How about a bill that pegs Congress' pay raise with minimum wage?

Absolutely I would support it.

Unfortunately it will never see the light of day.

The President, the entire Senate and the entire House of Representatives are not public servants.

They are self servants.

 

do you guys realize the minimum wage hasn't been raised in 8.5 years?

 

That's because raising the minimum wage will put McDonalds out of business.

 

Well said.

 

Yeah but my state (Arkansas) raised minimum wage to $6.25, what does that mean? Do businesses in the state have to go by that wage or can they go by the federal $5.15 still? I have heard that some states have minimum wages in the $3 area still.

 

The federal minimum wage is a minimum standard, so states can't go below $5.15. States can raise it beyond the federal wage which I guess Arkansas did.

 

The businesses have to go with the higher of the state or federal wage. A bunch of states are higher than the federal requirement. I'd like to see a study to see if the low-wage businesses in those states do any worse than those in other states, and whether poverty is any worse/better in those states.

 

EDITED.

 

Raising the pay of Congress or raising the minimum wage does little to improve the economic health of America.

Minimum wage jobs are typically entry level jobs primarily in the service sector. There are very few manufacturing or production jobs that have (federal) minimum wage positions.

According to the U.S. Employment Policy Institute workers who start at minimum wage on average have a 10% pay increase within one year of hire date without any law to increase the minimum wage.

According to the U.S. Census study only 15% of workers who make within $1.50 of the minimum wage have family income in poor/poverty classification. Where 20% of workers who make within $1.50 of minimum wage have family income over $80,000.00. The average of all workers who make within $1.50 of the minimum wage have a family income of $40,000.00

Minimum wage jobs primarily go to teens. Past minimum wage hikes have decreased teen job employment by 10% per hike.

I would definately support a hike in the minimum wage. But I would rather Congress stop borrowing money so that inflation could cool down and there will be more jobs on U.S. soil for higher pay.

Our economy is about to shipwreck because of federal debt and minimum wage has no bearing on the coming pain.

As far as how much Congressmen make- I believe they make far more than they are worth at this point. IMHO

 

Pegging congressional pay off of a multiple of the median family income would also be a good idea.

 

But by keeping minimum wage fixed, there is actually a decrease in wage in real terms when inflation is considered.

The right thing to do is to bump the minimum wage and then increase it every year based on a COLA.

 

Wage studies show that wages are driven more by market demand than entry level pay. That's why on average every person who starts at a minimum wage is raised within one year.

You are correct that the real wage is diminishing yearly by inflation, but the problem is the inflation. Inflated dollars are the result of debt. Federal debt is increased without any valuation, in other words the money is created out of thin air. Treasury bonds are sold to slow the effect but eventually paper money is devalued based upon the debt and increased money supply.

The minimum wage loses spending power constantly because of inflation just as all other wages do. But you cannot raise the minimum wage high enough to counter the debt problem.

Look at is this way. Suppose your child gets an allowance each week of $10.00. But the bank allows your child to borrow an extra $10.00 each week and spend $20.00. Now your child has the $10.00 you give plus the debt to pay off and still wants to spend $20.00 per week. So your child now wants you to increase the allowance to $30.00 per week. You understand that the value of the original $10.00 won't spend as far because of debt interest and pay off. You can raise the allowance, but if your child continues to borrow you will be in a cycle of inflation. The value of the $10.00 allowance is inflated because of borrowing money.

Multiply this example by about 20 trillion and that will give a crude illustration of the U.S. debt cycle.

Debt bubbles pump money into the economy. Everyone gets an increase in money, but since the money is not backed by value, resources, manufacturing, profits etc. the money is backed by nothing. So its value is inflated.

The only way out is to stop the borrowing. A balanced budget won't help either because as long as the govt. is borrowing the money for the budget the problem continues. The bankers loan money to the govt. the banks; the govt. spends all the money it borrows (you and I get to pay it back somehow- inflation is the preferred method) and the money loaned to member banks create inflationary bubbles that heat up the economy.

I am all for an increase to the minimum wage. It is like drinking a glass of expensive wine on the way down with the Titanic.

 

I agree with Rhester and think that its wrong to set an artificial floor for wages. Especially with the uproar over illegal immigration if we remove that floor that will diminish the underground economy that illegals and others participate in. In regard to Congress tying their pay to the minimum wage that just gives them incentive to raise the minimum wage to benefit them without considering its impact on the rest of the economy.

 

If only they were all serfs, there wouldn't be any problems.

haha ... kidding

 

Federal debt is a separate issue and one that will not be seriously addressed in the near future.

Florida recently bumped its minimum wage and put a COLA on it, in the same 2004 election that Floridians voted W in. There appears to be the political will to "fix" the minimum wage in the near future.

And in the distant future when the debt is solved and inflation a memory, the minimum wage COLA will be zero.

 

I agree in theory. History has shown that American employers can be bad actors and will likely abuse entry level workers. For example, if after 9/11 McDonalds paid its workers $2/hour because there are more workers looking for jobs than jobs (ie because they could). McDonalds' competitors would rush to follow suit "to stay competitve". I posit that it would be easier for employers to reduce salaries and harder for employers to raise.

Mixing issues here. Some jobs illegals get do pay over the minimum wage. What about those?

As I have argued elsewhere, illegal immigration can be easily fixed by making the employer fines prohibitive.

That is why I suggested pegging congressional pay off of a multiple of the median family income. The only thing Congress could do then is cook the definition of "median family income", which they most certainly would do if they could get away with it.

 

Raising the minimum wage is fine with me. It might hasten the pain ahead.

I strongly suggest you read C. Edward Griffin's book- Creature from Jekyll Island. It is the best book I've read (of many) explaining the U.S. economy and monetary policy. I found after understanding what money is, how the economy works and what determines wages and income I had a very clear grasp of the effects of the minimum wage.link

 

I am not saying that the minimum wage is great for business; it is great for the entry level work force. The negative impacts to businesses have to weighed against the positive impacts to the workers.

 

I would love this. If politicians got paid based on how well the "median family" is doing, they would be more motivated to raise the pay of as many families as possible in order to increase their own pay.

Great idea.