California's new minimum wage: $6.75/hr

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hans007

Lifer
Feb 1, 2000
20,212
17
81
it's gonna affect a lot of stuff. My dad works in human resources as well as technical support at his companies. He's been negotiating with the union . They make HP pavilions for HP, so the current low end salary there is $6.50 after the 90 day period (they raise it 25cents). So the union wants a raise of $1 over the next 3 years, and with this added 6.75 they will probably want like 75cents over the 6.75 which will make it cost more for you to get your HP pavilion. Same with alll the food places, where people still only get $6 .

I also dont agree with the schooling thing. Thats just dumb, i think its only because HR people are too lazy to actually interview people so they can just assume that if a person went to say college then they have a brain. I wouldn't be trying to get a compsci degree in my really boring engineering classes if it wasn't like that.
 

alferret

Member
Aug 9, 2000
50
0
0
outside London you would expect to pay about $600 p/m for a 1 bed studio app,
i pay $400 p/m for a 3 bed end terrace house in Nottingham UK,
the British gov has just put up the min wage to $6:08 p/h which IMHO is piss poor.
my hourly rate is $12:41 which aint to bad really

based on an exchange rate of $1:60 - £1:00


 

Ferocious

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2000
4,584
2
71
The trickle down theory was and is an utter failure.

Booming economic times over the last two decades mostly. Upper management and CEO wages going up 50%-490% over that time period adjusted for inflation. Worker wages have gone up about 2% adjusted for inflation during that same time period.

A lot of these has to do with terribly weak labor laws in the USA, which will only get weaker with another Republican administration.
 

DABANSHEE

Banned
Dec 8, 1999
2,355
0
0
As I said people on the dole (welfare for the unemployed) in Northern Europe get more than Americans on the minimum wage

Consequently wages are a lot higher

Yet guess what? there are still Mc Donalds outlets in Northern Europe.

The US may have about the highest Mean average wage in the OECD, yet because of its low minimum wages it also has about the lowest mode average wage in the OECD, & about the lowest median average wages in the OECD. Plus once you exclude the top & bottom 1% of people, American wages are probably abit less than those Northern Europe, because the statistics are skweud by the small numbers of extremly wealthy. Plus even the higher taxes in Europe/Australia are counteracted by the fact they provide free cradle to grave healthcare & free cradle to grave education, & good social security (pensions, the dole, etc). Also people in Europe & Australia get more than double the holidays & leave that Americans get.

Now what does an economy exist for. It exists to distribute income (products, as what is income except the products you can purchase with it) & wealth (accumaleted products). Now on average most people are about just as productive. Really its the low income earners who are most neccasary to a economy as they provide our needs, more than out wants. Look at Mexican fruit pickers working 14 hours a day or Vietnamese immigrant families working as outworkers in the garment trade sewing shirts together 17 hours a day, or farmers spending 14 hours a day at it just to keep the bank managers at bay, yet the average IT manager has virtually no productivity in comparion (what products can he show for his labour).

So basically its the manual workers who are the backbone of the economy - a economy can't work without them, yet an economy can work without the wealthy (look at subsistance economies, for example). So as far as I'm concerned the econmies where the little bloke are awarded more, are the better economies. Really who needs economic growth if everyone is doing ok.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
Yeah, subsistence is great. Especially the parts like an average life expentecy of 40 years. How I long for the good old days.

Shut up Dabanshee. How many fruit picker do you know that are secretly working on cures for diseases in their bedrooms at night?
 

Soybomb

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2000
9,505
1
0
Shazam, we have a taco bell that pays $5.15 an hour. Isn't that close enough to $5? (The corn fields of illinois are a cheap place to live hehe). *pst minimum is $5.15*

Although I agree 100% that you raise minimum wage, prices go up. Lets go back to that corndog stand that Red mentioned. Right now the owner has three guys who take turns selling dogs at $1.50 each, and the guys are paid minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. Minimum wage increases to $6.00 an hour. Is the owner going to take a loss? No, he's going to raise the price of the dogs to $2.00 (might as well add a bit more profit since the price is going up anyway.....) Goodie, now you're making more, but everything costs more. You're money is worth less than it used to be. You're still probably going to have the same worth out of it. How does that help anyone?
 

hans007

Lifer
Feb 1, 2000
20,212
17
81
we just shouldn't have a minimum wage. The market will decide and it would end up working out anyways.