So, if the “fight for $15” supporters get their way the minimum wage goes up to $15 per hour.
Right now an Assistant Manager at McD’s makes $13 per hour. What would their wage go up to?
A welder makes about $20 per hour. What would their wage go up to?
A plumbers assistant makes $16 per hour. What would their wage go up to?
An assistant manger would go up because the wage went up.
A welder at 20 would not.
The market would have to adjust to keep people.
I think people forget this isn’t a magical switch to 15. It’s over a number of years. The irony is there are already calls to go to 22 since 15 isn’t enough.
So all of a sudden “fry guy” is making 3/4 of the hourly salary of a skilled worker like a welder and the welder is going to just sit back and accept that?
It won’t be all of sudden. I believe it will take 5 years.
I am not against the idea of a minimum wage but I think a blanket 15 is stupid. It really doesn’t solve anything.
@Bears54 I think bears may have been more correct that we shouldn’t have a minimum wage. It seems to have worked fine for parts of Europe. It would force people to join Unions but I am not opposed to that idea either.
If the Democrats really wanted to address the problem they would embrace the Romney/Cotton bill.
It actually fixes it in the short term, and then takes the politics out of it in the long term.
If the Democrats really wanted to address problems, they’d be Republicans!
If you truly wanted things fixed you would take of your partisan glasses.
Let me give you an example.
My ex wife makes around 12 dollars an hour in Mississippi as a COT (certified ophthalmic technician).
In California, she made 25 an hour.
She has a nice house, drives a new car and isn’t really wanting anything. Would she like 15? Yes but the region doesn’t support that type of wage.
The democrat plan doesn’t solve a problem. In California few jobs are paying minimum wage and if they do, it’s in the more rural areas. She was a receptionist for awhile and that paid 15 in 2003.
I don’t even belong to a political party, I’m the partisan?
My comment wasn’t in support of a national minimum wage, my thinking is closer to yours. It was a shot at Parrot for saying Democrats can fix problems if they thought like Republicans.
Do you know anything about the Cotton/Romney bill other than Cotton and Romney are Republicans?
If they thought like the bill he suggested. I haven’t read it. As such I can’t comment if it’s good or bad.
I’d like to see both parties come to together to fix the issue. I would also like to see reductions in welfare or taxes for increasing the wages.
In fairness I know nothing about it, just found your earlier comment funny. Without a deep dive I support an incremental increase to national minimum wage rather than a flat $15.
My son works 30 hours a week at $13 an hour as a shuttle bus driver in North Dakota and he feels rich. Granted I’m paying his tuition, flight costs, and rent. That gives me an idea, think he should start doing some of the lifting here.
Same issue for a employee with 10 years experience that worked their way up and is now making $16. The new kid now makes $15. How much do you need to raise the 10 year experienced worker? Previously they were making double the new kid. Do you raise them $8 or raise them to $30 so they are making double the booger picker is making?
There will still be poverty as the poverty line will also increase.
Why not raise the minimum to $125 comparable to a medical doctor? Then everyone can be rich like the doctor. But the question is who will be motivated to go to medical school and work crazy hours and weekends when they can sweep the floor and make the same.
I posted it a few weeks ago, no big deal if you didn’t read it. I don’t expect you to hang on my every word (although you would be smart to do so 
)
Basically it brings it up to $10 over a little bit of time, then indexes it to the CPI (consumer price index), basically making it reliant on inflation and taking it out of the political world.
There will always be poverty in America and it’s not a function of increasing minimum wage or individual laziness. It’s a complex issue that is bigger than I can figure out.
You’re right about the minimum wage, but laziness has a lot to do with why many people are poor. People who make good decisions, work hard and make sacrifices will lift themselves out if poverty.
Only about 2-3% of workers earn the federal minimum wage. Forty years ago, it was 13-14%.
This fact tells me that the effort to raise the minimum wage is not really about those 2-3% (although supporters of raising the minimum want us to think that many more only earn the federal minimum). The effort is the impact that raising the pay of those who earn above the federal minimum but less than $15 and the massive ripple effect that will have on all wages paid (as well as goods and services). It is Congress’ way to move closer to income equality and forcing up the amount that employers have to pay to get there.
This brings up good point.
The worker making $12 now will eventually get bumped up to $15 but will in reality lose buying power because of it.
Also a large number of minimum wage workers are teens, college students and/or are not the household bread winner. Our local schools pay the lunch aids minimum wage, most of them are moms who just want something to do while the kids are at school and aren’t working because they need the money.
When my son was in high school all of his friends that worked made a buck or two over minimum wage doing entry level jobs. If an adult is stuck in a minimum wage job for more than a year it’s their own fault.
https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2019/home.htm
The majority of minimum wage earners are younger, less educated and single. No big surprise there.