State of the minimum wage.
By on Jan 5th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
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I am glad that the Dems are going to work on this important issue before petty issue's like saving American lives in Iraq. Once they get this minimum wage issue qorked out, hopefully they will have some time before 2008 to think about working on the illegal war that Americans are dying in. I am just glad there priorities are correct by going after more important issue like Minimum wage first!!
January 5th, 2007 at 4:55 pmRoger_Roger, Roger_Roger, Roger_Roger...
When will you stop being bitter about this. Raising the minimum wage will help Millions of Americans. Stopping the war will only help thousands of Americans....
Frankly, I think both topics are important, and I do not see a problem with doing both. I'm guessing that you don't live on minimum wage. I'm also guessing that you have never had to live on minimum wage. For those of us who have been there, this is a big issue. If you don't know how you can afford to pay your bills and eat then what is happening to other people half a world away just doesn't seem all that important.
And given that Congress can raise the federal minimum wage easily enough it shouldn't distract them for more than a few hours from your favourite topic of stopping the war.
Z.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:10 pmAt least Minimum wage is far more important, and a real issue, unlike gay marriage and flag burning. Roger you seem a little bitter lately.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:10 pmKrazny, Gay Marriage and flag burning are real issues...
I mean if we didn't burn flags then how would the flag manufacturers continue to make a profit?
Oh, sorry, I meant... If we didn't protect the Flag then any boob could desecrate it... Like this guy with a marker pen...
Oh, I meant If we didn't protect the sanctity of marriage then the country would be full of Man on dog action
Oh... I guess that you're right.
Z.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:15 pmRogerRoger
Just because your precious President can't consider more than one issue at a time, doesn't mean the Democratic led Congress can't. Your anti-war "outrage" is pathetically disingenuous and a highly transparent attack against the Democrats.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:16 pmThat second link seems to work on and off... Just go and search for "santorum man on dog" if you need to read it...
Z.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:16 pmRoger can't be bothered by such mundane issues as economic justice and the problems of the working poor. He's got the rapture on his mind.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:25 pmComment by Roger_Roger — January 5, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
Oh, put a damn sock in it, Roger. Along with Bush, Rummy, and Cheney, the Republicans in Congress got to play war for almost 4 years and didn't do a g*d damned thing to try and end Americans' deaths. Your pathetic attempt at trying to show concern is just that...pathetic.
And speaking of Republicans in Congress, our newly elected Rep. David Davis from TN (who refused during the campaign to debate his opponents because "everyone already knows my positions on issues well enough") is just another pathetic idiot who whined in a newspaper article today that he hopes the Democrats play nice with the Repubs.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:29 pmThe rapture can't come soon enough! We can finally live in peace. It's a win/win situation!
January 5th, 2007 at 5:31 pm#3 Gay Marriage is actually a very real issue unfortunetly. It saddens me that you don't think so. This poor group is being descriminated against and you don't find that an issue. I actually take offense to that. They deserve all the rights a straight couple does. Why is that not an important issue to you? It is much mroe important then raising minimum wage if you ask me. Saving American Lives in Iraq trumps them both however as that is a life and death issue. Either way, how can you not say Gay Rights isn't a real issue?
January 5th, 2007 at 5:38 pmRoger you ignorant slut,
do you have any idea how many lives are affected how many "AMERICAN LIVES" are being lost due to abject poverity. educate yourself kid. untill then just STFU already!
January 5th, 2007 at 5:50 pmRoger_Roger just can't face the fact that the Dems had to come in to solve the vast array of problems created by the Republicans. Roger, it took the incompetent Republicans years to cause so many problems and the Democrats have to take them on as they can. I mean, you guys couldn't even get 9 of the 11 spending bills figured out before your vacation.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:56 pm#14
hahaha! indeed. for some reason Dan Ackroid popped in my head when i was typing that.
Wanna-be is correct :D
January 5th, 2007 at 5:58 pmAnd thank you, TP, for posting this info on the min. wage.
Earlier this week our local Republican rag...er, I mean, newspaper...printed an editorial that spoke against raising the min. wage. Your post will come in handy should I decide to write a Letter to the Editor in response.
I had to laugh after I read it, because while the column was chocked full of "facts" and numbers, there was no further explanation as to how those facts contributed to the editorial board's decision to not support a min. wage.
Example: They stated that there was a smaller percentage of workers earning the min. wage in 2005 as compared to 1990. What they didn't expand on was the reason for this. Is it because more employees benefit from higher education and thus work at higher paying jobs? Is it because more employers in 2005 had a base starting wage higher than the federal min. wage? So this is the basis for their reasoning: in the last 15 years there has been a drop in the number of min. wage earners, so there's no reason to raise it now.
Example: they also threw in a blurb about a certain percentage of minimum wage earners living in a household that earned a minimum of $60,000 per year. Again...the point is...????
Example: they said that there is no excuse for anyone to complain about the min. wage, because everyone has the means to obtain higher education and thus work at higher paying jobs.
Example: they said that most min. wage earners receive a raise soon after being hired. (I sure as hell hope it's more than the $0.25 my wife was offered several years ago on her annual review when she worked for a major upscale men's & women's clothing store. A store she had worked at for almost 9 years and was making less than $10 per hour).
Again...thanks TP!
January 5th, 2007 at 6:02 pmWe shoulnd't have a minimum wage. The government should not have that kind of power.
January 5th, 2007 at 6:46 pmKevin, maybe it would help if you did a little reading on what business practices were like before the minimum wage. After all, our government is there to provide for the general welfare. This is a representative republic. If our representatives want to make a minimum wage and the vast majority of their constituents want a minimum wage, they pass a law. Listen, if you don't like democracy, just say it.
January 5th, 2007 at 6:58 pmI love Democracy. I also thing an employee and employer should be able to negotiate wage without the government getting involved. If a person thinks they should make more money they can work harder for a raise or get a better job. No need for the government to be in the equation.
Get ready for higher prices.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:11 pmKevin, I'll take a shot at this. Imagine you live in a "company town." Imagine that it's really one of the only places to work. Do you really want the company to be able to set the lowest possible cost of compensation? Imagine you live in a city which is big in the food-processing business. What is to keep businesses from colluding to drive down the minimum cost of labor? You see, Kevin, not all capitalists are as forward thinking as Henry Ford. Some don't care about their workers. Do you really think a worker has as much bargaining power as a company. You're probably deeply troubled by unions as well.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:16 pmthe work someone performs is a commodity and the price of that shouldn't be controlled by the government. Raising the minimum wage will only put unskilled workers out of work. Who is going to pay a ninth grader $7.45 an hour for sweeping floors?
January 5th, 2007 at 7:21 pmI also thing an employee and employer should be able to negotiate wage without the government getting involved.
Comment by Kevin — January 5, 2007 @ 7:11 pm
This would be nice if we lived in an ideal world. Ours is far from it.
Someone else already suggested you do a little research on what the business practices were before minimum wage laws were enacted. Fact is, with a fairly large pool of available workers, businesses will pay whatever they need to pay in order to maximise their profits, i.e., as little as possible. Without minimum wage, it would soon be a race to the bottom.
If a person thinks they should make more money they can work harder for a raise or get a better job. No need for the government to be in the equation.
This is utterly naive. People at that level of income are not exactly highly skilled. Salaries for those positions do not vary much from one company to the next.
Again, do a little research on what the business practices were before. Businesses owners would come up with comparable pay levels and refuse to grant raises.
Profit-seeking businesses don't offer raises out of the goodness of their heart.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:23 pmRight on Mandolin.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:29 pmThe minimum wage issue is ridiculous. Anyone who thinks raising the minimum wage helps lower income workers is dumb beyond all belief. They simply don't understand economics. They have no information. I'd recommend they head over to Amazon and buy some books and get down the learning curve.
More on the minimum wage and who makes it.
More comments on the minimum wage.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:31 pmNothing keeping that “unskilled†worker from bettering him/herself and getting a better job. I was poor and I worked hard and was able to move up in the world. You folks don’t have faith in the American people.
Oh. I got a raise today. My hard work pays off.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:33 pmI've been poor, too, and a nominal increase in the minimum wage helped me maintain a minimum standard of living at the time which is why I have great faith in the American people. An increase in the minimum wage never put any business out of business. If the Republicans hadn't waited so long, the increase could have been more gradual. Funny that they never wait to increase their own salary.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:40 pmRoger Roger
January 5th, 2007 at 7:42 pmYou are right on, and these right wing punks are bs. keep on keepin on for the truth. These weepin willows that pass for dems are worthless
Mandolin
January 5th, 2007 at 7:44 pmYou're full of the stuff that is useless and worthless. Raising the minumum wage will do something for people who work hard for a living. Try it sometime.
Kevin
Save your concern for rising wages for the power elites and congress people who suck at the public trough and live in wealth and you say nothing. You must be paid well for your brown nosing.
You are like alot of elitist wannabes, you attack the least powerful.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:46 pmKevin
January 5th, 2007 at 7:49 pmGet lost. You wouldn't know a hard working job if it fell on you. How much they pay you to write bs.
Nothing keeping that “unskilled†worker from bettering him/herself and getting a better job.
Comment by Kevin — January 5, 2007 @ 7:33 pm
Ah, ideal worlds are so much fun to dream of, aren't they?
I love it when people trout out this argument. Yes, it's true that in theory they could get a higher-paying job. Without minimum wage laws, those better-paying jobs would probably be much harder to come by. As I said, without an incentive to keep wages at a certain level -which is what minimum wage does- businesses would quickly lower wages as much as possible.
Why do you think businesses like to hire illegal aliens? Because they don't have to pay minimum wage, among other things.
I was poor and I worked hard and was able to move up in the world. You folks don’t have faith in the American people.
I do have faith in the American people. I also realise many of them need help. Minimum wage is just that: A little help while they -hopefully- move up the income ladder.
What is it about helping the poor that is so repugnant to conservatives?
Oh. I got a raise today. My hard work pays off.
I see. You got yours, the hell with the others. Is that what is behind your stance towards the minimum wage?
January 5th, 2007 at 7:49 pmNothing keeping that “unskilled†worker from bettering him/herself and getting a better job. I was poor and I worked hard and was able to move up in the world. You folks don’t have faith in the American people. Comment by Kevin
You may not be poor anymore, but this stupid comment proves you're still unskilled. Just like Britney, you can't take the trash, out of trailer trash!
January 5th, 2007 at 7:51 pmMandolin: "Raising the minimum wage will only put unskilled workers out of work."
Conservatives say this every time the minimum wage is raised, but it has been raised scores of times and this has never happened.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:54 pmMandolin
January 5th, 2007 at 8:08 pmRaising the minimum wage will hopefully put elites out of work, but then they never did an honest days work anyway, so what does it matter.
Mandolin and Kevin
This is class warfare, regardless of the bs coming from the right about how Americans aren't interested in discussing class...
Yeah we are interested, and we know it's about class. It's always been about class.
And you guys don't have any class.
January 5th, 2007 at 8:10 pmOh. I got a raise today. My hard work pays off.
Nice of you to disparage people who are less fortunate than you on the day you got a raise. How does that make you feel? Superior? Better than "those" people?
January 5th, 2007 at 8:10 pmNothing keeping that “unskilled†worker from bettering him/herself and getting a better job. I was poor and I worked hard and was able to move up in the world. You folks don’t have faith in the American people.
Oh. I got a raise today. My hard work pays off.
Comment by Kevin —
Please, Kevin,
January 5th, 2007 at 8:22 pmI am interested. How did you achieve your success?
Point by point would be great, so that us unskilled folks, me included, can learn.
I'm really interested.
I'm tired of being poor.
Any other advice, other than working hard? Thst's something I've always done but nothing much has come of it.
Thank you.
"you folks don't have faith in American people"
Kevin
It's you who don't have faith in America. Quit projecting your selfishness and laziness on America.
America will take care of worthless scum like you in due time. We are only just pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps after the severe beating we just endured from the right-wing Republicans.
And when we rise up, you and your kind better watch out. The truth is gonna bite you right in the arse. And you know you can't take the truth, no how, no way.
January 5th, 2007 at 8:27 pmAny other advice, other than working hard? Thst’s something I’ve always done but nothing much has come of it.
Comment by trueblue — January 5, 2007 @ 8:22 pm
Many of the millionaires didn't have to work a day to get all their wealth; they inherited it. Millions of poor across the US work very hard in two, three jobs, with very little in the way of financial success. But conservatives would have you believe the poor are poor because they are lazy, and the rich are rich because they work harder than anyone else.
And maybe this is what really grates me about the conservatives' rants on how "hard work" is the only key to financial success: The self-congratulatory attitude they ooze as if they had accomplished their achievements in a vacuum, with no government intervention. Ever. They fail to see that behind that success lies an enormous social, legal infrastructure that made it possible for them to go to school, get a job, bargain for a better salary, travel safely, get medical treatment, etc.
January 5th, 2007 at 8:38 pmHi Gregor.
I was trying to lure him in to admitting the points you just stated.
Guess he didn't take the bait.
:(
How are you?
January 5th, 2007 at 8:43 pmComment by halbert holmert —
How wonderful of you to have your life's plan clearly in front of you.
January 5th, 2007 at 8:48 pmhalbert
January 5th, 2007 at 8:49 pmYou are pathetic. You care nothing for America, just your ego. You are so like your President
How are you?
Comment by trueblue — January 5, 2007 @ 8:43 pm
Annoyed beyond words.
Will these halfwits ever learn? First Tracy coming apart at the seams over how the intelligence on Iraq was simply flawed, and now this smug lad bragging about his hard work. No simpathy for the less fortunate on that side of the political aisle -whether Iraqis or Americans. And I thought conservatives had a good moral compass. Silly me.
Other than that, TGIF. I will go home, hug my kids and hope they never have to face either joblesness, hunger, or a military occupation -with everything it entails.
Checking out in 3.. 2.. 1..
January 5th, 2007 at 8:54 pmyou have a wonderful night hugging your children.
Cherish it.
Goodnight.
January 5th, 2007 at 8:59 pmI KNOW OF MANY BLOGS THAT OUTDO THIS ONE ON A DAILY BASIS
Comment by halbert holmert
Go to them. I heard they were looking for you.
January 5th, 2007 at 9:38 pmWhat the people who are against raising the minimum can't, or won't grasp, is that millions of people have no choice to work for minimum wage, because the economy produces only so many jobs that if you want to eat you take the lousy job.
January 5th, 2007 at 10:31 pmGot it, Hal. Thanks for your service in the troll corps. We'll be careful out there.
Beat it...
January 5th, 2007 at 10:48 pmHALBERT DID YOU READ THAT NANCY IS VOTING FOR RETROACTIVE ABORTIONS TO ANYONE REGISTERED GOP? NOT ONLY WILL WE KILL YOUR CHILDREN, WE'RE COMING AFTER YOU. IT'S ALL OVER THE NEWS SITES!
January 6th, 2007 at 1:07 amHALBERT DID YOU READ THAT NANCY IS VOTING FOR RETROACTIVE ABORTIONS TO ANYONE REGISTERED GOP? NOT ONLY WILL WE KILL YOUR CHILDREN, WE’RE COMING AFTER YOU. IT’S ALL OVER THE NEWS SITES!
Comment by BlahBlahBlah
Beautiful.
January 6th, 2007 at 1:17 amI'm not opposed to the minimum wage increase, but, if raising the minimum wage doesn't effect a businesses ability to compete and hire, why don't they just set the minimum wage at say $30 an hour?
January 6th, 2007 at 1:28 amI'm really not trying to be a dumba$$. I am only concerned that there are some (not you by the sound of your post) that seem to think that there are no consequences for businesses by raising the minimum wage. I am only saying that there are consequences for businesses (especially small businesses) that impact there ability to compete and hire. (Hiring or laying off the very people that the wage increase is meant to help)
January 6th, 2007 at 2:19 amHolmert,
If there are better blog sites, the reason is due to the fact that you're posting on this one. Get it? Probably not?
Why don't you "hang out" at Hooters more often. Give your computer a much-needed vacaton.
BTW, those dirt poor scantily-dressed girls at HOOTERS deserve a wage increase. When your income is low, you just can't afford to cover your body with an abundance of clothing. Poor things!
With an increase in the minimum wage, they'll finally be able to wear three-piece suits. Maybe four-piece suits? Business should really be picking up at Hooters with all of the girls "properly" dressed.
John
January 6th, 2007 at 2:49 pm[...] via Thinkprogress.org [...]
January 6th, 2007 at 4:36 pm