Interesting, and here I thought the OP was actually crazy enough to believe everything he said...although I did detect a hint of sarcasm in it.

I think he's crazy enough to believe it, just not of the right political persuasion... assuming that when he breaks character he's not also just playing a leftwing character.

I think he's legitamitly serious about things like the NWO existing...

and I don't mean the NWO version that ruled for a short time, and then destroyed WCW because Hogan or Bishop or whoever was in control didn't want them to lose, even though they were the villians.

Wow, with all your talk about him, this guy really seems like a piece of work, lol.

Everyone quoting Zimbabwean unemployment figures is missing the point entirely.

A country with a high minimum wage would probably be a country with a benevolent government.

Nowadays, benevolent government = democratic government.

Democratic government = semi-competent government (this has its exceptions, including my country, the UK).

Semi-competent governments run the country well.

Running the country well (usually) = Low unemployment rates.

As some people have said already, increasing Zimbabwe's minimum wage to $10 or $20 per hour would do absolutely nothing, and quite a few people have already admitted that some of the countries with the lowest unemployment rates don't have any government-enforced minimum wage anyway.

Just because I saw it today in The Globe and Mail (one of Canada's most Liberal news papers) ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/the-economists/does-hike-in-minimum-wage-cut-poverty-findings-say-no/article1947233/

Does hike in minimum wage cut poverty? Findings say no

The British Columbia government’s decision to increase its minimum wage to $10.25 an hour from $8 - an increase of more than 25 per cent - by May 1, 2012 is apparently based on its government’s stated desire to help lower-income families.

The NDP opposition’s position is that the measure is long overdue, and is only a "first step" towards reducing poverty.

These are noble sentiments, but if the B.C. Liberals and the B.C. NDP believe that the minimum will help reduce poverty and inequality, then they are likely to be disappointed.

Discussions about the effects of increasing the minimum wage are usually dominated by its possible effects on employment. But an unspoken assumption underlying the debate is that increasing the minimum wage does in fact reduce poverty.

This assumption turns out to be at odds with the evidence.

Proponents of increasing the minimum wage speak often of the low-income families who would benefit.

But two recent empirical studies - one for Ontario, another for Quebec – show that the intersection between those who earn minimum wage and those who are in low-income households is surprisingly small.

The rate of poverty among minimum wages earners is roughly the same as the poverty rate in the general population. Even if you set aside the employment effects, increasing the minimum wage would have the same effect on poverty as distributing money at random. Some people in low-income households will benefit, but that will be more a matter of random chance than of policy design.

To my knowledge, there is only one Canadian study that attempts to measure the link between the minimum wage and poverty, and its findings may surprise politicians in B.C. and elsewhere: “a 10-per-cent rise in the minimum wage is … significantly associated with a 4-per-cent to 6-per-cent increase in the percentage of families living under Low Income Cut Offs (LICOs).”

This is only one study, and future investigations may obtain different results. But if we want to make policy based on available evidence, then we should be very wary about using an increase in the minimum wage as a way of reducing poverty

@HappySqurriel

You may be right and those studies may prove that it doesn't change poverty level. However Vancouver and the Lower Mainland in BC are some of the most expensive places to live in Canada. According to the Province Newspaper (Biggest newspaper in BC, as well as CTV) British Columbian's pay 20% or so more for food then any other province.

Now thanks to the HST costs of living have gotten even higher. BC up until 2012, (Currently) has the lowest minimum wage in Canada. However it has the second highest cost of living in the country. Almost everything costs more in BC. Now that minimum wage increase might not pull people out of the poverty level but it sure as heck will help people pay their bills and survive.

Also even if higher minimum wages increased the unemployment rate, the remaining populous paying more taxes (HST) etc...etc.. will pay for welfare and training for those who can't find work. If Ontario can do okay at 10.25$ an hour then BC should have no problem.

As I said in an earlier post, minimum wage helps guarantee a higher quality of life. Where as if we dropped wages and food prices, fuel prices, housing prices didn't drop. All it would do is drive more people into the streets and do a heck of alot more damage then good.

Except, if it doesn't change poverty level... it doesn't gurantee a higher quality of life.

Such studies have basically been repeated everywhere all with about the same result...

http://www.nd.edu/~mbamicro/datafiles/articles/minimum_wage_economist.pdf

If you want to raise standard of living you should cut the payrol tax, lower sales tax and any other taxes people are taxed on.

I live in poverty level here in British Columbia. Trust me with the highest cost of food and other things in the country. A few extra dollars may not be enough to lift people completely out of poverty but it will certainly allow them to buy more food and live better.

Its natural progression. If minimum wages never rose we'd still be at 10cents an hour like right before WWII. But as costs of food, electricity, housing etc...etc.. rose it was nescessary to increase the minimum wage. If we didn't who could have survived or lived a decent living?

With higher cost of living, minimum wages have to go up. I myself worked a minimum wage job before loosing work. I was barely able to pay my bills I made like 1K a month and paid 650$ rent, food, phone, internet , cable. I could barely afford anything. Now I'm on welfare and I get 900$ a month, but live with my dad again and pay 325$ a month rent etc...etc...

Long story short when you make almost as much on welfare as you do a minimum wage job, their is a serious problem. Especially when welfare barely covers your basic living expenses, my rent goes up by 25$ a month each year now, with rising fuel costs I had to give up on learning how to drive as I couldn't afford to buy a car, let alone pay the 250$ insurance a month (I had an accident) or the high fuel.

Basically if their is no pay increase and I did not have my dad to move in with. I would be on the streets today, or very close. Now I live in one of the poorest parts of my city, I live in a run down bug infested apartment. And it is going to cost 700$ a month to live here in a year.

Now yes I still buy video games, I use a credit card and get into further debt. I try paying it off when I find work but lets be honest at 8$ an hour and in current living prices, its almost easier to not have a job at all.

So yes a raise in minimum wage would help me alot. It would increase my quality of life. Now yes I am way below the poverty line and an increase won't be enough to get me across the line, but it will certainly make life easier.

If the prices of everything around you keep going higher, how can anyone survive if the pay doesn't go up with it?

Also I don't feel sorry for the big corporations that will have to pay alittle higher. Now yes in this economy it is still hard to find work. But if its cheaper to live on income assistance then work a job because a full time job will pay you barely enough to survive. Then yah the wages need to go up!

If you raise the cost of minium wage, you raise the cost of products, which means that they have to raise welfare is why it really  doesn't help.

If you raise the minium wage, chances are the prices will just raise to match it.

Well the costs of living in my area are second highest in the country. Something needs to happen costs keep going higher and if wages don't increase even those with full time jobs can't survive. Raising the minimum wage is the only solution I see.

Do you have any idea how the situation could be improved without pay raises? I think the Government could cut taxes as they are also some of the highest in the country, raising even higher thanks to the Olympics. But even if taxes were to be cut I still can't see the situation getting any better.

Also with my province having had the lowest minimum wage in the country, it also is the second highest cost of living. When compared to other provinces with higher minimum wages. If the cost of living keeps rising and something isn't done quickly for the people a ton more people will become homeless. I know someone working three jobs and still only making 2k a month (A decent living I guess) barely above poverty line. He told me his schedule he gets up at 5:30 to go to work at 6!. He works till 2PM, he then goes often to his next job for a shift untill 10, then many times a third job bouncing for a club from 11-3AM. He gets two hours sleep and its back to work.

Now of course he doesn't work that every day, but he told me that thats how several days of the week look for him. Yet he barely makes over 2k some months I think the most he said he was ever paid was like 3K in a month. Working those kinds of hours.

Any idea what could be done other then wage increases to help people survive?