Posted on 10/20/2005 8:14:03 PM PDT by NapkinUser
Can you source this silly assertion?
In reality, 90% don't care.
Pfff. Anyone paying attention knows that the minimum wage is very popular with the public. More than supporting it, over 80% want it raised!
But whatever. You obviously haven't paid attention to the issue. Why should I bother with someone so willfully ignorant?
I know this survey was taken in BurgerKing, Hardee's and MacDonalds so it MAY BE a little biased. I get so tired off people throwing out numbers without sources (either way) so I can beleive whatever I want, OK?
Before launching into a flame, you need to know that I've taken undergrad AND postgrad courses in surveying/polling methods, doubt that either of you are close to the right figures. (I have no idea of exact figures so I'll leave it at that).
"Then I commented on your obvious lack of intelligence. You made a moronic statement, and I called you on it."
In your opinion maybe.
" Try DemocraticUnderground. What they call 'thinking' seems to track a lot more closely to yours than anyone around here."
DU stinks and is full of vulgar stupid people that I have absolutely NOTHING in common with, I have much more self respect than anything that crawls around over there. I'll stay here thank you very much.
Dude, I have a degree in economics, have studied minimum wage research since I was a sophomore in high school and know a hell of a lot more about the MW than you could ever begin to read. Don't give me any BS about not paying attention to the issue when you can't support your own idiotic argument.
Source your point or shut the hell up. Its obvious who doesn't know what who is talking about.
Well, a Pew Research poll found that 77% want it increased.
I don't know. Are the folks at Pew Research any good?
I didn't make an argument. I made a statement. Most surveys do find overwhelming support for the minimum wage. I don't happen to support it, but most of the public do.
And your degree and education experience with minimum wage from an economic, as opposed to a political perspective explains how it is you can be so reluctant to accept my claim. You've no doubt discovered that most economists oppose the minimum wage but that doesn't mean the public at large does. The public are ignorant of even basic economics and have a different position on it.
But look, if you don't believe me, go out there and ask average people what they think about the minimum wage. Survey after survey finds overwhelming support for the idea. I think you'd find the same thing.
Yes they are good but we don't know what the demographics/area etc were for this survey. It makes a lot of difference. (local vs national)
Excellent, another blow to socialism.
The Case Against a Higher Minimum Wage
The voices clamoring for a minimum wage hike are getting ever louder. Proponents argue that the current wage level does not provide an adequate incentive for work. Also, they argue that an increase in the minimum wage will have only a very minor impact on jobs. These arguments are not grounded in fact. The impact of raising the minimum wage has been studied since its inception. All credible research has come to the same conclusion: raising the minimum wage hurts the poor. It takes away jobs, keeps people on welfare, and encourages high-school students to drop out. Policy makers should be clear on the consequence of higher minimum wages.
Jobs and the Minimum Wage
Economists have studied the job-destroying features of a higher minimum wage. Estimates of the job losses of raising the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15 have ranged from 625,000 to 100,000 lost jobs. It is important to recognize that the jobs lost are mainly entry-level jobs. By destroying entry-level jobs, a higher minimum wage harms the lifetime earnings prospects of low-skilled workers.
(SNIP)>P? Even after the Card and Krueger study was fully discredited by economic science, it is still being used by proponents of higher minimum wages to support an increase. Why must they rely on discredited research to support their call for raising the minimum wage? Because they recognize that Americans do not support proposals that destroy jobs. Proponents often like to show survey results that say more than eighty percent of Americans support a higher minimum wage. Yet, the same survey shows less than half surveyed, 46 percent, support raising the minimum wage if it "might reduce the number of jobs available for workers with limited skills."[3] Clearly, if Americans were informed of the true effects of raising the minimum wage, support would rapidly erode.
(SNIP)
Only 2.8 percent of workers earning less than $5.15 are single parents. [4] Only 1.2 percent of all minimum wage workers were adult heads of households with incomes less than $10,000. [5] Fifty-seven percent of minimum wage workers are single individuals, many of them living with their parents.
Minimum wage workers are not parents struggling to feed their children. Rather, they are high school or college students living at home. The level of the minimum wage is irrelevant for most people in poverty. Only 9.2 percent of poor people of working age have full-time jobs. [6]
Side Effects of Raising the Minimum Wage
It has been well documented that the minimum wage destroys jobs, particularly the jobs of low-skilled, young workers. However, there are other equally pernicious side effects of higher minimum wages. Higher minimum wages make it more difficult for people to leave welfare and induce high-school students to drop out.
Dr. Peter Brandon of the Institute for Research on Poverty studied how raising the minimum wage affect the transition from welfare to work. [7] He found that raising it keeps welfare mothers on welfare longer. Mothers on welfare in states that raised their minimum wage remained on welfare 44 percent longer than mothers on welfare in states where it was not raised.[8]
The reason for this result is that raising the minimum wage induces some people to enter the labor market who would not apply if not for the higher level. With a larger labor market, employers choose higher-skilled applicants. Thus, raising the minimum wage hurts low-skilled workers in two ways. First, there are fewer jobs available. Second, with a larger pool of applicants, competition is stiffer. Low-skilled workers have a more difficult time getting those job skills that are crucial to economic well-being.
Another side effect of raising the minimum wage is that it increases the number of high-school students who drop out. [9] Some of these students do not find employment. Another group of students are part of those applicants that compete jobs away from welfare recipients. Dropping out of school is very destructive. High school drop-outs have a very difficult time improving their well-being.
Conclusion
The campaign to raise the minimum wage will have little positive impact on the lives of poor people. Rather, it is a political measure that plays to a misunderstanding of the impact of higher minimum wages. The future of the American economy depends on a correct understanding of the causes of prosperity. For too long, attempts to relieve poverty have been misguided. To lift people out of poverty, we need a system that maximizes opportunities for economic well-being of low-skilled workers. Raising the minimum wage is a wrong-headed solution that will deprive young, poor Americans of an opportunity to improve their economic situation.
Why don't they call it the Maximum Wage. It's the max the gov. makes employers pay also.
The point is "the government should NOT be in the business of price or wage fixing". This country became great because of capitalism and obeying the laws of supply and demand not by taking from the working people and giving to the non working or non productive people.
I couldn't agree more. My point was that if you call it what it is, it better reflects the harm that it does,
Your arguments are all rhetoric. What surveys are you referring to? And you DID make an argument. Its an assertion that has no basis.
I know MW issues, both economically and politically. Support for the MW is all political, as there is no economic basis for it; quite the opposite. And the only people that actually support it politically are liberals who are actually interested in it, a few union leaders, and academics, who altogether on their best day don't come anywhere near 90%.
Tell me one presidential election where the MW was a major issue in the campaign. If 90% of the public supported it, it would be a major issue.
Good !! Every time they raise the minium wage all the prices go up so the only one that really makes out is the Federal Government because they will be taking in more taxes in the form of FICA and Medicare.
I got to this thread a little late, but I really do think that minimum wage should be raised. I dont think 5.15 is enough for anyone, especially some people who are just starting out in life. I think sometimes we get so tied up in ourselves we forget about the future..
Besides how many of you guys were either kicked out of your home, or started on your own right out of high school? How did you get by? Not on 5.15 an hour I would venture to guess, some of us were lucky to go to college, but many have to work in bad places for a long time just to make 6.00 an hour.
Of course most of you folks on here anymore are retired or nearing it, and couldn't care less about your grandkids future, because those are the people that are suffering.
I know this will somehow devolve into a race issue however and there will be some debate as to why Illegal Immigrants should be crapped on, and I personally agree, but I know I am talking about something that is strange to you guys and that is having a little aforethought for things...
How do you expect your grandkids to pay your social security on 5.15 an hour?
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