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What should the minimum wage be in the United States?

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How much should the minimum wage be in the United States?

  • $0/hr

  • $2/hr

  • $4/hr

  • $6/hr

  • $8/hr

  • $10/hr

  • $12/hr

  • $14/hr

  • $16/hr

  • $18/hr

Results are only viewable after voting.
Having worked at a factory, I understand how greedy a boss and a company can be. Maybe we should look at what people make in Europe and you come to the realization that most workers in the USA are grossly underpaid and don't pay as much in tax and live in large houses they don't really need.
 
piasabird said:
Having worked at a factory, I understand how greedy a boss and a company can be. Maybe we should look at what people make in Europe and you come to the realization that most workers in the USA are grossly underpaid and don't pay as much in tax and live in large houses they don't really need.
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How much was that company making?
 
The minimum wage should stay the same forever provided the cost of living/housing/inflation/products and services remains flat from one year to the next.
 
In order to provide "adequate" living standards in "most" cities, $12 is the best approach. if you want to live in NYC proper or Santa Monica it's gonna have to be like $18.



Some states in the south could get away with $10 but $12-14 seems like a good middle ground, with at least $12 sounding much more reasonable.
 
Pr0d1gy said:
Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage should be a little over $21 an hour right now.
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This is true, but nobody is gonna raise it that high ever. That would actually start to force layoffs.



A lot of these companies are built from the ground up to exploit cheap labor and the current low wage. The walmart business model may not even be viable without underpaying workers.
 
Find the state with the lowest, make that your federal standard, after that let the state determine
 
brandonb said:
I picked $0. Let the market decide. It's called economics. Let supply/demand of products dictate price as well as let supply/demand of skills and people dictate the wage they make.

If two factories sit side by side, one pays $2/hr, and the one next door pays $15/hr, where do you think the talent is going to go? The other factory will have to raise its wages if it wants any decent employees, and it will. Unless a monkey can do the job, and why pay $15 if it only takes a monkey?
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Sure, the talent will go to the $15/hr factory. However, the $2 factory had a brainstorm and offshored their production and found $0.25/day labor and was able to increase their profits and put significant enough pricing pressure on the $15/hr factory that the $15/hr factory was forced to offshore as well. Now there's an entire town that's unemployed fighting over the available jobs at WalMart and McDonalds so WalMart and McDonalds decide they'll pay $1.50/hr because the wage competition in the area has been offshored.
 
Whatever it is, it should be the highest in the world as anything less is admitting that America may not be Number One.
 
Rakehellion said:
A lot of people are getting riled up about the recent increases.

Some cities do have a much higher cost of living than others and those seem to be the ones moving first.
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There is absolutely nothing in the world from stopping those cities or states from raising their own local minimum wage. Seattle approved $15/hour.... if Tennessee had to do that you would see thousands of small businesses go under.
 
I'd say it doesn't matter. If you are working for a no skills, minimum wage type of job, you are probably not going to have a very comfortable life, no matter what the baffoons in charge do...
 
For the people saying $0/hr, do you really think it should be acceptable for someone to get paid only 50 cents an hour for their labor?
 
Rakehellion said:
For the people saying $0/hr, do you really think it should be acceptable for someone to get paid only 50 cents an hour for their labor?
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I worked illegally in London for 29 cents an hour but I got fired becauseI scared the mafia bunch I worked for because I was always happy. Not knowing why seemed to bother them.
 
rudder said:
There is absolutely nothing in the world from stopping those cities or states from raising their own local minimum wage. Seattle approved $15/hour.... if Tennessee had to do that you would see thousands of small businesses go under.
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Really?

"Cities across Oklahoma are now prohibited from establishing mandatory minimum wage or vacation and sick-day requirements under a bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Mary Fallin."

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/04/15/mary-fallin-signs-minimum-wage-hike-ban-in-oklahoma
 
rudder said:
There is absolutely nothing in the world from stopping those cities or states from raising their own local minimum wage. Seattle approved $15/hour.... if Tennessee had to do that you would see thousands of small businesses go under.
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Probably wouldn't notice it happening. Tennessee? Never heard of it.
 
Rakehellion said:
For the people saying $0/hr, do you really think it should be acceptable for someone to get paid only 50 cents an hour for their labor?
Click to expand...


The minimum wage in Bangladesh comes out to about $.09/hr and the Central African Republic is about $.10/hr. For that matter, there are several countries with no minimums. If we want to stay competitive in the world economy, we really need to get as close to that $0/hr as we can.
 
It is better that unskilled people remain unemployed (and as a result inexperienced) than work for wages their betters consider exploitive.
 
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Rakehellion said:
For the people saying $0/hr, do you really think it should be acceptable for someone to get paid only 50 cents an hour for their labor?
Click to expand...

Considering that such a rate is probably below the necessary amount of food to sustain someone I don't think anyone would work for that amount...

at least not for very long 😉
 
Rakehellion said:
For the people saying $0/hr, do you really think it should be acceptable for someone to get paid only 50 cents an hour for their labor?
Click to expand...

Acceptable to whom? To you? If an unskilled 17 year old gets a job offer for $1 an hour, should it not be his or her decision to take it or leave it?
 
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