| spurgeonryan said: We are not a socialist/communistic society. It would be nice for everyone to make doctor salary. But is not right. Sorry mr. Khan. I am in your boat. Several degrees plenty of experience, crap or no jobs. But mcdonalds should not have to pay these workers extra for this. |
We ARE a socialist society. We have social security, public roads and highways, a publically funded military, foodstamps and a variety of other social welfare programs that essentially subsidize the low wages of corporations like Walmart and McDonalds. We've funded a variety of public works, given government money to a variety of start ups and corporations.
No, not everyone should make a doctor's salary, but you are just intentionally trying to blow out of proportion what SHOULD be done: we need a higher minimum wage. It didn't used to be like this. We didn't used to have to work two jobs to survive. In fact in the 1960s we were heading towards a less then 40 hour work week. One of the big problems right now is that the minimum wage isn't worth what it used to be worth. It's currently at $7, but 40 years ago in today's dollars it would be well over $10. THAT is what these people should be making. That is what anyone with a job should be making.
Without a living wage, people either get subsidized by the government (socialism) or they starve and die in the street. I'm afraid to ask which one you prefer. Personally, I would prefer private companies pay their employees enough to survive, not have them rely on, as you would probably call them, "socialist government handouts" which is what is currently going on.
insomniac17 said:
Kudos for mentioning Mises and Hayek. That was a pleasant surprise. @general; If you raise the minimum wage in order to provide a "living wage" for people, then you will also have to ensure that inflation does not take place. Otherwise, all raising the minimum wage will do will be to drive up the cost of everything else. Other people will get a pay increase, because they don't want to work for minimum wage; many of these people got a degree or some training and have knowledge in their field that the average person does not (thus, there is more demand for these people, because there is a lower supply of qualified workers). The effect of that, of course, is to drive up prices across the board... putting you back to square one, where you find yourself in need of raising the minimum wage again. The problem with preventing inflation is that you'll basically have to freeze wages and prices for everyone. After raising the minimum wage, of course. But this harms everyone too, because businesses will get less profit. That might sound good at first, but less profit for a business means less room to expand, less motivation to expand with lower returns, fewer jobs being created, and an overall loss of wealth by everyone in the economy. Increasing the minimum wage sounds nice, but it's really just kicking the can down the road. I can sympathize with low wage earners, as I am one myself (making less than the apparent average of $9.02/hr for fast food cooks). But I understand that my job is something that could be done by literally anyone with hands, feet, and a semi functional brain. It's a temporary job while I seek to improve my skills that will hopefully lead to a better job down the road. |
Certainly, we need more then just a higher minimum wage. We need to figure out how to train our work force to take higher paying jobs in a changing economy. But at the same time, a higher minimum wage IS needed because its simply better for people and the economy in the long run. Attaching it to inflation would be a good way to keep inflation from devalueing it in the future.
Cubedramirez said:
Pointless and irrelevant |
The problem with this argument is that productivity HAS been going up....and wages have been stagnating.
http://rortybomb.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/epi_productivity.jpg
So I think we're about due for an increase in the minimum wage regardless, especially going by the logic that an increase in productivity should lead to an increase in the value of work.
