Alabama House Passes Minimum Wage Bill Blocking Planned Wage Increase

[Vas Deferens]

(02-17-2016, 06:04 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Over 96% of the workforce already make above minimum wage, with, by far he largest percentage is 16-19 year olds (aka High School kids) at just over 15%. 

Too me that sounds like minimum wage is much to low given the 14.8% poverty rate in 2014.

I apologize, but I don't follow the 2nd part of your statement.  Are you saying 15% of 16-19 y/o make above minimum wage?

Quote:The only thing gained by raising the minimum wage will be higher unemployment, higher prices, and reduced stratification. 

The 'higher unemployment' argument has always sounded like a scare tactic from those who are benefiting from a low minimum wage.  If a company can't pay an employee a living wage, it shouldn't be in business in my opinion.  That doesn't mean there won't be other opportunities for workers to find employment that provides a living wage elsewhere.  

Quote:http://www.dol.gov/featured/minimum-wage/mythbuster

In a letter to President Obama and congressional leaders urging a minimum wage increase, more than 600 economists, including 7 Nobel Prize winners wrote, "In recent years there have been important developments in the academic literature on the effect of increases in the minimum wage on employment, with the weight of evidence now showing that increases in the minimum wage have had little or no negative effect on the employment of minimum-wage workers, even during times of weakness in the labor market. Research suggests that a minimum-wage increase could have a small stimulative effect on the economy as low-wage workers spend their additional earnings, raising demand and job growth, and providing some help on the jobs front."

Higher prices, eh.  I think the higher prices argument is secluded to corporations that rely on low wages as well.  To be fair this is a terrible retort, but one truly from my heart of hearts, I couldn't give 2 ***** what happens to Walmart/ McDonalds/ Papa Jerkoffs if their precious cheap labor is removed.  They said the same thing about the ACA.  Amazingly, that ***** is still selling pies.

Quote:There must be a goal for the employee to work.

I have a real problem with this one.  Not everyone can be management and above.  Doesn't seem like a very christian thing to do to make these people suffer just because they weren't given the same abilities as others.  I'm not even talking entitlement here.  I'm talking about mental and physical aptitude.  Why make the people at the bottom work so much harder to achieve a decent quality of life?  Could you live on $7.25 an hour?  If someone isn't able to get above $7.25 / hr, should we just throw them to the wolves, or would you prefer to pick up that tab via you tax dollars instead?

Quote:Can you expand on what you see as the benefits? 

I think I touched on the basic humanity of it above.  But my #1 benefit is I am SICK AND ***** TIRED of all the corporate handouts.  Minimum wage is the most nefarious of them all.  We pay $240B in indirect subsidies to the FAST FOOD INDUSTRY ALONE because they pay their workers so little.  

My buying choices only go so far in the 'free market' when corporations spend fucktons lobbying washington for the ability to keep their shitty foot on the head of the drowning populace.  

Call me bitter, call me a bleeding heart (que that IDF on this board), call me a lot of things; but I'm tired of tax dollars going to benefit mega-corporations rather than the betterment of my country as a whole.