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Minimum wage


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So the big push here in the "socialist republic of nova scotia" is $20.00 minimum wage! Yup you heard right, 20 bucks a hour will solve all poverty problems here. Just like the move from $5-6 did...and the 6-8....and the 8-10 and then finally the jump from $10- 11.45 that was "required" because too many were working poor and 11.45 was the amount that would solve the issues of the poor......until the next save. So now everybody (well everybody who doesn't own a business or have any skin in the game) is jumping on the bandwagon including....UNITED WAY.

 

United way is the local (Canada wide, maybe US too?) group that everybody gives money to, in general, and they spread it around to various charity organisations. Why is this an issue? Because 80% of their money comes from drop boxes on the premises of...SMALL BUSINESSES, the very ones they are attacking! So, various small business organisations are now publicly denouncing them for what they truly are, left wing political interests.

 

So, several points of their agenda have leaked out now and hey, who'd a thunk it, they support numerous left wing/anti-business causes. (after all, rich people and businesses are evil, right?)

 

I stopped contributing (we had people come through our ranks and they would push for payroll deductions so "you won't even know it's gone" but stopped when I and many others found out they were supporting the Betty McCann House which was a home for sheltered women. Why would that be bad you ask? Because a guy in my unit had the shit kicked out of him by his abusive wife and with nowhere to go ended up there one night. He was told to leave or he'd be arrested and to "find one of his fellow wife abusing army buddies to put him up". You can imagine the embarrassment of a guy who's supposed to be a tough army tanker when the Unit finds out his wife has been regularly kicking the shit out of him and he won't hit back. So All of the RCD (Royal Canadian Dragoons) in CFB Petawawa threatened to stop all contributions unless the Betty McCann house was removed from their list of money receivers...they declined and we all stopped. I haven't put money into United way since.

 

And now this comes out.....fuck united way, I'll tell everyone I can not to contribute and why.

Edited by goinbroke2
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Minimum wage is just that....a minimum.

 

You can put it anywhere you want, but everything will remain relative. They guy who makes $20/hr before the min. wage is raised will expect that much more, to remain relatively higher, as will anyone else who made more than $20/hr.

 

You end up with everyone's income being (relatively) the same, except now everything has a numerically higher price..

 

I know a guy who keeps insisting that if you raise the min. wage to $15/hr then a McDonald's combo would go up (something like) 10 cents. I don't know where that number could possibly come from, but it ignores the fact that everyone else in the entire McDonald's supply chain would also get a raise once the min. wage increased. Once you compound all that additional cost, there is no way the price goes up 10 cents.

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Really 30? You have a direct correlation between minimum wage and welfare or crime? Higher the minimum wage and crime drops off? Are you basing that on the fact there is less crime in well-to-do neighborhoods so then if we make everyone well-to-do then crime would drop? Really?

 

Well lets get rid of crime all together and make minimum wage $100 an hour, everyone will be rich and can all by new lincolns right? Gee, that was easy, now there are no more hungry children because their single income once poor family is now flush with high paycheques! YAY!

 

What could possibly be the downside?

 

 

 

 

....what do you mean a can of coke now cost $16.00??

 

Or...rereading your post...are you saying you'd rather see minimum wage go up instead of them raising welfare cheques and putting more money into corrections? I can't see that being your thoughts as minimum wage is born by private industry and welfare/corrections is born by government...who don't have anything so give to those things after taking from...private industry...

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There is a theory that welfare recipients can't afford to get a minimum wage job at the current rates, so raising minimum wage would provide more incentive for them to get a job and get off welfare.

 

I don't agree with that - I think people who want to work will work and those who don't won't regardless of minimum wage.

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I'd rather have minimum wage go up instead of welfare or corrections. One way or another, you'll pay.

Consider.

 

Say the minimum wage would go up by ~$8/hr to $15. What do you think the guy who was making $14/hr will expect? Do you think he'll expect to be raised to $15/hr? I'd say he'll expect to make closer to $30. Reason being, he was making double the minimum wage before, and he'll expect to make double the minimum wage after its raised--as will everyone else.

 

Wouldn't you? After all, if you were the $14/hr guy and knew you were making double the minimum wage before, you'd actually make less (relatively) if you didn't.

 

And if everyone follows the same logic, then everyone's wage will remain relatively the same. Prices would rise to reflect the higher cost of labor, and the minimum wage would retain the same buying power it had before.

 

Suffice to say, no matter where the "minimum" wage is set, it doesn't change the value of the job. A burger-flipper isn't going to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle, nor should he. Being a bus boy, a guy who bags groceries, or the person behind the movie theater concession stand (and I mention these because I've done all of them), shouldn't be something to strive for unless your abilities are limited to that. And one shouldn't expect to make a good living doing them.

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Consider this as well. Most people would love to work on the line at Ford. If you were to get hired off the street today, your starting wage would be $15.78/hr, with health insurance coming after 90 days.

 

If the minimum wage were raised to $15/hr, how would that traditionally middle class job look up against the guy working at McDonald's for minimum wage with no nenifits at a job that is TRADITIONALLY (and I can't stress that word enough) held by high school/college students and older people just looking to make some spending cash.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Every adjustment to minimum wage that was not the employers idea, results in less hours for all employees, fewer employees, and inflation for most consumers of the product or service, thus negating any gain by the employee

 

I have never seen an example of government meddling in business employee contract negotiation that is a win win for both parties

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  • 2 months later...

Minimum age laws are a symptom. The problem is too much government sucking too much money out of the economy. In a free market economy, wages would be dictated by supply and demand. People would be forced to go where the work is, if there were no government handouts. With people doing what they want with their money, instead of the government doing it for them, there would be a great demand for goods and services, along with a great demand for workers to provide these goods and services. Instead of the job going to the most skilled person who would work the cheapest; the employer who offered the best compensation would get the worker. There would be no need for minimum wage laws.

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Thank you Trimdingman... REALLY! The whole concept of having a minimum wage is contrary to the free market system based on supply and demand. Minimum wages set by government legislators just sets up a false bottom that companies are forced to deal with on an artificial basis. Businesses compete based on the value and prices of their goods and services as compared to their competitors. In the private market, employees compete for positions in much the same way. Do away with the minimum wage laws and there'll be a big change in the employment market in a surprisingly positive way... at least in my opinion!

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Minimum wage law is a band-aid to cure a problem that the government, itself caused. Minimum wage law causes wages to go down, not up. In a vibrant economy with minimal government interferrance if you offered someone less than twenty dollars an hour to work for you, they would tell you; "good luck, but no thanks". When the government tells people that they are only worth minimum wage, they fall for it, and companies are able to get suckers to work for it. Of course, in some areas where Big Government has desolated the economic landscape, but kept the population intact through welfare payments, minimum wage is all businesses can afford, if that.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Let me see, I have to pay my Dunkin Donut counter staff $20 per hour now, well the cost of a donut just went up to $2.50 and a cup of coffee $4.00.

 

Rent controlled aptments will remain that way for a short time until the owners protest enought to get a fair raise of rates and an apt that used to cost $400 will now cost $1,000.

 

The only one that makes out is the Govt. as they role in higher tax $'s, but then again the $250 hammer will now cost them $750. What ever happened to the free market rate. FF jobs were filled by teens when I was young, not adults working them full time. You want more money, do something with a skill to earn it.

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  • 5 months later...

Let me see, I have to pay my Dunkin Donut counter staff $20 per hour now, well the cost of a donut just went up to $2.50 and a cup of coffee $4.00.

 

Rent controlled aptments will remain that way for a short time until the owners protest enought to get a fair raise of rates and an apt that used to cost $400 will now cost $1,000.

 

The only one that makes out is the Govt. as they role in higher tax $'s, but then again the $250 hammer will now cost them $750. What ever happened to the free market rate. FF jobs were filled by teens when I was young, not adults working them full time. You want more money, do something with a skill to earn it.

 

In a free-market economy where prosperity is the norm, you would have to pay higher wages, and you would be making bigger profits. You would pay whatever it took to get reliable and capable staff, and charge accordingly. A donut might cost ten or fifteen cents more. As far as labor goes, it would be a balance between a buyers' market and a sellers' market. It would not be a beggars' market with the government forcing employers to pay wages above a starvation level. Workers would have enough dignity to be able to tell cheap employers what to do with "this job".

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