Democrats Turn to Minimum Wage as 2014 Strategy

[jkob]

I'm not too worried about this strategy, people might casually support raising minimum wage but most people don't make minimum wage and their votes won't be swayed by it.

 

[RonPaulFanInGA]

 

[parocks]

Great Parocks is back. The economic illiterate poster who rallies the other economic illiterati of this forum.

To everyone with half a brain, dont waste too much time arguing with him, its futile.

You don't read my posts. I recognize and understand what people are saying.

You aren't fighting for liberty, at all, if you're arguing that the minimum wage should stay where it is instead of going up. Because in both cases, there is a minimum wage. In both cases, liberty is infringed equally. You're just on the side of the employers.

 

[juleswin]

Instead of raising the minimum wage, how about eliminating income taxes up to the poverty line of EVERY WORKER in America.


Let's see the scumbag aristocrats justifying taking from the poor

Nice, but aren't most people with income below the poverty line already paying no income tax or possibly getting tax subsidies?
It sucks but any politician who opposes raising the minimum wage will be seen as someone who is greedy, hates the poor and lacks empathy.

 

[parocks]

Hes different because he masquerades as some sort of libertarian/fan of ron paul (hence his registration here) but hes clearly either

a) a moron

or
b) a socialist in disguise.

Yeah, I joined 5 years before you. And was boots on the ground in New Hampshire in January 2008.

 

[parocks]

Why bother fighting at all? There's no way to ever win using your plan.

What? Fight other things. Fight against NSA spying. Fight against too much military spending. Etc etc etc.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

I disagree. As long as the public has the perception of a benevolent government, they will vote for that benevolency. Health care was the perfect example. Before Obamacare, an overwhelming majority of people were happy with their health care - even people who were not insured. But because the media portrayed it much differently, people voted because they thought they would be helping someone else.

I understand your point, but what we are looking at here is 99 swing states and CD's (CPVI between R+5 and D+5). Within those states and CD's the swing factor is only around 3% of the voters who are going to make the difference between a D or R winning the seat. With Obamacare, a weak economy, a poor job market, etc an issue like raising the minimum wage isn't going to be enough of an issue to reach out to those 3% of the voters that are going to decide the election.

 

[gwax23]

You don't read my posts. I recognize and understand what people are saying.

You aren't fighting for liberty, at all, if you're arguing that the minimum wage should stay where it is instead of going up. Because in both cases, there is a minimum wage. In both cases, liberty is infringed equally. You're just on the side of the employers.

Are you high? I want to eliminate the minimum wage completely. And yes keeping it where it is is better than raising it despite what your crazy logic and bogus numbers tell you. I rather a person be employed at 7.25 than not employed at all.

Yeah, I joined 5 years before you. And was boots on the ground in New Hampshire in January 2008.

Which is even more pathetic since you havent pick up a Basic economic book in that entire time.

 

[WM_in_MO]

Yeah, I joined 5 years before you. And was boots on the ground in New Hampshire in January 2008.

Now you sound like all those delegates that helped us win the county in 2012, but then disappeared after it was over.

 

[angelatc]

Is anyone arguing that a hike in the minimum wage doesn't create unemployment, underemployment or inflation?

No. We get it.

But 75% of the people believe that the tiny tiny amounts are outweighed by the benefits of the raise.

And the politicians don't want us opposing things that most people agree with. This is exactly why we're screwed.

 

[DamianTV]

I'd like to eliminate the "thing" that causes a need for increases in Minimum Wage to begin with: Inflation.

We keep getting presented these figures that Inflation is only at 1% but doesnt include things like the price of gas, utilities, or food. When all things are included, we end up with another figure, that Inflation is around 9%.

So should we Raise Minimum Wage, or eliminate it completely, and still have a need for it? As long as we have insane Inflation, there will exist a need for Minimum Wage. Wheter Minimum Wage is required or not and what the Minimum Wage Rate is set at becomes a mute points because the need exists.

Someone please define "Inflation" the way Ron Paul would explain it.

 

[angelatc]

What? Fight other things. Fight against NSA spying. Fight against too much military spending. Etc etc etc.

Oh, so you ae going to make a list of what we can and can't oppose? Based on ... what? Most people support the military, you know.

 

[angelatc]

Hes different because he masquerades as some sort of libertarian/fan of ron paul (hence his registration here) but hes clearly either

a) a moron

or

b) a socialist in disguise.

Now that you mention it, he's always been the guy who shows up just to bitch about what other people are doing.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

I'm sorry, but I have to return to my original post, here.


Milton Friedman spoke about how those with a special interest have a concentrated focus while those in the rest of the public do not. Their focus on the opposite side of whatever issue is less intense.

Again, with all due respect, you guys are discussing the wrong issue here. This is not about whether or not raising the minimum wage would work, this is about organizing a special interest to gain power.

It doesn't matter if you win or lose this debate, the mere fact that the issue is debated creates a win for those seeking more power.

That's actually true, unless you can re-frame the debate to make the ones launching the argument the bad guys in the first place. Make THEM responsible for the people on minimum wage being unable to survive, and every time they bring it up they will be shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[Madison320]

BS.


Please, show the articles about the economic catastrophe that was caused by these periodic hikes.

Here ya go:

Black teen unemployment = 43%

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/08/black-teen-unemployment_n_2836816.html

 

[2young2vote]

Its funny that this was posted. Just today my dad and I were talking about how we weren't going to be able to hire as many people and give the people who are coming back next season as many hours as this past year because of our very high labor cost (32% of our sales goes straight to labor). The reason our labor cost is so high is because we have refused to allow our employees in the store alone, not because we think THEY might steal from us, but because we are worried about their safety, especially after we close at night and they have to walk to their cars. But that is going to change next year. We can't afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars and not make any kind of profit at all, on unneeded labor just to be "safe." We've already decided that we will cut back to one employee in the slow times, and this is BEFORE another increase in the minimum wage. We did something similar the last time it happened. The affect is to reduce employment at our store which decreases efficiency, employee safety, employee moral, employment, and customer satisfaction. But it has to be done and will only get worse as the minimum wage increases. Increased prices are one of the last things we want to do, but government is essentially forcing us to do it.

Most of our employees make over minimum wage, so they wouldn't be factored into that 4.7% figure that was provided by CaptLouAlbano, but a majority of our employees make BETWEEN minimum wage and the amount that it could go up to ($9 or $10), so that 4.7% figure doesn't accurately depict the number of people who would actually be affected by the minimum wage increase. however, because $9 or $10 will be come the new standard for the bottom wages, those who are currently being paid a bit more than minimum wage will then have THEIR wages increased, too, at some point to reflect that they are worth more than those who make minimum wage. The MW actually shifts the entire wage spectrum over and everyone is affected.

Parocks, yes, minimum wage IS one of the biggest factors in determining whether an economy does good or bad, or, I should say, grows quickly or slowly. The only costs that an employer has no control or influence over are those dictated by GOVERNMENT through government granted monopolies, taxes, or minimum wages.

Regardless of how long the MW has been around or the amount of times it has been increased, every time it is increased there are shifts in the the value of the dollar and the value of a job that were not created naturally, but by government. Every time it happens it damages some aspect of the economy and creates artificial demands or surpluses that DO have a terrible impact on the economy. Like you said, we have already been experiencing these shifts for decades, and employers have already been looking for ways to eliminate as many jobs as possible which is why you don't see a huge impact every time it happens - the impact is LONG-TERM, the economy has already been adjusting for MW increases for the last 70 years. The problem is that the negative consequences happen over such a long period of time that the changes are almost invisible. My dads store has been open for 10 years and we've experienced a minimum wage increase since it opened, but we are still making changes to our labor force and store to account for it. It isn't like minimum wage went up and we instantly eliminated 5 jobs, we slowly played with the schedule, changed the hours, and altered several other things to affect our labor cost over the course of several years and we will keep doing it even after the next minimum wage increase.

 

[angelatc]

You don't read my posts. I recognize and understand what people are saying.

You aren't fighting for liberty, at all, if you're arguing that the minimum wage should stay where it is instead of going up. Because in both cases, there is a minimum wage. In both cases, liberty is infringed equally. You're just on the side of the employers.

Now there's a tell.....Oh those evil employers. They must be our enemy. If they're making money, it obviously means they owe me more, and by golly the government should force them to give it to me.

Idiocy. The minimum wage means nothing when the economy is rolling along nicely. Right now, the Wamart in North Dakota is paying $17.00 an hour to start. Let's just make the federal minimum wage $17 an hour, because it isn't fair that they make more than the people working at that WalMart are making more than the people working at my local Wamart.

 

[Madison320]

Opposing the minimum wage law is an absolute no brainer for anyone in favor of freedom. But it will be funny to watch republicans squirm over this:

Reporter: "Senator Graham, do you think we should raise the minimum wage?"

Graham: "Obamacare is a disaster."

 

[angelatc]

That's actually true, unless you can re-frame the debate to make the ones launching the argument the bad guys in the first place. Make THEM responsible for the people on minimum wage being unable to survive, and every time they bring it up they will be shooting themselves in the foot.

That's the thing that the GOP hasn't been able to do since Reagan died. The Democrats have framed every issue in this country for the last 30 years.

 

[Occam's Banana]

The Democrats have framed every issue in this country for the last 30 years.

Just so. And the Republicans will trample their grandmothers just to make sure they get included in the shot.

Two-party system, my ass ...