Now Is the Time for a Living Wage Law in America

[hvactec]

"There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it."

Those words were taken from one of the most famous political speeches in American history. It is an excerpt from William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech, delivered on July 9, 1896, to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Bryan's words are timeless. They ring true today as they define the forces that pull on both ends of the American capitalist system. Bryan's words reach forward to the 21st century to frame the debate surrounding fair wages for the masses.

Conservatives and libertarians often pontificate against a "living minimum wage" and some of late are even opposing any minimum wage. However, as expected, no one opposing a "living minimum wage" has ever been forced to live permanently in a low wage world, and certainly not in the absence of public assistance.
read more Now Is the Time for a Living Wage Law in America Fred Lundgren

 

[Ernie S.]

No one has EVER been forced "to live permanently in a low wage world"

The whole idea of minimum wage jobs is that they are positions that require almost no skills and experience. They were historically entry level jobs for HS kids.

I started my first job for minimum wage, but I was not content with the pay so, instead of bitching that I wasn't earning enough, I learned skills and got more education.
I made MYSELF worth more in the market place and the market place offered me more money.

 

[prison/con.net]

many, many very good bizes have been started with less money than the 6k that you can have given to you (as a college loan) just for signing up for 12 semester hours. If you'll agree to teach, and if you have a 3.2 or higher GPA, they'll loan you another 2k, also. I know of a couple of bizes that can be started for under 1k each.

You can set up to rent out lockers to the homeless, so that they need not haul around or hide (and risk loss of) their stuff. You can set up to "mine" the public range dirt berms and cast lead bullets for sale, you can reload ammo for others, you can set up to re-blue guns, you can teach ccw fast draw and shooting. none of those bizes cost more than 1k each to learn/set up to do, and each one can easily make you several thousand $ per year, untaxed. 15-20k per year and not really much time involved, either.

 

[jasonnfree]

No one has EVER been forced "to live permanently in a low wage world"

The whole idea of minimum wage jobs is that they are positions that require almost no skills and experience. They were historically entry level jobs for HS kids.

I started my first job for minimum wage, but I was not content with the pay so, instead of bitching that I wasn't earning enough, I learned skills and got more education.
I made MYSELF worth more in the market place and the market place offered me more money.

But some people haven't got what it takes to go beyond the minimum wage jobs which today, can't provide the minimum pay necessary for room, board, transportation and all that. I bussed tables and washed dishes. When I had extra time, I learned the grill, fryers etc. Before I was 18, I was a fry cook. We had a janitor that never could be any more than a janitor since he was pretty dim. He had a wife and kid and he made a living wage as a janitor. This was early 60's though. Today, Jerry would be up the creek without a paddle with his minimum wage.

 

[prison/con.net]

to hell with $15 an hour and then pay out $5 per hour of it to Big Bro. You can make 3x that much, doing very little, with the bizes I outlined above and they will work in any city of say, 50k population.

 

[Jomama]

You blew the argument with the comment about people being forced to live in a low wage world. This includes your welfare junkies who dont even aspire that high or your millioniares who started low and worked thier way up.

This all gets back to a dysfunctional congress. We long ago agreed on a minimum wage, it should be calibrated to inflation and not have lagged so far behind and not now be bringing crazies out of the woodwork. Employers need stability and predictability, a COLA would allow that. A fair COLA, not the bullshit 2X cola that public service unions get.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

" and some of late are even opposing any minimum wage.

because:
1) it raises prices so no net gain is possible
2) the higher the wages the fewer workers employed so no net gain is possible
3) teaching people that you get ahead through govt rather than through making yourself worth more does damage to people and economic progress
4) the minimum wage here is 25% of the average wage in China and China is growing 4 times faster than the USA. It is 100% stupid and liberal to ship more jobs to China by raising jobs here.


One of the simplest and most fundamental economic principles is that people tend to buy more when the price is lower and less when the price is higher. Yet advocates of minimum wage laws seem to think that the government can raise the price of labor without reducing the amount of labor that will be hired.

Thomas Sowell, "Minimum Wage Madness," September 17, 2013