Does raising the minimum wage reduce poverty?

[Ray From Cleveland]

What did you expect people to do with 2000 people dying every day, and hospitals having to go to crisis protocols to decide who lives and who dies? Your medical system collapsed. Not only did thousands of hospital workers die or get sick, tens of thousands more, left the profession. You're going to have shortages of doctors and nurses for generations to come. Ditto other front line workers.

Furthermore, a vast swath of the economy was able to work remotely from home, and they received pretty much full wages throughout the pandemic, as did retirees and those on fixed incomes. With restaurants only open to take out, people stayed home, learned to cook, and used computers to shop when they could. Home owners did home repairs and renovations causing the price of lumber to shoot into the stratosphere, while gasoline was almost free since nobody was going anywhere.

Executive income is going to be completely rethought by the shareholders. Nobody is worth $20 million per year to run a burger chain.

This level of pay inequity only happens in the USA. Other countries don't give 80% of the income to the shareholders because other countries require corporations to pay a living wage, and provide universal, taxpayer funded health care for all.

Imagine that. Walmart in Canada pays $15 per hour and pays taxes to provide healthcare for all. Not only that but Walmart doesn't get to deny women abortions because they don't like abortions. Even the Catholic Church pays taxes for their employees to have birth control and abortions. It's up to the person what is covered, not their employer/.

Our workers don't get food stamps, or earned income credits. Low wage workers do get child tax credits. carbon tax rebates, and VAT rebates, but that's all done through Revenue Canada. Single seniors have a guaranteed income of $19,000 per year. All triggered by their income tax filings.

I was in the hospital for surgery at the end of September, no problems. Got the best care anybody could imagine. Our healthcare system is far from collapsed, especially since the courts stopped that Nazi President of ours from mandating the shot or lose your job in the medical field.

What an employee is worth is determined by the employer. If they believe a CEO is worth 20 million, then there is a reason for that. Is an actress worth 10 million to do one movie? Is a musician worth 40K a night to play concerts? Why is a star baseball pitcher worth 7 million a year? The answer to all these questions is because of their talents, they bring in more money from the company than they are paid. If a CEO is paid 20 million (and very few are) then it's because he's bringing in 30 million for the company. And if you don't want to pay him that kind of money, you competitor will and take business away from your company.

So no, CEO's and management will not see a cut in pay because of labor costs. The consumer (as always) ends up paying, it's just that the Democrat consumer is too stupid to understand how businesses work.

 

[Grumblenuts]

We don't need a minimum wage

to remain 14th or lower on the list. Never mind "raising" it. Now you want no minimum at all. Let's race to the bottom. Shall we?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

to remain 14th or lower on the list. Never mind "raising" it. Now you want no minimum at all. Let's race to the bottom. Shall we?

Like who's paying minimum anyway? How is it we're 14th on the list and half the world wants to come here instead of those wonderful 13 other countries?

 

[Maxdeath]

Sometimes yes. We don't need a minimum wage though.

So you would have no problem with employers going back to wages paying $10.00 a day?

 

[Lesh]

What a ridiculous thread.

A higher minimum wage means poor working folks have more money.

Of COURSE that reduces poverty

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

So you would have no problem with employers going back to wages paying $10.00 a day?

I wouldn't because nobody would work for them.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

What a ridiculous thread.

A higher minimum wage means poor working folks have more money.

Of COURSE that reduces poverty

If they want more money let them do what the rest of us did. Learn a trade or skill that pays more money.

 

[Dragonlady]

90% of people in poverty are directly contributory and causal of their plight
10% are truely victim of a series of circumstances utterly beyond their control to avoid and impossible to escape from without help. We do help them and want to continue to do so mostly for about one year, then the necessary boost helping hand is over as the creation of a permanent life style of dependence is detrimental to all except moochers.
The 90% that bitch and moan while doing nothing that a person with a brain should do we will not be Libby guilt tripped into subsidizing
What I described is the historical true American blueprint for success for All and as thinking is returning so will better outcomes for All.

When most of our auto industry jobs went to Mexico under NAFTA, you did NOTHING for the displaced workers other than given them unemployment benefits. Our government offered retraining programs for displaced workers with income supports until they completed the course.

For those looking to start their own businesses, there are business incubators offered with college level programs in accounting and business management available to support your efforts to get started. There is also income support for your first year in doing that as well. They offer low cost offices, secretarial and accounting, as well as mentoring programs.

There are also low cost college courses leading to apprenticeships in plumbing, carpentry, welding, construction, cabinet making. They also offer courses in hotel and resort management, and various industrial based programs in restaurant or institutional cooking, kitchen management, paralegal. Jobs that pay REAL money. And you can even get a government loan for the tuition, which is around $2000 per year for 2- years programs.

All of the courses are government funded, publically owned schools, not "career academy" scams which cost thousands and give you a useless degree that qualifies you for nothing.

 

[Dragonlady]

If they want more money let them do what the rest of us did. Learn a trade or skill that pays more money.

How do you do that when you're working two or three jobs just to keep a roof over your head? I've met a lot of guys driving cabs who were doctors, or engineers in their home countries and you ask them why they don't get licensed in their professions here. They can't go back to school when they're working 12 hour days, 7 days a week just to support their families.

And they have no money for the tuition for a professional degree.

 

[Couchpotato]

So which jobs will not get done? Will dishes not get washed? Will floors go unswept? Will trash not be put into a can? Will it not be hauled off?

How many self checkouts, and ordering Kiosks at fast food restaurants have been installed lately? Some of that is the tech is there and peoples comfortability with the tech has increased. But the other thing is the raising of wages artificially makes that tech make more sense fiscally.

 

[Grumblenuts]

When most of our auto industry jobs went to Mexico under NAFTA, you did NOTHING for the displaced workers other than given them unemployment benefits. Our government offered retraining programs for displaced workers with income supports until they completed the course.

For those looking to start their own businesses, there are business incubators offered with college level programs in accounting and business management available to support your efforts to get started. There is also income support for your first year in doing that as well. They offer low cost offices, secretarial and accounting, as well as mentoring programs.

There are also low cost college courses leading to apprenticeships in plumbing, carpentry, welding, construction, cabinet making. They also offer courses in hotel and resort management, and various industrial based programs in restaurant or institutional cooking, kitchen management, paralegal. Jobs that pay REAL money. And you can even get a government loan for the tuition, which is around $2000 per year for 2- years programs.

All of the courses are government funded, publically owned schools, not "career academy" scams which cost thousands and give you a useless degree that qualifies you for nothing.

That's because you still have enough people there who actually give a shit about each other -- their country in other words. Here we value what you do for money over everything such as the content of one's character or general happiness or easy access or doing anything in the public interest. Your people still know how to gather in the streets, bang pots and pans, demand reforms, scare your reps into submission.

 

[AntonToo]

No we didn't. Do you have a point here or something?

Umm yea, inflation without labor shortage

 

[Resnic]

No.

Raise minimum wage and within 2 years the cost of everything will rise the same percent.

Companies knowing that the minimum someone can make is more so they will raise prices accordingly so they can make more money.

Companies that have to pay more to employees will also raise their cost of what they sell to combat it. They aren't going to lose money. Anyone who knows anything about running a business knows your number one cost is your employees.

A rise in minimum wage is good in the short term, but it won't take long for everything to catch up. If minimum wage suddenly became 20 bucks an hour it would be great until bread started costing 11 dollars a loaf.

So in the end it won't reduce poverty. Poverty is a result of people with no desire or exceed or ambition to grow. Plenty of poor ass people made something out of themselves. But it takes responsibility and hard work.

 

[Couchpotato]

The poverty rate has stayed essentially the same since 1970. I think having a min wage and raising it would have worked by now.

 

[Lesh]

The poverty rate has stayed essentially the same since 1970. I think having a min wage and raising it would have worked by now.

Ummmm...if we had a minimum wage adjusted for inflation using 1970 as a benchmark...it would be over $12/hr

You just partially explained WHY "it hasn't worked"...

 

[Grumblenuts]

Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020

This report presents data on income, earnings, income inequality & poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2021 and earlier CPS ASEC.

www.census.gov

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

The poverty rate has stayed essentially the same since 1970. I think having a min wage and raising it would have worked by now.

People were poor in the 70's and people are poor today. Nothing has changed. Jesus said there will be poor always.

 

[Anomalism]

So you would have no problem with employers going back to wages paying $10.00 a day?

If somebody will work for that I have no problem with it. It's unlikely that somebody will though.

 

[initforme]

The labor shortage is a bunch of Bs. There are going to be an increasing number of jobs permanently unfilled. It's no crisis.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Umm yea, inflation without labor shortage

And you don't understand that 6% is three times 2%?