What SHOULD the minimum wage be?

[Philosoraptor]

For legal citizens that is. What's a good dollar figure for a struggling family or single person busting their ass to feed their kids?

[redqueen]

1. kind of depends on the living expenses wherever they are...

should be indexed to local housing costs, food costs, etc.

[liberaldemocrat7]

13. We should set the minimum wage to $10 an hour.

I made $10 an hour 30 years ago. Today this would just allow someone to live with some amount of purchasing power.




Do you want to help enact a $10 an hour minimum wage?

Can you write a one line letter? Sure you can.

Send a one line letter to Representative John Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell.

Either you get your Republican party to enact a $10 an hour minimum wage by Dec. 2007, and until you do, we will not go to the following restaurants and GOP contributors Wendy's, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Dominos Pizza who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money .

[papau]

23. I agree - with $12.00 within 5 miles of any urban area over 100,000 in population.

n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. If you work forty hours a week...

Your income should be equal to or greater than the poverty line.

[Mark_Pogue]

5. A fair analysis!!

[slick8790]

18. Agreed.

I think a national minimum wage is too broad to be as effective as it could be. Vary it by living costs in individual states. There's a fine line between giving good wages and hurting some small businesses. it sucks, but that's the shit economy we have. I've always thought corporations of a certain size should have to pay a higher minimum wage than small buisinesses. But knowing the corporate lawyers we have these days, they'd find some way to get around that.

[Totally Committed]

3. $10 - $15 per hour + benefits (health insurance, daycare vouchers)

TC

[Philosoraptor]

4. That's what I'm thinking.

[Phredicles]

10. Great point - I was thinking $12, but

the other essentials you mention slipped my mind. And they are essential.

[blondeatlast]

12. I like it. nt

[gravity]

31. That could make things worst

Not everyone is worth $15 dollars + benefits on the market, so they won't be able to get hired and have a job in the first place.

I think that having more effective social programs like welfare, universal health care, and public daycare could fix the problems better than forcing the private sector to do it all.

[EST]

6. No less that one thirtieth of the CEO's pay, all things included.

[HardRocker05]

30. i think taxes should be tied to management-to-employee compensation too. nt.

[texastoast]

7. $15/hour

When minimum wage was $1.25 an hour, gas was $.25 a gallon.

Based on that, $15 would be fair.

[ThomWV]

8. Poverty Level +$1 divided by 2000 hours per year

A person should be able to live at least slightly above the poverty level if they work full time. It is generally considered that there are 2,080 house in a working year. So it becomes (Pl+1)/2000 to give just a slight bust above Pl(Poverty Level).

[theoldman]

9. I think that $10 an hour has been estimated to be a minimum.

A single person can live on $10 an hour in most states. My wife and I live on $15 an hour and we are well above the poverty level.

[gatorboy]

11. Yeah, but yer OLD.

You get all the discounts.

[guitar man]

14. at least housing wage

for your state. Here in Oklahoma, according to these folks, it should be at least $10.55 an hour. Good luck getting it here :eyes:

http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2005/

[anakie]

15. In Australia

it is AUD13,47 per hour. Plus access to that little extra called universal health care.

Peace

[blues90]

16. $12 per hour plus benefits

[elehhhhna]

17. It costs about $200. per day to "keep" a prisoner incarcerated.

So $199.00 per day sounds like a deal.

WHile we're at it let's replaace payroll taxes with carbon taxes on corporations--a revenue neutral solution and immediiate jobs & economy booster.

[ileus]

19. Let the market decide wages.

[JANdad]

20. How's that workin' out for ya?

If it were up to my boss...there would be NO minimum wage...

[TahitiNut]

21. Then abolish "right to work" laws.

... and criminalize collaboration on wages and salaries by such organizations as NAM.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

24. That's like letting the market decide private property by abolishing the police. Mad Max world. -nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

32. Let the workers decide wages.

[gravity]

34. The workers can decide the wages now

It all depends on the markets for labor, which vary in different regions across the country.

If there is low unemployment for unskilled labor, then the worker has bargaining power and will force businesses to raise wages.

The problem is if there is high unemployment for unskilled labor, then the businesses have the bargaining power and can set the wages low, since they know that someone will take their job offer.

[Bitwit1234]

22. at least 10 dollars an hour.

[proud patriot]

25. 10 bucks an hr is a good start IMO

:hi:

[Stop Cornyn]

26. Probably about 10% of the maximum wage.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

27. I don't think a maximum wage is enforceable.

There's 87,156,987,435,697,234 different ways a company could give perks to its executives. Forcing them to spend more at the botom is IMHO enough to curb their spending at the top.

[Stop Cornyn]

33. I'd be willing to try with the use of a very progressive tax system.

[gravity]

28. Raising the minimum wage too high can cause unemployment

An employer is only going to higher someone if they could make a return on their investment. If minimum wage is set to $15 an hour, but you only produce $10 an hour worth of work, you aren't gonna get hired. I'm not against a minimum wage, but there needs to be a balance so that both businesses and employees both get a fair deal.

Instead of pegging a minimum wage for a single person with a family, they should receive welfare and universal health coverage on top of what they are making.

The problem is that a married person with no kids and a single parent have completely different living wages. Government services could make sure that everyone can receive a living wage that is equitable to all, and lift some of the burden on businesses.

[RB TexLa]

29. Federal: $8.00 and let states, cities, parishes set them higher if they wish

[taught_me_patience]

35. Federal: $6.50

Anything more would be harmful to small business.

[JANdad]

38. How do you figure that?

[Oeditpus Rex]

36. In terms of purchasing power

the $2.50 minimum wage of 1974 works out to something like $10.71 now.

I did the math awhile back.

[Alexander]

37. $10/hr, adjusted for inflation, with free health care.

And quite possibly salary caps for large corporations - ie, a CEO can't make more than 300 times what the lowest-paid worker makes.

[pitohui]

39. at least 10 an hour, probably more

and all those who whined about how it destroys the economy to pay a fair wage, interesting how in this area after katrina when wages went from $5 and change an hour to over $10 an hour, the economy did not crash, and we all buy food and clothes and gas and all the other shit just as well as we did when the persons selling it were paid slave wages -- interesting, that, seems like maybe people could have been paid fairly all along but instead it went into some corporate pocket and was whisked out of the city?


on edit -- of course the $10 an hour assumes the person receives full traditional benefits including health insurance and two week's paid vacation, if there are no/reduced benefits the pay needs to be quite a bit higher