senate Bill S. 1832
Raising the Federal Minimum Wage (Gradually) to $15/Hour by 2020
Argument in favor
The current federal minimum wage — $7.25 an hour — is far too low , and not all states have set minimum wages above the federal level. Raising the minimum wage will ensure that workers can support their families and help grow the economy.
08/18/2015
"[$7.25] is a starvation wage... Anyone who works 40 hours in a week in America should not be in poverty, that's the simple reality."
08/11/2015
If the minimum wage kept up with productivity, rather than inflation (it actually remained effectively stagnant over the past 40 years,) the minimum wage would actually be over $21 an hour today. I cannot take any business seriously that says that they can't raise employee pay without raising prices, especially when they triple executive pay (see McDonald's.) To quote Chris Rock, the minimum wage is your boss saying to you "If I could pay you less, I would, but that would be against the law." The minimum wage is so low that the American taxpayer spends nearly $6 billion every year subsidizing WalMart's workers alone. Public welfare programs were designed to be a temporary stopgap to help the impoverished survive just long enough to get back on their feet when they face financial hardships. It was not designed to be used as a cheap exploit by greedy business owners to offset their labor costs. If your business model relies on leeching off the American taxpayer because you're too much of a cheapskate to pay your workers a living wage, then you have no business being in business. Those who ask why we even have a minimum wage in the first place are really asking why people should be paid for their work at all. Sure, if we eliminate the minimum wage, we could reduce the unemployment rate to zero percent, but that would make poverty much worse because no business would ever pay their employees.
08/18/2015
"Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. … And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it." [washingtonpost.com]
Argument opposed
Arbitrary increases in the minimum wage to score political points will hurt employment because businesses can’t absorb extra costs without scaling back their workforce or raising prices.
08/18/2015
Donald Trump said as president he would keep the minimum wage "pretty much where it is right now," [nbcnews.com]
08/10/2015
NO!!! It isn't the goal of the "minimum" wage to be a living wage. It's goal is to be an entry into the work force, the "minimum" even. It is for unlearned and unskilled workers, if you raise minimum wage you have to raise ALL wages and eventually minimum wage will have to be raised AGAIN! It is bad economics to think you can raise the minimum wage and all of a sudden entry level workers will have livable incomes. The price of all goods will increase so their new wages will get them just as far as their old ones.
08/12/2015
If the minimum wage needs to be a "living wage", why are politicians phasing it in over 5 years? That said, the minimum wage won't, and doesn't benefit these workers at all. Instead, it destroys the first rung of the potential job ladder of the most disadvantaged, of those who need real help the most. These people have already received poor education due to horrendous public schools, and so the government (unintentionally) has created a permanent underclass of citizens requiring lifelong welfare.
"[$7.25] is a starvation wage... Anyone who works 40 hours in a week in America should not be in poverty, that's the simple reality."
Donald Trump said as president he would keep the minimum wage "pretty much where it is right now," [nbcnews.com]
If the minimum wage kept up with productivity, rather than inflation (it actually remained effectively stagnant over the past 40 years,) the minimum wage would actually be over $21 an hour today. I cannot take any business seriously that says that they can't raise employee pay without raising prices, especially when they triple executive pay (see McDonald's.) To quote Chris Rock, the minimum wage is your boss saying to you "If I could pay you less, I would, but that would be against the law." The minimum wage is so low that the American taxpayer spends nearly $6 billion every year subsidizing WalMart's workers alone. Public welfare programs were designed to be a temporary stopgap to help the impoverished survive just long enough to get back on their feet when they face financial hardships. It was not designed to be used as a cheap exploit by greedy business owners to offset their labor costs. If your business model relies on leeching off the American taxpayer because you're too much of a cheapskate to pay your workers a living wage, then you have no business being in business. Those who ask why we even have a minimum wage in the first place are really asking why people should be paid for their work at all. Sure, if we eliminate the minimum wage, we could reduce the unemployment rate to zero percent, but that would make poverty much worse because no business would ever pay their employees.
NO!!! It isn't the goal of the "minimum" wage to be a living wage. It's goal is to be an entry into the work force, the "minimum" even. It is for unlearned and unskilled workers, if you raise minimum wage you have to raise ALL wages and eventually minimum wage will have to be raised AGAIN! It is bad economics to think you can raise the minimum wage and all of a sudden entry level workers will have livable incomes. The price of all goods will increase so their new wages will get them just as far as their old ones.
"Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. … And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it." [washingtonpost.com]
The minimum wage needs to go up. The cost of living steadily increases, but minimum wage hasn't moved in nearly 10 years. Nobody can survive on it anymore. People are trying to work 2 or 3 jobs, have no time for their families, sick from exhaustion, and nothing improves. It needs to jump to at least $11/hour and then go up in increments.
“If we started in 1960, and we said [that] as productivity goes up … then the minimum wage was going to go up the same… if that were the case, the minimum wage today would be about $22 an hour.” [washingtontimes.com]
If the minimum wage needs to be a "living wage", why are politicians phasing it in over 5 years? That said, the minimum wage won't, and doesn't benefit these workers at all. Instead, it destroys the first rung of the potential job ladder of the most disadvantaged, of those who need real help the most. These people have already received poor education due to horrendous public schools, and so the government (unintentionally) has created a permanent underclass of citizens requiring lifelong welfare.
I've done research, articles, and video presentations on minimum wage. The arguments against it are almost entirely false. It WAS intended to be a living wage from its inception. Raising it IS good for economy because consumers have increased buying power. It does NOT hurt industry because most small businesses already pay more than minimum and benefit from higher sales volume, while the largest businesses are capable of eating the increase without even affecting share prices. It's good, and it's necessary to get the economy back on track.
Minimum wage is not supposed to be a wage to live on, it's a wage for an entry level job. If you want to stay in that job your whole life knowing this, then that's your problem, not the taxpayers' and employers'. Also, raising the minimum wage will cause all prices to go up, and won't make that money go any further.
“You have 256,000 people right here in Nevada that would be able to have ... 19 weeks of groceries and three months of rent paid, just by raising the minimum wage,” Biden said. “It’s good for business, good for the economy, good for people.” [dailynews.com]
Raising the minimum wage across the board just raises the cost of living to match it, therefore accomplishing nothing in the end. I started working for minimum wage, now earn over double minimum wage, and I am constantly working to improve my own financial standing. That is the duty of each member of our workforce, and...leaving that responsibility in the hands of our workers makes them more accountable. Being a hard-working, loyal member of a company presents you with opportunities to improve your financial standing. That is my responsibility, and it's the responsibility of all of this nation's working citizens..
“I strongly support the national movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, because it will lift millions of families out of poverty and create better customers for American businesses,” [huffingtonpost.com]
“I think state minimum wages are fine. The federal government shouldn’t be doing this.” Read more at http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/03/17/3634877/jeb-bush-minimum-wage/
Everyone works at minimum wage, for awhile. Then they increase their skills and become worth a higher rate of pay. If they won't increase their skills then minimum wage is all they should get.
Some jobs and people are not worth $15/hour. Consider a teenager flipping burgers. Sure, they might not earn a living wage, but they don't NEED a living wage. And if a business isn't allowed to pay them something more reasonable, that teen now won't have that job and won't have ANY money, thanks to a federal minimum wage that doesn't account for those entry-level jobs and regional differences in standard of living.
raising the minimum wage could “do more harm than good.” -http://www.salon.com/2014/10/30/scott_walkers_minimum_wage_farce_partner/
Minimum wage isn't supposed to be used to live forever on. If you want to make a decent living, go to school, get a good education, find a job that matters and then you will see why others complain about this. If you can't complete that there is always the military. As a veteran myself, it's worth it if you don't think school is for you right off the bat.