JW

Take a bowl and fill it full of water. (The water represents the gross national product or all the money in the nation.

The idea of minimum wage is to take a tablespoon of water from one side of the bowl and put it on the other side. (Take it from the employers and give it to the employees.)

Those who support minimum wage believe that there will be a difference in the height of the water on the one side as opposed to the other.

larrypuckett1939

GREAT EXPLANATION!!

jelun

You want to tell us where you got the idea that those of us who support the minimum wage ever thought of it in those simplistic terms?
We believe that employers will take up the wage slack now handled by the US taxpayer.
We believe that people should be able to give their children lunch money rather than have their neighbors buy school lunches for the community.
We believe that people should earn enough to pay their rent.
We believe that a high tide raises all boats.
I believe that there is no point in earning more money in one year than one can spend in a lifetime.

MarksDaman Loc: USA

Since 1938 the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times and we have survived them all.
Every year for the last 75 years GDP has increased.
Someone that works a full time job should not need public assistance to feed their family.

bylm1-Bernie

You may believe that, Jelun, but the minimum wage isn't going to solve any of those problems. The purveyors of this minimum wage nonsense simply do not have a grasp of economics. There is not enough space or time here to proffer an economics lesson but I would advise that you do a little research on it from BOTH sides of the fence and you will arrive at a different conclusion.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

It would be even better, if employers didn't have to pay ANYTHING to employees. That way, they'd have more money to, well, do wh**ever they wanted. Now, the GDP would still be the same, as it isn't based on employee pay, or employer profits.

Most people assume that when an employer was doing good, they'd pass on some of the success to their employees, in the form of raises or increased benefits - but that doesn't happen anymore. The hardest hit, by payroll, taxes and regulation - are the small business - who don't have a lobbying arm.

The wealthiest companies DO pass on some of their success - to top management - who are making more, as a percentage of company income, than ever in history. So, I ask you, why is it that any shortfalls, or budget crunches - are always solved by taking away from the least expensive employees - instead of the MOST expensive? I think the answer can be found by the behavior of the wall street banks. They screwed up by screwing their customers, the tax payers bailed them out - and they paid themselves record breaking bonuses with our money - and the Government let them do it.

PeterS

So your assertion is that GNP doesn't grow. Very bright. I assume you are a conservative.

Pulfnick Loc: Knoxville, TN

Your analogy is good, but needs a tweak to be perfect. The needed correction: the level of the bowl will be incrementally lower after doing that, because of the inefficiency of some water wetting the spoon and thus being removed from the bowl. Just like any minimum wage forces an inefficiency into our economy as employers are forced to react to the difference between the value of the employee and the minimum wage being paid.

hprinze Loc: Central Florida

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Wages are private business agreements between employees and employers.

Government has no lawful, constitutional authority to meddle in those private business agreements

Tasine Loc: Southwest US

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And WE conservatives believe every individual has the responsibility of leading his life in a fashion that will benefit him and his family. He should not impregnate any woman until he KNOWS he can provide for the baby's and the woman's needs. To do otherwise is stupidity on steroids. Your life is yours to lead, to support, to care for. My life is mine to lead, to support, to care for. If you get hurt, I will help you.........IF you had been a productive person before your injury. IOW, I will cheerfully assist you get back on your feet. IF government helps you, it gives you some of my money and it hamstrings you from getting back on the job or from progressing. Minimum wage is a s**m, don't you get it? Minimum wage increases is ONE BIG FACTOR in our inflation. Every time thousands of people get a raise, ESPECIALLY a legal mandatory raise, the cost of everything goes up to cover the additional cost. Those rises in costs ALSO magically affect the minimum wage earner.

I know you don't see what I am saying. So let me put it this way (if I have made any mistakes in my multiplication, please advise.....it was done hurriedly,and I think you will find the revised amount also enormous):

Minimum wage goes from $3.00/hr to $5.00/hr

Let's suppose there are 500,000 minimum wage earners in the US

This $2.00/hour wage increase alone amounts to an extra
$1,000,000.00 being paid every hour of work. A 20 hour work week pays out an extra $20,000,000.00

Employers cannot take this hit without raising prices......so, for instance, a hamburger will rise from $2.00 to $2.25. So if I sell 50 burgers/day, I will take in an extra $112.50. This means every American can expect to pay more for a hamburger, INCLUDING all the people on minimum wage.

All the people who maintain the trucks who deliver the food currently on minimum wage will also get the raise - and they will also have to pay the higher cost for the burger.

Every business in America will raise costs in order to comply with "THE LAW", and every one of those on minimum wage will feel the rise in cost, and the minimum wage increase they so valiantly "won" has done them as much harm as good.

That's life, l*****ts. That's how the world works, l*****ts. That's economics, l*****ts. You can whine till hell freezes over, but that is how things work, and that is why people should be encouraged to always be bettering themselves. It is a lousy idea to think you can always do the same thing, never improving, always just h*****g around and MAKE IT IN THIS LIFE. Government entangled in the private sector is a murderous policy, and conservatives KNOW it and are almost always opposed to any government interference because it is bad for business and bad for individuals, both wealthy and poor.

She Wolf Loc: Currently Georgia

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Trooper745 Loc: Carolina

I would bet that in about 60 to 80% of the cases of people on welfare of some type, they have an automobile, home air-conditioning, at least one TV, video games for the children, money for cigarettes and alcohol and other non-necessities, .... they aren't really poor, .... they're just too stupid and/or ignorant to properly handle money.

They have all those conveniences BECAUSE the working taxpayers are paying for their rent, food and other necessities. We also get to pay for each of them to have one, or more, obamaphones. It pisses me off to see some fat assed b***h paying for her groceries with a SNAP card, and her 9 year old chubby son pushing the grocery cart is sporting a new pair of $125.00 Nike Zoom Hyperfuse shoes.

Tasine Loc: Southwest US

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And texting on a $200.00 cell phone and has a recent manicure.

JW

I never thought you had understood it in those terms. I'm explaining how economics works in the simplest terms I can.

Employers don't determine what a job is worth, customers do.

Raise wages and goods pricing must increase. Prices increase and customer base shrinks. Customer base shrinks and fewer employees can be paid. See what happens? The full level never changes and it very quickly returns to the same level it was at before. Minimum wage is an illusion. The only thing it does is reduce the buying power of money.

Tasine Loc: Southwest US

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Truer words have never been spoken re economics or minimum wage. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: