[paraclete]

Noone suggested you sould be satisfied with inefficient solutions be they government or otherwise, but government has a role to ensure the welfare of the population and part of that is ensuring that wages are fair to minimise government welfare, in otherwords industry also has a responsibility. In some places even the remote places like the Dominican republic that responsibility is taken seriously without government pressure. Government pressure only becomes necessary when industry is recalicrant

[speechlesstx]

but government has a role to ensure the welfare of the population

Really? Thanks, I did not know that.

[paraclete]

Yes the words

promote the general Welfare,

seem to imply that

[speechlesstx]

Sigh...

[Tuttyd]

"The CBO just said that increasing minimum wage will result in job losses."

The CBO probably doesn't know. Raising the minimum wage could do any number of things.

I would imagine it would depend on who you talk to on the committee and their ideological commitment.

[paraclete]

yes Tutt we have seen many times the argument that increased wages decreases employment, but rarely have we observed this a direct consequence excepting in isolated instances, the fact is that in most industries there is scope to both increase prices and absorb at leats a part of wages increases. the problem we have is that investors have been educated to expect higher returns even in low risk industries and it is they who don't want to share the wealth created by the success of their enterprises, it seems that the ethos that only senior executives should share in the benefits is well entrenched as if they were capable of producing the result without the benefit of staff

[talaniman]

Raising minimum wage would ease poverty but cost some jobs - Feb. 18, 2014

Once the CBO report came out, there was a partisan rapid-fire response at the ready. Republicans who oppose the $10.10 proposal immediately seized on CBO's job loss estimates, while Democrats touted the agency's assessment that a higher minimum would lift 900,000 workers out of poverty.

Its still a net gain out of poverty.

[tomder55]

the CBO is nonpartisan .... ask the libs ,they tell us that all the time. CBO report: Minimum wage hike could cost 500,000 jobs CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said the report was consistent with the consensus thinking of the leading economists .

[paraclete]

interesting equation; 500,000 less lowly paid jobs V lifting 900,000 workers out of poverty and all for the princely sum of $10.10 per hour. so the coefficient of improvement would seem to be 1.8:1. On this basis we could eliminate poverty for say the loss of 50,000,000 jobs, no wait, there seems to be something wrong, that would be 500,000,000 jobs, no that's not enough, heck let's just get rid of all jobs and be rich

[tomder55]

yup lib logic ... what it really is is a wealth transfer from the poor people to other poor people .
What they really won't tell you is that the only reason they want the increase is because it becomes the new baseline for union negotiations of contracts.

[paraclete]

do you honestly think a minimum wage is a baseline for union negotiations, as if a union is going to negotiate to get a government mandated minimum wage, get real! If this is so then unions are no longer required. No a minimum wage is a base line for all employees and the next step is a living minimum wage based on economic data, that's a pill your 85 billionaires having half the wealth don't want to swallow and Tom, you want to toady for them? do your little G'd Mornin Gov'nor act?

[tomder55]

Union Support Of Minimum Wage Hike Is Self-Interested - Investors.com

[tomder55]

btw the Dem party is a wholy owned subsidiary of the unions ...and if you are looking for toadies for big business ,look no further than the emperor ,who just announced CAFE standards for big trucks guaranteed to drive the smaller trucking firms out of business in favor of the large crony corporations who will be able to easily absord the transition.

[talaniman]

LOL Tom, now you knock a union for negotiating in their own self interest? Whose interest should they negotiate in? Everybody wants more money. Face it the part you don't like is an organized labor force acting in its own interest. Bad for profits. Less bonus for the front office. You have said many times that business is in it for profits.

Workers are too.

[tomder55]

I think all the leading lefties that run various cities and states take the lead and increase min wage in their jursidiction.
Sandanista Mayor DeBlasio is always so concerned about wage disparty . Why doesn't he raise NYC min wage to $15 -20 hr ? What's stopping him ? He has a rubber stamp city council . Why doesn't Guv's Cuomo ,Brown in Kalifornia ,or Deval Patrick in Taxxachusetts just raise their state's min wage to a so called 'living wage ' ? Because they know that it would HARM their state's economy and would have a negative impact on low income workers prospects.

[talaniman]

Gap To Raise Minimum Wage For U.S. Workers - WSJ.com

Gap is raising what it pays, and Walmarts, and Target, are considering it. Wonder why?

[speechlesstx]

Perhaps they're trying to attract workers who can do math, say something besides "no problem" and who'll show up for work?

[talaniman]

"you get what you pay for."

[speechlesstx]

So where does that leave teens?

[tomder55]

if a business like GAP increases their base pay, it's their business. Most companies pay more than min wage anyway so all the GAP announcement amts to is cheap advertisement .