Real reason Democrats want to raise minimum wage.

BigNBushy

Well-Known Member
The point is we have. If you've climbed the ladder a few rungs, gotten to 15/hr you're pulling in about 40k. If you have the opportunity for over time, even more.

raising the minimum wage from 7.5 to 10.1 would be like cutting the bottom two rungs off the ladder.

Suddenly you're much closer to the ground.
 

abandonconflict

Well-Known Member
I agree. My point is raising the minimum wage be such a drastic amount will harm those who earn under 50k per year.
No, it will create opportunities. The middle earners and business owners will benefit more than the minimum earners, who stand to benefit greatly themselves.

If you are a merchant, your customers will have more money to spend and you will have to hire more people to keep your shelves stocked.

The only downside is the economic growth. Yes, downside, this will inevitably harm the environment.
 

Red1966

Well-Known Member
minimum wage was $3.45 when I entered the "work force" 34 years ago, the average home price was $72,500
Today the average home is $210,000 and minimum wage is $7.10
A 12"TV was $600 and you can't give them away now. One commodity is not representative of the cost of living.
 

desert dude

Well-Known Member
The real reason Democrats want the minimum wage increased is so they can afford the costs of those pesky IDs that allow them to vote. :-)
 

Red1966

Well-Known Member
The cost of housing and homes is the second commodity of living behind sustenance.
Even if it were first, it still isn't representative. If "sustenance" is 99% of the calculation, the housing is immaterial, even if second. I'm just saying housing alone isn't the way to judge the cost of living or inflation.
 

sheskunk

Well-Known Member
A 12"TV was $600 and you can't give them away now. One commodity is not representative of the cost of living.
A new xbox is 500. Top rated games are 60 a piece. Cable + internet is 200 a month. The price on TV's is a trap to get you to pay for all the extras.
 

Hazydat620

Well-Known Member
We've all been hearing alot about increasing the minimum wage.

Seattle just decided to take the lead and has decided to boost the minimum wage there to $15/hr.

I'm glad they were willing to experiment and see what happens. If it's successful there, it will be a big boost to the movement.

I think, however, that the real reason for the lefts drive to increase the minimum is less noble than helping the working poor.

It's super simple, really. Most union contracts formulate their wages by minimum wage × Y

Raising the national minimum wage would boost the wages significantly of most of the remaining union members.

If you now enjoy a secure living making $15/hr, which is not terribly hard to work up to, raising the minimum wage to $10/hr would eviscerate your spending power.

The actual percent of the work force actually working for the minimum is fairly low. I think it's under 5 percent.
When are you actually gonna educate yourself about a union? You make these statements based off of your scab fathers union busting propaganda brainwashing. Are you really that dense, you think the wage union members are paid are based on a formula that goes off of min wage? Wow, maybe the retirement bennis are figured by formula but not wage,lol. So unions don't bring up the standard of living in a community, what about those prevailing wage jobs? I bet you go ask some scabs working on a PW job how they like the wage over a normal non PW job, bet they say they wish they were on PW jobs all the time they can thank the unions. Why are all union wages different amongst the trades if they are based off of Min. wage? Why do I get a raise every year if min. wage doesn't go up? How can be? You have no idea how a union works, why do you keep talking about it? Was your dad ever part of a union? Or was he just trained how to scare his employees from organizing with lies and propaganda.
 

BigNBushy

Well-Known Member
No, it will create opportunities. The middle earners and business owners will benefit more than the minimum earners, who stand to benefit greatly themselves.

If you are a merchant, your customers will have more money to spend and you will have to hire more people to keep your shelves stocked.

The only downside is the economic growth. Yes, downside, this will inevitably harm the environment.
So you're doing ok, making 15 an hour.

The minimum is raised to 10 or 12, how does this benefit you?

You might, get a raise to 16 but it's not guaranteed. Even if you got a bump to 17, you're still closer to the bottom than you were before.
 

AlecTheGardener

Well-Known Member
Unions are the only thing that can save laborers
My father was a non-union finish carpenter then a superintendent, then a project manager for a medium commercial construction company. He had so much experience and time in his trade and position that his employer finally realized they could hire four boys out of school for his yearly salary.

He was given notice and fired. He now lives on what savings he flooded into his retirement accounts during his employment. Subsisting now on these funds, barely. Recent health issues prevent him from being fully able to work in this field any longer.

My friends father was a union sheet metal worker. He held off on retiring because he loved his trade so much. When he finally retired he was receiving far more money from his accounts then when he was actively working. This man now spends all his time with his grandchildren worry free about money.

Both of the men in these stories share a very hard working ethic and strive for perfection and greater education. Great at their trades. My father was able to be thrown away because he was unprotected. The other father's union affiliation protected him.

I often wonder if my own father made the right decision staying non-union. Truly. A thinker.
*edit*spelling
 

abandonconflict

Well-Known Member
So you're doing ok, making 15 an hour.

The minimum is raised to 10 or 12, how does this benefit you?

You might, get a raise to 16 but it's not guaranteed. Even if you got a bump to 17, you're still closer to the bottom than you were before.
So your sense of well-being is based on others being less well off. If more people are starving, you feel affluent. This is what you convey.
 

heckler73

Well-Known Member
Unions provide a check against private industry abuses. They may have inefficiencies (and a little corruption on the side), but their mere presence coerces the private sector to maintain some comparative standard, which winds up benefiting the private labourer.
As for political influence? It's nowhere near what it was (not just in numbers, but in efficacy). Private corporations hold far more political leverage these days, so the only realm where Unions can still have viable influence is through economics.
 

Hazydat620

Well-Known Member
My father was a non-union finish carpenter then a superintendent, then a project manager for a medium commercial construction company. He had so much experience and time in his trade and position that his employer finally realized they could hire four boys out of school for his yearly salary.

He was given notice and fired. He now lives on what savings he flooded into his retirement accounts during his employment. Subsisting now on these funds, barely. Recent health issues prevent him from being fully able to work in this field any longer.

My friends father was a union sheet metal worker. He held off on retiring because he loved his trade so much. When he finally retired he was receiving far more money from his accounts then when he was actively working. This man now spends all his time with his grandchildren worry free about money.

Both of the men in these stories share a very hard working ethic and strive for perfection and greater education. Great at their trades. My father was able to be thrown away because he was unprotected. The other father's union affiliation protected him.

I often wonder if my own father made the right decision staying non-union. Truly. A thinker.
*edit*spelling
My dad is collecting on his full union retirement and earning a paycheck working at the same company he retired from. They let you work a certain amount of hours a year and still collect retirement. He can't complain. How many lost their entire employer funded retirement in 2008
 
Top