Instead of $8.30/hr shouldn't minimum wage be $15.30/hr?

Question

I read a study that showed most young Americans spend at least $150 a week on food, I assume that means a budget that allows going to a restaurant or shop for breakfast or lunch and not just having beans for dinner.

In my case, I try to spend around $6 a day without having breakfast or lunch because it's hard to save money when a store pays you $8.30-taxes an hour.

What if everyone earned a livable wage for working hard at their job like they should? $15 and hour certainly sounds like good news to me. Putting Americans first means putting the interests of the population first not the rich. Wouldn't it be great if everyone earned $15 an hour?

Answer 1

That will just cause inflation. So the kid behind the counter will ask you if you want $8 fries with your $15 Big Mac.

Answer 2

livable wage/?

it would just inflate cost and then $15.00 would have the value of $5.00 and no one would gain, increase in productivity and net profit is the avenue to more money not need



your argument feels good but does not work



and side note $150.00 a week is crazy my wife and I eat on $350.00 a month

eating fast food is not the measure you should use



BUT I will say if all the higher wage people got together opened their one company and hired all the wannabes at $16.00 there is nothing legally stopping them



the more government helps and regulates the worse it is for those who are poor



just think those making $15.00 now after working hard learning and making their life better will suffer and once again make the same as those who have not learn the skills and made the level to deserve more

the hard workers will see no reason to work hard anymore

Answer 3

it should because theres alot of poorer people that struggle working hard,Even at mcdonalds.They protested about it too

Answer 4

if the min wage had been adjusted for inflation since it started



the min wage today would be $4.70 an hour

Answer 5

wages arent determined by your needs but by supply-demand. If you understand that then you know what damage open borders would do

Answer 6

No. Where is that extra $7/hr supposed to come from? That's right, prices go up. That screws people who live on fixed incomes. People who have advanced past minimum wage feel the pinch too and demand salary increases. Prices rise further. Now, you are back where you started and are crying for a higher minimum wage, again.

Answer 7

The CEO's and 1% are really hurting though, they say they need tax cuts just eat one meal per day and a new Yacht . The rest of us have had our rents go up four fold, and our wages over the last 30 years slightly decreased. So I guess we should give more of our money and hard work to the greedy, after all, they say they have Jesus.

Answer 8

Working 40 hrs a week, full time, permanent job, should keep you above the poverty line. $30k/yr is not exactly the lap of luxury, especially in places where it costs more to live, like California.



Hillary said she wanted to raise the min. wage to $15 in stages. That's a compromise, but I would have settled for that.



Republicans always say raising the min. wage will lead to unemployment and inflation. But when we do it, it never does that. What it does is to stimulate the economy because someone on minimum wage, when he gets a few extra bucks, he spends it right away instead of bidding up scarce resources.

Answer 9

$8.30 is better than at least a dozen other states.



If minimum wage was $15.30 across the board businesses would have to raise prices to cover the cost and some would go out of business. I don;t know what the real answer is, though

Answer 10

Go ahead. I will raise the rent and raise the cost of my products to recover my increased cost of labor.. You will be in the same miserable condition.

Answer 11

It should be far higher considering the catastrophic damage that deliberately suppressing wages is causing America:



'It's Official: Most Americans Are No Longer Middle Class'

'Nine Out of Ten Americans Consider Themselves Middle Class'

'The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class'

'Income inequality has squeezed the middle class out of the majority'

'Middle-class families, pillar of the American dream, are no longer in the majority, study finds'



'Americans Can't Afford the American Dream'

'1/4 of Americans can't pay their monthly bills'

'1 in 3 Americans Has Saved $0 for Retirement'

'The U.S. is the Most Overworked Nation in the World'

'STUDY: 76% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck'

'Most Americans Are Working Harder, and Earning Less'

'Nearly 7 in 10 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings'

'1 In 2 Working Americans Make Less Than $30,000 A Year'

'Growing Number Of Americans Can't Afford Food, Study Finds'

'Overworked America: 12 Charts That Will Make Your Blood Boil'

'Many Americans are working more hours to make the same wages'

'Most Americans have less than $1,000 in savings, 1 in 5 have none'

'Americans enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada, Europe'

'63% Of Americans Don't Have Enough Savings To Cover A $500 Emergency'

'Young, Poor, and Desperate - The poverty crisis is devastating young Americans'

'Most Millennials Have Less Than $1,000 In Savings, Live Paycheck-to-Paycheck'

'1 out of 3 American households can no longer afford rent, food, and transportation'

'Credit Suisse Wealth Report: There Are More Poor People In America Than China'

'The Retirement Crisis: Why 68% Of Americans Aren't Saving In An Employer-Sponsored Plan'

'Goodbye Middle Class: 51 Percent Of All American Workers Make Less Than 30,000 Dollars A Year'



'Label the U.S. the Failed State That It Is'

'America: The Proudest Collapsing Country'

'USA: The World's Newest Third World Nation'

'America: Land of the Whipped and Whimpering''

'The U.S. Doesn't Look Like a Coherent Nation State'

'Hunger a growing problem in America, USDA reports'

'Behind the Facade: America, The Bankrupt Hegemon'

'A Plague Upon The World: The USA is a “Failed State”

'White and Trashed: The collapse of American capitalism'

'America Changing for the Worse: Is It Time to Move Out?'

'The US is a failed state thanks to its system of government'

'Britain and the US once ran the world. Now they're all at sea'

'Stanford Economist: Move to Canada to Find American Dream'

'Credit Card Delinquencies Swell, in Ominous Sign for U.S. Lenders'

'US has regressed to developing nation status, MIT economist warns'



All that is - literally - barely anything. But take a moment for the shock of all that to pass all the same.

Because most Americans don't realize the US is just another Banana Republic now & finding that out tends to freak them out.



Now, where I live in Canada, the minimum wage is currently $14/hour and due to rise to $15 next year in 2019.

And Canada's like a whole other world compared to the USA:



'Canada's middle class richest in world: report'

'Canadians get rich at a faster pace than Americans'

'Life in Canada, Home of the World's Most Affluent Middle Class'

'Canada is officially home to the richest middle class on the planet'



'Report: Canadians getting wealthier younger'

'Even as Canada's economy booms, prices are barely rising'

'The numbers are in: Canadians are better off than Americans'

'Canada top G20, G7 country on international prosperity index'

'Millennials are better off in Canada than in the U.S. - MoneySense'

'Current generation of young Canadians wealthiest ever: federal study'

'Canadian families are getting wealthier, Statistics Canada study says'

'Canadian millennials buying houses at younger age than their parents'

'Richest. Seniors. Ever. How the luckiest generation keeps making money'

'Millionaire Cities' Abound In Canada As Household Wealth Hits Record High'

'The Luxe Life: Canada Outpaces U.S. and Europe in Luxury Spending Growth'

'Are 30-somethings earning more than their parents? StatsCan study says yes'

'Canadians quadrupled the amount of money they transferred into tax havens last year'

'World's Hottest Luxury Real Estate: Canada Tops World On High-End House Price Growth'

'Canada First Country to Permanently Recognize November 15th as National Philanthropy Day'

'Environics Analytics’ WealthScapes 2017 Reveals Canadians’ Financial Fortunes Continue to Rise'

'Canadians the wealthiest they’ve ever been, with average net worth rising by 12 per cent over previous year to $770,635.00'



So people can whine whatever idiot excuses they want to justify wanting Americans to remain banana republic wage-slaves.

But money talks and bullsh*t walks. And Canada's living proof they're wrong that any American can visit and see for themselves.

Answer 12

Minimum wage is for minimum workers, fourteen year old kids with a work permit,

Answer 13

A mandated wage increase, ALWAYS.... repeat, ALWAYS, results in an increase in retail prices that negate the wage increases because the wage increases were not covered by increased profits. They result in increased operating costs and that requires increasing their prices just to break even.

Answer 14

It sounds good, but I think it wouldn't work. Regardless of whether it could be made to work, a good thing is to find someone who makes $15 or more per hour and find out what certs, training, experience, or degrees it takes to get that job. If it's years of schooling, it's probably not worth it, unless it's a dream job for you. What about some job setting up computers or something. That's an area that has many certs that are easy to get. There's also medical things. If you can find a friend of a friend who is doing it and can explain honestly, that could be very helpful. Don't wait for politicians to do something. They don't have a great record of helping people with their problems.

Answer 15

I strongly support raising the minimum wage. Also better labor laws.

Answer 16

Did you hear the Jack in the Box will have robot cashiers? If you raise the price of something; you'll have less of it.

Answer 17

The correct minumum wage is $0. Because a wage is the value of your work to your employer and society. If you are unskilled, and never studied in school, then you don't have much to offer your fellow man and your work may only be worth $5 and hour. However, the government comes in and says employers have to pay $15 an hour. Your work is still worth $5 an hour bu the employer has to be $15 an hour because the government said so. So your employer fires a third of their workers in order to stay in business and you get thrown into the street. Then you can't find another job because your work isn't worth $15 an hour and no one can afford to stay in business by loosing $10 an hour by paying you $15 an hour for $5 of work.



Does that make sense? You can't just magically make wealth appear it has to be earned! This is why minimum wage hurts EVERYONE but especially poor Americans and small business owners who loose their jobs because of it.



WFI you are not entitled to $15 an hour just because you are breathing. You have to earn it.

Answer 18

Here is the thing, adults were never meant to be working these jobs and that is one thing that needs to be addressed more then wages is why so many grown adults are working minimum wage jobs. McDonalds is not necessarily evil here, there is not one job in their restaurants that requires a skill and they have a endless revolving door of applicants, I am not saying working there is easy or that people who work there are lazy by any means, but they are paid a market rate for their labor. What we really need is new industries to come in and bring back high paying jobs....I am a huge liberal, but you have to be realistic about this, McDonalds has basically used the fight for $15 to roll out a new more automated system that is going to not only reduce the volume of staff they need, but the hours those people need to work, and at $9 an hour they are lucky to get 25 hours a week, and a raise to $15 an hour is nothing if they only get $10 hours a week.

Answer 19

While that's a good idea, there is the issue of inflation. If we start paying people more, it's entirely possible they'll start paying for more things. Prices will go up, and we'll be either back where we started, or money will loose significant value in general, so it would take quite a lot of forethought to raise the minimum wage.

Answer 20

Wages should be negotiated between employers and employees.



The "Socialist paradise" of Denmark has NO minimum wage law AT ALL, and they average $20 per hour.



Get rid of minimum wage laws and you will earn more.

Answer 21

Minimum wage is not meant to be a living wage. Aim higher.

Answer 22

It's a MINIMUM wage, not a living wage. Minimum wage is an entry-level wage, for unskilled workers. It's a kid's wage. You're not supposed to "make ends meet" on minimum wage. Every time the minimum wage issue hits the media, they trot out some guy who is 40 with 2 kids and can't make ends meet. If you're 40 and making minimum wage, something has not gone right for you in life. Please don't confuse minimum wage with living wage. No one owes anyone a living wage. You have to go earn it.

Answer 23

Its a good idea in theory, but such a large increase of wages in such a short amount of time would put a dent in businesses, and completely destroy small business with less than 10 employees. If the minimum wage should be increased, it should be gradual so that businesses have time to adjust in order to stay afloat. Raising the minimum wage will also increase the price of any good produced by someone at minimum wage. The statistic about 150 dollars a week is rather skewed i'd say because it doesn't take into account how much money that person makes.

Answer 24

But what about small businesses who cant afford to pay $15 an hour without raising the price of their products or firing people ? Yes it would be nice for every worker but it is not warranted in every city and state. Some high cost places already pay that like Seattle, and the state of California will pay that in 4 years. I dont know about other places.

Answer 25

If that were the case everyone would complain that it’s not enough.