How long will progressives get away with pretending to care about the poor?

[Quantum Windbag]

Most of us older folks remember when ushers would guide us to seats in theaters, or how gas stations attendants would wash windows and check under the hood. Most people don't think about why we don't have things like that anymore, even though everyone complains about how customer service is no longer a priority with companies we do business with. If anyone actually thinks about it, they will understand why this is happening, but most people won't get it even after it is explained to them.

Crocodile tears are flowing again for low-income people. In his State of the Union address, President Obama proposed raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour. A debate is shaping up between those who support the proposal and those who favor keeping the wage where it is today. But there are good grounds—for the sake of the poor—to repeal the minimum wage altogether.
Wages are not set by fiat, even in the U.S. economy, which is severely distorted by government privileges. Wages, rather, are determined by supply and demand. If the price of unskilled labor rises, why wouldn’t employers buy less? No employer could long pay a worker more than the value he produced for the firm. That’s why economic theory and empirical observation tell us that an enforced minimum wage destroys jobs, degrades the quality of other jobs, and prevents new jobs from being created.
The victims are the most vulnerable people in society: the unskilled. For the most part, these are young people (many from the middle class) without work experience. Few people over 24 make the minimum wage, and those who do usually move up before long. Young people desperately need that first job to learn skills and work habits, and of course income, but “progressive” politicians, whether they know it or not, favor policies that destroy entry-level jobs. Remember, the minimum-wage law doesn’t create employment; it forbids jobs that pay too little.
Advocates of the minimum wage ought to explain why they believe competition among employers hasn’t already bid up the wages of unskilled workers to reflect their productivity. How can anyone know that a $9 minimum won’t throw people out of work or make low-skilled jobs more onerous? No one can know this because only the market process can generate and disclose such information. Nevertheless, “progressives” are willing to gamble with the lives of people who are vulnerable enough as it is.

The Minimum Wage Harms the Most Vulnerable - Reason.com

 

[ScienceRocks]

Socialist use the poor, but history shows just how much they care about the poor. Pons in a shell game to advance communism.

 

[gallantwarrior]

It is obvious that those who make laws like this are out of touch with reality. Because government can get away with paying outrageous sums of money in wages, salaries, and benefits without realizing a profit, those who run government seem to think that the private market should be able to do the same. Except, the free market does not have access to everyone else's money except when they are able to make a profit and reinvest that profit to further improve the service or product they provide.

 

[Care4all]

you can vote at 18, you can be drafted in to serving in a war at 18, your parents can kick you out at 18, since when is 24 yrs old the beginning of adulthood and your first job?

 

[candycorn]

I wonder why people oppose the minimum wage so vehemently when they insist that it will make no difference in the lives of the poor. If it makes no difference, why the sustained assault?

 

[gallantwarrior]

Because it makes a difference in everybody else's life.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I wonder why people oppose the minimum wage so vehemently when they insist that it will make no difference in the lives of the poor. If it makes no difference, why the sustained assault?

It will make things worse, how is that no difference?

 

[NYcarbineer]

Most of us older folks remember when ushers would guide us to seats in theaters, or how gas stations attendants would wash windows and check under the hood. Most people don't think about why we don't have things like that anymore, even though everyone complains about how customer service is no longer a priority with companies we do business with. If anyone actually thinks about it, they will understand why this is happening, but most people won't get it even after it is explained to them.

I remember those sorts of things, in the sixties...

...when the minimum wage was a helluva lot higher than it is now.

 

[TheOldSchool]

When "trickle down" and "reaganomics" stop being acceptable terms.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Most of us older folks remember when ushers would guide us to seats in theaters, or how gas stations attendants would wash windows and check under the hood. Most people don't think about why we don't have things like that anymore, even though everyone complains about how customer service is no longer a priority with companies we do business with. If anyone actually thinks about it, they will understand why this is happening, but most people won't get it even after it is explained to them.

I remember those sorts of things, in the sixties...

...when the minimum wage was a helluva lot higher than it is now.

I remember the 1960s too, can you tell me how many people had wireless phones back then? Why do people who blather about the minimum wage and buying power ignore the fact that technology has dramatically improved the standard of living? Have you ever attempted to factor that into your understanding, or are you too simple minded to handle that?

 

[Mr Natural]

The minimum wage has been raised many times over the years and yet somehow we've managed to survive.

And prosper.

 

[Lakhota]

How long will progressives get away with pretending to care about the poor?

As long as they keep "proving" it...

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The minimum wage has been raised many times over the years and yet somehow we've managed to survive.

And prosper.

The laws against drugs are a lot harsher than they were, yet drugs are easier than ever to get. I guess some things work despite the government.

 

[GWV5903]

The minimum wage has been raised many times over the years and yet somehow we've managed to survive.

And prosper.

So within reason, give a logical answer to what minimum wage needs to be to lift the poor out of poverty?

 

[Little-Acorn]

How long will progressives get away with pretending to care about the poor?


Eighty years today. And counting.

 

[rdean]

Republicans wish the poor would just die. Do it quickly and cheap.

They are so surprised that not everyone feels that way. They were sure everyone hated Obama.

 

[Little-Acorn]

Republicans wish the poor would just die. Do it quickly and cheap.

They are so surprised that not everyone feels that way. They were sure everyone hated Obama.

Do you normally engage in hysterical rants like this?

Help is available.

 

[rdean]

Republicans wish the poor would just die. Do it quickly and cheap.

They are so surprised that not everyone feels that way. They were sure everyone hated Obama.

Do you normally engage in hysterical rants like this?

Help is available.

Just keeping it real.

Rants are capital letters.

 

[oldernwiser]

Most of us older folks remember when ushers would guide us to seats in theaters, or how gas stations attendants would wash windows and check under the hood. Most people don't think about why we don't have things like that anymore, even though everyone complains about how customer service is no longer a priority with companies we do business with. If anyone actually thinks about it, they will understand why this is happening, but most people won't get it even after it is explained to them.

There has to be one who needs it explained, I guess.

I worked a summer in a gas station for $2.00/hr back when gas was 14 cents a gallon. I know why attendants had to check under the hood - and it really had very little to do with customer service. In fact it had more to do with up-selling. If the station owner (who typically sat on an intersection with 3 other competing stations) made less than 2 cents per gallon pumped, he had to sell a lot of gas to stay in business. Selling a quart of oil here, a can of AT fluid there, or even antifreeze boosted sales over and above what he was making by selling the gas. Even the freebies - like the air compressor, windshield washing, etc - was a part of competition with other stations. Of course, they sold it as if they were doing the consumer a huge favor. Now that gas prices have skyrocketed, and owners take a bigger percentage, there isn't as much need to up-sell. And where it makes good business sense to do so, they just build a convenience store into the station to boost sales.

Some movie theaters - there were a whole bunch of those to choose from as well - had ushers. (They still do, but their job descriptions have changed a bit) The rising cost of renting the movies they show and paying the ever increasing royalties have made for fewer ushers and a more expensive night out.

So, maybe you'll explain where you can fix the lack of those jobs on the rising minimum wage.

 

[GWV5903]

Republicans wish the poor would just die. Do it quickly and cheap.

They are so surprised that not everyone feels that way. They were sure everyone hated Obama.

Do you normally engage in hysterical rants like this?

Help is available.

Always, there is no help for deany...