Its not just teens who have minuim wage jobs. Its everyone, I see every age working at this level. This is also brings up corporate welfare. Here in Wa we have low income health insurence which I guarantee is better than everyones. Everything is 100% paid, even diapers. Lets look at walmart. I would say that 90% of those that work there gets a tiny bit over minium wage. So they get welfare, food stamps and free medical. Even tho our minium wage here is $9.45. Thats billions of dollars a year our state pays Walmart workers. So $10.10 is only .65 away from minuim here. I don't think its enough to put people over the poverty line. Nor do I think its enough for people to get off fed/state programs.

It extends to seniors who find that retirement just isn't possible, as those social security checks just don't cover retirement AND their 401ks and other investments just got killed in the markets over the past 5 years. It's working mothers, and those who are forced to settle, as the good jobs just aren't that abundent anymore, and a lot of those touted "new jobs" are more often then not seasonal part time jobs, rather then actual career type jobs. Not unless someone is looking for a significant move as an English teacher OVER IN CHINA, or as doing the sort of job one would begin a career with, but over in India, rather then the US, or something...

You just know that many of these same people in Congress won't skip a beat when it comes to voting themselves a pay raise, each and every time the opportunity presents itself, right off the tax payer's dole of all things.... The same people in Congress that would vote differently when it isn't either self interest, or the interest of their lobbyists (also self interest) at play....

Sorry Al but you need to check your math. Trillions....LOL $10.10 new $7.25 old. That's a difference of $2.85. $2.85 x 40/hr = $114 a week x 52 = $5,928 a year per person more. $5928 x 3.6 million = $21,340,800,000. That's tens of Billions not hundred of Trillions. See how silly you look now.

We could make 1 dollar an hour, as long as milk, bread, rent and other necessities are within line with the pay. They are not, and when it gets messed with, inflation wipes out any gains.

Considering Al's math they might. But I doubt any employer wants to give a $28,500.00/hr raise to their employees.

A free-market capitalist society without an overcrowded, superstitious, undereducated, underemployed, and underpaid proletariat savagely clamoring for every lowest-paying, future-less job on the market would be like a toilet that always flushes three gallons of water, even when there is only a tiny little corn-turd in it.

Considering Al's math they might. But I doubt any employer wants to give a $28,500.00/hr raise to their employees.

I think there are a few CEO's who are getting that much. :P

The rich 2% have been raking in the do re mi for 30 years, time to make changes to balance out the 30 years of $$$$ going to all the rich!

Patrick ...well said....

Jobseeker: So $7.25 is about right? I would like to see anyone live on $7.25 and pay for rent, foot, utilities, transportation and so on. What a joke

Every tme they propose this he Republican lackeys for the rich drag out the sam ol tired rhetoric of doom and gloom which in the long run proves to be just BS. The restaurant assoc does not want it? A steak in my area that used to be 22 bucks for a 16 oz steak is now 46 bucks so quit crying. 10.10 an hour is a little over 400 bucks a week.They should make all the law makers try to live a couple of months on that and they will change their story. The average wage in the last 30 years has remained he same while the ceo pay went from 40 x what the averag worker makes to over 500% and you think the people who acally do the work are not being hosed? 1 Person to live a decent life in America has to make at least 20 bucks an hour. Time to share a little before the peons will be banging on the doors of corporate america with the pitch forks and torches....

. During that same period, the rate of increase for the minimum wage was 3%. So the current $7.25 is just right.

phoney bs logic

Lol, Andrew, that's what you idiots all say. Gimme a break. As someone who knows a lot about start-ups...that's on YOU. There's a reason you always get a much bigger loan than you need, so in case of things like a minimum wage increase you are prepared. If you aren't prepared to run your own small business, then why get a loan for it? We the tax-payers have to reimburse the banks when your business goes belly up.

When the minimum wage goes up so does the cost of goods and services

Hate to tell you this guy but that is another BS scare tactcs cause the price of goods and services go up even if the min wage stays the same If we got a raise every time the swindlers put less in the package or incrased rices cause there was snow in the Himilayas we would be making 40 buck an hour now.

Ha, Ha! The rethuglicans would sooner take 10% of our savings before giving us a dime more in wages. Not that many wealthy people keep very much in cash in the bank.

I say we raise the minimum wage to $20/hr. Prices for goods and services won't go up according to breadex who posted right above me.

Just pay everyone $40k a year, and then there will be no more poverty right? So why stop at only 10/hr? Put it at 20/hr and no more poverty!!

Right liberal socialists? 20/hr will fix it all, and the costs of goods at walmart won't go up, the cost of your big mac won't go up either.

Breadex says its a scare tactic. if true, then just raise it to $20/hr because breadex says there will be no change in pricing for goods and services

breadex

You just said everything I've been telling people for years right down to the $20 and hour part! I don't understand how people in this day and age can still think that is a lot of money, its $41,600.00 a year BEFORE taxes! Whack 25% off that and you walk away with $31,200.00/$2600.00 a month. Still sound like a lot? Even for a single person with no bills... after rent, car payment/insurance/gas, health insurance, food, utilities, cable/internet/phone... you'd be lucky to have maybe $200.00 in your pocket and that is if you never leave the house or go out to eat/drink! Living the American dream, I think most definitely not, more like barely getting by until the slightest hiccup and bam... homeless and destitute!

USA/Haddock, just go back to the voting booth and keep cutting your noses off to spite your faces, your ignorant partisan talking points aren't doing you any favors.

Low minimum wage cost taxpayers money by allowing them to qualify for the earned income tax credit. Oh wait, the Republicans want to eliminate that too. Never mind.

I'm a Democrat that has been in Business management for 20 plus years and I have to side with the Republicans, I don't like most of what the Republicans stand for but do you people think that $7.25 did not have a bad affect on our economy you people are blind if this new increase were to happen better hope you're not the one that will be cut, because the companies will need to compensate somewhere yes big companies that pay skilled employees probably won't be affected but it's those that depend on low paid non-skilled that will take a serious hit. I hope you people don't eat any Fast Food because the price will raise and the greedy companies that don't have minimum wage employees will raise their prices to follow suit.

Just another "unfunded mandate" by the Obama Administration, that is if congress should be stupid enough to pass this so our Marxist POTUS can sign it into law.

What these financial geniuses can't seem to understand is that as the cost of doing business goes up, so does the cost of the goods sold/produced. Even "IF" the federal government should somehow fund this wage increase, the money would still be coming our of the very pockets of those who allegedly would benefit from it.

It was a good idea in the very beginning, but a very bad idea now regardless of the intentions of those proposing it.

When I began working minimum wage was $1.25 an hour but the only jobs that paid that were McDonald's and restaurants. People still use the argument that this wage was designed for teens and trainees because apparently they aren't smart enough to realise that's no longer the case. Using such a lame argument is like saying using a hammer is designed to drive nails but if I hit you on the head with it then what does it matter what it was designed for?

Beginning with Wal-Mart and trickle down grocers and most retail paid 2 to 3 times minimum wage now they pay close to it. By the way the 4.7% earning minimum wage distorts the truth. Probably 25% to 30% of our work force has pay based on minimum wage. Any wage at or below the new wage would be increased, not just those making exactly minimum wage.

Low minimum wage cost taxpayers money by allowing them to qualify for the earned income tax credit. Oh wait, the Republicans want to eliminate that too. Never mind.

A low minimum wage also qualifies millions for food stamps and Medicaid forcing tax payers to subsidize business. And yes they want to cut those programs as well.

I say we raise the minimum wage to $20/hr. Prices for goods and services won't go up according to breadex who posted right above me.

John Haddock: You sad little man. Distressed because corporations like Walmart will have to reduce CEO pay of 50 million to up it for those making $7.25. It ever occur to you wingnuts it's also possible to pay the execs less? Hundreds of thousannds of Walmart workers qualify for either food stamps, Medicaid or EIC cash back meaning we the tax payers subsidize their business.

You people are fools. You listen to talking heads like Rush and Murdoch's Faux and aren't smart enough to realize these people are worth hundreds of millions and are merely spewing nonsense for their sheep. Both the country and it's workers would be better off with a higher minimum wage. At least high enough no one working full time qualified for government assistance.

10% flat tax after the first 20,000(you dont pay anything on the first 20K you make..So say you make 30K you only pay 10% of 10K..1K in taxes...make 250K, you pay 10% of 230K or 23K). No deductions. Protects the poor. And makes it fair for the middle class- wealthy

Andrew Wolf: Why not just a flat tax of 1%? No one would mind that. The problem with pulling numbers out of your asz is that politicians who proposed a flat tax usually push a 21% rate with only the first $10,000 exempt just to match current revenue.

If republicans do not at least support a minimum wage hike to $9 per hour, they will have solidified which side of the class-war they are on, as well as another butt-kicking come 2014.

Really have to laugh at the idiots thinking that an increase in the minimum wage will rain down untold bennies to those getting them.

In case no one has noticed one of the biggest movers for higher priced goods and services today is labor. All that will happen is that those trying to live on fixed incomes will be SOL when it comes to a meal away from home or a night out.

But hey, the government will get to collect more taxes to pay the accumalating interest on our debt.

Ernie,

If your bucket holds water, why hasn't the huge increase of those making over $500,000 per year caused prices to increase and stifled hiring ?

Ironically, another story on this website reports a republican strategy group saying that they did not carry their message to the public well enough.

No, folks, I think the public understands your message all too well. You think the people who want to make a living on their labor are the problem. You guys don't want to starve the government, you want to starve the people who weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouths. You only hate the government when the government wants to help the less fortunate citizens get out of poverty.

The cost of consumer goods is much more greatly affected by the price of gasoline. Than it is by the price of labor. That's why your grocery bill went up over the last two years, while minimum wage stayed the same.

american?

Calling people names is childish at best.

Since you are opposed to paying Americans a livable wage, I'll bet you are one of those who thinks a few million dollars a year are not enough to support an elitist.

If they earned it, it's theirs! People are not opposed to people earning a livable wage - they are opposed to forcing employer to pay people wages not commensurate with their skills! Minimum wage jobs are not jobs to be living on. You want a livable wage - do a livable wage job.

USA,

So, let me make sure I'm getting this...

People are poor because they're lazy? If they don't go to college or "better" themselves, they're lazy? Nice try trying to cover your ass by saying "skills" as well.

However, your assessment isn't true.

My grandfather was a teenager during the great depression and he was anything but lazy. Working multiple jobs for next to nothing each week.

There was a republican candidate who said something very similar to what you did....Pretty sure he lost the election. =/

"[E]mployment is starting to go up, and we just don't want minimum wage workers left behind and left out of this recovery," the Iowa Democrat said.

Another Democrat living under a Progressive mushroom.

The unemployment rate remains around 7.7% and that is well ABOVE the 5.6% Mr. Obama promised to meet during his first two years if office IF HIS "Shovel Ready" Stimulus was passed.

Why not raise the minimum wage to $ 50 an hour and have the Progressives pay for it. That would make the Progressives, and everyone else, happy.

People are poor because they're lazy?

Yes, a lot of them are.

If they don't go to college or "better" themselves, they're lazy?

Yes, a lot of the people that won't help to better themselves are lazy.

My grandfather was a teenager during the great depression and he was anything but lazy. Working multiple jobs for next to nothing each week.

You can't quite compare the depression with 25% unemployment to 8% unemployment. But, how amazing that your grandfather, a teenager no less, could find multiple jobs during a period of 25% unemployment and you want excuses for people who say they can't and/or won't find work with 8% unemployment. Wow, your expectations of people aren't much, are they?

Like my grandparents, your grandfather sounds like he did what he needed to do. Unlike a lot of people now that just expect the handout to come in the mail - while surfing the web and talking on their cell phones.

“The empirical evidence indicates that minimum wages pose a tradeoff of higher wages for some against job losses for others.”

There have been numerous studies that show, and most responsible economists agree, that raising the minimum wage will result in more Unemployment.

Is that what we really want right now?

We should wait until we have better economic growth before we make things worse for low income people. Of course, if we have more people unemployed and dependent on the government, that works to the advantage of Democrats when election time comes around again.

Corporate profits now stand at 14.2 percent, the largest share at any time since 1950, and only 61.7 percent goes to corporate employees, near its lowest since 1966. Corporate earnings have risen at an annualized rate of 20.1 percent since the end of 2008 while personal income has only risen 1.4 percent. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that publicly listed companies held an estimated $4.75 trillion in cash in 2012. Can they afford the 2 or 3 dollars more per hour? Of course. We have bailed them out. We give them 1.1 trillion in tax breaks every year. They waste it on C.E.O.s (20 or 30 million) and Vice Presidents (1 or 2 million) who spend most of their time in committee meetings. Who does the work? Pay for it and shut up. Disgusting.

I believe Washington state and Oregon's minimum wages are the highest in the U.S. Washington's is $9.19 and Oregon's is $8.95. I believe both states have survived and I still see lots of money being spent.......................

For all of you dumb-asses whining and crying about corporations and greedy fat cat CEO's...just a reminder...43% of the workforce are employed by SMALL businesses and that number does NOT include people employed by locally owned franchises that are technically small businesses even though they fall under a corporate umbrella.

In your haste to stick it to the "rich man" you will destroy the little guys leaving us with few options other than the corporations you hate. Yeah, what a great plan that is.

Just keep in mind, raising the cost of doing business raises the price of goods. Do you think a small business owner, who has put years, blood, sweat, and tears (not to mention the personal financial risk) is going to suddenly take a paycut? Would you?

It's not as if the poverty line is some set-in-stone number. It moves too. In a year, the poverty line will rise to where $9 an hour is back under it. A product that is unaffordable now to someone making $7.25, will again rise to the point where it is unaffordable to someone making $9.

While raising the minimum wage helps the lowest income level, it would actually hurt the middle class. While the lowest earners get an increase of $1.75, people already making $12.50-$20 would see no increase. So, while prices will increase due to the basic costs of doing business, the middle class will be spending more of their paychecks for the basics. The value of a $12.50 to $20 per hour income would decrease.

As far as corporate earnings...we do it to ourselves. All of those "poor" people who choose to pay for satelite TV, have an expensive smart phone, have an expensive phone plan, have the flat-screen, go to movies, buy the overpriced products...etc. etc. etc. If people (no matter what your economic status) only bought things they could afford, you would see the corporations, the movie studios, the pro sports, whatever, quickly change their tune and lower their prices to make them more affordable. If 35% of the market suddenly stopped buying the product or service or entertainment....they WOULD take notice. Instead, we continue to create the demand and we continue to feed the pig...we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Wisely, this measure will be rejected because it would lead to inflation and widespread unemployment

Tim Pheil, in order for a college student to get over the poverty line of $15k per year, the minimum wage would need to be around $16/hour. Since college students can only work part-time, virtually every college student is living off about $7000/year.

As a general rule of thumb, you should be able to work part-time, and live above the poverty line. It's common sense.

Sorry, but you should not be able to work part-time and expect to live above the poverty line. In essence, part-time work is poverty work (unless what you do part-time is making you $30.00 bucks +/- an hour). But that mentality certainly goes along with what way too many people believe. Like, I can be lazy and work 15, 20 or 25 part-time hours a week and expect to live like I'm putting out full-time effort and full-time work. Pathetic!

Its not just teens who have minuim wage jobs. Its everyone, I see every age working at this level. This is also brings up corporate welfare. Here in Wa we have low income health insurence which I guarantee is better than everyones. Everything is 100% paid, even diapers.

If you can't pay for diapers, you certainly shouldn't have kids! How pathetic that people of our society think that hard working taxpayers should be paying for their kids diapers!! Give me a fuc*ing break. Are we ever again going to expect people to take personal responsibility?

I guess the truth hurts!

Is there no ambition to get out of a minimum wage job? Have somewhat of a plan for your life? Don't have children until you're ready?

It won't be rejected because of wisdom - it will be rejected by the Repugs whose sole function is to keep the 1% raking it in while destroying the middle class. There would be no middle class if it weren't for unions who championed a living wage for the working class. Henry Ford had wisdom, the current Repugs - not so much.

You just said everything I've been telling people for years right down to the $20 and hour part! I don't understand how people in this day and age can still think that is a lot of money, its $41,600.00 a year BEFORE taxes! Whack 25% off that and you walk away with $31,200.00/$2600.00 a month. Still sound like a lot? Even for a single person with no bills... after rent, car payment/insurance/gas, health insurance, food, utilities, cable/internet/phone... you'd be lucky to have maybe $200.00 in your pocket and that is if you never leave the house or go out to eat/drink! Living the American dream, I think most definitely not, more like barely getting by until the slightest hiccup and bam... homeless and destitute!

Well, if you are barely getting by, you may need to give up some of the non-necessities like cable/internet/phone. There's about $200.00 a month, and that's if you just have the basics of those services. For a lot of people, those three unnecessary things are costing them $300.00 - $400.00 a month.

And of course, it all depends where you are earning that $41,600 a year. If it's Lincoln, Nebraska, you are doing fine. If it's Los Angeles, California, not so good - as is the case with a lot of the other blue states.

>Corey-380485 $10.10 new $7.25 old. That's a difference of $2.85. $2.85 x 40/hr
>= $114 a week x 52 = $5,928 a year per person more. $5928 x 3.6 million =
>$21,340,800,000. That's tens of Billions not hundred of Trillions.

Yes, but it'll affect WAY more than those 3.6 Million people, and cost WAY more than $21 Billion. Yes, the 3.6 million people making $7.25 would go to $10.10, BUT all the people making $7.95 or $8.50 or $9.75 or whatever are also going to get a raise. And, if you're making $9.75 now - that's $2.50 above minimum, so you don't just want a raise to the new minimum of $10.10 - you want to make at least $12.60 now. And the guy that was making $12.50 before doesn't want the $10.10 guy to leapfrog him, so the $12.50 guy needs to go up to $15.00 or so... I'm not sure it's "100's of Trillions", but it's not just $21 Billion either.

The minimum wage, ajusted for inflation, in 1969 was $10.50 per hour. Productivity is up 100% since then. Time to pay a little more boys. Really you'll hardly notice it.

I recognise that the current minimum wage is very difficult to live on, so I pay $20 per hour minimum to my workers, even semi skilled.

It's a good idea but It will never get past the House and Obama knew it when he proposed it.

Corporate organization, simplified:

http://www.dropshots.com/GCaplan#date/2013-03-18/19:32:11

prices will go up to match. The corporate mentality will be to shuffle the increase off on the consumer.

Small business is being hurt by large corporations outsourcing. Their customer base is being destroyed. We need to force our public owned corporations to pay our minimum wages wherever they go. This would show a little regard for workers and bring back many jobs.

When the CEO of Disney made 600 million in salary he had children working in Haiti for 12 cents an hour. This is the insane greed that is destroying America. We call ourselves a Christian nation; But, our fiscal and corporate systems are a disgrace to the human race.

I know people who have paid banks as much as 600k for a 200k house, even when the government backed the loan. Also, our big banks, with trillions in assets have been getting billions in 0% loans. These pigs are driving up the price of gas and other essentials by manipulating the commodities market. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and one other control 80% of all oil trades. Everyone in Washington knows this and nothing is done to stop it.

We will force real change or the pigs and their government will soon have us in depression and chaos. Our big corporations are making record profits from slave labor and paying low to know taxes. While our people suffer they get special treaties and tax breaks for destroying our middle class.

This is not complicated: You cannot run a country for 1 or 2% without destroying it. There are many and obvious things we could do to improve this economy. Instead, we let banks, insurance companies, wall street, the commodities and hedge funds that produce nothing take mountains. We have welfare for the big rich and we can no longer afford it or the government that gives them a license to steal.

Nothing at all wrong with being wealthy...it is when you turn a significant number of people into serfs to do it is the problem.

Heck I pay my maid $21.25/hr plus she can have anytime she wants from the kitchen for lunch (She loves tuna so I make sure that is on hand for her--and not the cheap kind). She comes whatever day she chooses and whenever I decide to get rid of something of value I offer it to her first--such as electronics, etc.

Thailand and China have just INCREASED their minimum wages to around $10+USD a day...

These are the current results;

1. Thai (former) workers are marching on the US, Australian & other Embassies. Their International Companies FIRED hundreds of Thai workers prior to the wage increase. Some even closed their business to move to neighboring countries with LOWER wages...

2. The basic food prices INCREASED prior to the wage increase to cover the increasing wage cost...

3. The workers who had prior wage increases due to skills & tenure, did not see a increase. They are now making minimum wage. A starting Teacher/Government worker makes $300+USD a month and works 6+days a week...

4. Other commodities are now seeing price increases, due to supposed higher labor/energy cost...

The bottom line - It now cost MORE to just exist...

Hopeful American

- what a crock of lies from you. Current unemployment numbers are right up there with the great depression. Problem is the feds aren't reporting the same way now as they did back then.

Search for Shadow Stats Unemployment and you will see that we are running about 23% unemployment now... not much different from the great depression.

The money for that increase, which is in the hundreds of trillions

hundreds of trillions?!?

Wow, math really isn't your strong suit is it?

(10.10-7.25) =$2.85 * (40 hours/week) * (52 weeks/year) = $5,928/year

$5,928 * 3.6million (as reported in the article) = $21.3 BILLION

how you get to "Hundreds of trillions" is beyond me...

D Iowan

Henry Ford had wisdom, the current Repugs - not so much.

More cluelessness. Henry Ford allowed the MARKET to determine the wages he paid his employees. He had to compete with other auto manufacturers and wanted the best labor so he paid the highest wage. What Henry Ford did has NOTHING to do with min wage laws, in fact they would be the polar opposite.

More cluelessness. Henry Ford allowed the MARKET to determine the wages he paid his employees.

false. When Ford offered his $5/day wage, it was DOUBLE the going rate. That's not "the market" setting wages.

Ford astonished the world in 1914 by offering a $5 per day wage ($120 today), which more than doubled the rate of most of his workers. A Cleveland, Ohio newspaper editorialized that the announcement "shot like a blinding rocket through the dark clouds of the present industrial depression."The move proved extremely profitable; instead of constant turnover of employees, the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford, bringing their human capital and expertise, raising productivity, and lowering training costs. Ford announced his $5-per-day program on January 5, 1914, raising the minimum daily pay from $2.34 to $5 for qualifying workers.

With regard to the part I bolded, you mean paying people more can actually RAISE profits because high wages attract skilled workers? You don't say, shocking I know...

DrowningGrover

false. When Ford offered his $5/day wage, it was DOUBLE the going rate. That's not "the market" setting wages.

"...instead of constant turnover of employees, the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford, bringing their human capital and expertise, raising productivity, and lowering training costs."

Basic supply and demand, with a shortage of skilled labor you have to paid the most to get the best, that's how the market works, duh.

The unemployment rate remains around 7.7% and that is well ABOVE the 5.6% Mr. Obama promised to meet during his first two years if office IF HIS "Shovel Ready" Stimulus was passed

IDO: Obama did his stimulus and didn't have as good effect as he hoped. Bush promised to cut our debt in half as president yet he doubled it. Did he even try?

- what a crock of lies from you. Current unemployment numbers are right up there with the great depression. Problem is the feds aren't reporting the same way now as they did back then.

No they are not! What a crock of lies AND excuses from you!

Larry-367607

IDO: Obama did his stimulus and didn't have as good effect as he hoped. Bush promised to cut our debt in half as president yet he doubled it. Did he even try?

So you're saying Obama sucks as bad as GWB?? I concur.

Does a minimum wage earner REALLY want a raise?

If a married man with 2 children makes the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and works 40 hours per week, this is his net income;

Wages = $15,080 per year, less payroll taxes of ($1,154) = Net Income of $13,926.

Tax Credits for Children and Earned Income Credit = $7,112

Food Stamps = $600 per month or $7,200 per year.

Health Care – Free thru Medicaid.

Total net income = $28,238 per year, or $2,353 per month.

Now let's consider someone making $20 per hour;

Wages = $41,600, less payroll taxes of ($3,182) = $38,418.

Tax credits for children and Earned Income Credit = $2,931.

Food Stamps – Not eligible.

Health Insurance - ($13,375) - 2009 average figures (a).

Total Net Income = $27,974 per year, or $2,331 per month.

So a family getting minimum wage ($7.25 per hour) actually has more net income each month to spend than a family that makes $41,600 per year in wages ($20 per hour).

(a) Health Insurance - http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2009-09-15-insurance-costs_N.htm

Yeah! People get a college degree these days and often have to settle for positions like minimum wage test scorer!

Sees....It all depends on what your degree is in. If someone has a history degree or fine arts, his skills are no more in demand than a teenager.

When the minimum wage goes up so does the cost of goods and services. Therefore those working minimum wage jobs really do not get anymore buying power, but those in the meddle class get less buying power.

In 1965, the minimum wage was $1.25, which is $8.98 in today's money. It stayed at this rate for approximately the entire Post-War Golden Years of the United States (with small fluctuations). President Obama is correct in thinking that it should be about $9.00, except we are just recovering from a recession, so it probably needs to be a bit higher to make people go out and buy stuff again. This won't hurt any employers in the long run because they would have much more demand for their products. Competition would increase due to this demand, and prices would decrease as a result of this competition. I gotta say, JobSeeker, you should do some research.

Seeker???? Minimum wage jobs are all that many have left after the USA dismantled its industrial base and moved high tech manufacturing overseas.

Wanna work at WalMart? McDonalds? Your local restaurant? Changing tires? Serving ice cream? Working at a store in the mall? Doing yard work? If you don't have a college degree in something practical, you can plan on working a 40 HOUR WEEK WITH BELOW POVERTY LINE EARNINGS.

Those jobs above used to be for part time workers, kids on break, between jobs ... no benefits, no prospects, just filler. That ended in 2000 when the GOP came into office and started two wars they didn't pay for, trashed the banking and real estate markets, people like Romney made millions dismantling companies with good paying jobs, Cheney made millions at Haliburton, and the supposed gains from tax breaks went towards losses in house prices and the stiock market.

Now - minimum wage is all some can find. These are folks who want to work - who do work more than one job trying to make it. Illegal aliens have nothing to do with this - they actually do the jobs no one else will do....I know - my dad was a farmer and the locals gave up after two days of back-breaking labor in the fields. That is why the illegals came and employers secretly welcomed them - they filled a need. They are not stealing anything from high school kids - get real! Employers hire them - do employers not have responsibility in this?

Last - your average inflation argument is a joke. There was little inflation for many years through the 1950's and early 1960's. The Vietnam War heated that up, and we had a serious issue with inflation in the 1970's. That slowed for a decade or so, but as with all adjustments, the bar was never set back to the original level (kinda like gas prices now huh?), so the RATE of inflation slowed, but the baseline costs never fell..... gas that was 19 cents a gallon in the 60's was forever more than 40 cents a gallon, then 50cents, then $1.00, then $2.00. It stayed around there until Bush became president - since then, it has been higher, $3.50 and sometimes as high as $4.50. That is 23 times more than it cost in the 1960's. House prices - similar - $17,000 in 1963, the same house was sold in 1988 for $278,000.

The minimum wage in 1965 was $1.25/hr. Now, at $7.25, it is less than 6 times more. NOT AT ALL IN LINE WITH THE INCREASES IN GAS, CARS, HOUSES, ETC...

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html

Job Seeker - based on your math skills - you need to go out and find one of those rewarding jobs at minimum wage... and tell us all about the American Dream... Don't blame foreigners or other convenient scapegoats..... buy a mirror to verify that you are part of Romney's 47% and go vote for the people who really want you to succeed.... guaranted, they are not from the GOP.

Documentation for this, please.

Cynical....

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html

The minimum wage has never fluctuated. It has always been on the upward slope. Pull out your calculator. If it was $1.25 in 1965 and is $7.25 in 2012, that is an average annual increase of 3.8%. That is higher than the average inflation rate.

This information is like 15-15 years out of date... The way this deep recession, with a so-called jobless "recovery" has been, families have been having to live on these jobs. Yes many illegals work them, but at burger joints, grocery stores (as cashiers, baggers, and the like) I see an awful lot of seniors these days.

Seniors who have to return to work, because SS just doesn't pay enough for actual retirement, manytimes pension and SS (the former having been cut after people put in their time, and payed into the thing) doesn't pay enough, and after investments from 401k's to bonds, to CDs, and the like have just gone down the toilet since the economic meltdown of 2008 followed by Bernake's policy of near 0% interterest and pumping large numbers of fiat notes into the economy in the form of quantitative easing...

If the minimum wage were raised as Texas Bob comments that goods and services will go up, that would be an economic boon better than the jobs that Obama has tried to create that fell flat.A $10.00 an hour minimum wage is about right. Job Seeker comments that minimum wage jobs are for teenagers.I disagree with that comment.Retirees and Mom's who want to work while the kids are in school are also great candidates for minimum wage jobs.Most minimum wage jobs are only part time so a person could at least try to live on two part time jobs.

Scott and John - you are entrepeneurs, and would findsways to continue. If folks were making more, they would be spending more, increasing your business volume and thus generating profits that far exceed the raise in wages.

That is how growth occurs. Your businesses will remain stagnant if wages and output don't rise...

You are very wrong. Many retired people are working for these wages now. Companies will not hire older workers so they are forced to take these wages to survive. Patience, you may well get to experience it yourself!

The problem I have is someone who's been at the same job for 5 or so years and is topped out doesn't get anything. My daughter is a bakery clerk at a grocery store here in Washington state. She's topped out at 11 something an hour and now all these new hires are getting just a dollar and a half or two dollars less than she is. Those who've been there several years get no raise. By the way, she works in a union shop and doesn't make much more than a walmart employee. Maybe the law should say that if minimum wage goes up a dollar an hour so should everybody elses who work at an hourly paid job. Low income families usually qualify for the eic on their taxes and end up getting everything they paid in federal taxes plus much more. I know couples who live together unmarried that get 8-10k back because she claims her kids and he claims their kids and they both claim to be single parents. I knew a gal who claimed her daughter and her grand daughter and was getting 5k. I know another gal whos mom only works seasonally claims one of her kids, her brother who goes to college claims one of her kids and she claims one of her kids and they make bank every year at tax time. She told me they get a grand total of 6k back plus she and her brother are getting a free college education. I told my daughter to wait till she's 24 to go to college so that way she doesn't have to claim our income anymore and she'll be low income enough to get free college money. Heck, everybody else works the system so I told her she might as well get what she can.

Inflation has been 3% annually so since the min wage was last increased in 2007 it has increased 18% not 3.

The minimum wage in 1965 was $1.25/hr. Now, at $7.25, it is less than 6 times more. NOT AT ALL IN LINE WITH THE INCREASES IN GAS, CARS, HOUSES, ETC.....Job Seeker - based on your math skills - you need to go out and find one of those rewarding jobs at minimum wage.....

Dorfy.....LOL. Looks like the extent of your math skills is add, subtract, multiply and divide. Not much algebra. Are you a graduate of California schools?

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_22599953/bob-huff-elimination-algebra-requirement-wrong-direction-california

If you calculate the average annual inflation of cars, houses and gas, you will find that the rate is not much different from the overall inflation rate.

The rate of inflation in the 1970 was in the double digits. Did you account for that? The amounts that were stated were about right. I lived and raise a family during this time. Were you there?

Job seeker - who is cynical? I am presenting real comparisons - that upward slope has always been lagging behind real prices..

The price of fuel has impacted every aspect of our daily lives. Plastics, fertilizers, tires, heating & A/C, water purification, agricultural production, transportation, so all things related to this are up (based on gas being up 23 times what it used to be). There is no public transportation in this country in most places, so everyone has to drive. Est scenario:

15 miles each direction = 30 miles/day or 150 miles/week. In most cars, that is 8-10 gallons/week. At $4.00/gallon, that's $32 every week for gas just to get to work. The average home spends about $50-75 a week on gas and car expenses. Add insurance, registration etc, another $15 week , so $80/week on the car..... At minimum wage, you earn $290/week for 40 hours. You take home $250. of that, the average American spends $80-90 of that on just basic car expense. $160 left. Food for four people for a week? Rent ? Power bill? Clothes?

Dorfy....You are all over the map. Your numbers mean nothing. It depends how far you live from work, what your car's MPG is, how much you make, how lavage your lifestyle is, etc. There is no baseline comparison in your post. That's why I brought up algebra. For instance, if you want to look at cars, you have to compare a similar make. Knowing what that model cost say 20 years ago and what that model costs today, you have to divide the two prices, take the natural log of that ratio, divide by 20 and taking the reverse natural log of that number. That gives you the average annual inflation in the cost of that model car. You can't just divide the cost today by the cost 20 years ago, and say it is 6 times more, which tells you nothing. The average annual increase is what you need to make comparisons.

Cheryl said:

The problem I have is someone who's been at the same job for 5 or so years and is topped out doesn't get anything. My daughter is a bakery clerk at a grocery store here in Washington state. She's topped out at 11 something an hour and now all these new hires are getting just a dollar and a half or two dollars less than she is. Those who've been there several years get no raise. By the way, she works in a union shop and doesn't make much more than a walmart employee. Maybe the law should say that if minimum wage goes up a dollar an hour so should everybody elses who work at an hourly paid job.

Do you honestly think a bakery clerk at a grocery store should make more than $11.00 an hour? Are you kidding?! It's not about time on a job, it's about skill level. Why would they pay her more when she can be easily replaced for $8.00 an hour?

Maybe your daughter should look into doing something else that would earn more. Maybe a skilled position?

All those damn illegal workers stealing jobs from college students and teens. You know all those kids lining up to work in the fields picking grapes, in 110degree heat for what amounts to 4.25 hour. since they get paid by the amount they pick, and then in some cases must kick back some of their wages to the person that hired them...I have family that owns a raisin farm in the Fresno area, and saw what happens to these people. They aren't sitting around plotting to steal your jobs. They basically do the jobs most American wont do. Jobs that most Americans would rather go on welfare then do. Most Americans would sell drugs to kids before doing the jobs some of these people are willing to do for wages that no American could ever survive on.

for every one that thinks minimum wage and wages in general have kept up with inflation I have some numbers for you. In 1970 my dad worked as a machinist in a at least to you horrible union shop. He brought home a grand total of $301 per week. A new mid priced car fully loaded cost $3000 and we bought a new 4 bedroom home with a full basement for $30,000. At his wage he could have paid the car off in 10 weeks and the house in 100. Gas was 25 cents per gallon for premium also. Considering that a new mid priced car cost $25,000 and a 4 bedroom house around $250.000 I would have to make as a machinist $2,500 to live as well as my father did. Hate to tell you there is no machinist job that pays $62.50 per hour. All those types of jobs are in china now were they pay them $4 per day at best. Yet his employer made money paying their workers this much.

The gap between the workers and the wealthy has never been a large percentage wise as it is now. Not even in the days of robber barons and trusts. Any one who thinks I am lying watch this. If you think that wealth redistribution is going on you are right. It has been going on for 40 years. The rich have been grabbing the middle class for decades. Here is a video that shows how bad it actually is for the working class http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM Any one who actually believes this is right must be one of the 10%. %1 of this country has 40% of this countries wealth. Pay particular attention to how much their % of this countries wealth has increased.

Gaylene and Federalist.....Why is everyone looking at overall inflation rate for a given period? That means nothing. I can say a quarter can buy me a loaf of bread 50 years ago, but that tells me nothing without knowing what the average annual rate of increase has been through the years. It is the same way compound interest is calculated at a bank on a deposited principal amount drawing interest over a period of time.

In a way, job seeker is right. Minimum wage is intended to be a child labor law. It's this supposed to be the least they are allowed to pay an inexperienced child working part-time after school. Unfortunately, most employers use it as the most you have to pay an experienced adult. We really need 2 minimum wages, one for children under 18, with less than 1000 hours experience on the job. And another higher minimum wage for those who exceed those criteria.

@JobSeeker, you are trying to debate this factual arithmetic with more hazy math. What you say does not account for variations in the REAL value of minimum wage labor, which does not get accounted for when it is measured in a rate relative to inflation. The fact is, is that minimum wage labor is much cheaper than it was in the years when America was in it's best years. This has caused both demand and competition (and the emergence of new industries), to go down. This decrease has caused less demand for jobs because of the immense market shares that a company can get nowadays. You did not even address my real point. You just attacked my theory with mislead technicalities.

jobseeker,

Just recently, the Congressional Budget Office calculated the minimum wage would have to be around $10.50 for a dollar to have the same buying power as in 1980.

Cynical....No, I used the same link you presented. It shows a steady increase in the minimum wage over the years and never "fluctuated". The period you presented, 1965 to 2012, saw an annual increase in the minimum wage of 3.8% using the compound interest equation. I grew up working in a grocery store at a wage of $1.65 in 1969. You could buy a loaf of bread for 50 cents. My first car in 1975 was $6,800. If you compound the annual inflation rates over the last four decades, it is consistently in line with the increase in the minimum wage, somewhere between 3.5% to 4%. A person making minimum wage today can afford the same lifestyle as it did forty years ago, not very comfortable, but minimum wage was never meant to be comfortable.

Just recently, the Congressional Budget Office calculated the minimum wage would have to be around $10.50 for a dollar to have the same buying power as in 1980.

Ellis......Do you know why they chose 1980 instead of some other year? Because that was the final year of Jimmy Carter and we had an inflation of 13.6% which was the second highest annual rate in the history of this country. Of course if you compare to that year, you would come up with $10.50. You just can't pick a bump in the road and say the highway is like that for the next 50 miles. Case and point: The average inflation rate from 1982 to 2003 was 3.3%.

Jobseeker,

You hit it right on the nose. The minimum wage is designed as a starting point....not an end point. It is not meant to support a family. The best part of minimum wage is getting off of it.

BTW, who does Harkin think he is? Bloomberg????

LOL

Job Seeker - (your implications that you alone possess the broad knowledge to slice and dice numbers are presumptuous and not based on solid assumptions. There is one set of facts -the standard of living in this country has gone way down in the past years - no matter what algorithms you use).

As a child in the late 50's our family with three kids lived on one income - my dad earned $10,000/year. We lived in a 2800 sq ft house that cost $12,000, had two cars - a pickup and a station wagon, and all of it was paid for. Gas was 19cents/gal.

In the early 60's we moved to another house - 1800 sq ft costing $21,000. My dad still made $10,000/yr. The house and the car were on payments and we barely had enough. My mom went to work teaching part time, but that really didn't add much. The house appraised at $38,000 by 1972, so taxes and insurance went up. Gas prices had risen to over a dollar/gallon. My dad was old and tired, but could not afford to retire. He kept his union job because they provided health insurance - and he needed it because my mom's health was declining.

1973-1976 property values rose quite a bit, and taxes & insurance rose with them. The house now was worth around $100,000. Gas prices had increased more, so they had to sell the car and buy a much smaller 4 cylinder car-not so nice for two very tall people. My father went fishing to help the food budget, gave up hunting (too expensive) and there were holes in all the couches. Selling the house was not an option - houses cost more, so selling for more netted little benefit. My mother cried when it rained because there was no work on days when it rained... I went to college and paid all my own way - grants, and worked in restaurants with good tips, I lived in another town, and still my folks had too little money to pay increasing costs. College tuition for an entire year was $680.

He died at age 58. She stayed living on social security, and her brother picked up the rest of the remaining house debt.

When she became ill at age 65- 10 years later, we sold the house for around $268,000 and used the money to care for her. She died three years later in 1989. Gas prices were around $2.00/gallon or more at that time.

One income is no longer viable for raising a family unless you are lucky enough to make $$ like the top 5%. Comparable public universities cost $12-25,000/year today. A simple house in good shape costs over $200k, plus taxes & ins. Cars cost what houses used to. Clothing is way more expensive, Gas costs currently $4.50/gallon. and healthcare insurance costs thousands annually (this growth has subsided some since Obamacare was passed - increases are tolerable again). All the basics are at least twice or three times what they used to be 20 years ago, and all but the house are about 8 times higher than the 1950's, gas, tuition and healthcare have grown way more than that. I know, I was there.

I have paid my own way and am successful. I am a "beancounter" by profession, so am familiar with numbers and what passing certain thresholds in income means to the standard of living for a family.. But I haven't forgotten the struggle others had to endure based on loss of quality of life during those years. You seem to have - maybe you have no capacity to identify with them. Maybe that is part of the GOP problem - inability to feel others pain.

The world has changed. The Right is working hard to eliminate blue collar jobs, so those folks need to work somewhere. Are you willing to turn you neighbor to poverty so you can get 50 cents more profit on an oil change?

Wow.

blah blah blah I know it is the rich bankers and corporation. How about the small business owners that are not corporations They employ over 70% of the work force but are not subsidized by Obama or his thugs. They cant afford to pay $10/hour or they will go bankrupt.

People do need to make more, absolutely, but raising the minimum wage will only cost jobs. If Acme Corp has $45,240 to pay 3 full time workers at the current minimum wage and their budget is already strapped, they will only have a few choices to soak up the hit. Cut the number of workers to two, move all three to ¾ time or keep one at full time and move the other two to part time.

If you really want to help, push the government to place a cap on college/training costs, offer more funds for individual training (not corporate), remove the ability for kids to drop out of school, and require high school graduates to either attend college or trade school. Once people have choices, employers will have to raise their base pay to attract the workers they need and you’ll have a whole new crop of entrepreneurs to build businesses and hire others. An added bonus is that companies won’t have to go outside the US to find qualified workers.

One exception - Walmart and companies of their ilk. They should be required to pay more.... Just not the struggling small businesses.

The minimum wage in todays dollars was $10.51 cents in 1968. It is at a historically low level today. The real difference is today most retail businesses since Walmarts inception pay near minimum wage. Prior to the Walmart business model most cashiers, clerks and such made several times that amount.

A federal minimum wage was first set in 1938. The graph shows nominal (blue diamonds) and real (red squares) minimum wage values. Nominal values range from $0.25/hr in 1938 to the current $7.25/hr. The graph adjusts these wages to 2012 dollars (red squares) to show the real value of the minimum wage. Calculated in real 2012 dollars, the 1968 minimum wage was the highest at $10.51. The real dollar minimum wage (red squares) falls during periods Congress does not raise the minimum wage to keep up with inflation. The minimum wage increased in three $0.70 increments--to $5.85 in July, 2007, $6.55 in July, 2008, and to $7.25 in July 2009. The 2012 minimum wage is equal to what was paid in 1960.

Many states have departed from the federal minimum wage. Washington's minimum wage is highest, advancing to $9.19, January 1, 2013, and Oregon's is second at $8.95.

fenkzenk & jenny -

Get an education - a good one. Be patient and focused. I worked my way through school with no help. Lots of grants and scholarships for people with good grades. Be willing to move to an odd part of the country. The first job is the key... Who cares where it is located? Once you are experienced, you can pick where you work...

The unemployment rate for those with a bachelors degree is less than 3%.

If you say you are a loser - you will be. If you are older - go for it. I did and was able to become a CPA at age 40 and am doing fine.

Lastly - don't vote for politicians who try to scare you or take away the services you need to get started. Or reduce the services you will get when old and retiring. Become active in supporting you favorite cause, adopt a pet, a kid, a charity, a love of becoming a particiapnt in our democracy. Change only comes from the loud outcry of many who care.

Very well said.

Take responsibility for your actions and stop worrying about others.

Spoken like a true Wall Street/Banker traitor!

take the money from corps and paid these people. take all profits from oil company's for two years and that will take min wages worker off the programs. oil companies can afford it

We are not short of money: Foreign banks are crammed with American cash that was made off slave labor. Our own big banks are loaded and still get 0% loans to manipulate the commodities markets and further destroy our middle class.

We should, not only raise the minimum wage; But, we should force or public owned corporations to pay our minimum wages wherever they go. This would show a little regard for workers and immediately bring back many jobs. That in turn, would stimulate small business by aiding their customers.

Greed is like a giant green monster that eats everything in front of it and defecates on all behind it. This monster is never satisfied and if we don't force it to be reasonable we will soon be in depression and chaos. What we are permitting is cold bloodied evil to destroy our country.

jenny-2549412,

My daughter graduated with a Chem/Bio Engr degree, 2009...

She held a International Patent prior to graduating, in a chemical process, that saved energy, material and processing time...

She graduated with ZERO school loans. The First week out she bought a new/used car. That year she bought a new house. She is now traveling the US selling the chemical process...

Hard work pays-off...

Sitting & bitching does not...

Odd that your daughter has accomplished so much, AC, having come from the DNA of someone who can't discern between a "new" car and a "used" car.

Must've been adopted.

It does get a tax break already. Wages are a cost of doing business, and are deducted from gross income for tax purposes. The same applies to benefits, all benefits. The argument that wage increases just run up the cost of goods and services just does not hold water since they are deducted. Yes, you pay out more, but you get a concomitant deduction on the other end.

Hmm...deduction or not it still comes out of the bottom line. It raises the cost of doing business and, if you can't afford that cost, then it doesn't matter what deductions you have. I don't have an issue raising minimum wage but everybody needs to understand there will be repercussions to doing so.

Deduction or not, you just know that any cost they WILL pass onto the customer, whereas any savings.... Anyone else remember the days when the same station would have both full service and full service lines? And if you pumped it yourself, you saved a little, because they woulnd't have to pay an attendant's salary, so...

Well those days went by the wayside. Outside of states like NJ, where there's laws in place against pumping one's gas, the full service just disappeared, and the gas prices just kept going up. Gas is actually slightly cheaper in NJ, then just over the state line, so you actually end up paying more to pump your own gas. Course it's one of the few things in NJ that is cheaper then PA...

All this said, in THIS market, I would be in favor of an increase in the minimum wage. 8 years ago, I would have said, no economic growth is the key. But after yours truly (the financial industry) killed the markets in 2008, we bailed them out, and now businesses have learned they can do without the workers (but still want the sales); this is a very different market. Rather then one that entails growth, even for businesses with record profits, it's become so dog eat dog, it's practically like the markets are ready to canabalise themselves, and then bawlk that demand is week, even as the demand side can be totally disregarded in this whole push toward supply side economics... The whole idea of building towards the future, or helping to create a better tomarrow seems to have become a thing of the past.

It's replaced with the working poor who work way harder then those who could be all too ready to cut the decent job of the past, and replace it by a a bunch of low pay service sector jobs (along with some out sourcing to 3rd world countries run by despots, who keep wages at slave labor level) who thumb their noses down at those in such position after macro economic decisions of the past, along with seeing who can play the game the best, not of building something up, but conning, gameing the system, or in some ways leveraging themselves over all others. The idea of ethics in business (outside the small to medium size community based businesses), and the idea of ethics in finance seem to be a thing of the past also, replaced by people like Jon Corzine, who both run for office, AND corrupt the world of finance after...

Lets just see how many of these Congress people would be willing to extend this push towards austerity all around, covering all sectors (public or private), and make the sort of personal sacrifices that entail freezing their pay (no more pay raises), giving themselves a pay cut, and actually reigning in on some of the excessive pork in the form of perk's to politicians and members of Congress. It's easy to talk the talk, when it's someone elses money that's being discussed, and they're not having to walk the walk. But then hypocracy is nothing more new to politics, then sex scandals are...

Kraig, you're an idiot. If you pay a $1.00 in additional expense, you get to deduct a dollar from your taxable income, not your income tax. The difference comes out of profits, or more frequently, higher prices for whatever goods and services the firm provides.

Thanks for the abuse for no reason, fool. If you cannot post without name caling perhaps you shouldn't bother to post.

If the only way you can keep your POS business afloat, is by condemning those who do the work for you to a life of never ending poverty, that I'm sorry but I have no sympathy for you or your cost of doing business.

@ Kraig "Thanks for the abuse for no reason, fool. If you cannot post without name caling perhaps you shouldn't bother to post." Pot... meet kettle.

kraig perhaps you should not bother to post if you can not understand what you are trying to say. If your costs rise to a point that you are not making a profit it does not matter what tax deductions you receive you still need to raise costs. 2. A deduction does not correlate to an equal savings from a tax burden. IE. If your costs go up by 10k through higher wages and your tax rte is 35% you only reduce your taxes by 3500, not 10k. the lower your tax rate the less Those added costs save you in actual taxes!!!

In my situation, if minimum wage goes to $9-10/hour, my employees would probably request raises that I could no afford. We are a small healthcare business, and with the economy and being at the mercy of health insurers, I can't afford that wage increase. My employees aren't looking to get rich, rather they enjoy the low stress work environment and their income with their husband's income make them comfortable.

Raising the minimum wage will have a ripple effect, and make it difficult for small business. If you make $10-11/hour now, and new hires are suddenly making $9-10/hour, how happy will you be? You will want a raise, as you used to be $4/hour over the minimum wage, and now are only $1-2/hour over. I'm a left leaning person, but in this case, can only support a modest increase. Wouldn't we be better to try to create more jobs that pay better than minimum wage? Makes me long for the days when we had a robust manufacturing sector, back before greed took our jobs overseas. Rather than raise minimum wage, maybe we find ways to bring manufacturing back to this country. That would provide the higher paying jobs that minimum wage jobs would lead to.

Scott and John,Your employees wages are tax write offs.Go spin your doom and gloom to the ignorant people in the world.Even my cleaning service business can afford to pay $10.00 minimum wage if I so desired to increase my business base and hire somebody. I've done the math and could afford to pay $12.00 an hour and still make a nice, tidy profit.

Apparently you don't understand business. Write-offs are not necessarily deductions. If your expenses are more than you income then it doesn't matter what deductions you have -- you will be out of business. So how do you get around that? You raise prices. Again...not against it but you have to understand there will be repercussions...

You know, I can see what they're saying, and the harsh retort, is a little... A lot of small businesses would feel it, as the working class has been feeling it. They're not even remotely in the same category as the Wal-Mart's around us, who pay badly, for what they have people doing; and then have a corporate culture according to many people who have been in maneagement level positions at Wal-Mart of encouraging employees to get supplements to their income via food stamps, and other forms of wellfare. Hence keeping the wages low, maximizing their profits, but then directing all their workers to the tax payer's dole...

There can be a real difference between many a small shop owner in all of this, and the sort of thing I just mentioned. And so though yes, I could see a raising of the minimum wage (though $10 does seem a bit of a big increase, I probably wouldn't be looking at that sort of an increase), and after all is said and done would say that it was probably a bad thing to have bailed so many out, to only watch the likes of the Bank of America's and others act as they have after they were spared the consequences of their own acts; I do NOT begrudge the small business owner... That's not where your finding the Maddoffs, the Corzines, or the other sharks, who have helped drive the economy to where it is at...

John and Scott, I am in a similiar boat. I have a medium sized child care business with less than 25 employees. Many are paid just over minimum wage (and work full time) and the rest are paid steps above that. They are worth the moon to me but my field, child care, is not a field that has the ability to pay exactly what I think they are worth. When I look at the income coming in and wages going out (with building leasing and all the other expenses added in too) I am rolling almost even. How pray tell am I expected to raise all of my employees wages? All employees will need wage increases to keep an appropriate pay scale. I simply can not see me being able to afford this possible increase. I am only able to charge so much for the care we are giving (and care for only so many children) before I lose families and income-and that would be a disaster for my business. (AND the families we care for. They are hit by the economy just as I am-they cannot afford additional costs.)

Big businesses and different fields will feel the effects much different than my "little" business-for me the increase could mean I close. Therefore my wonderful employees will be without a job...so much for my helping them.

Scott-735414

If your business runs on that thin of a profit margin, then maybe its better you close the doors and mow lawns by yourself because your business plan is a failure.

Scott,

That is a nasty thing to say. My experience from being a bookkeeper for small businesses is that yes many small business run tight profit margin. Thus the extra that the business has to pay in wages (and remember taxes such as medicare-ss and employment security will also go up) will have to be rolled over to the consumer.

My lowest paid employee makes $12 an hour, so this doesn't really pertain to me. However, I just wanted to point out that as you increase the workers wage, the employment taxes the business has to pay also increases. Please don't look sight of that. It is a double stab to the owner.

We also give Christmas bonus's at Thanksgiving so they can use the money on black friday to shop for presents for their family. Don't paint every SBA as the anti-christ.

Outsourcing by big corporations is what hurts small business, by destroying their consumer base. If you can't afford to pay higher than $7 then go get yourself a minimum wage job and see how you like it.

Also, when the CEO of Disney made 600 million in salary and had children in Haiti working for 12 cents and hour too many business types approved. We should be ashamed to allow this and force all public owned corporations to pay our minimum wages wherever they go. Unfortunately many small business people oppose this too, even though it would benefit them by helping their customers.

It is obvious that our government is owned and our country is run for the big rich. Banks, wall street, insurance companies and commodities brokers all produce nothing and take mountains. If we don't have a change of heart this insane greed will destroy America.

Jealousy gets you nowhere. The CEO of Exxon-Mobil manages a company with 82,000 employees. How many employees does the sngle mom in your example manages?

Stop posting garbage.

CEO is on the job 24/7, even during his/ her vacation.

How do I know? I work with CEOs.

Lol James, thanks for the phony, retardo-left CEO "typical work schedule" hahahhahahahahahahha

Actually, the CEO of Exxon-Mobil or any other huge conglomerate really does very little. What they do is offer good organizing and motivational skills (hopefully), and the ability do deal with crises should they arise. Most often they couldn't do the jobs of most of the employees under them. To paraphrase the father of a friend (deceased) who was making about 350k in 1990 as the #3 person in a Forbes 25 corporation, no one is worth that kind of money, not even him, who was responsible for the most profitable division of his company running 35 different companies around the world. This from a man who was among the most conservative people I have ever known. Where have we gone wrong?

Comparing the wages and benefits of a CEO to those of the minimum wage earners is pointless.

Should I get a break on my energy costs in Alaska because people in Florida pay less than I do?

Same argument.

well I thought you might be going somewhere with that statement until you brought god into it, sigh.

If there is a god, which I don't know if you know this or not, but god was invented a long time before a jesus walked the earth, go back to your Osiris, Horus, and book of the dead in Egyptian time, had a very similar guy, who got baptized by a guy named john, had 12 disciples, died and rose 3 days later. Yeah same song and dance, so sorry if I don't believe in your god. But and a big but, if your god does exist and I go and see that god, I think I would have to spit on him for the way he's treated the human race, free will or not. You can keep your god. Sorry I know that comes off as bit harsh and I'm not telling you not to believe in your god, go with what works for ya. But the way you said the things about god and his return and all us non-religious people or aka evil ppl, kind of puts a bad taste in my mouth, so I apologize ahead of time.

You can be a kind, giving, generous, person without religion, sure it teaches some good values, but I've seen enough Christian who talk a good talk, but when it comes time to do the right thing.........., they're only human I guess.

the mom manages two and a household...which is more than the ceo who just hands off to his lackeys...ceo who manages...hahahaha

You had me right up until the bible-thumping started.

JobSeeker:

Go back and look at the replies to your posts a long, long time ago.

I offered to help you possibly find a job. If you are still a "job seeker", let me know. I will do everything I possibly can to help you find a job...leading to a career...that will meet or better yet "exceed" your needs...

Did you follow up on the truck driving jobs in the energy production field I mentioned early on?

Maybe you are no longer a "job seeker", and if so....more power to you.

James Griffen,Loved your comments.

JobSeeker,

It's not a matter of jealous. it's matter of fairness for the amount of work they do. The CEO isn't doing the work of his 82,000 employees, you know. He's politicking to represent the company on behalf of their wealthy majority stockholders.

It would be news to me if any mother or parent, single or married, got paid to manage their children -- of which is a full-time job in itself, 24/7 when the children are even younger. I've worked with CEO's before, and their jobs aren't that strenuous or demanding compared to an underpaid, working parent.

In 2011, the last year for which full details are available, Tillerson of Exxon Mobil received compensation worth $25.2 million. And the top CEO pay equals 3,489 years for a typical worker. Is any CEO worth that much pay? Or even a hundred years of a skilled laborer's pay, in just one year's time?

Where does this absurdly growing wealth gap, stop? When is enough, enough? This gap -- as even Warren Buffet asserted -- undermines our democracy and distorts our economy.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500395_162-57441492/top-ceo-pay-equals-3489-years-for-typical-worker/

Well stated, agree 100%

Most of these posters have no experience running a business. They think that if you own a business you are rich. CEO'S that make large amounts of money also employe people who make large amounts of money.

Alot of these people do not work with people that make lots of money, most of them have education and skills. where the minimum wage people have none of eather.

lastly anybody who thinks raising wages will not increase the cost of products on the middle class is dillusional! business work on profit based on a mark up of whole sale cost. If a product cost more to make it will cost more to sell , just a fact for all those who think a 40%increase in labor will not increase the price of goods and the 5,000 per year for Obamas health insurance will not increase unemployment. Must be a low information voter

Make no mistake Obama needs and wants everybody to be dependent on the government . he has to create more and more low information voters!

Look I started out in the 1980's earning minimum wage, worked hard, no freebies, paid y way through school by busting my but. I am from a working poor family, had nothing and appreciate everything I have now. After 17 years of working hard, making calculated risks I moved up and now make 6 figures and I earn every penny I have. I am so sick of the "rich this rich that". I am well off and I earned it by taking chances, by not settling or trying to get by. America is not about giving crap to people or taking others things. Even Bill Gates made his money by risk taking and being a hard charger. My money is just that, mine, not yours to take. That is the definition of socialism. As I served in the military and lived overseas I know what real poverty is. Poverty here is a joke. Most poor people have a place to live, cell phones and many cars and playstations, I know because my daughter has many "poor" friends. Business people (including all but a handful) agree raising minimum wage will force employers to lay folks off. Most people only make minimum wage for short periods of time. Inflation is rampant and thats what makes 8-10 dollars an hour worth nothing, and the fed printing money by the billions every day is making the dollar worth less. For gods sake stop telling me I am evil because I worked my butt off, took huge risks and worked myself into a good lifestyle. I pay 30K plus in federal taxes and lots more in state. Enough already with the rich crap...

Shawn3179

If everything you said about a minimum wage worker is true, then you most certainly must be an illegal because your spelling, grammar, and punctuation don't even qualify you to make half as much. Open mouth, inserted partisan talking point stupidity!

4th Down.....Is that all you got? Kind of an empty-headed response. I'll tell you what I do. I work as a contract chemical engineer which pays about 40% more than a direct-hired engineer. I currently work in the nuclear industry and that pays even better.

To the rest of you who actually presented thoughtful responses, the bottom line is minimum wage was never meant to be a "living wage", just as social security was never meant to be a retirement account. If that is all a person depends on, he or she is in for a rough life. Get better skills or work more than one job.

GovHater...please check your grammar.

"Open mouth, inserted partisan talking point stupidity!"

inserted should be insert....

Are you an "illegal because your spelling, grammar, and punctuation don't even qualify you to make half as much."

Physician heal thyself

In fairness, not all Republicans were in favor of the bail outs, which is also where some of the momentum in the tea party started, up until the Kotch Brothers, Dick Army, and others joined forces in it all, and arguably also helped to shape the direction of some things....

What I haven't heard as much mention to however was the actions of Ben Bernake. And whereas the $1.2 trillion bail out did draw some critisism, haven't heard much critisism of the $16 trillion bail out, in the form of quantitative easing (QEC 1 and 2, and now we're talking a QEC 3), with the attendent effects this, and near 0% interest has on investments... But of course the banks get the money first, and people see their investments without the return on it, and an inflation rate, go south...

It seems presidents get a lot of attention, be it Obama, Bush, or whoever; Congress less so, even though the powers in financial affairs fall more to Congress if one looked at Article 1, Section 10 of the US Constitution and elsewhere, for the branches respective power grants, and to the fed, hardly to noot at all....

Typical comment of an uneducated and stupid dimwit.

I can't even call you a liberal since liberals are typically better educated.

lol, yeah that easy, it's simple just throw more money at the problem.

Hmm...boost the economy by raising the hourly wage? As stated above only 2.5% of Americans will be affected by this. They aren't the group that will give the economy a boost as their buying power (even with this) is so little that it won't even be a blip. Not against the bump in wage -- just pointing out that was a poor comment.

trickle - I don't think you quite have it right either - though you did say that you would agree with an increase...so your intentions are not to keep others down or just make yourself richer...

Discussing CONSUMERS:

The multiplier for an increase in wages for the poor is much higher - as they spend every dime made in the economy. It is not just the number of people, but how many will spend what they earn and turn it back into inventory turnover and growth.

The super rich will not change their personal purchasing habits if they earn more because they already spend at high levels. Give them more and they will not spend more here in the USA - they might buy another house in Tuscany.... a lot of good that does our situation.

You need stronger consumers to energize the economy. If no one has the money to buy anything, business owners will sell a lot less...

trickle how many people make $7.35 per hour? That is something your low ball 2.5% overlooks. When I worked for a big retailer I got a ten cent per hour raise after a year just like everybody else in the store. Walmart is famous for giving nickle and dime raises to people that have been there for a year. Why don't you figure up how many people will get a raise if the minimum wage goes to $9.00 per hour and get back to us. I am willing to bet it will be at least 15%

There is a ripple effect. When minimum wage goes up, almost everybody else's wage goes up also. Consumer spending goes up across the board. The increase in consumption leads employers to have to hire more people to keep up with the demand. An increase in minimum wage will create jobs.

Just how will my wages go up if the minimun goes up? Instead, I will soon be at the minimum because I haven't gotten a raise in years and years, while the minimum has kept going higher. That's not fair to us who are a little above minimum, get no govt benefits and get further behind by a rising minimum, relatively speaking, while the cost of living has doubled.

Moron's up top tonight!

I was a Republican UNTIL I realized I had to be a bigot too.

The Republican Party is a failure.

The multiplier for an increase in wages for the poor is much higher - as they spend every dime made in the economy. It is not just the number of people, but how many will spend what they earn and turn it back into inventory turnover and growth.

That same multiplier effect is actually doing something else; something no one has yet mentioned here or elsewhere:

As the wages on the entire bottom quartile will rise to some degree because of an increase in the minimum, there is a real (maybe temporary) and small reduction in the wage/wealth gap. The increased spending, which is guaranteed by this increase will, for awhile stimulate demand, which has a lagging influence on hiring as a result of that higher demand. All of this remains temporary, because economic policy still favors concentration of wealth, but it would give a current-day example of how a rising standard of living for all is actually the only sustainable state for a healthy consumer-based economy.

Why shouldn't I get a raise too? Instead, as the minimum rises, I get lower pay in relative comparison. Just more liberal favortism for a select few, (who already get government benefits I don't get) and don't care about the rest.

So, Tobyboy, You are happy as a result of knowing that there are those "under you" who suffer? Or is it that your frail ego is inflamed by losing distance compared to those on the bottom? How does the increase for anyone else affect your pay or your current standard of living? DO you really not see that less poverty, less suffering and less instability in your community are GOOD for you as well?

Maybe you are proud in a schadenfreude way, but just smart enough not to admit to it...

Suck reality? 3.6 million workers...that is a huge amount of people. Now they don't make up...say...47% of the population....but 3.6 million people getting a raise shouldn't bankrupt corporate America either ...should it?

And as I commented above, what is the ripple effect for those making a little over the minimum wage? Do the folks now making $9-10/hour just sit back and congratulate the new hire that makes as much as he does? I doubt it. How many more than 3.5 million are truly effected? I would contend the government could do better for the American worker by creating incentives to produce manufacturing jobs in this country.

Kevin- It's not corporate America that will be affected so much as Mom-n-Pop operations. The small businesses with less than 50 people will be hurt the most, and they make up a huge chunk of the workforce. Ironically, these are the same workers that will now have to buy their own health insurance under Obamacare, which I guarantee is going to cost them more than any potential wage increase. As usual, the small guy gets the shaft, but big business will be fine.

It amazes me the thinking here and at the capital. Let us raise the minimum wage and then all will be better BUT all of us will pay more for goods and services. It is like the government print more money and all will be good. but hat is why prices have risen in the last 4 years, the more paper money there is the less it is worth. Is that so hard to see?? if you wish to be rich then be like the Mexican cartel and screw over the people and your dream will come true. But raising the minimum wage by that much will only add to inflation.

Rocky, you're paying more for goods and services already because the price of gas went up. Minimum wage stayed the same. The cost of gas has much more effect on the cost of goods and services than the cost of labor. You won't feel a two dollar minimum wage increase near as much as you'd feel a two dollar increase in the price of gas.

most business's won't do that, it's a good thought, but the business will pass that down to the consumer, plus laying a few people off to offset the increase, not saying it's right, but it will do more damage than help.

what goes around comes around if they layoff workers as a offset while the demand for product is increasing it would not be smart business and a hit on their UI insurance expense at the same time

Most of the corporate businesses that would hire at minimum wage (such as McDonalds and whatnot) are operated by a franchise owner/operator/general manager. And they generally are expected to maintain and expand profits. If increasing the minimum wage threatens that, then what will they do? Either decrease product quality (cheaper beef), raise prices (inflation), or lay off workers. Also makes it harder for unskilled labor - such as teenagers - to get a job. You're right that the economy needs consumer spending, but money has to come from somewhere. It's worth looking into the side-effects before jumping on board the bandwagon.

As stated above...this only affects 2.5% of the population. This will not even be a blip on the radar of the economy.

I majored in Business and desided i did not like it and went into mechanical engineering. Franchise contracts can be rewritten just like a Mortage. American factories are FULL of workers both skilled and not skilled making only min. to $8 an hour and the reason is the economy is too slow and it shows in product demand.

the fast food houses have taken a hit also and have been trying to cheapen the meal offers for past 6 years intensly. Wallmart food is curently chalenging CUB in a recent comercial as cub has raised its meat price above the restuarant prices. BUT they give .05 cent a gallon rewards at SA so what are they selling goods or gimic's?

Yea i look at the WHOLE picture and wonder what or who pay's for the gimic managment? OMG is it us comsumers? answer me this folk's is the reward card any different then a APR on your spending. or a holding of some extra you paid and giving you SOME back at a sister store?

think about the whole way they ALL have you "doing it their way" as apossed to burger kin's have it your way

Do any of the posters here even graduated from high school. Think about a 5,900 increase per employee in wages and 5,000 for Obama care per year. that is $545,000 per years in additional expense that will be passed on to the middle class as increased cost. Thus lowering the products purchased by a even larger segment of society.

you did not read my post did you? what it deals the companies for the minimum wage employies is a $96 dollar a week increase so if $400 a month increase for their 2 temp workers will bankrupt them they can't be very stable. if minimum wage workers are 2% of the workforce for example it is expected that a company with a 100 workers may have two on the average.

here it is at 7.75 the high min. it comes to 16,120 gross and 11.284 net after taxes MN. so LETS KEEP THEM IN THE POVERTY RANGE AND SKIPPING OUT ON THE RENT EACH YEAR. OR LINING CHEAPLY IN THE SLUMS OR COOP DRUG HOUSES. THEY ARE MOSTLY OUR YOUNG ONES. aMERICAS OWN POOR

2013 POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR THE 48 CONTIGUOUS STATES
AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Persons in family/household Poverty guideline

1
$11,490

I guess it's hard to understand because raising the minimum wage has never led to an increase in unemployment before....and wouldn't now either.

Wages are the cost of doing business.....doesn't a business write this off in taxes already?

brn:

Price floors create surpluses

So do demand floors, unless there are folks who choose to ignore them.

Does supply equal demand, or does demand equal supply?

My suggestion is that in this economic foundation and climate, neither is true.

No one has produced any data that supports the "conventional wisdom" that increasing the miinimum wage leads to unemployment. The facts are that most minimum wage employees are in the service sector, and most companies do not hire more people than they need just because they are cheap. If you are upset because so many people don't pay federal taxes and benefit from food stamps and Medicaid, wouldn't you want to increase their income to a living wage? Would you prefer they stay on the taxpayers' bill or on Walmart's?

Dionysus - I'm no tax expert, but I'm pretty sure the answer to that is no.

Kevin D: take a look at the scattergram at Economonitor's blog for 2013/02 - look under minimum-wage-and-unemployment . . . sorry, this board won't accept a pasted URL, I did try :) There are a number of adjustments I think one should make to the chart, not least the way the Federal minimum wage overrides State law. Without the actual data, it's not possible to recalculate the r2 using "effective" minimum wages for those states but it's evident that the r2 goes up substantially. One would wonder why those states set a minimum wage that they can't enforce; perhaps it's to make the point to structurally unemployed people that "the state has tried to make them employable but the Federal government demanded that their positions be offshored on cost grounds". The original poster is clearly correct that - unless Obama and his goons have repealed basic economic reality - a hike in minimum wage will cost tens of thousands of people, perhaps hundreds of thousands, their jobs. Call me crazy but could that just be part of a wider plan to render decent hardworking people dependent on Federal handouts?

No, it won't create unemployment.That's been said, every time minimum wage was increased and it's never happened. Businesses don't just hire people because they can afford to. They hire people because they need work done.

Brilliant!

That's where you went wrong; any job of that nature should be flat-rate, not hourly... IOW, "I'll pay you $5 to rake my yard"

I did lawn care as a kid. Flat rate, every two weeks. You have to work hard. The first couple of times, which creates a good impression for the customer. After that they quit checking on you. Then, when you get the grass trained and the weeds really eradicated, it becomes quick and easy. I made a lot more than minimum wage.

I agree: And, if people don't like being trickled on let them get a life jacket. "Blessed are the rich for all good things flow from them: But, woe unto the poor for they are all a bunch of worthless bums who want something for nothing. See that you help them not!"

I forgot who said the above but, many seem to think it is the American Christian creed. Rush Limbaugh has two favorite sayings; Profit is the only pure motive and compound interest is the greatest power on earth. We can continue to live that way and soon we will see the deadly disaster that is created.

How are they screwing their employees?

Everybody needs money. It's the way the goods and services are purchased in a modern economy.

They don't even pay their employees minimum wage. They expect them to live on tips. Then taxes are withheld from their paychecks for some guesstimate of what those tips should have been. Sometimes they don't even get a paycheck, it all goes to taxes. I don't know what this restaurant guy is bitching about. He doesn't pay any wages anyway.

I love it when people that have never run a business act like they are experts and know everything about it.

#1. Anything regarding compensation should be in the employment contract that you sign. So you know what you're walking into

#2. Unless you're a contract employee, you're hired "at will" which means you can walk anytime.

Somehow, I don't see how anyone is screwing anybody here.

Based on the quality of service received in most of the fast food establishments, I hardly think these worker are worth the $7.25/hr they receive now. Give them a raise to over $10.00 an hour.... what a joke. I don't even patronize fast food establishments anymore due to the laziness and incompetence of the employees.

Has it ever occured to you that you get what you pay for?

and I say it's a damn good thing you're not running the show.

If Battleon has a good business model, why not pay that well?

Compare Costco to WalMart - which place would you want to work?

I say $100/ hour.

You should not have majored in art history.

UUUhhhhhm, never went to bed hungry I bet, unless you wanted to!

correct

bulldog,Earning a college degree does not make you skilled.I have no degree,worked 30 years at the telephone company,17 of them in a technical job and have skills up the wazoo.A certificate from a trade school teaches you skills.Learning on the job teaches you skills.Going to college makes you educated above the 12th grade in the U.S.You are no doubt skilled at studying,taking tests and writing papers on subjects.

Not much of a Bulldog!

When I got back from Korea I was in college for a degree in Industrial Engineering. About half way thru the grads couldn't get employed, almost all the jobs were going to Japan. I started getting offers to go to work IN Japan for Japanes companies. Was in and out of Japan more than once, dicided no Japan!

Joined the OPERATING ENGINEERS, now retired with my $3.000.00 a month DEFINED pension plan and $1,445.00 SS. Lets see? Thats come out to $4,445.00 a month. I'm so glad I was stupid enough to be a UNION man.

Smeekers: You are exactly right: We should cut the minimum wage to $2 and hour. Let more poor die off! The way some of these people act you would think they were our brothers and sisters or something.

Also, the rich should only associate with their own kind and keep everything in the family.

Congrats on failing econ 101.

#1: We don't need higher demand. We need more productivity. The reason we're in this mess is because we consume more than we produce.

#2: Higher wage for the same productivity means higher inflation. So the purchasing power ins't increased.

#3: The only way to go from poor to reach on a consistent basis is to save and invest more of what you earned, not to spend it.

If the higher minimum wage is better, why not make it $100/ hour?

I don't what kind of community college you took economics 101 in, but you're out of touch on points one and two. Productivity has been going through the roof for quite awhile now, and the average worker has seen little of the gains. On point #3, good observation but the "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" fantasy has been on the unrealistic side for awhile, too.

Higher gas prices cause inflation. Raising minimum wage has never increased costs of goods and it never will. That's just the usual fear mongering, which anyone who has lived through a few minimum wage increases knows is a lie. It doesn't cause inflation or unemployment, either one. The corporate mouthpeices say that, every time and it has never happened yet.

I used to believe in the tooth fairy, just like you apparently still do. We all want the best for the country, some are just rather more pragmatic about how to get there. Democrat leaders promise "the people" the moon and wait for the Republicans to tell the people that is just not possible. Not surprisingly, some people love to believe that the Democats tell the truth when they make these absurd promises.

The wage is determined by how the market values your productivity, not by you, or by me, or by some guy in DC.

You don't get a wage, you earn it.

If the Democrats are so eager to raise the wages

of the people that dropped out of school,got

pregnant at 16,all they have to do,is pass a bill

that eliminates the SS tax on their wages,that is

an automatic .46 cents an hour,second eliminate

the same amount the employer pays,so

it can be given to the workers,another .46,just that

raises the min wage by almost $1.00 per hr.

The reason they don't-- 3.6 million workers X .92

cents an hour equals about 132 MILLION a week in

taxes!! They want the workers wages increased,but

at the expense of small business,NOT GOVERNMENT.

RASPUTIN,

Liberals like you don't understand how many

small businesses struggle,you're great giving

away other peoples money away,chances are

you're a government employee that takes taxpayer

money and does little to earn it! try running a business

you'd have a far different outlook.

Small businesses can not afford a pay increase like this. If it happens, A LOT OF MINIMUM WAGE PEOPLE WILL GET FIRED.

Bad Robot:

Not a good way to create jobs

And your suggestion to do so would be?

Take the billions of dollars they gave the banks and give it to small business to invest in their companies.

Take all the money we give to the professional welfare people away and give it to the companies to be able to pay more. Prices will just go up anyway to cover the cost of paying employees more!!!

Except the banks paid the government back already, with interest.

um, AIG and Goldman and Citibank all owe 30+ % of their debt still lloyd. The far right talking point is a lie. They also still owe damages to the people whose lives they ruined.

Deborah, if a CEO complains about making 9.2 million instead of 10 million, he/she has no morals and isn't worth that much money in the first place. Prices don't have to go up assuming businessmen grow a pair.

A companies success is measured by its bottom line. In order to keep the bottom line the same when a wage increase is mandated, prices would have to increase as well. So the dollar menu at McDonalds will now be the 1.38 menu. .38 cents on the dollar can add up through the year.

a company's success is measured by its bottom line? What lunacy! A company's worth should be measured on what it contributes to society and the economy. McDonalds is not worth multiple billion dollars. MICROSOFT IS!

So your going to invest your life savings into a company which breaks even every year because it contributes to society or the company which millions of billions of dollars every because they provide a product which 90% of americans want? IT doesnt matter what you think they should be measured, the fact is they are measure by the bottom line and profitability.

And I am sure this is another political ploy to strengthen one parties position against the other. When it doesn't pass the democrats can say again, we tried to help you but the republicans shot us down.

and that's why man lost his way. And I would rather invest in the company which contributes to the betterment of society. A camel has an easier time getting through the eye of a sewing needle than a rich man does of going to heaven. Sorry but profits are not everything. Slave labor companies such as wal mart and mcdonalds should frankly be thrown out of business by a moral populace, but I guess pure capitalists have no morals.

I dont disagree that american society is in a rut with its morals, but I dont think eliminating capitalism is the answer. It didnt work in russia and it wont work here. Your asking people to be moral when the leaders who make our decisions in the public eye are far from moral themselves.

you do know russia only failed because we intervened from the outside and sanctioned them and put pressure on then European countries to not sell to or buy from them right?

I'm not asking for the end of capitalism, just cronie capitalism.