Can America afford to pay a higher minimum wage?

Yes I know you said America as a collective could pay a higher minimum wage. America as a collective can't afford anything nor does it pay the wages. Wages are paid by private employers and THEY determine what they can pay for a particular job.

This is about income not wealth, learn the difference. And why would you expect the bottom 2% to own anything? These are people who have not advanced themselves into a higher income where they can save for their wealth. And again America doesn't won that wealth, private citizens do and as you know the Constitution specifically protects that private wealth, the founding fathers had seen and lived in countries where private wealth wasn't protected from being confiscated by the ruler.

Yes the minimum is fixed by minimum wage laws. No one said people are chattel. Are YOU chattel, do you let yourself be treated as chattel? Again why don't employers only pay the mandated minimum wage, you keep dodging the question. Do YOU make minimum wage?

 

That is down to government to control.
I have said this many times. When you set up a business in America you do a deal. You get a safe country to trade from, an educated healthy workforce, a police force to protect your wealth (Should you make any) and a safety net if you fail or fall ill.
I return your country expects you to behave in certain ways if you get wealthy.
So many people accept the conditions when they start out, glad to be able to trade in a stable safe economy, but then moan when they get rich and are asked to honour their side of the deal.

Can you imagine how that would be if you invested some of your money in a business and when they made it they cheated you out of your agreed return?

If you want to set up in India by all means do so. Pay the bribes, hire the security for your family, put up with the uneducated, sickly workforce who steal from you at every opportunity. Trade into the poor crap cheating economy and be glad your taxes and wages are low.
Oh and hope you don't fail or fall ill.

 

Yes we can, and should

This is why:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2014/01/13/why-we-need-a-minimum-wage/?sh=36ff6ba7380b

Basically says that we need a minimum wage to protect all the rest of us from exploitation.

Another argument not mentioned in this article is that employers naturally collude with each other to keep wages low. The idea that one will always not collude and break the cartel is not borne out by what actually happens.

 

Who said they can't afford the existing minimum wage?

So at least you admit there may be a price increase to offset raising wages. What is the net effect of raising wages and rising prices?

 

Productivity is not profit. If demand requires an increased number of X, either the existing staff produce more (productivity) per hour, or more people are hired and the goods produced goes up. If wages are increased, that does not mean that mystically more goods are produced.

One thing many people seem to forget, prior to COVID, the available workforce grew faster then attrition reduced it. More people does not necessarily mean higher wages, if they are still providing the same amount of actual labor. The employer invests in means to increase production, does not mean that the employee's labor is worth more.

 

I don't know. It wasn't me.

Sure, I see a couple of possibilities.
Raising the price by the percentage of the labor content. Usually a pretty small number and in my mind acceptable.
Increasing productivity.

Did I say it was free?

 

spare me the patronizing tone. If you own 98% of the nation's wealth, then don't tell me you don't have enough cash to pay a livable wage.

Jeezus ****ing keerist, I'm waxing philosophic, not referring to specific employers.

Apparently you can't tell the difference and have to nitpick and pin down.

 

Which has nothing to do do with wealth ownership. Only around 2% of workers actually earn the federal minimum wage; mostly young, single people working their first job. Most move on and up as they gain skills and are replaced by other young inexperienced first timers.

 

Then focus on the topic which is income which is entirely different from wealth.

 

But about 45% make less than $15.

 

I should think a nitwit could figure out that the superwealthy can afford to pay a minimum liveable wage.

Now Go away

 

They’re paying most of the taxes now.

 

Source?

 

Sorry, my bad.
28%.
39 million workers

By that measure, the typical (median) American worker earned about $20.20 an hour in 2019. The 39 million workers earning less than $15 in 2019 represented about 28 percent of the workforce.Mar 3, 2021



Black and Hispanic women stand to gain the most from a $15 ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com › business › 2021/03/03

 

How did you come to the conclusion that employers pay their employees based on the owners wealthy and not what the job is worth? In which business class did you learn that? What about people who don't work for a superwealthy person?

Wealth and income are entirely different.

I keep asking you why don't they pay everyone the federal minimum wage? You won't answer, you don't know or just won't say? I ask do you earn the minimum wage? You won't answer, you don't know or just won't say?

 

Every other modern country already has a living wage health care daycare paid perenntal leave cheap college and training great infrastructure and vacations and ID card to end illegal immigration, and mainly they tax the rich and giant corporations more like their fair share. We are the richest country in the world. Thanks greedy idiot GOP mega Rich and the missinformed...

 

Stop babbling and pass the $15 minimum wage. And health care. Then we will be socialists. "We are all socialists now!"-President of Finland when Obamacare passed. Of course he didn't know what incredible obstructionists the GOP is....

 

For some reason they are okay with you and I subsidizing McDonalds by paying their employees healthcare and feeding their employees kids. I don't get it.

 

<COMMENTS EDITED> the wealthy should be able to pay a livable wage. Nitpicking over 'wealth vs income' is silly.

Employers will pay whatever they can get away with, and that is that.

FYI, as a general rule, I don't bother to answer asinine questions.

What I make is anecdotal, and thus not relevant to a policy discussion.

 

Expressed a percentage of income and wealth, they most certainly are not.

 

all rant and little substance.

btw, the people in india that corporations hire are educated, many are MBAs.. enthusiastic, energetic, hungrier. That’s because they don’t feel entitled to high wages just because... americans don’t have a f clue how well they have it. The poor here are super rich relative to the poor in other countries and too many americans think they are entitled to 80k a year without any skills or education. A corporation can get a highly education indian for 25k a year... and what you say is utterly ignorant and arrogant, as if these people are uneducated. You live in a cave..

and it’s pretty simple. A corporation which is publicly owned has shareholders. They are the boss, not the CEOs. CEOs get fired if they don’t drive revenue and reduce expenses. A shareholder simply wants a return on their investment. Imagine you invest in a company and lose money just because CEO cannot reduce expenses. Fact is, many lazy, unskilled americans demanding higher wages are competing with highly educated workforce in other countries and these workers are willing to work for half or 1/3 of the cost.

Globalism, remember? What democrat donors like soros want... so deal with it. Can’t be global without having workers compete across countries and owners of corporations simply want a return in their investment.

 

Everyone should have healthcare and you should stop listening to misinformation. Every job should have dignity and a living wage. Perhaps with a teenager wage. What are you talking about, Medicaid and food stamps for people who don't earn enough money to live on? Every other modern country has already gotten past all this suffering and baloney....

 

We have to invest in cheap college and training to prepare our workforce for the good jobs and technical jobs that these new markets produce for us. The GOP is pennywise and Pound foolish with Democrats in. When they are elected they just go crazy with spending. Only their garbage propaganda world makes this mess possible. Stop comparing us to third world countries try comparing us with other modern countries lol. Garbage in garbage out

 

I know. I think your defensive trigger just went off.

 

You believe the role of the Senate Republicans is to be lapdogs to the Democrats?