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Romney on minimum wage

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Minimum wage IMO is better handled at the state level because of differences in the cost of living from state to state. I don't mind a low federal minimum wage, but in general it's a better issue for the states.
 
Craig234 said:
You asked how it works. Now you ask what's ok. What are you asking?
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I am asking you to forget everything you have ever been told about minimum wages, and form your own opinion.

Who gets to determine what a job is worth, the employer, the government, me, you, the free market, the union?

Think outside the box.
 
Texashiker said:
Who gets to determine what a job is worth, the employer, the government, me, you, the free market, the union?
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A combination of the company's demand for the labor, the employee's demand for wages, and the rules and regulation the government imposes on employers (minimum wage negates an employee willing to offer labor below the floor, and negates any employer demand at wages below that floor). When unions enter into the picture they restrict supply of labor and offer higher quality (in theory) of labor, and the union now handles the bargaining that an employee would normally do on his own.

Free market is what happens to any wage negotiation not restricted by minimum wage or when an employee allows a union to bargain on their behalf. When you ask for a wage increase you just committed a free market act, when an employer hires someone for more or less money they committed a free market act.

Competition for labor and wages is all that the free market means.
 
Texashiker said:
So its ok for company W to make 100 billion a year, then pay below poverty wages?
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Huh?
They only made $3.8 billion not $100 billion.

If people think they are being paid poverty wages, then they are more than abel to take their skills into the free market and allow other employers to bid on them.

The fact of the matter is that these people have no skills. That is why they are working at Walmart. What, you think that someone with no skills should be paid the same as the CEO? LOL.

Its all about supply and demand on the labor side. There is a ton of supply and minimal demand. Wages decrease. The worker only has themselves to blame.
 
Patranus said:
Huh?
They only made $3.8 billion not $100 billion.

If people think they are being paid poverty wages, then they are more than abel to take their skills into the free market and allow other employers to bid on them.

The fact of the matter is that these people have no skills. That is why they are working at Walmart. What, you think that someone with no skills should be paid the same as the CEO? LOL.

Its all about supply and demand on the labor side. There is a ton of supply and minimal demand. Wages decrease. The worker only has themselves to blame.
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All workers should be paid at least the minimum needed to survive. Anything else is ludicrious.
 
Throckmorton said:
All workers should be paid at least the minimum needed to survive. Anything else is ludicrious.
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If a worker thinks they are not getting fair compensation for the work then they are more than free to take their skills to an open market. Really don't see what is so difficult about this.
 
Patranus said:
If a worker thinks they are not getting fair compensation for the work then they are more than free to take their skills to an open market. Really don't see what is so difficult about this.
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Yea, but they don't belong to the Board of Directors club that determine appropriate compensation. They make union thugs look like alter boys. That's the crux of the problem there is no free market at the CEO level. It pisses most everyone off except rich people syncophants
 
The minimum wage is the reason why so many US cities are blighted, even to this day.

My humble opinion.

Theoretically, unemployment shouldn't exist. There should always be a job for a person willing to work, for whatever wage.

I mean, that's how the Chinese got a foothold on manufacturing, by being willing to work for less than unionized workers in the USA. That's how areas become revitalized, by attracting investment with, among other things, cheap labor.
 
hal2kilo said:
Yea, but they don't belong to the Board of Directors club that determine appropriate compensation. They make union thugs look like alter boys. That's the crux of the problem there is no free market at the CEO level. It pisses most everyone off except rich people syncophants
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That is literally class warfare. A Board of Directors are interested in the efficient running of an enterprise, and wages are a function of supply and demand. There are places in the USA which pay a $1000 signing bonus for working at Subway. Wages aren't granted by some feudal lords.
 
If this is ever implemented, then it will be one of the biggest market distortions ever. This is also a red flag. That is, he could be signaling that he's going to inflate the fuck out of the credit supply.

Have any Democrats ever mentioned doing this before?
 
I like the idea of inflating the fuck out of the credit supply.

really, the only way out of the current debt is inflation. There is no way spending cuts or raising taxes can fix it.
 
Patranus said:
The fact of the matter is that these people have no skills. That is why they are working at Walmart.
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You have a choice, require companies like walmart to pay a liveable wage, or you have have people on government assistance programs. By allowing companies to pay poverty wages, I guess you like paying higher taxes to help pay for food stamps, medicaid, and public housing?

There is a sub-culture of people called the working poor. Employees working for companies like walmart should not be living in poverty.
 
hal2kilo said:
Yea, but they don't belong to the Board of Directors club that determine appropriate compensation. They make union thugs look like alter boys. That's the crux of the problem there is no free market at the CEO level. It pisses most everyone off except rich people syncophants
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Huh?
There is free market at the CEO level. There is a lot of competition.
The fact that these CEOs can negotiate these generous benefits packages shows how little qualified talent there is at the CEO level.
 
Texashiker said:
You have a choice, require companies like walmart to pay a liveable wage, or you have have people on government assistance programs. By allowing companies to pay poverty wages, I guess you like paying higher taxes to help pay for food stamps, medicaid, and public housing?

There is a sub-culture of people called the working poor. Employees working for companies like walmart should not be living in poverty.
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So let's make the minimum wage $100/hour and then everyone will be rich!
 
Texashiker said:
Have you ever tried to open a small business?

A structured minimum wage makes perfect sense, and its the perfect answer.

Employees are motivated to help make the company profitable, because their wages would be tired to how much money the company makes.

Regardless of company size, the minimum wage would be a certain percentage of the bottom line.

Companies like walmart that turn billions in profit would be forced to pay a liveable wage. If a company like walmart makes 20 billion in profit, they can afford to pay a higher wage then a mon-and-pop store that is barely turning a profit.
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If you want to give your employees some sort of stock option or profit sharing arrangement as a performance incentive, go right ahead. You are trying to use the minimum wage to essentially give employees an ownership stake in companies which is not its intended purpose.
 
karmypolitics said:
I like the idea of inflating the fuck out of the credit supply.

really, the only way out of the current debt is inflation. There is no way spending cuts or raising taxes can fix it.
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Yes, there is. What do you think inflation is but a form of a tax?

The problem is that the Republicans are in office to serve the 1%.
 
palehorse said:
That's easy: the free market, period.
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If we did not have free trade and millions of illegal immigrants, then yea, maybe we can have a free market.

Why should companies pay minimum wage, when the parts can be built in china for a fraction of the price.

Our manufacturing jobs are being shipped overseas, which pushes more workers into the service oriented jobs. More workers mean lower wages.
 
Free market works in a village (barely) and not the world stage. Period. While the idea of free market is awesome, it doesn't work. Just like the idea of a pure democracy would never work beyond a few dozen people.
 
Texashiker said:
If a company can afford to pay its employees $100 an hour, why not?
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Are you saying that companies shouldn't maximize profits when they can? Or that the market itself shouldn't determine wages based on relative skill sets?

A cashier is a cashier is a cashier. If Walmart wants to, they can maintain a force of the best cashiers simply by offering $1 more than the competition, or by offering more benefits. Or, if they can live with a certain amount of employee turnover, they can pay their cashiers the exact same rate as any of their competition... or even less!

The good news is that they also employ higher-educated finance gurus to determine the perfectly balanced wage amounts for any particular locale.

This entire "living" process is one of the key aspects of free-market capitalism. Any time something artificial or avoidable gets in the way (ie. government, unions, illegal immigration, etc), shit breaks.

So please stop breaking shit.

Kkthxbye.
 
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