's typical of socialist to want to be paid for doing nothing.

Answer 7

That's crazy. Inflation would go thru the roof and the pay increase would be worthless. Of course then the living wage would go up and we could then raise the minimum wage again causing the same things until we are all making the same wage just like the socialist Democrats want.

Answer 8

The idea isn't, but implementing it with a national minimum wage probably would be at least inefficient. The thing is that there are willing providers of labor in our society who simply do not require a 'living wage' - those dependent on a parent or spouse for instance, who work only for a suplemental income, or retirees who recieve the bulk of thier income from non-job sources - and there are jobs to be done that are not /worth/ paying a 'living wage' to have done.

Answer 9

Nobody has suggested that...though on today's economy such a wage would still be fairly minimal. Anyway, the purpose of any 'economy' is to produce the greatest good for the greatest number. The argument of 'many democrats' sounds like a red herring lapse in logic.

Answer 10

when government sticks it hand into anything, and makes certain benefits a requirement, it becomes just another tax on business, and ultimately the individual. a higher minimum wage sounds good on the surface, yes people will make more money on the surface, but when we look below the surface we find that jobs tend to be lost. for example; say you are a business owner, and you have 20 employees, though 22 would make things much better for the work environment, but sales wont support 2 more employees. now the government comes along and says you have to pay your employees $2.00 per hour more. that is another $40.00 per hour for 8hr. that sounds like $320.00 per day more in payroll that you have to pay out. if minimum wage was $5.00(to keep the math simple) per hr, your payroll per day is $800.00. at $7.00 per hr. your payroll jumps to $1120.00 per day! or the equivalent of 3.25 employees per day more payroll. since you couldnt afford to hire the 2 extra employees you wanted, what are you going to do now that you essentially have to pay 3.25 more employees? you cut the staff is what you do, or raise prices, but you still have to meet your contractual obligations. that means you cant raise prices on the current contracts unless it is allowed, or you cut staff. the next contract you raise prices, but you lose business to people who do cut staff to maintain prices.

however if you look at who the minimum wage is paid to, it is entry level employees, and part time workers, including students. raise the minimum wage, and these are the people you hurt. remember the law of unintended consequences.