Elizabeth Warren: Why Isn't The Minimum Wage Today $22/Hour?

[emazur]

Questions for people who advocate $22/hr min. wage:

1) Is it acceptable if a minimum wage means all the employees earn more than the employer? A business owner who worked 160 hours a month (a 40 hour workweek) with no vacations who was making minimum wage would have a salary of $42,240 a year. Since he is self employed, he also has to pay double the payroll tax for himself. And according to this study: "Today's small business owner works an average of 52 hours per week, with fifty-seven percent working at least six days a week, and more than twenty percent working all seven.". By the numbers, if the employer does not make at least $42,240 a year (minimum wage) than he is already worse off than the employee who makes a $22/hr minimum wage.

2) If it is acceptable that a minimum wage means all the employees earn more than the employer, can you describe why anyone would want to start their own business if they never expected to make more than $42k/year? Keep in mind that cost of the risk of business failure.

3) If it is not acceptable that a minimum wage means all the employees earn more than the employer, should the government also institute a Minimum Profit Law for business owners?

4) What percentage of small business owners make more than $42k/year?

 

[Working Poor]

All she is going is kissing union ass don't kid yourselves.

 

[thoughtomator]

Just to be clear, I don't advocate any minimum wage, but I do support people pointing out that yes, the value of labor has had a catastrophic collapse and it is right to demand reasons for this dramatic shift of economic power away from the people who are actually doing the work that creates value and wealth.

 

[jbauer]

If you think that I of all people am liberal, you are indeed crazy.

God forbid someone should make points that don't adhere to your biases.

You're onto it man. I don't like Waren particularily but all she is doing nothing more then what Ron Paul did when he offered a mecery dime for gas. Its not the statment that anyone here should have trouble with, its the solution that we wouldn't see eye to eye on.

 

[parocks]

If you think that I of all people am liberal, you are indeed crazy.

God forbid someone should make points that don't adhere to your biases.

I'm in agreement with you on the minimum wage matter.

Not arguing in favor of "living wage" or anything like that, but we've had a minimum wage for a while, and I think it should keep up with inflation.

 

[jbauer]

The cost of living is manipulated by the Fed and its funny money creation schemes.

She needs to attack that but never will. The Fed is eroding the purchasing power and so the wages are not keeping up. It does not matter if there is a min wage or not, the wages will never keep up with Ben Bernanke's printing press

Couldn't you say the cost of living has been screwed up by other outside forces as well? What about the CEO-worker pay relationship? What about the dramatic rise in healthcare costs with full time vs part time employees?

She's probably never going to attack the monetary system as we woudl want to see her do but her complaint isn't all that far off from ours. She's just attacking the same beast from a different angle pitching to a different crowd.

 

[anaconda]

The mix of skill sets today have different relative values than those of 1960. Lower wage earner skill sets have not evolved adequately. Employers hire labor up to the point where the wage equals the worker's marginal revenue product. If a minimum wage is forced upon employers they will hire less labor to maximize profits. The result is higher per unit cost, higher prices, less output, and fewer jobs. Thank you Elizabeth Warren.

 

[jbauer]

The answers are easy. No one would open a small business. FYI I am a small business owner.

However, Warren is seeing a symptom of the monetary problem we're all seeing and experiencing.

Questions for people who advocate $22/hr min. wage:

1) Is it acceptable if a minimum wage means all the employees earn more than the employer? A business owner who worked 160 hours a month (a 40 hour workweek) with no vacations who was making minimum wage would have a salary of $42,240 a year. Since he is self employed, he also has to pay double the payroll tax for himself. And according to this study: "Today's small business owner works an average of 52 hours per week, with fifty-seven percent working at least six days a week, and more than twenty percent working all seven.". By the numbers, if the employer does not make at least $42,240 a year (minimum wage) than he is already worse off than the employee who makes a $22/hr minimum wage.

2) If it is acceptable that a minimum wage means all the employees earn more than the employer, can you describe why anyone would want to start their own business if they never expected to make more than $42k/year? Keep in mind that cost of the risk of business failure.

3) If it is not acceptable that a minimum wage means all the employees earn more than the employer, should the government also institute a Minimum Profit Law for business owners?

4) What percentage of small business owners make more than $42k/year?

 

[kcchiefs6465]

A better question would be why isn't my 'dollar' a dollar.

 

[dillo]

well the median income today + the amount of federal debt per capita= The median income of the 1950s

 

[phill4paul]

I'll take the 1964 minimum wage in silver quarters please.

 

[kcchiefs6465]

I'll take the 1964 minimum wage in silver quarters please.

Exactly.

 

[misean]

This is a Harvard Professor. I don't know what to say. I mean this country reminds me of the movie Idiocracy. This is a Senator. And she is held up as smart. This is the woman that people want regulating the financial system. I'm speechless. I actually feel physically uneasy watching that. Wow.

 

[jbauer]

The mix of skill sets today have different relative values than those of 1960. Lower wage earner skill sets have not evolved adequately. Employers hire labor up to the point where the wage equals the worker's marginal revenue product. If a minimum wage is forced upon employers they will hire less labor to maximize profits. The result is higher per unit cost, higher prices, less output, and fewer jobs. Thank you Elizabeth Warren.

Disagree, lower wage workers today just have different skills then they did in the 60s. Get one of those 1960's cashiers to run a 2013 cash register. The same would be true if the rolls were reversed.

As for profit from investment we're in the most profitable time in the history of mankind from a corporate standpoint. While I agree that raising minimum wage would not fix anything. It is interesting to note the difference between what it was "then" and is "now" and compare it to inflation. I'm not advocating a higher minimum wage but by having a low minimum wage it sure seems to have encouraged an entire generation of workers to latch onto the government tit of food stamps, housing, phone etc etc etc.

A good question would be if I can make $7/hr working in a non-skilled position or I can make double + that sitting on my fat ass watching TV all day why would I choose to work at all?

 

[FrankRep]

I think that Warren might become one of us, her hostility towards the banksters is a good sign.

Socialists hate bankers too. She's not "one of us."

 

[jbauer]

I'll take the 1964 minimum wage in silver quarters please.

Which means you almost have to agree with Warren's statment although you might see the solution being something entirley different.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Because, Pocahontas, wampum no worth what it once was.

That is key. Look no further than the Federal Reserve, global corporatism, and immigration policy.

Warren is touching on an important point here. There has been a historic breakdown in the share of income earned by labor vs. capital. The reason for this is the neo-feudal corporatism that has taken hold in this country by controlling the banks, media, and government.

I don't trust Warren but she shouldn't be slammed when she's doing something right. What indeed happened to the earning power of a man's labor, and why? This question leads to profound and uncomfortable truths about our monetary system and related government policies.

Yep.

The cost of living is manipulated by the Fed and its funny money creation schemes.

She needs to attack that but never will. The Fed is eroding the purchasing power and so the wages are not keeping up. It does not matter if there is a min wage or not, the wages will never keep up with Ben Bernanke's printing press

Yep.

Alan Greenspan's master plan. Print and borrow, spend and spend, hoping for economic growth. Conceal inflation by suppressing wages. Works great until you run out of sources of ever cheaper labor, or you can't placate all of the people you turn into welfare serfs.

 

[misean]

I think that Warren might become one of us, her hostility towards the banksters is a good sign.

"We" do not hate bankers. Bankers aren't the problem. Socialist politicians who bail bankers out are the problem.

I assure you she will never be a libertarian. She is an out of control socialist that will be perfectly happy to run your life for you.

 

[phill4paul]

Which means you almost have to agree with Warren's statment although you might see the solution being something entirley different.

No. I don't agree with Warren's statement. I do not believe minimum wage needs to be raised. Though, I can see by my statement how that might be inferred. I don't think a minimum wage needs to be dictated by the government. I do believe that we need to have competing forms of currency if the U.S. dollar has been debased to the point that it has. Which is more to my point.

 

[TonySutton]

Has anyone ever done a comparison between the minimum wage and the average cost of a fast food meal. It seems to be they have remained fairly close over my lifetime.