Minimum wage workers get 70� raise (Trees And Things)

pO157: Re: Blowback

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:49:12 EST

Yeah, I never really asked her about it much after the initial incident. Nobody likes to pry. But apparently the county's response was "Well, you have an MS, that is all the education you need. Drop out of school, get a job and pay off that $20k+ hospital

zyxwvutsr: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 07:45:22 EST

But that's neither here nor there to the point

Really? What was your point, then?

Lou: Good eye

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 06:52:15 EST

This entire sideshow is just an ongoing display of Democratic incompetence. What a quagmire!

Yeah, and if the neocons know anything, it's quagmires.

gerrymander: Re: Thank God for the Democratic Party

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 23:26:23 EST

Let's see, just today we got Rove subpoenaed and Gonzalez painted further into the perjury corner.

Rove will make the same play that Miers and Bolten did, professing executive privilege, and we've seen where that leads: a dead end. The Justice De

thefadd: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:50:40 EST

Why not?

thefadd: Re: Thank God for the Democratic Party

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:48:21 EST

Or held three months of hearings on the firing of a few attorneys.

Yeah, because those have gone so poorly. Let's see, just today we got Rove subpoenaed and Gonzalez painted further into the perjury corner. Alberto is gonna get nailed o

thefadd: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:42:11 EST

But that's neither here nor there to the point.

thefadd: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:40:17 EST

I assume you're referring to being sued by your legal employees and implying that illegal employees are less likely to sue but maybe I'm just being cynical. It's beneficial to the employee and hugely beneficial to many business owners who get away with it

thefadd: Re: Blowback

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 20:35:18 EST

I would assume your tried to go on some sort of medical assistance which probably ran into insurance issues and who the hell knows what kind of bureaucracy kicked in. I've had numerous (well educated) friends go on unemployment assistance a la George on Se

keta: Re: Thank God for the Democratic Party

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:42:35 EST

Or tried to pass half-assed attempts to pull out of Iraq over and over.

Geez gerry, you make the Iraq clusterfuck sound so...sexy.

zyxwvutsr: Re: Blowback

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:12:11 EST

If I recall correctly, some welfare benefits are tied to a comparison of your income versus a defined "poverty level" based on the lowest wage earners in society

I am unaware of any welfare program administered by that criter

pO157: Blowback

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 09:14:37 EST

If I recall correctly, some welfare benefits are tied to a comparison of your income versus a defined "poverty level" based on the lowest wage earners in society. I believe that is what I was told by a co-worker who had a massive medical accident and attem

Lou: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:49:40 EST

Who are you and what have you done with Gerrymander?

gerrymander: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:32:14 EST

For the record, I'm totally OK with this. Yeah, I get all the economic arguments about how a minimum wage increase won't actually help the poor and will cause some distortion in the market. It's just that I think those arguments miss the point.

The bigg

gerrymander: Re: Thank God for the Democratic Party

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:06:47 EST

Or held three months of hearings on the firing of a few attorneys. Or tried to pass half-assed attempts to pull out of Iraq over and over.

zyxwvutsr: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:09:55 EST

Name one sector that typically employs minimum wage workers and can't pass additional costs off to the consumer. Wal-Mart? McDonalds? Orange Juice?

Yes, all of those. We're talking about a basic economic principle, not a flaw

zyxwvutsr: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:03:58 EST

I don't see how a minimum wage increase would effect the velocity of money

It's fairly easy to see that minimum wage workers are generally not in the investment class. That is to say that an extra penny added to the wages of

Steve Urkel: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:38:57 EST

Something that for some reason gets little mention in minimum wage debates is that undocumented workers who make more than the minimum wage can still cost less to employers than a legal employee making minimum wage, and that's without including potential c

Steve Urkel: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:30:31 EST

I don't see how a minimum wage increase would effect the velocity of money.

Steve Urkel: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:25:06 EST

Artificially raising wages won't result in raised standards of living.

thefadd: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:48:22 EST

They already know that. That's why they're paying minimum wage. If the workers were able to produce more they wouldn't be making minimum wage.

Way to skirt the issue.

There is a certain amount of elasticity to demand, and that means p

tomc: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:20:32 EST
One question I always like to hear politicians answer is, "How much is a quart of milk?"

zyxwvutsr: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 19:51:30 EST

...you can't get more work out of your workers at this point
They already know that. That's why they're paying minimum wage. If the workers were able to produce more they wouldn't be making minimum wage.

..

thefadd: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 19:28:16 EST
While in general terms you're right, this gives little thought to where the job market is currently. Usually, if you have to lay someone off, other people have to pick up the slack. However, worker productivity remains near all time highs and unemployment

zyxwvutsr: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 19:18:00 EST

An increase in the price of unskilled labor no more increases inflation or the money supply than an increase in the relative price of any other good
I beg your pardon. I misspoke. I should have said "money velocity" rather th

rombuu: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:54:47 EST
So if the minimum wage is part of an overall package of regulations that seek to bring Mississippi's standard of living in line with the rest of the country so their citizens are not overly dependent on Federal programs, then yes.
I've never seen

zyxwvutsr: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:40:13 EST

Most of the poor in America make less than minimum wage as undocumented workers
Those folks aren't included in the poverty statistics. (And with good reason.) Most of the poor either do not work at all, or work only itinerant

thefadd: Re: Thank God for the Democratic Party

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:28:08 EST
They shouldn't have spent so much time trying to bail out Bush on his loser immigration reform.

thefadd: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:26:47 EST
On the one hand, yes, on the other hand, no. Does it make sense for California to have a minimum wage almost double that of many other states? Considering its standard of living, yes. But does it make sense for the Federal government to allow Mississippi t

thefadd: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:23:03 EST
It's true. Most of the poor in America make less than minimum wage as undocumented workers.

Steve Urkel: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 18:18:01 EST
An increase in the price of unskilled labor no more increases inflation or the money supply than an increase in the relative price of any other good.

zyxwvutsr: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:11:38 EST

...perhaps an economist could explain what effect raising the wage for all the unskilled would have on inflation, if any?
As with most economic questions, the answer is, "it depends." On the one hand, all else being equal, ra

zyxwvutsr: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:06:33 EST

Given that the poverty rate is 13%, that's a 15% decline in poverty if it were true that a raise to the minimum wage even lifted them out of poverty
Yeah, well, I was kidding above. Since only a small fraction of those

gerrymander: Thank God for the Democratic Party

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:03:20 EST
And with such speed! Here it is, only six months after the bill was introduced, and it's already been passed. At this rate, Congress might be able to pass another bill pledged from their "first 100 hours" campaign by Christmas.

rombuu: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 15:23:42 EST
Disclaimer: I think having a minimum wage is stupid anyway.
But if you are going to have one, having a national one that is the same everywhere and ignores the cost of living in different parts of the country is even stupider.

pO157: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:36:35 EST
Also, I forgot to mention in the writeup about the "Subminimum wage" as Dvandom pointed out. It is an interesting little quirk in the law.

pO157: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:35:16 EST
Out of curiosity, perhaps an economist could explain what effect raising the wage for all the unskilled would have on inflation, if any?
My guess is, not much. Only a few states will actually be affected by this so it will be much more symbolic than act

thefadd: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:33:50 EST
Given that the poverty rate is 13%, that's a 15% decline in poverty if it were true that a raise to the minimum wage even lifted them out of poverty.

thefadd: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:24:04 EST
Yep, just goes to show you how woefully out of touch with its people the Federal government is.

zyxwvutsr: Re: Minimum wage workers get 70� raise

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:36:14 EST
Thank God for the Democratic Party. The 2% of adult workers now receiving the minimum wage will be lifted out of poverty due to the new increase.
It's a new day in America!