Posted on 01/13/2007 6:02:39 PM PST by george76
In the first hundred hours of the just-started session of Congress, the new leadership promises to raise the minimum wage. The Democrats won't be opposed by many Republicans.
Raising the minimum wage is definitely popular. Voters in six states approved higher minimums last Election Day. State politicians in both parties are practically drooling with eagerness to "help" lower-income workers.
We all want the poor to make more money. So if government can raise wages by decree, why are the popular proposals so stingy?
Let's really do something for the poor. Let's raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour. Even better, $50!
Or maybe we should take a deep breath and think like economists for a change.
The law of supply and demand, which operates whether we like it or not, says that when the price of something goes up, people buy less of it. That's why environmentalists like higher gasoline taxes, and anti-smoking activists back higher cigarette taxes.
The law of supply and demand works in the labor market, too. If government mandates a higher minimum wage, some workers will get a raise. Some. But something else will happen. Employers will hire fewer low-skilled workers. Others will let some current workers go. Some will choose not to expand their businesses. A few will close altogether.
Only 2.5 percent of all hourly workers make $5.15 an hour ...says the Department of Labor. "Minimum wage workers tend to be young."
Few of them stay at the minimum wage for long. As they acquire skills, their productivity rises and they command higher wages.
Legal wage minimums kill all kinds of entry-level jobs, particularly those that would teach young people basic work habits and the benefits of effort. That's why there are no kids cleaning your windows at gas stations or ...
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
A Teamsters member was attending a convention in Las Vegas and decided to check out the local brothels. When he got to the first one, he asked the Madame, "Is this a union house?"
"No," she replied, "I'm sorry it isn't."
"Well, if I pay you $100, what cut do the girls get?"
"The house gets $80 and the girls get $20," she answered.
Mightily offended at such unfair dealings, the union man stomped off down the street in search of a more equitable - and hopefully unionized - establishment. His search continued until finally he reached a brothel where the Madame responded, "Why yes, sir, this is a union house. We observe all union rules."
The man asked, "And if I pay you $100, what cut do the girls get?"
"The girls get $80 and the house gets $20."
"That's more like it!" the union man said He handed the Madame a Benjamin, looked around the room and pointed to a stunningly attractive blonde.
"I'd like to meet her," he said.
"I'm sure you would, sir," said the Madam. Then she gestured to a 92-year old woman in the corner, "But Ethel here has seniority and she's next."
LOL
Of course if it were truly a "union house", Ethel could be long retired, living on a decent pension.
Perhaps she is ready for another Nancy Pelosi moment.
I recall wanting to surprise my mom by coloring the Easter eggs. I could read the directions at that point. Silly me, I put fresh eggs in the glass custard cups, placed the dye "pill" on the egg shell and dribbled some water over it. I was old enough to have ever seen it done "right" on the previous Easter.
I had one lasting frustration from that time frame as well. I had found a new friend and we were playing with some flexible, colored plastic "sticks" with half-round openings on each end. They were designed to connect the end to the body. His parents had to "go somewhere", so he headed out around lunch time. I went to the "monkey bars" to play. While fiddling around on the top, I lost my grip and landed hard on my back. When I got up it was turning dark. I returned home, but I could never remember the location of my friend's "hut" again.
Shortly after that time, we moved to Imperial Beach (Holly Ave) where I had my 4th birthday. Some months later we took a train to San Francisco and boarded a Navy ship for my dad's new assignment in Honolulu. I turned 5 during the transit.
$10.oo for a big mac comming soon. Lousy $7.50 min. wage I can't live on that. We need to raise the min. wage,now.
Yes and a lot of TEMPS as well. Amen.
If you're working a minimum-wage job for more than a year, you're not trying hard enough. That is the whole of it. Minimum wage jobs aren't supposed to be lifetime jobs. They are a starting point to gain experience and a better-paying job. There's no logical reason to have a minimum wage. Employers know they can't get anyone for $2 per hour.
FWIW, that's what I was getting as a part time movie usher in 1957, adjusted for inflation.
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You may be exaggerating, but only slightly I figure. In 1961 I used to maintain the clay tennis court behind my high school after school hours. The district superintendent offered me the job at fifty cents an hour and that certainly bought more than the current federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. I don't say this in support of the minimum wage, it is merely an observation. It was easy to buy a fast food lunch for less than fifty cents then, it is difficult to buy lunch for $5.15 now.
The minimum wage is one of the worst causes of inflation.
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I am not even a supporter of the minimum wage and I consider that statement absurd!
There were sweat shops in this country before they were outlawed.
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There still are sweat shops in this country. So long as people are not held against their will I don't worry about it. If you are worried about sweat shops be very careful what you buy.
But if their standard of living is much lower, isn't it all relative? A quarter in Korea might buy them a porterhouse steak, but here it would only buy a newspaper. It's like comparing apples and oranges.
And obviously here in America, no one would work for that amount of money.
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Some years ago there was a network news special on how people in Mexico were taking manufacturing jobs from America and they were paid less than one dollar an hour. The strange thing is the women who worked for such low wages were shown going out dancing at night with their hair all done nicely and wearing decent clothes etc. It was obvious that their pay was equal to several dollars an hour in this country. Somehow all that went undiscussed.
$10.oo for a big mac comming soon.
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We are way too close to that already.
Thanks for the report.
Your memory is excellent to remember all of those details.
Your neighborhood then sounds like a nice place to have been a kid.
Everything may get much more expensive : food, gas, housing...
It should not matter where young people start financially, but it does matter that they start.
Many start as a summer job ( paying very little ), then return years later after they have finished school with a related degree.
While there are many reasons for opposing an increase in the minimum wage, this one is a lot of crap and insults the efficiency of private enterpise. If I own a business that hires 10 workers at $5.15 an hour, then I have hired those workers because I have a real need for the services that they provide. I have not hired them because I feel charitable, rather I need their labor. Raising the minimum wage a couple of bucks does not change my labor needs. Rather than hiring fewer people, I will pay the higher wage to the same number of people and raise the price that I charge my customers.
True, the union bosses does need money to pay for their mistresses, the fancy cars, and the fancy hotels they stay at whenever they go places.....
"Perhaps we should allow sweat shops to pay 25 cents an hour if that's what they can get away with."
Without import restrictions, tariffs, or other some such way to prevent goods made abroad from coming to our shores, that is exactly what we are doing - making the incentive for creating an overseas sweatshop that much greater.
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