I am a strange mix in that I am against some of the US foreign policy issues, yet I am for many of the economic policies that have been implemented as of late. But to hear Dick Gephardt state on a interview that he feels that the minimum wage should be raised to much higher levels and specified over $9 dollars an hour. Then talked about creating more jobs and helping poor Americans. WTF?!?!!? Anyone that has taken high school economics knows that artificial price floors such as a minimum wage INCREASE unemployment. Are some of these politicians so ignorant about economics or do they just not CARE as long as idiots listen to them and vote for them based on their goal of "creating more jobs" and "increasing the minimum wage" I think anyone in government should have to take mandatory classes on how the economy works if these fools are to be making decisions that affect the strength of our nation. And knowing these politicians its going to be like an auction in which other guys try to trump him by stating they'll raise it to $10 and create even more jobs!! Then the next guy will state $15 and create even MORE Jobs!! It is disgusting to have this type of ignorance at the helm of our country.
You're kidding me. 9 bucks an hour! Geez, that is just plain dumb. But for the kind of voters Gephardt is pandering to, it resonates. So it is par for the course for Democrats.
But wait: I thought if people had more money in their pockets, they spent more, raising the economic tide. Isn't that the big argument for lower taxes? Also, why do I get the feeling that the people against raising the minimum wage aren't trying to feed their family with $5/hour? Typical Republican mantra: I got mine, screw you.
I'm not arguing with you that the primary effect of an increase in minimum wage will be to reduce employment. But there are also secondary effects that may increase unemployment. In fact, Angrist et. al performed a study of minimum wage increases in the New Jersey/PA/Delaware area that showed that an increase in minimum wage actually was found to have an INCREASING effect on employment! Crazy, I know! (You can find this in the Quarterly Journal of Economics I believe, maybe sometime in 2001) Raising the minimum wage to $9 is probably too drastic a jump and employment would pretty surely decrease. I think that's a bit overboard. Nonetheless, arguments can be made that if labor supply conditions are of a certain type that minimum wage increases can actually increase employment. I wouldn't dismiss it so easily. This is a VERY interesting subfield of labor economics these days.
That is so untrue. Your salary is determined by the scarcity of your job. Since they're aren't many sportswriters who can cover the SEC like I do, I get paid a comminserate amount as I am a scarce commodity. Now for some uneducated schlub who flips burgers, the market would dictate a low wage because you can find any fool with brains enough to flip a burger or mop a floor. But when the govt. comes in and artificially makes it where an employer is forced to pay that employee more that what market forces would dictate that job is worth, employers can afford to hire less workers and you end up hurting the very people you intend to help. And as for anyone who would try to raise a family on a minimum wage job, they are idiots who never listened to the old adage "if you can't afford kids, don't have them!" I don't have bit of sympathy for them, especially since minimum wage jobs are intended for teenagers in their first foray into the labor market and old people looking to make a few bucks extra. If you're trying to raise a family on minimum wage, you shouldn't have had kids.
As an employer I look at things in a very simplistic fashion. I hire someone that can add more value that their cost. If people's work isn't worth enough that they should find a different field or get more education. I should not be forced by anyone (let alone the government) to pay someone more than I feel they are worth. I had a marketing individual that worked for my company. He was trying to steal business contracts from my company to take to another firm so I fired him. This OBVIOUSLY did not make sense to the public comptroller so I had to pay unemployment to him. WTF is that? Its strange that people seem to expect things from the government, when the government should have very little to do with business and commerce. And I have never in my life read or heard of a study in which Vik's scenario occured. I am constantly learning so it would be great to review the study to see if it is a random occurance or new trend's that defy current principles.
