Gallup Poll: 76% of Americans would vote to raise minimum wage to $9/hr

[Keith and stuff]

Why stop at 9$? Raise it to 60$/hour and then everyone can have cool cars and big houses!

In SeaTac, WA, they just voted to increase it to $15.

 

[FrankRep]

Why am I never polled for these type of questions?

 

[Keith and stuff]

BTW, if anyone is interested in what the minimum wage is in various states, here you go.

http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx

6 states don't have minimum wages for most workers. Those states are:
AL, LA, MS, NH, SC, TN

Though, in the 5 southern states without minimum wages for most workers, unemployment is actually quite high so obviously, this is just 1 part of the economic/employment picture.

 

[Paulbot99]

76% of Americans would print more money too.

 

[asurfaholic]

So 24% of people "get" it. Not bad.

The rest of them think that means a bunch of people are getting a raise. Of course they don't realize that now everybody is going to see higher prices on pretty much everything so the only people who win are those on the receiving end of govt special treatment. More wages = more taxes = more special interest dough.

 

[gwax23]

BTW, if anyone is interested in what the minimum wage is in various states, here you go.

http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx

6 states don't have minimum wages for most workers. Those states are:
AL, LA, MS, NH, SC, TN

Though, in the 5 southern states without minimum wages for most workers, unemployment is actually quite high so obviously, this is just 1 part of the economic/employment picture.

Again Ive said this in other threads. The States have ZERO control over the minimum wage. They cant get rid of it or make it lower than the federal standard. It HAS to be the federal standard (7.25). They only are allowed to Raise it even higher than it is.

If the states had true control places like Mississippi and Louisiana (No minimum wage ) would have far lower unemployment than they do now.

 

[Keith and stuff]

Again Ive said this in other threads. The States have ZERO control over the minimum wage. They cant get rid of it or make it lower than the federal standard. It HAS to be the federal standard (7.25). They only are allowed to Raise it even higher than it is.

If the states had true control places like Mississippi and Louisiana (No minimum wage ) would have far lower unemployment than they do now.

So we agree that the state have a great deal of control, when it comes to increasing it above the federal level. How many states, 15? 20? 25? have increased it above the federal level. Either way, it's been a lot and I guess more will continue to do so. So it is worth looking at. But you are right. I agree with you. Maybe we should be looking at states without/ state with a lower than federal level/ and states with the federal level VS. state with a higher than federal level when comparing.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

Truth be told whether the minimum wage is raised to $9, $20, $50 or eliminated entirely, the lowest skilled workers will still be poor. If, as an adult, the only value you have to an employer is the government mandated wage, you have made some poor decisions in your life.

 

[Keith and stuff]

Truth be told whether the minimum wage is raised to $9, $20, $50 or eliminated entirely, the lowest skilled workers will still be poor. If, as an adult, the only value you have to an employer is the government mandated wage, you have made some poor decisions in your life.

And there is nothing wrong with being poor. Minimum wage (which is the federal rate since there isn't a state rate) is plenty enough money to afford to live where I live. I know people paying $150 and $200 a rent in month. Add to that no income or sales tax and you have affordable living.

 

[limequat]

So if we raise minimum wage to $1,000,000 / hr then everyone would be rich and could totally retire at the end of the end of the week. Then we can just play Angry Birds all day and buy our shit from China. Eliminates SOOO many problems. No more crime, no poverty. WHY CAN'T EVERYONE ELSE SEE THIS???? People are so dumb.

 

[gwax23]

So we agree that the state have a great deal of control, when it comes to increasing it above the federal level. How many states, 15? 20? 25? have increased it above the federal level. Either way, it's been a lot and I guess more will continue to do so. So it is worth looking at. But you are right. I agree with you. Maybe we should be looking at states without/ state with a lower than federal level/ and states with the federal level VS. state with a higher than federal level when comparing.

Yes.

On some other forums Im registered at these leftists idiots say "Well Louisiana has no minimum wage but its unemployment is higher than (insert democrat state here)" they dont realize the federal minimum applies everywhere, so its not a good comparison. Further states that are poorer and have larger % of minorities, young, and people with a high school degree or less, tend to be more effected by the minimum wage law than say states where the median household income is higher, higher percentage with college degrees etc.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

And there is nothing wrong with being poor. Minimum wage (which is the federal rate since there isn't a state rate) is plenty enough money to afford to live where I live. I know people paying $150 and $200 a rent in month. Add to that no income or sales tax and you have affordable living.

The problem is people at that level of income receive the EITC which is another form of welfare. And I would guess that most people in that situation are also receiving other gov't benefits (food stamps, Medicaid, etc). So while, they might choose to be poor by working only a minimum wage job, they are leeching off a system which supplements the income of those who have failed to (or chose to) not do what it takes in a society to earn a decent living.

So there is nothing wrong with being poor, provided that the person choosing to be poor refuses all government benefits, and returns their EITC at the end of the tax year.

 

[Feeding the Abscess]

The problem is people at that level of income receive the EITC which is another form of welfare. And I would guess that most people in that situation are also receiving other gov't benefits (food stamps, Medicaid, etc). So while, they might choose to be poor by working only a minimum wage job, they are leeching off a system which supplements the income of those who have failed to (or chose to) not do what it takes in a society to earn a decent living.

So there is nothing wrong with being poor, provided that the person choosing to be poor refuses all government benefits, and returns their EITC at the end of the tax year.

In a free society, those working menial jobs would have a far better chance of making ends meet than a person working a menial job in our current society. No need to demonize the poor; they didn't create society as it exists now.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

In a free society, those working menial jobs would have a far better chance of making ends meet than a person working a menial job in our current society. No need to demonize the poor; they didn't create society as it exists now.

Going back as long as I can remember, minimum wage jobs were always for the unskilled. But turn the clock back 20 or 30 years, minimum wage jobs were primarily held by teenagers, as it was a first step to the working world. Today though, we have an entire class of people that are unskilled, uneducated and worth very little to employers. It is due to choices they have made in their lives. Regardless of the system, if one is a good employee and possesses skills and talents that are valuable to employers, they will rise above the minimum wage jobs. I think you would have a hard time finding someone that is educated, skilled, talented, and a hard worker with an excellent employment record that is stuck in minimum wage jobs.

 

[juleswin]

I would like to ask those people saying the minimum wage should be increased if they would at least allow a poor person with no skill whatsoever and no employer would touch or a teenager to make lower than the minimum wage. If the answer is no, then I'll know they are not just stupid but wicked.

 

[Feeding the Abscess]

Going back as long as I can remember, minimum wage jobs were always for the unskilled. But turn the clock back 20 or 30 years, minimum wage jobs were primarily held by teenagers, as it was a first step to the working world. Today though, we have an entire class of people that are unskilled, uneducated and worth very little to employers. It is due to choices they have made in their lives. Regardless of the system, if one is a good employee and possesses skills and talents that are valuable to employers, they will rise above the minimum wage jobs. I think you would have a hard time finding someone that is educated, skilled, talented, and a hard worker with an excellent employment record that is stuck in minimum wage jobs.

Someone making $13 an hour working overnights at Walmart is working a menial job. That's a fair bit higher than minimum wage. In a free society, one would be able to support themselves with such a position. In many places in the US, thanks to obscene costs of living, they cannot.

It's not just minimum wage earners who are hurt by government intervention. It's all wage earning individuals. Every one of them has a lesser earning capacity thanks to government. Rather than blame them for their lessened earning potential, let's blame the entity responsible for lowering their ceiling.

 

[RickyJ]

76% of Americans would print more money too.

One tenth of one percent essentially do and live like kings.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

Someone making $13 an hour working overnights at Walmart is working a menial job. That's a fair bit higher than minimum wage. In a free society, one would be able to support themselves with such a position. In many places in the US, thanks to obscene costs of living, they cannot.

It's not just minimum wage earners who are hurt by government intervention. It's all wage earning individuals. Every one of them has a lesser earning capacity thanks to government. Rather than blame them for their lessened earning potential, let's blame the entity responsible for lowering their ceiling.

Oh I agree that the system sucks, we are all hurt by big government. But I am referring to someone earning minimum wage. Someone working at Walmart making $13 an hour is not earning minimum wage, even though the job is menial.

Nonetheless, if someone is 40 years old and the best job they can attain is a clerk at a mini market earning $7.25 an hour, they have made some choices in their life that have effected their ability to earn money. Eliminate all government, and those folks will still be at the bottom of the pecking order. Granted they may have an easier time making ends meet than they do today, but they will still be at the bottom of the rung.

 

[CaptLouAlbano]

One tenth of one percent essentially do and live like kings.

Better solution is to have a business that essentially prints money for you. When one works, they are limited to their earning potential and the amount of hours they can labor in a day. When one owns a business, their earning potential is nearly unlimited. One thing that was taught to me at a very early age. A man told me, there are two types of people in this world: those that sign paychecks on the back, and those that sign them on the front. Be the one that signs them on the front, and you will never have to worry about money. He was right.

 

[Lucille]

The Biggest Threat To Minimum Wage Restaurant Workers Everywhere?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-12/biggest-threat-minimum-wage-restaurant-workers-everywhere

Over the past year, unionized restaurant workers across numerous fast-food chains but mostly at McDonalds, expressed their dissatisfaction with compensation levels by striking at increasingly more frequent intervals - a sentiment that has been facilitated by the president himself and his ever more frequent appeals for a raise in the minimum wage. Unfortunately, as we have pointed out previously, in the context of corporations that have given up on growing the top line (as virtually all free cash goes into stock buybacks and dividends and none into growth capex), and in pursuit of a rising bottom line, employee wages are the one variable cost that corporations will touch last of all. But what's worse, these same unionized employees have zero negotiating leverage.

Perhaps nowhere is this more visible than in the recent strategy of smoothie retailer Jamba Juice, which in order to battle a 4% drop in Q3 same store sales has decided to radically transform its entire retailing strategy by getting rid of labor, cheap, part-time or otherwise, altogether. Presenting the biggest threat to minimum-wage restaurant workers everywhere: the JambaGo self-serve machine that just made the vast majority of Jamba's employees obsolete. Coming soon to a fast-food retailer near you...