Is raising minimum wage nationwide a horrible idea?

[Mr Khan]

-CraZed- said:

Fayceless said:

 

You were single, had no kids, and no bills?  Congratulations, you must know all about the struggles people in poverty deal with every day.

Sorry to be so dismissive, but to be fair, so were you. ("a 7 year old could foil" that argument?)

The fact is, minimum wage must rise.  Not to 15/hr.  That's ridiculous.  But it must go up because prices go up and the cost of living goes up.  People fight so hard against raising minimum wage while supporting policies that intentionally create inflation.  If you're going to force inflation, we MUST tie minimum wage to inflation.  It's not fair otherwise.

I do know about the struggles of poverty. I am the product of tow drug abusing parents, one of which abandoned us leaving the other to draw welfare, food stamps, WIC and live in shelters from time to time. I know I have related this story befoe here but while I was in Jr. high I had to catch the school bus less than a block from the Salvation Army shelter we were living in. I would walk a mile in the OPPOSITE direction so no one would see me comingfrom the shelter. So yeah I think I know a little about poverty. And thanks for the congrats. I worked hard to get where I was economically viable.

The fact is when the minimum wages rise so will prices and those businesses seeking to offset that sudden and arbitrary uptick in wages will either freeze hiring or layoff workers in order to afford it. Mandating a minimum wage is an exercise in futility and tomfoolery by those who just don't undertsand how our economy works.

Instead of raising minum wages we should be raising awareness and education on how to become economically viable through earning, saving and investing. We don't even teach check writing or budgeting in schools anymore.

The key is that personal responsibility doesn't fix the macro problems facing the economy. In a down market, we can't all be winners, period. Some folks are going to have to fill the margins, and some folks are going to have to be on the outside looking in. Macro solutions are needed.