aLkaLiNE said:
First of all, you don't know a thing about me so it is in extremely bad taste to come into a debate downplaying the knowledge of someone else whom you haven't met, as well as rather arrogant. But let's take this a step back. Why is it that low and mid tier business can't afford a standard 15$/hour? Is it, perhaps, because of tax reasons?
Theres not even much to say to your second paragraph, as I said, the cost of everything has disproportionately gone up in contrast to paid wages. You're telling me that the worlds most powerful nation could do something in the 60s that can't be done now? I find that laughable at best and inexcusable at worst. |
Taxes are part of it, not particularly the largest. If you have more than a 50 employees (or equivalent based on work hours total) brings the health care act into the equation which is a trivial thing to a big company cause most either had health care or had more than enough room in their margins or warchests to fix it. For a small business or midtier business it is a huge jump in costs and a huge headache. And that's the bigger issue, most small to midtier businesses just don't have the margins for it. It's just a natural issue, smaller businesses - retail or restaurants especially - have smaller proportionate margins, not just smaller total. As businesses expand, costs go up in an essentially linear fashion with some spikes when you cross that 50 employee threshold or reach a size where you need to expand your management structure. Potential profit margins, however, grow faster. Cost of goods goes down as bulk discounts go up, more locations increase your image and branding which also can drive sales. A small business simply cannot have the margins proportionately a Walmart or McDonalds can. And most don't have enormous capital backing them up. Small businesses and midteir business by their nature are started with only so much money. So basically, it is *everything* about small business that limits potential pay, and it's not malicious 90% of the time, it's just the nature of the beast. Now the goal is to grow and then pay more, obviously. And most I have observed do. And these businesses both form a very, very significant part of the economy and a safety net for economic recession. When big businesses fail and recession hits and unemployment spikes, expected pay can dip enough for small businesses to be able to grow their manpower and thus their businesses and thus lo and behold, raise pay. It's not always a perfect model of that, small businesses aren't always successful or well managed. But they are very important. Raising minimum wage too much can hurt small businesses that are already there, raise the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs, and prevent that safety net system from working. Note I said, too much, not any raise at all.
Yes, given enough time any company of any size can support any wage. Take long enough and you could raise the wage to $20. But there is a natural potential output for an economy and once you pass that inflation will accelerate quickly. Wouldn't complete negate the wage, I'll get to that in a sec. But it will negate a good chunk. Basically, we would all make more but we would all pay more.
Now on your second point, I don't believe minimum wage is high enough. It patently isn't. But federal minimum wage laws always need to low ball. Economic strength and cost of living is regional, some states can support and need higher wages than others. That's not up for debate, just look up house prices and typical wages in New York or California and then look up the same for South Carolina, North Carolina, and Texas. That's why federal needs to lowball. States can adjust *up* if the wage is too low, it cannot adjust it *down* if it is too high.
But yes, the minimum wage is too low. But given all this diversity and the sheer size of this country, it should come down to the State. If the state can support and needs $15 so be it. But if not, let it fall wherever it may. $9, $10, $11, whatever.
And finally, we cannot get caught up in class warfare, in raising wages and raising taxes purely to stick it to the wealthy. That only perpetuates the injustices and ultimately multiplies them. And it also doesn't lead to very wise decisions.
Also, apologize if I offended you. It's just most people through around policy proposals and law change ideas without knowing what that would mean for much of the economy. I wasn't trying to start anything.
