Should the minimum wage be raised? What say you?

(As a preliminary aside on this topic, check out today's Washington Journal on C-SPAN, the first hour or so has viewers' opinions on this issue).

Listening to some of those C-Span callers makes me pine for the days before radio. You just know their ADD would prevent them from writing letters to the editor (saving us having to ensure their drivel at all).

Minimum wage should not be a federal issue, but strictly a states issue. I for one feel nobody on this planet is worth $10/hr. to flip burgers, whereas giveaway artists like the union rats scream we simply can't survive unless even the lowliest worker earns pay equal to the chairman of General Motors.

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Yeah, that's definitely a state decision. Costs of living fluctuate too much around the country (and even within states) for the federal minimum wage to even make sense.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

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Delivering tasty bite-sized Clues to liberals since 1965.

states make more sense because what someone needs in Manhattan to survive is not the same as what someone needs in Barrow, Alaska. Also, let each state decide according to its means, taxation, etc.

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All you need to know about the energy crisis:
ANWR Exploration Republicans: 91% Supported. Democrats: 86% Opposed.
Coal-to-liquid R's: 90% YES. D's: 78% NO.
Oil Shale Exploration R's: 90% YES. D's: 86% NO.
Outer Continental Shelf Exploration R's: 81% YES. D's: 83% NO.
Increased Refinery Capacity R's: 97% YES. D's: 96% NO

SUMMARY: 91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of America’s own oil and gas. 86% of House Democrats have historically voted against.

We have an incredible amount of trouble keeping employees at our manufacturing facility. It's tough to get applicants to pass a drug screen. Then if you can get past that hurdle, try to get them to come to work everyday. We've had to resort to using foreign workers (yes, they're legal) because we can't find Americans who want to work. We've been to several meetings where many other companies are having the same problem.
Whether they are paid $7.00 an hour or $15.00 an hour, no one wants to work. It's called laziness!! And unfortunately, it's contagious. I'm all for opening the borders for legal workers.
How nice it's been to have workers who actually show up for work everyday and dread it when their workday is over. Heaven, I'm in heaven.

I would say raise it to about $6.50. The current minimum wage isn't livable anywhere.

Buisnesses want cheep labor, do you honestly think there going to go to a state were they have to pay more?

minimum wage is always set well below poverty level and only serves as a bare bones guideline to states. Maine's minimum wage is $6.50. The cost of living for 3/4 of the state is very low. New York's minimum wage is $6.75: wildly inadequate for anyone living in N.Y.C.

I don't think the minimum wage means a anything to the location decision making of manufacturers. Manufactures decide to locate in states that give them the most attractive tax packages- by that I mean tax free packages. And of course, they like areas which are hostile to unions. On the other hand, any business person who thinks that the best way to make money is to extract as many concessions as possible from a hostile, unhappy work force, is a fool. The greatest asset for any business is a motivated, loyal workforce.

"Classics", it would be helpful to know where you are located. I can promise you, that if you paid $10 an hour and located a business in Maine, you would have no shortage of applicants.