U.S minimum wage?

There has been a bunch of uproar about raising the minimum wage from McDonald's workers. Also, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law requiring California minimum wage to increase to $9.00 by July 2014 and $10.00 by January 2016. This got me thinking, do you think the minimum wage should be increased?

In case if you don't know, federal minimum wage level is $7.25 (United States Dollars) and the standard full-time work week are 40-hour five day-week. In some states and cities, it's a bit higher like $8.00 (Oregon), $9.00 (Washington State), or even over ten dollars ($10.55 for San Francisco, CA and $10.00 for San Jose, CA).

I know damn well that no one can live off of our minimum wage, especially when you're single with kids. Plus, our federal minimum wage hasn't been indexed since 2009. I think it should be at least $10.00.

But what do you guys think? Should the federal minimum wage increase? If so, then how much should it be?

 

I think too many people with full time jobs can't support themselves. Philosophically, I feel we need a much higher minimum wage. However, I also feel that this is probably asking for employers to cut employee hours back and hire more part timers, thereby adjusting for the money lost on salaries by not having to pay for benefits. That, or have fewer employees expected to do more work, raising worker stress levels and reducing available jobs.

 

I agree with the minimum wage increase. As money increases, so should the wages of employees, especially the minimum wage. The fact that this hasn't happened is truly an abomination.

 

Yes, an increased minimum wage. And anyone arguing that it reduces employment, then enforce regulations on the employers. The current US system relies on the poor clamouring for scarce jobs that are hardly sufficient to pay for your living, while the rich roll in money. A rich to whom "hard times" means that they earn no less, but in order to still be super-rich, they sack employees who need the money.

No matter what the argument for a low minimum-wage is, the result will always be cruel and morally disgusting if the rich aren't poor, too.

 

=There has been a bunch of uproar about raising the minimum wage from McDonald's workers.

Working fast food sucks and barely pays the bills. Frankly the minimum wage should be around $20 to adjust for inflation. But of course a Capitalist system would never confer what should be basic right to its workers.

In Capitalism, the needs and lives of the workers are irrelevant. They don't care about them, they just want them to be stuck in dead-end jobs. In a Capitalist system, a mandatory minimum wage isn't gonna improve things for the workers. Why is Obamacare such a catastrophe? The bosses cut the workers hours just under the required amount to pay their insurance. Why should we think that employers wouldn't do the same if a maximum wage were implemented?

If we do enact a minimum wage same thing will happen. Work will be outsourced. What good is a higher minimum wage if the hours get slashed in half, and you lose all the benefits from work? Making wages higher isn't the solution.

 

I agree that we need a lot more pay for workers, but I do see the logic in the employment reduction argument. Ideally, we would enforce regulations on employers, but the are paying off too many members of Congress for that to happen.

 

It's time to think beyond liberalism, everyone..

 

I think I know what you're suggesting, and that's even worse than this bullshit.

 

Raise the minimum wage, upper-income-bracket taxes and forbid outsourcing. Simple. Businesses shouldn't be allowed to screw their own country over and screw the workers of other countries and pretend it's necessary due to competition.

 

Inflation Calculator: Bureau of Labor Statistics

If you look at this, and you enter $7.25 in 2009, you can see that nobody should have a problem with it being $8 considering that inflation makes $7.25 now $7.90. I think it should be somewhere around $8-10 minimum nationally and states should be required to set their minimum wage based off of the cost of living in their area. For example, Hawaii has the federal minimum wage at $7.25. Yet Hawaii has the highest cost of living when you look at the state as a whole. When Milk is $5.50 a gallon, bread being $5-6 and bananas are $2 a pound, $7.25 ain't a good minimum wage.

 

How would you word an outsourcing ban, exactly?

 

Legislation would have to be up to the legislators. I'm not an expert in US parliamentary processes. Reformation of employment and taxation laws is possible through legislation, unless that damned constitution protects corporate abuse of workers.

 

Are we thinking of the same USA here?

 

Not what I'm asking. I'm asking what the actual text of the law should be.

The Constitution protects whatever the Supreme Court says, and the Supreme Court has made it clear they side with America, Incorporated.

 

Yes. What should be done by the government is what we're talking about. Not what the corporate lapdogs, I mean Congress, will do according to their business masters, I mean their proper processes.

---------- Post added 18th Oct 2013 at 04:36 PM ----------

The actual text would last pages. I can't say what it'd be, but why shouldn't it happen?

 

Raising the minimum wage means increased inflation. However, if everything else is going up anyway, they're going to crush the people who make minimum wage. So we need to either curb the cost of living in some way or give min. wage workers more money. Because min. wage and government assistance should not be the standard.

It's the fault of people whose opinion is "be thankful you have a job!" Yes, we should be. However, that job should not shit on us because somebody else will come right in behind if we don't find it satisfactory.

 

To limit the over-abundance of money, higher taxes, forcing what would basically be a maximum wage, could be introduced, helping prevent inflation. Regulating the cost of goods and services is also possible.

But naturally this argument relies on mostly speculation; few or none of us are economists, and even economists will be wrong from time to time, or constantly.

 

I would have to read the bill before deciding whether to support it for two reasons:

First, some business make goods involving materials made in a specific region in a specific manner with specific materials. For example, black licorice isn't as good as it could be if it isn't made in Australia with local ingredients. If I'm a candy company based in the US that wants to add a line of licorice candy, I may want to outsource production to Australia to keep quality as high as possible.

For another example, let's say I'm a US based coffee producing company. If I don't outsource my growing operations to more tropical climes, I don't have access to the best areas for growing beans. Chocolate is in the same situation.

While outsourcing all our electronics and clothing production to other countries is bad, there are valid reasons to outsource things, and a bill banning the harmful types of outsourcing needs to allow the more reasonable forms to continue while reforming their practices (fair trade coffee should be the only coffee that should be able to be legally imported, for example).

 

Yes, but the producers of Australian black liquorice should be Australian. The idea of outsourcing is somewhat imperialistic and/or against the interests of the local people.

 

That sounds like a great idea. However, I imagine this scenario...