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[BILL CLINTON]

I have to say that I'm baffled how anyone who claims to give a shit about poverty in this country can oppose increasing the minimum wage. Then again, I can't say I'm exactly in touch with the "compassionate" fiscal conservative mindset.

well, i kinda figure that you can either give some people 2$ more and have some people fired, or you can allow alot more people to have jobs... whats better? alot more people with jobs or alot more people fired and making NOTHING and a bit more making an extra $2?

its a toss up, i'd say let the market determine what a job is worth.. larry elder makes a good case about this, he is a libertarian so he is of course a believer in market principles.

 

[McLesterolBeast]

The elimination of the minimum wage coupled with the eliminating of income taxes altogether for the lowest income brackets and subsidized living expenses would be ideal. As in, subsidized for those with full time employment. After eliminating the minimum wage, involuntary unemployment would be negligable. Keep welfare measures the same.

Corporations would be the beneficiary of the reform, and a tax burden would be placed on them in the form of an increase to the corporate tax rate - up until it covers the cost of the subsidized living expenses, which should be set at a value that represents the the difference in efficiency from before and after the removal of a minimum wage plus the lost revenue from the lowest income brackets. That value would be dificult to estimate, but it could be approximated for different sectors using set rates.

Uhh... ill rephrase that

The living expenses should be subsidized to a value representing the increased efficiencies minus the decrease in government revenue from the lowest income bracket. (if that's a negative, which i can't imagine it being, then it wouldnt be advisable) The remainder is government revenue that can be used however it otherwise would have been.

To fund that, the value would be pulled from the increase in the corporate tax rate, which would reflect the increase in profits that they would be seeing attributable to the removal of a minimum wage.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

"Workking at BK is no easier than working for a computer firm. One guy got more years of college, that's all. The daily grind still sucks, and the daily grind still produces a service to the public. Thus, the daily grind should (IMO) be compensated equally in both cases. Yes, I said "equally""

I worked at BK fulltime during the summer and it was easy as hell. I find it hard to imagine that a job that requires a college degree would be just as easy so I'm going to have to disgaree.

And I find the idea that all jobs should pay the same to be the most absurd thing I've ever heard.

 

[Bizarro Sun Yat-sen]

Outsourcing is great. Cheaper products mean I can buy more stuff. Thank you Bush for encouraging companies to outsource.

Hopefully there will be plenty more of it in the future.

I actually agree, sort of. Despite the grief inflicted on many working people, the unbalanced (current account deficit now over $600B/year) influx of products and labor from Asia is the only thing keeping our economy from massive stagflation. It's not going to last, though.

The elimination of the minimum wage coupled with the eliminating of income taxes altogether for the lowest income brackets and subsidized living expenses would be ideal. As in, subsidized for those with full time employment. After eliminating the minimum wage, involuntary unemployment would be negligable. Keep welfare measures the same.

Isn't this kind of similar to what we have already with EITC? The poorest of the working poor get a federal subsidy (a 'negative income tax'). I do think that EITC and similar are better ways to help the working poor than a very high minimum wage, but $7 an hour isn't exactly alarming.

 

[fart]

playing starcraft 39 hours a week is probably about as easy as flipping burgers.

it's all relative though.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

I make $7 an hour, so I am against this since I would be just like every burger flipping hick .

Down with fair pay, up with my self-esteem !

Sorta .

 

[mashoutposse]

Is there really a reason I deserve to be paid more than some burger flipper who works twice as long and hard as me, but makes less? No.

Actually, yes -- there are a lot fewer people qualified to do whatever it is that you do than there are people who can flip a burger.

This is the same reason why professional ball players get multimillion dollar contracts while firemen, teachers, and policemen earn significantly less.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Actually, yes -- there are a lot fewer people qualified to do whatever it is that you do than there are people who can flip a burger.

This is the same reason why professional ball players get multimillion dollar contracts while firemen, teachers, and policemen earn significantly less.

Not everyone makes a good burger either. Not everyone can tolerate having to deal with dickheads day in and day out. It may require a different set of skills, but it doesn't require less work/effort IMO. Not for me and my 8-3 schedule at least. Teaching is a cakewalk for me, and I go home and take a nap before most people ever emerge from work. I don't really think I do more than anyone else, never have. Working delivery or a tech job was the same to me. Work is work, I don't put much faith in qualifications. I think with proper training, anyone can do anything. Just that not everyone gets a chance to get that education or that training, so they get stuck in a vicious cycle. Are we compensating qualifications or work? I think we should compensate work, and thus try to increase everyone's quality of life in the process. Increase pay so that people may not enjoy, but can at least tolerate those menial jobs out there. All IMO. I'd rather have the people at BK making enough cash to keep them from spitting in my food, or copping attitude at the register. :? PEACE.

 

[Celicar]

...

I wish I could say I was convinced that he's a joke character.

I'm not a joke character. I guess you just need to realize that your opinion isn't the only opinion.

 

[Pimpwerx]

I'm not a joke character. I guess you just need to realize that your opinion isn't the only opinion.

Ripclawe gets it as bad, if not worse. I totally disagree with things you say, and think you're a joke character, but don't let it get to you. Sometimes people just have different opinions. If you don't mind defending them here, keep on posting. Compared to the days of the system wars, these arguments are quite entertaining. At least we have a bunch of topics to discuss other than Sony vs. Sega, and so on. You're still fucking nuts though. PEACE.

 

[mashoutposse]

Not everyone makes a good burger either. Not everyone can tolerate having to deal with dickheads day in and day out. It may require a different set of skills, but it doesn't require less work/effort IMO. Not for me and my 8-3 schedule at least. Teaching is a cakewalk for me, and I go home and take a nap before most people ever emerge from work. I don't really think I do more than anyone else, never have. Working delivery or a tech job was the same to me. Work is work, I don't put much faith in qualifications. I think with proper training, anyone can do anything. Just that not everyone gets a chance to get that education or that training, so they get stuck in a vicious cycle. Are we compensating qualifications or work? I think we should compensate work, and thus try to increase everyone's quality of life in the process. Increase pay so that people may not enjoy, but can at least tolerate those menial jobs out there. All IMO. I'd rather have the people at BK making enough cash to keep them from spitting in my food, or copping attitude at the register. :? PEACE.

Like any other market, the jobs market is driven by supply and demand. McDonald's has their pick of 50+ million people capable enough to fill their positions. Hospitals and practices have only a couple of hundred thousand surgeons from which to choose, on top of the fact that the field is highly skill-dependent. Is it really a surprise to you that a surgeon's time is worth nearly 50 times more than that of the average burger flipper, despite the fact that they both happen to work with their hands all day?

 

[DSN2K]

I earn 12 dollars an hour to stack shelfs(supermarket) in the UK, whats that compared to the same job in US ?

 

[snaildog]

I'm not really arguing, because I know nothing about economics, just asking: Why does a minimum wage increase equal less jobs exactly? I'd've thought that companies have to employ their certain number of people to meet their requirements. If you have, say, 1000 boxes that need to be filled at a supermarket every day then you need enough people to do it, whether you're paying them $5.15 or $7. Are you guys saying that they'd employ better workers that can do the job faster or something?

 

[BigGreenMat]

I'm not a joke character. I guess you just need to realize that your opinion isn't the only opinion.

It is ok for people to have different opinions, it doesn't mean that everyone's opinion is valid. In fact most opinions are just plain dumb.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Well there's my saying:

"Opinions are like assholes, some stink more than others."