Why won't they raise the minimum wage?

[Philosoraptor]

It should be at LEAST $10 an hour, that's a wage you could actually starve on. A person can't even starve decently on the current minimum wage.

Millionaires deciding the minimum legal amount you can have for your labor. It's not right.

They should try to live on the current minimum wage for a while and only then would they understand how it feels out here in labor land.

[rfranklin]

1. Because you are already overpaid....I can get someone from Mexico...

to do your job for half of what you get. Don't you understand the free market? The invisible hand?

[LostinVA]

7. This has nothing to do with so-called "Illegals"

The minimum wage has been stagnant for decades, long before the current scare tactic du jour.

Bring back Unions and watch the wage go up. It should be at least $12-14 dollars.

[corporate_mike]

21. Minimum wage is meaningless if illegals are willing to work for $6-7/hr

[Bridget Burke]

26. True workers' rights would involve minimum wage for ALL workers.

But bitching about "illegals" while the system does NOT change is the ideal Corporate solution.

[corporate_mike]

27. are all illegals paid minimum wage now?

of course not.

How would that change if you raised the minimum wage to $15/hr?

[Bridget Burke]

28. I said ALL workers.

And that involves making "illegal" workers legal.

Yes, I know that is not the favored Corporate opinion.

[corporate_mike]

30. The reason employers hire illegals is to pay them less and not pay taxes

So as long as illegals are willing to work for less than minimum wage, raising the limit is meaningless.

[Bridget Burke]

32. Thanks for the Corporate opinion!

Ever reliable.

[greekspeak]

2. I think it is part of a feudalization project

Along with keeping the common people poor and in debt, the rich and powerful teach Americans that using the brain is a bad thing. They brainwash Americans with all sorts of nonsense on the radio. They prop up a fundamentalist religion that supports the mental and monetary impoverishment of Americans, one that demands allegience not just to an angry, warlike god, but an angry, war like nation-state. While doing this, the rich and powerful are raking money and benefits into their pockets, and then running to their gated communities like feudal landlords of yore.

[jojo54]

3. Because * is trying to eliminate the middle class.

So, he sucks the asses of big corporate business, puts our states's finances in jeopardy and makes decent, affordable healthcare out of reach for almost half of this countries' people. When the going got tough and people were in dire staits, Big Dog answered the call. Bush sits there holding his oil stocks, laughing all the way to the bank.

Pretty damn disgusting, isn't it?

[Mandate My Ass]

4. The third-worldization of the US has begun in earnest

Published on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 by the Agence France Presse

Millionaires Fill US Congress Halls

WASHINGTON - The US Congress, the domed bastion of democracy in the capital of capitalism, abounds with deep-pocketed politicians whose fortunes have made the legislative branch of government a millionaire's club.

In the 435-member House of Representatives, 123 elected officials earned at least one million dollars last year, according to recently released financial records made public each year.

Next door in the ornate Senate, whose blue-blooded pedigree includes a Kennedy and a Rockefeller, one in three people are millionaires.

By comparison, less than one percent of Americans make seven-figure incomes.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0630-05.htm

Welcome to DU. Love your DU handle, BTW. :hi:

[oscar111]

6. TWA.. Third Worlding of America... new abbreviation

the goal of the GOP is to turn the usa into another copy of Mexico.


No middle class.

[Ciggies and coffee]

35. Why are we still at 435?

What has it been, around a century since the House stopped increasing seats to
correspond with population growth? I think that if our house had 1000 or 1200
members, which would match today's population, they would be closer to you and I since they each would represent a smaller group of constituents. And less dependent on the multinational corps.

Regarding the Senate, sometimes I really wonder what interests were behind the 17th amendment, and would we be better off today without it.

[oscar111]

5. They understand. They dont care.

they can see the homeless. They understand . They dont care.

Narcissism. Sadomasochism. Sociopaths. Lack of region L5 in the brain. Greed-sadism. Authoritarianism.

these explain the GOP leaders.

[Missy M]

8. I have read about representatives in Congress complaining.....

they have such a hard time living on their salary. They cry about the fact they have to have a residence in DC and their own district. I believe their salary is somewhere in the $160,000 range, not to mention the benefits. Let us see how many would run for Congress if they made minimum wage.

[Philosoraptor]

9. Minimum work should pay minimum wage

They'd cry themselves to death.

[Missy M]

12. We should also take their benefits away.......

see how they would cry if they had to pay for health insurance. I'm sure many minimum wage workers get no health insurance.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. I'm all for that! Maybe then they would allow the rest of us to have

the health insurance they make us pay for, for them. If its good enough for them, why isn't it good enough for those who are made to pay? Selfish bastards!

[sweetheart]

10. Read "the iron heel"

by jack london. In there, the protagonist makes a very eloquent explanation that answers your
question to a tee. He suggests that there are preferred classes of wage-worker, unions they
are willing to tolerate as much as they have them under control for fear of losing their
jobs. These classes are forever afraid of being disenfranchised to minimum wage... (most of DU).
The explanation of why this preferred class needs to exist (to keep the services running for
the rich), and why a powerful deterrent underclass is necessary to keep the pressure on this
service-class... so breaking the guy on the bottom is every part of the new kaptialist prison.

[HughBeaumont]

11. To keep the people slaves to the corporations until they DIE.

The words "retirement" and "pension" are soon to be antiquated. 40 and 50 year mortgages were recently introduced. The cost of just about EVERYthing is going up, while the proles are supposed to be happy with their $300 tax "refund". This Republican government is pro-Big Business all the way, and an increase in wage would eat into their precious profits, which they don't have enough of. People need to open their damned eyes in a hurry.

[Jayhawk Lib]

13. $10 an hour????

Why are you being so stingy???? It should be $20-$25 and hour. That would eliminate poverty, wouldn't it????

[nickshepDEM]

17. rofl

[godhatesrepublicans]

14. Don't you get it? The 19th Century socialists were right, ..

... the "robber barons" weren't some myth. Want a disturbing experience? Go find a copy of THE IRON HEEL by Jack "Call of the Wild" London on line and read a few dozen pages. It's like a road map to the future these Republican (and pro-Globalization Democrat) fools are building.

http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/IronHeel/

[sweetheart]

18. The book is a rich source

"The ownership of the world, along with the machines, lies between the trusts and labor. That is the battle alignment. Neither side wants the destruction of the machines. But each side wants to possess the machines. In this battle the middle class has no place. The middle class is a pygmy between two giants. Don't you see, you poor perishing middle class, you are caught between the upper and nether millstones, and even now has the grinding begun." -1906

[nickshepDEM]

16. $7.50 for adults. Training wage of $6.50 for teens and summer jobs.

And index those wages to inflation.

[Bill McBlueState]

25. It's the indexing to inflation

more than any specific dollar amount that is important. We should support legislation that annually raises the minimum wage by a percentage that is tied to the consumer price index. The fortunes of the working class shouldn't depend on the whims of rich lawmakers.

[Jayhawk Lib]

38. Those are poverty wages...

Nobody can live on $7.50 an hour. I know people on welfare who get more than that. If we are going to have a minimum wage law, lets make it where people who are drawing it are not still living in poverty.

If people have a choice between $7.50 an hour and welfare, guess which one they will take. There is not a doubt in my mind which one I would take.

[nickshepDEM]

39. Than we need stricter welfare to work laws.

Obviously the 1996 law didnt go far enough. Work should be a requirement on top of collecting a check from the state.

[Jayhawk Lib]

41. Let us raise the minimum

wage and let welfare die on the vine so to speak. If the minimum wage is high enough, people will find it much more profitable to work than go on welfare. Raise the minimum wage to $20.00 and hour and we will all prosper.

[brook]

19. When you're preoccupied

with holding your life together, you can't bother them.

[TahitiNut]

20. Primarily because it'd make Social Security look healthy again.

Remember, it's the "bottom 90%" whose low pay forms the projected 'shortfall' in Social Security funding. When the "top 10%" get a pay raise, it does NOTHING for OASDI. When the "bottom 90%" get a raise, then 100% of that raise increases the payroll tax base. Can't have that.

[johnnie]

22. The minimum wage is a tough subject

You have to keep in mind that the minimum wage will reflect on all wages. Within a short period of time there will be more in the lower class than in middle class. In my opinion, to high a minimum wage would wipe out a large portion of the middle class. The rich will always get richer and by raising the minimum wage too high would force the prices of product to go higher and then the middle class will be affected.

It's nice to think that employers would take a huge pay cut to cover the costs, but that is dreaming.

[W_HAMILTON]

29. "would force the prices of product to go higher"

THEY RAISE THE PRICES ANYWAY.

We already know what happens if we don't raise the minimum wage -- THEY RAISE PRICES.

That's a silly argument. I'd damn sure rather put that theory to work and see what happens, because we've been doing nothing about the problem and it sure as hell hasn't caused prices to drop.

[johnnie]

31. I wasn't talking about not raising minimum wage

The OP is asking why they don't raise it to at least $10 an hour. That would be an automatic increase of close to 5 dollars an hour. I didn't think I would have to give a class on basic economics, but I guess some people don't understand how all that works.

[W_HAMILTON]

33. He was just suggesting that

We've had debates on this subject before, and as sure as the sun rises, someone brings up the fact that employers will raise prices if you dare to touch the minimum wage, and make it sound as though that is reason enough not to raise it.

If you are in favor of raising the minimum wage, what do you think would be a fair wage then? If you raise it by $1/hour, do you think employers are going to raise all their prices to offset it?

[johnnie]

34. Yeah, they will raise it

Sorry I wasn't so clear on my first post. I personally think it needs to go up more than $1, but it would be something they would have to do on a percentage per year basis. Raising it by almost double in one full swipe would devastate the economy.

I think the people who make the big bucks in this country would never allow their income to get even dented by letting the working class have a little more of the pie, but that would be a whole other situation to control that and it won't happen. The costs of raising the minimum wage will be paid for by the middle class and we will have to accept a lower standard of living to be fair to the minimum wage workers.

When I read the OP about raising it to at least $10 an hour, all I saw was the middle class being trashed in the matter of a few short years. But yes, I am for raising it AT LEAST $1 in an incremented fashion.

[Alamom]

23. Oppression. n/t

[Bill McBlueState]

24. you've hit on exactly the reason

"Millionaires deciding the minimum legal amount you can have for your labor."

This is the heart of the problem. Almost nobody in any state or federal lawmaking body has any idea what it's like to actually live on minimum wage. As long as that's the case, increases in the minimum wage will always trail increases in the cost of living. Even with Democrats in power, we can only hope for that lag time to be reduced, not eliminated.

[porphyrian]

36. They don't care about you or I except for our hand in making them...

...more money. Raising wages means they pay out more money, so they're against it, despite how it may increase their profits in the long run.

[Ciggies and coffee]

37. How about the small business vs large business issue?

The mom and pop place has to raise the minimum wage but is hurt more-so than the multinational chain/franchise across the street, which can absorb it due to their lower costs in other areas (less quality, subsidies from corporate, economies of scale etc.).

[walldude]

46. Most "mom and pop" operations don't pay minimum wage

most small businesses are working people making a go at it themselves. They pay beyond the minimum wage, they know what it's like to struggle and they pay their employees a living wage. I get so sick of that "they'll have to raise prices" bullshit. Maybe instead of raising prices big businesses can give their CEO's 50 million dollar bonuses instead of 400 million dollar bonuses, gee you think that 350 million might cover some living wages for people? I wonder how horrible it might be for a retiring CEO to have to live on 50 million dollars instead of 400 million. It's a big sacrifice, I mean they may have to go without the golden toilet bowl on their lear jet. :eyes:

[LaPera]

40. Republicans will NEVER raise the min wage-they NEVER have-they NEVER will!

[Hidden Stillness]

42. Triple It; It Will Not Affect The (Excessive) Profits of Large Corp.s

If anyone were to suggest, "We should keep prices artificially low so poor people can afford to buy things," there would be the immediate hue-and-cry of "Socialism," or the "D"LC, Inc. response of smugly laughing at the little ignorant peons who do not deserve a chance to give an opinion. Yet here we live in a world that distorts the workplace by keeping a permanent, artificially low wage, that is not only a minimum wage but a maximum wage, as no individual is ever paid more than the "group bottom-number."

I remember having a (very short) conversation with the manager of a fast food place a few years ago, "crying poverty" and wanting the servants to make up for it, as usual. The thing began with the usual, "Do you have any idea what my profit margin is?" routine. I answered, "I hope it's low; as a matter of fact, I hope it's infinitesimal, because that's how the economy works. The economy is only strong when corporations are taxed high enough that they don't engage in risky investments, and don't have enough money to start moving their operations to other countries, so that they then start threatening employees here that if they don't take pay amd benefit cuts, the corporation will move. When corporations are heavily taxed, they support government programs that help us all, they only tend to re-invest in their own operations as proprietors, and not speculating all over, as global investors, bringing us all down. Further, the fact that corporations are making excessive profits means that the economy as a whole is not working; the general pool of money is not being distributed, and so the middle class suffers and the economy is hurt. Things are only helped when the employees share--not just you"--like that. The conversation was then over; I didn't even get an answer.

The "minimum" (actually maximum) wage should be tripled tomorrow, just for starters, or people will never be able to pay off their (hugely inflated) bills.

[Philosoraptor]

43. I agree, I don't think it'd somehow ruin the economy

But I'm no expert. No matter how you propose raising it, it always gets shot down with double talk, while mothers work two jobs and pay day care for two kids and have nothing left at the end of the month.

And look at what the CEO's of these companies make.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

45. I believe that the neocons are not raising minimum wages and

cutting financial aid for students so they can have an unofficial "economic" draft. They are putting millions of kids in the position where they have to join the military to either make a decent wage or accumulate money for college - both factors that the rich kids and their parents don't have to worry about.

As long as they keep the minimum wage artificially low and scale back Pell Grants, student loans, etc. you will always have a sizable pool of kids to use for cannon fodder in Chucklenuts' war.

[SoCalDem]

44. A Schwinn analogy..

If a Schwinn bicycle cost $50 to make (including well paid labor..here in the US) and it sold for $200, the company made $150..

BUT if Schwinn moves to say..mexico and can produce the same bike for $20 , and pile them into a truck and sell them in the US for $200, they made $180..

The people buying the bikes don't care where the bike was made...

If there was a tariff put into place that takes into account the lost jobs and spending power of the wages lost, the bike would probably cost about $500. Would you pay $500 for a $150 bike?

Perhaps a US competitor would think..Hmmmm.. Maybe I'll start building bikes HERE for $160, and can hire back the people who know how to build bikes..right here in the US..

As long as we are content to buy cheap stuff that used to be made here, we will continue our slide to the bottom