So my state (MI) is planning to raise the minimum wage in 2 stages from $5.25 to $7.20. Many of the people I talk to have conflicting viewpoints about whether this will help or harm the economy...what do you think?

(Please think further than "I personally would get a pay increase...")

quote:

Originally posted by BriannaK:
Why does minimum wage have to go up? All the prices are just going to go up because business owners are going to realize there is suddenly more money in people's pockets.
Whatever. The world sucks. Someone please tell me why we have to touch minimum wage at all. It seems pretty stupid to me. To change something that was just fine to begin with.

You do realize that the price of stuff has already been going up and sales have dropped( thus hurting the econmy) while minimum wage has stayed the same for the longest time. if minimum wage doesn't go up soon the inflated price of goods could leave more people impoverished and the loss of capital will just throw the economy into more of a downfall. that obviously the reason we have to mess with minimum wage. it's a changing world and our country is run on capitalism. if the gov. knows u want/need something then they are going to raise the value and with the value the wage has to go up to otherwise no one is abl to afford it. can u imagine trying to live in this world if the min. wage was still a dollar a week like way back when? idts

quote:

Originally posted by BriannaK:
Why does minimum wage have to go up? All the prices are just going to go up because business owners are going to realize there is suddenly more money in people's pockets.
Whatever. The world sucks. Someone please tell me why we have to touch minimum wage at all. It seems pretty stupid to me. To change something that was just fine to begin with.

I'll hire you to clean my house at $6.50 an hour, but you have to be here 40 hours a week from 7am till 3:30pm you have to have your own place to live and must have reliable transportation. Good luck!

Increasing minimum wage is going to make it harder to find a job and cause some places which pay minimum wage and have thin profit margins (like many restaurants) to lay people off and work the ones they have to death.

Why does minimum wage have to go up? All the prices are just going to go up because business owners are going to realize there is suddenly more money in people's pockets.
Whatever. The world sucks. Someone please tell me why we have to touch minimum wage at all. It seems pretty stupid to me. To change something that was just fine to begin with.

I was referring more to small businesses, not like Mom & Pop places, but companies that have less than 100-200 workers.
I totally agree that big corporations should give more of the money to deserving workers instead of wasting it on bonuses for the lazy desk job people.

I agree partly with abaddon and wolfie the big billion dollar corp. should have to pay their workers out of their huge bonuses. But in todays economy with price rising it wont matter much.

plus it wouldn't be fair to workers to pay them a salary they can't live on...

even though minimum wage already is a salary that one can barely live on...

minimum wage is the governments way of making corporations eat some of their billion dollar bonuses to spread the wealth to the lower class.

It doesn't work this way because they would rather help raise inflation then take a 15% cut on their next multi billion dollar bonus.

well, duh, i know that. Its just that it shouldn't get too high... lol

well we kind of need a minimum wage... lol

I'm not an economist but my 12th grade gov/econ teacher explained that minimum wage isn't good for the economy and that it just causes inflation.

I think the way he explained it was that companies have to pay workers more, raise prices, prices go up across the board, eventually rent and utililities raise too, and everyone is back to the exact same spot they were before the increase.

I'm not sure if that makes any sense to anyone else, but I get it... kinda.

btw- my teacher is an infitely ingenious person infused with the wisdom of the gods. (I'm gonna email him the link to this page so he'll see the suckup portion)

The minimum wage should be raised
to match half the average wage (as it once did, according to the book Thinking Big) and maintained at that
level.

quote:

Originally posted by clpo13:
Labor unions were a good idea way back when, but they've outlived their usefulness. I applied for part-time work at a Fred Meyer a while back and they told me that if I was hired, I'd have to join a union and pay dues, even if I didn't want to. Higher wages? Don't make me pay dues for a group I don't want to be a part of and I'll have a higher wage.

That's funny, when I was in high school I was going to work at a nearby Safeway. They told me the same thing. I was not interested in joining a union at 16 years old. I simply wanted a 10-15 hour per week job so I could go the movies every now and then and not get hassled when I asked for money from my parents. It is really pretty silly. Union shops are absolutely wrong. I am in favor of the premise of unions. I think people should be allowed to ban together and demand better wages from employers. Why though do there need to be formal institutions with dues and overhead and red tape? I don't know.

Labor unions were a good idea way back when, but they've outlived their usefulness. I applied for part-time work at a Fred Meyer a while back and they told me that if I was hired, I'd have to join a union and pay dues, even if I didn't want to. Higher wages? Don't make me pay dues for a group I don't want to be a part of and I'll have a higher wage.

No, by unions I mean labor unions. Do the car companies have liability, sure. They won't stand up and participate in this global market. They turn out garbage at higher prices than quality cars. This is partly due to thier high cost because of union benefits and collective bargaining agreements.

quote:

Michigan has been in a recession for 20 years now. Want to know why, mostly due to unions. Unions drive up the cost of labor artificially.

Agreed. My sister owns a house in Michigan, and is in a major ammount of debt because of it. She is trying to sell it, but she is just going to loose money on it. Atleast she will be able to get some of her money back. (she is 28)

If by unions, you mean the Ford car company (sorry, I'm still confused on econonmics), then yes, for sure. Michigan needs some change. To bad, it's such pretty land. Atleast tourism is still there, somewhat.

quote:

Originally posted by horseartistgrl27:
Companies can pay below minimum wage, for those of you who don't know. Like Mcdonalds pays its tomato pickers 3 cents an hour. That's one reason why I boycott them.
My family believes that we will be entering a recession pretty soon. I'm still a little confused on the whole economic scale thing still. But I'm 13, and I'll learn soon. Besides, I have enough knoweldge to care about those migrant workers who get payed 3 cents and hour!

If by "migrant" you mean illegal then you are right. This is one of the resons to secure our borders, and make our immigration process easier. If we do that we can ensure that everyone has protection under the law. Companies cannot however pay their LEGAL workers less than minimum wage.

Michigan has been in a recession for 20 years now. Want to know why, mostly due to unions. Unions drive up the cost of labor artificially. They also usually bring down the productivity. Higher prices and lower quality is not something American consumers are interested in. The sad part is that the workers who are supposed to be helped by the unions now don't have jobs because of them.

Just for the record, a recession is considered to be in effect after 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. That has yet to happen. In fact we haven't really had one yet. I know you hear about our depression-like economy everyday from the media, but it simply isn't true.

quote:

My family believes that we will be entering a recession pretty soon.

Look around...at least in Michigan, we're already there!

Companies can pay below minimum wage, for those of you who don't know. Like Mcdonalds pays its tomato pickers 3 cents an hour. That's one reason why I boycott them.
My family believes that we will be entering a recession pretty soon. I'm still a little confused on the whole economic scale thing still. But I'm 13, and I'll learn soon. Besides, I have enough knoweldge to care about those migrant workers who get payed 3 cents and hour!