Minimum wage

Does not mean that a socialist program is a good program.
There is no telling how long the so called minimum wage has suppressed wages.

Not surprising that the wage increase as you put it would come just to try to keep up with Obama's inflationary spiral. that will be like making 5.15 in the purchasing power. His economic policies and his war on our greatest asset which is energy will destroy us anyway.
It is like the time a union guy bragged abo0ut getting a 4 dollar raise but could not get a job because the union contractors could not compete at that wage. The union lost more than half of their market share and had to take a 5 dollar cut just to put a few guys back to work.

Bigtex actually makes my point. How much a person is paid is not the business of the federal government. Forced wage increase just add to the inflationary spiral just as printing money not only adds to inflation but steals from the middle class. Inflation does not hurt the rich and it does not hurt the poor nearly as much as it hurts the middle class.
Obama is waging war on the middle class and there are those that are too dumb to see it. It is simple economics 101 and you dont even need an education to understand it.

How much does penny candy cost today?

If the minimum wage is a good thing, then why not make it $10 per hour, or $20 per hour. If the higher it gets, the better things are, then let's get serious about it and raise it to $35 per hour. And of course, let's do it "for the children."

Lena, it would shock most people in this Country to learn what is NOT made here anymore.

I am in manufacturing, I own a business, but since we are on a SHMB, I can't say what. We work with a lot of equipment from other manufacturers who have great American names, companies that have been around for ages. You open up one of their shipping containers, and there are those big words, "manufactured in any where but the USA".

Many companies say that their products are manufactured here, but many simply ship all the parts in from other locals and simply assemble it all. The high cost manufacturing jobs are shipped out, low payed workers can be hired to work the assembly line.

This is not going to change. Americans have gotten used to being payed a high wage for a job that requires very little in the way of skills, or even brainpower. The problem is, large Companies, in order to compete in the Global Market, must farm the skilled jobs out.

There are industries that are immune to this to a certain extent. Construction, (bridges, roads, buildings etc), Fabrication Facilities, Shipyards, Oil Field, Off shore Oil Drilling, and any industry that works on the repair end of the equation still have highly paid, and highy skilled craftsmen. But many of these jobs require something that many Americans do not like doing. Getting tired, and getting dirty. Originally Posted by Jackie S

Yes, I had to research standards for "Made In USA" and it looks like we will have to go same route. Have most components manufactured overseas and then "assemble" them here in the country.

You hit the issue on the nail so to speak. At first we started farming out low level jobs and nobody really gave a shit because anyone making real salary vs surviving on minimum wage felt secure. Well, internet happened. So called 3rd world countries turned out new generation that speaks English and can do a lot of work remotely. Before you knew it, white collar jobs started to get outsourced as well.

A friend of mine who works as computer programmer for Citi bank was telling me how their department became a ghost town.

Lina

The minimum wage should be abolished. Originally Posted by joe bloe

Right

Totally agree with you.

We should start with $1.00 per hour.

Shit why would I even pay that much.........................

Hookers for $0.50?

Learn economics, Wave. It's called a "market". There are very few price makers in the labor market. An equilibrium price for labor will arise, and it will be more than $1, I assure you. When the government sets an artificial floor on prices, surpluses (unemployment) results. Now, the minimum wage is not the only factor in unemployment, but in the unskilled and youth market, it is a primary factor. Unskilled, entry level wage earners and teens would benefit greatly if the minimum wage were abolished.

Learn economics, Wave. It's called a "market". There are very few price makers in the labor market. An equilibrium price for labor will arise, and it will be more than $1, I assure you. When the government sets an artificial floor on prices, surpluses (unemployment) results. Now, the minimum wage is not the only factor in unemployment, but in the unskilled and youth market, it is a primary factor. Unskilled, entry level wage earners and teens would benefit greatly if the minimum wage were abolished. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Really?

Yes. Really.

The minimum wage should be abolished. The federal government does not have constitutional authority to set a minimum wage. The real value of a person's labor is the market value.

While I agree with you fundamentally, I think without some sort of regulation we'd have desperate people working for 2 bucks an hour again. And at $2 an hour you qualify for full TANF and Food Stamps even working 40/hrs a week so I think without min wage the welfare rolls would just...explode.

Learn economics, Wave. It's called a "market". There are very few price makers in the labor market. An equilibrium price for labor will arise, and it will be more than $1, I assure you. When the government sets an artificial floor on prices, surpluses (unemployment) results. Now, the minimum wage is not the only factor in unemployment, but in the unskilled and youth market, it is a primary factor. Unskilled, entry level wage earners and teens would benefit greatly if the minimum wage were abolished. Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

curious ..

market ?

individual markets or a national average ?

You get what you pay for.
The converse may also be true.Abolish the minimum wage and wages may rise reducing the number of people receiving government assistance.
To further that thought process remove both the minimum wage and government assistance and maybe just maybe the people will decide what a living wage will be in order to survive and not work for less.
Of course we know that would go against much of what is basic human nature of a large number of people and that is to work down to the lowest common denominator thus reducing their value. In other words there are some lazy ass people that will always be lazy ass people and that ruins it for the rest of us.

this is the prime reason that socialism never works.

fuck yeah ...

cut every spending program for american citizens then spend $12 billion a month so some god damn raghead can have a purple thumb.

I take it that you are opposed to the wars.Could you tell me what other things you are opposed to?

I wonder if we got out of the wars if you would be wiling to cut as much from domestic programs?

I for one agree that we no longer need to be in either Afghanistan or Iraq, in fact I believe that there are many places that we do not need to be and if the places where we are currently basing our military do not want to pay us for being there we should get the hell out, UNLESS it is strategic to our international commerce. you see there is only one branch of the military that is permanently authorized by the constitution and that is a navy. The fact of the matter is the founders fully understood how expense a standing ary would be and specified that the army could not be funded for more than two years. I know times have changed and it is different now but the constitution has not changed n that matter and it is still our constitution. Yeah I know the threat from radical islam and how the cock roaches are just waiting to crawl all over us, that is hwy we are supposed to be an armed nation in order to defend our nation until an army can be mustered.

this does not change the fact that we were attacked.

Further, I am opposed to the Patriot Act even though I know that it has probably saved us from a few terrorist attacks, it is still an infringement on our constitutional rights. the there is the jack booted thugs called the TSA and the violation of my 4th Amendment rights each and every time I go to the airport.

Yes there is a lot wrong with this government regardless of who is at the helm BUT the fact remains that all government control that is not authorized by the constitution is wrong and that includes the socialists programs that permeate or government. The end result of all of this is a 16trillion dollar debt that will continue to grow as half of the people pay no income taxes and are voting themselves more and more handouts from the rest of us.

The restoration of our government to remove the years of corruption will not happen overnight but could happen in the same small increments that the socialists have piked up over the years. the idea of a balanced budget scares the fuck out of those that are pushing the socialist agenda and they are screaming bloody murder to divert attention from what not just needs to happen but what must happen in order for this nation to survive.

How much does penny candy cost today? Originally Posted by The2Dogs

A penny!

fuck yeah ...

cut every spending program for american citizens then spend $12 billion a month so some god damn raghead can have a purple thumb. Originally Posted by CJ7

You can't put a price on freedom. Wait a minute, you can. 12 billion. Question is ..who the fuck here needed freedom there?

Lina

I wasnt opposed to Afghanistan

I was opposed to Iraq ... Totally.

Afghanistan should have been like Desert Storm ... go, make a statement on known terrorist camps, and get the hell out. Period

tell me whats not socialist about spending taxpayer money on third world pukes or handing our friends" like Israel, billions of dollars they dont really need

dont feed me the balanced budget bullshit when three sets of tax cuts and two wars cost us three times more than social programs ... you want balanced? then balance the budget with cuts accross the board, then I'll believe the right wingers are serious, not until.