Raise the minimum wage
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JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Mr. Webb, (a man I worked under at one time in the 80’s) cries now that he is on the other side that we need a minimum wage increase, and that executives make too much money. This is unfair that someone should make 400 times what an average worker makes. In the interest of fairness he is correct it seems unfair. Most deranged people think so as well.
First the minimum wage. Each time the minimum wage is increased in the past we created a vicious spiral in economics that is hard for some to see or understand on both ends of the political spectrum. On the liberal side people see no problems with raising the wage because it helps the "poor" who can’t make it on so little money. It sounds great but defeats the purpose of the minimum wage. Liberals believe that no matter what the job a person should be able to live like the rich, support a family of four, and never need a promotion or raise.
The purpose of a minimum wage is to take people fresh out of school with no experience at the beginning of a person’s career. Train that person giving them experience and ability to advance meaning a pay rise to go with the added ability and responsibility. It is called climbing the ladder. Going one step at a time dependant on the persons ability to handle more responsibility. The people that are supposed to get the minimum wage as I said before are people fresh out of school without family obligations or housing concerns. A kid out of school usually lives with his or her parents until the child becomes established.
The conservative view is that a minimum wage hike will create problems in the economy that will cause inflation and slow down the rate of economic and national growth. It will allow people to remain poor when they can advance themselves by wanting to go up the ladder they will not be squeezed by economic forces.
Here is how a minimum waged hike helps and hurts the economy. For the sake of this discourse we will raise the minimum wage to $1.00 an hour from .80 an hour. Now the person can afford to buy more things, save money towards getting married, or buy an luxury item. This spurs the economy because there is greater demand at the low end of the economy. All well and good.
Here is how it hurts the economy. Labor unions use the minimum wage as a bargaining counter. They say that since an untrained worker is worth a dollar an hour then well trained Union employees deserve much more to start. Say two dollars an hour to start. This gets argued down to a dollar fifty an hour. Corporations are in business to make money, they are obligated to show a profit in order to exist. If factory workers make two dollars an hour then middle management should get a pay raise because they have more responsibility that factory workers. Executives deserve a pay raise because they have even more responsibility and should be compensated for it. Chief executives should be paid a lot more because they have the ultimate responsibility of how the company runs, survives and directing the direction of the company in the future. With all the pay raises going around the company will make less money but since the minimum raise kicked in people can afford to pay more so the company raises its prices. Nonunion people want to be able to afford what the company makes so they demand a pay raise. Prices go up. Inflation begins. The sad fact is that if the minimum wage were raised to one hundred dollars an hour the poor would still not be able to afford more because in order to pay that amount of money the price of the goods has to go up.
Think about this for a moment if you will. The cost of living keeps going up but the spending power remains the same as it did back in 1960 only the numbers change. So how does raising the minimum wage solve any problem?
In Florida where I live the federal minimum wage is the standard. Market forces determine how much a person earns as a starting salary. I don’t know anyone that makes minimum wage. In New York City they have a minimum wage that is different than the federal minimum wage. The reason is the social programs in the city are great! But because it requires tax dollars to pay for those social services the minimum wage last time I checked was $11.50 an hour. To be poor in NYC a person has to make at least $11.50 an hour. The taxes are crushing there in order to make it easier on the poor. The result people move out of the city because they can’t afford to live there if they are middle class. So in NYC there is the extreme poor supported by social services and the extreme rich that can afford to live in the city. There is talk of going to fifteen dollars an hour so people can make it in the city. How does raising the federal minimum wage help people in big cities? The same problem exists in liberal cities like San Francisco. My point is that the places that need the help won’t get it from the federal government. Local governments are better equipped to deal with this problem.
Market forces drive the CEO pay scale. If you want your company to succeed then you need a good CEO to run the company. These proven experts are few and far between. Finding a person who has the drive, expertise, and foresight to run and expand the company as well as raise profits is hard to do. Most companies lure CEO’s from other companies with huge benefit packages, this means that they are paid a huge amount of money on the chance that the person is the right person for the job. To protect that CEO he or she will demand a contract that will pay them a lot of money if they boost profits and a lot of money of they fail to compensate them for leaving a company where they were a success. When that person fails the company loses a lot of money. When that person succeeds the company makes huge profits making it worth hiring the person. Mr. Webb complains that the wages of CEO’s is too much and this money should be given to the poor or some such nonsense. Had we not been so kind as to raise the minimum wage we would not have CEO’s making such ungodly sums of money. Because the need to make profits would not be so strong. Whether you agree or disagree with this last statement it is the mindset of the corporate culture.
First the minimum wage. Each time the minimum wage is increased in the past we created a vicious spiral in economics that is hard for some to see or understand on both ends of the political spectrum. On the liberal side people see no problems with raising the wage because it helps the "poor" who can’t make it on so little money. It sounds great but defeats the purpose of the minimum wage. Liberals believe that no matter what the job a person should be able to live like the rich, support a family of four, and never need a promotion or raise.
The purpose of a minimum wage is to take people fresh out of school with no experience at the beginning of a person’s career. Train that person giving them experience and ability to advance meaning a pay rise to go with the added ability and responsibility. It is called climbing the ladder. Going one step at a time dependant on the persons ability to handle more responsibility. The people that are supposed to get the minimum wage as I said before are people fresh out of school without family obligations or housing concerns. A kid out of school usually lives with his or her parents until the child becomes established.
The conservative view is that a minimum wage hike will create problems in the economy that will cause inflation and slow down the rate of economic and national growth. It will allow people to remain poor when they can advance themselves by wanting to go up the ladder they will not be squeezed by economic forces.
Here is how a minimum waged hike helps and hurts the economy. For the sake of this discourse we will raise the minimum wage to $1.00 an hour from .80 an hour. Now the person can afford to buy more things, save money towards getting married, or buy an luxury item. This spurs the economy because there is greater demand at the low end of the economy. All well and good.
Here is how it hurts the economy. Labor unions use the minimum wage as a bargaining counter. They say that since an untrained worker is worth a dollar an hour then well trained Union employees deserve much more to start. Say two dollars an hour to start. This gets argued down to a dollar fifty an hour. Corporations are in business to make money, they are obligated to show a profit in order to exist. If factory workers make two dollars an hour then middle management should get a pay raise because they have more responsibility that factory workers. Executives deserve a pay raise because they have even more responsibility and should be compensated for it. Chief executives should be paid a lot more because they have the ultimate responsibility of how the company runs, survives and directing the direction of the company in the future. With all the pay raises going around the company will make less money but since the minimum raise kicked in people can afford to pay more so the company raises its prices. Nonunion people want to be able to afford what the company makes so they demand a pay raise. Prices go up. Inflation begins. The sad fact is that if the minimum wage were raised to one hundred dollars an hour the poor would still not be able to afford more because in order to pay that amount of money the price of the goods has to go up.
Think about this for a moment if you will. The cost of living keeps going up but the spending power remains the same as it did back in 1960 only the numbers change. So how does raising the minimum wage solve any problem?
In Florida where I live the federal minimum wage is the standard. Market forces determine how much a person earns as a starting salary. I don’t know anyone that makes minimum wage. In New York City they have a minimum wage that is different than the federal minimum wage. The reason is the social programs in the city are great! But because it requires tax dollars to pay for those social services the minimum wage last time I checked was $11.50 an hour. To be poor in NYC a person has to make at least $11.50 an hour. The taxes are crushing there in order to make it easier on the poor. The result people move out of the city because they can’t afford to live there if they are middle class. So in NYC there is the extreme poor supported by social services and the extreme rich that can afford to live in the city. There is talk of going to fifteen dollars an hour so people can make it in the city. How does raising the federal minimum wage help people in big cities? The same problem exists in liberal cities like San Francisco. My point is that the places that need the help won’t get it from the federal government. Local governments are better equipped to deal with this problem.
Market forces drive the CEO pay scale. If you want your company to succeed then you need a good CEO to run the company. These proven experts are few and far between. Finding a person who has the drive, expertise, and foresight to run and expand the company as well as raise profits is hard to do. Most companies lure CEO’s from other companies with huge benefit packages, this means that they are paid a huge amount of money on the chance that the person is the right person for the job. To protect that CEO he or she will demand a contract that will pay them a lot of money if they boost profits and a lot of money of they fail to compensate them for leaving a company where they were a success. When that person fails the company loses a lot of money. When that person succeeds the company makes huge profits making it worth hiring the person. Mr. Webb complains that the wages of CEO’s is too much and this money should be given to the poor or some such nonsense. Had we not been so kind as to raise the minimum wage we would not have CEO’s making such ungodly sums of money. Because the need to make profits would not be so strong. Whether you agree or disagree with this last statement it is the mindset of the corporate culture.
