Should minimum wage be raised? Absolutely to what? $?$?$

I won't quote a dollar numbers. What I will say, is that it needs to be a single living wage.

Defined as enough for a teen out of high school to reasonably afford Rent of a 1 bedroom apartment, transportation, food, healthcare, education.

INDEPENDENT of mom and dad at the rate of 40 hours a week. 160 hours a month or less.

That's supposed to be the minimum. Not the top tier of the skilled pay scale. More skilled trades should be paying FAMILY LIVING WAGES. Which of Defined as a wage that is MODESTLY capable of SELF SUFFICIENTLY supporting a family of 4 at the rate of 160 work hours a month 40 hours a week.

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BizSuitStacy · M

The whole concept of minimum wage has fallen over on its side. The original idea behind minimum wage was to incentivize to business owners to hire young people (teenagers) so they could get some work experience. A win-win situation. It's been bastardized into a living wage so adults can set the bar low, and make a living flipping burgers. We should incentivize people to strive to do better, not pay more so they can settle for less.

Nitedoc · 51-55, M

@BizSuitStacy Well said!

PoetryNEmotion · F

@BizSuitStacy Many people need those jobs to live. I am educated and I have worked them as a teen and a few years ago too. Never felt comfortable doing them. They were a start. Now with bad knees from a long career in nursing, I return to a lighter job. If there were more grants, people would get better education and better jobs. You sound snooty. You needn't reply. Beware your words do not bite you.

BizSuitStacy · M

@PoetryNEmotion [quote]Many people need those jobs to live.[/quote]

No, they don't. They need jobs? Yes. Those jobs? No. You may be educated, but clearly are not re: economics. The purpose of minimum wage was to provide a financial incentive [b]to employers[/b] to hire kids to gain work experience[b].
It was [i]NEVER[/i][/b] intended to be an excuse to provide a living wage for menial jobs. Keep increasing the minimum wage and watch people lose their menial jobs to robotics and other forms of automation. We've already done screwed the pooch in the US by taking money out of high school education programs teaching non-college bound kids trade skills and instead, dumped it into AP classes so idiots can take out $200K in college loans they won't be able to pay back because there is no market for their degree in poetry. If sounding snooty means wanting a high functioning, productive society...so be it, I'm snooty.

Nitedoc · 51-55, M

@BizSuitStacy You're not being snooty. That's a pretty realistic picture of the situation IMHO.

BizSuitStacy · M

@Nitedoc heaven forbid should we want better for American citizens than flipping burgers.

Nitedoc · 51-55, M

@BizSuitStacy I wish a better life for those people too. But just giving them more money is not my idea of helping them. You know the saying, "teach a man to fish..."

PoetryNEmotion · F

@BizSuitStacy Everyone is not equal. You are as dry as the economics course I took in journalism. Do you even know people? How they live? Survive? No, you do not.

BizSuitStacy · M

@PoetryNEmotion [quote]as the economics course I took in journalism.[/quote]
Huh? I thought you said you were educated.

Get it through your skull...the purpose of minimum wage was to provide [b][i]a financial incentive for businesses to hire young people to get work experience[/i][/b]. No matter how much you virtue signal - it was never intended to fulfill your little Marxist narrative of providing a living wage for menial labor. How old are you, 8? Grow up.

Nitedoc · 51-55, M

@BizSuitStacy Who were you talking to? I got lost.

BizSuitStacy · M

@Nitedoc apparently someone who got their econ education via journalism. Might explain the short circuit in the gray matter.

Nitedoc · 51-55, M

@BizSuitStacy LOL!!! Yep, quite the scholar!

PoetryNEmotion · F

@BizSuitStacy You are digusting and rude. And think you are better. Go play with yourself. No one else would care to know you. I graduated and had a long career in healthcare. I say your grey matter what little you have is very insignificant to me and to the world. Adios.

SatyrService · M

@BizSuitStacy sooo tho it was started to make hojs for kids,, those jobs are now most often held by full on adults.. as the availability of living wage jobs has been decimated, by cost cutting and overseas removal.
what is YOUR SOLUTION to making American jobs pay enough to pay American bills.
we have gutted the manufacturing industries.. by shipping those jobs ab entire factories overseas

we have such a week economic base,, financial industries.. ( they pay better) service industries.. restaurants etc. retail? again Low wages..

I ask Seriously what do we do for the working people of America?
do you have any ideas?

BizSuitStacy · M

@SatyrService First off, ask yourself what's going to happen by continually increasing the minimum wage? Cost of goods services get increase and people start looking for alternatives. Demand decreases. Businesses close. Businesses start replacing people with with automation.

Why do American corporations move offshore? To avoid taxes. Cut corporate taxes, repatriate these businesses and bring back jobs.

Grow the manufacturing sector, and adopt more of a buy American philosophy. We hardly manufacture anything. Too many people willing to buy products ftom China because they are cheaper.

Bring back shop and trades oriented classes in school. Not everyone is college bound, but high schools abandoned a lot of those programs in favor of AP classes.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

@BizSuitStacy +1 to the shop/trades classes.