Trump: Raise federal minimum wage

cptlo

cptlo

Pursuit Driver
Trump’s Minimum-Wage Reversal Is Latest Headache for Republicans
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a...e-reversal-is-latest-headache-for-republicans

Donald Trump reversed himself on a major policy plank Wednesday as he told reporters he now backs a $10-an-hour federal minimum wage, breaking with years of Republican orthodoxy and his party’s own platform.

“The minimum wage has to go up,” he said at a tumultuous news conference, saying it should go up to $10 from $7.25. He did say that “states should really call the shot,” but “at the same time, people have to be taken care of.”

Asked if he meant the federal minimum wage has to go up to $10 in a followup question, Trump indicated yes. “Federal,” he clarified.
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Is raising the federal minimum wage a good idea? Will it help the economy?
 
No, as it should be a state level action if used at all. Cost of living varies wildly by state, trying to set a minimum wage across the country won't work well.
 
Yeah, I knew he was going to do this. Pandering to would-be Democrat voters, I suspect.

I'll take it further than The Sound Guy; keep the government totally out of minimum wage and let the market dictate it. If you look around, you won't find many people making minimum wage now, and the jobs paying only minimum wage are likely entry level positions requiring zero skills.
 
In reality most full time jobs pay well above minimum wage so for them it's not an issue. Let the market dictate what part time and seasonal work can bring. If you like the job and are willing to work for less then that's your decision. If an employer can find someone else who likes the job as much as is willing work work for less then it should be their decision. Many people are willing to work for less in return for more flexible hours, many employers offer (or tolerate) flexible hours in return for paying less. As a customer I can choose to save money on bland no-flavor coffee or pay more for fancy dancy Starbucks. You should have the same choice in choosing where you work...not all flavors suit all people. The Queen drives a school bus, not because she's getting rich but because she loves the kids, enjoys doing something important in the community, and likes her summers off.
 
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J-man said:
In reality most full time jobs pay well above minimum wage so for them it's not an issue. Let the market dictate what part time and seasonal work can bring. If you like the job and are willing to work for less then that's your decision. If an employer can find someone else who likes the job as much as is willing work work for less then it should be their decision. Many people are willing to work for less in return for more flexible hours, many employers offer (or tolerate) flexible hours in return for paying less. As a customer I can choose to save money on bland no-flavor coffee or pay more for fancy dancy Starbucks. You should have the same choice in choosing where you work...not all flavors suit all people. The Queen drives a school bus, not because she's getting rich but because she loves the kids, enjoys doing something important in the community, and likes her summers off.
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It will be in some areas where wages are more repressed.

But regardless; it's the wrong thing to do and the feds need to butt out.
 
Setting a minimum wage is outlawing employment for millions of young Americans. It is nothing more than the Communist labor theory of value where goods are priced according to effort rather than the free market way in which goods are priced at a subjective value, in other words what someone is willing to pay.

You take a fast food joint for instance. The price elasticity of demand is -1. That means for every percent the owner raises prices he will lose 1% of his sales. Multiple sources show that the BEST he can do is to absorb one third of the increased cost of labor as lost profit ( one quarter from lost sales and a five percent haircut), hire one third fewer people (or somehow pay for one third fewer hours), and increase prices by one quarter. But what if he can't live on one third less? Then not only a third of his employees get laid off, but the whole bunch.

Eventually however equilibrium is reestablished in the form of inflation and structural unemployment that robs productivity and thus GDP per capita. More is spent (and taxed and borrowed) by the government in the form of social welfare programs. The entire country realizes a lower standard of living as a result, perhaps as much as 3 to 5% lower after ten years from a 20% increase in the federal Minimum Wage.
 
I agree with most everything posted in this thread. Problem now is both political parties are for raising the federal minimum wage so it'll likely happen regardless of consequences.
 
The Democrats claim that raising the minimum wage will take more people out of poverty and put more into the middle-class. They have claimed this each and every time they have pushed for an increase in the minimum wage. History shows raising the minimum wage has never decreased the number living in poverty and has never increased the number in the middle-class. What decreases poverty and increases the size of the middle-class is economic growth that creates more jobs and reduces unemployment. When the demand for labor exceeds the available supply of labor, wages increase. The opposite happens when the available supply of labor far exceeds the demand.
 
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