State of the Union Address

[Lt. Staplic]

Anyone watch the SOTU tonight? Any thoughts on the plans and/or probability of their being enacted.

Being a minimum wage worker right now, I know the idea of raising min. wage to 9.00 peaked my interest.

[Teaos]

All that will mean is business' hiring less people and working the rest harder. Or hiring people on contract where they can pay what they want. Happened here in NZ when they got rid of youth minimum wage. Employment in under 18s went from 40% to under 10% in 2 years.

[Mikey]

My governor already put the kibosh on raising minimum wage.

[Tyyr]

Oh look, a politician trying to buy goodwill. That's never happened before in the history of EVER. All raising minimum wage will do is put an instant halt on new hiring for minimum wage jobs and result in your employer to tell you to start doing another$2 or $3 an hour worth of work to make up the difference. In other words some people will wind up with a better wage but the door's going to slam in the face of a lot more. But hey, it's sounds good and that's what matters!

And no, I didn't watch the Bullshitting the Union address. I've had quite enough politicians lie to my face in my lifetime and I've got a DVR.

[Tsukiyumi]

Companies will also just raise prices to compensate. Unless and until there's some kind of legislation to prevent this, and the other issues brought up, minimum wage increases will just drive inflation higher.

[Mikey]

Companies will also just raise prices to compensate. Unless and until there's some kind of legislation to prevent this, and the other issues brought up, minimum wage increases will just drive inflation higher.

Indeed. No matter what one thinks of companies who attempt to keep their margin steady, one fact is undeniable - whether it's an international conglomerate or some mom-and-pop neighborhood hardware store, CoS is CoS and one (or both) of two things will happen: the entity in question will either take steps to reduce CoS or to increase income to compensate. Reducing CoS can be done by less hiring/layoffs, outsourcing further afield for materials a/o labor, or turning over the experienced/established work force in favor of less wage-intensive labor. Increasing income generally means inflating prices. This isn't good or bad; it's just simply the nature of how things work. Every business, no matter how community-minded or well-intentioned, is in the business of business.

[Tyyr]

I dunno, when you're still trying to drive down unemployment and get the economy back growing steadily intentionally inflating prices isn't going to help.

[Mikey]

That's the point - it may sound counter-intuitive to some folks, but increasing the minimum wage will likely have the opposite of the desired effect.

[Tyyr]

If that is counter intuitive to you then you shouldn't be allowed to vote.

[Mikey]

If that is counter intuitive to you then you shouldn't be allowed to vote.

For good or ill, there is no IQ requirement to vote.

[Tyyr]

For ill, it's entirely for ill.

[Tsukiyumi]

Sadly, that's the truth, though I'd say that it should be a combination of intellect and common sense. Perhaps some sort of test that includes both.

You have to get a license to drive a car; voting is potentially a lot more dangerous.

[Captain Seafort]

You have to get a license to drive a car; voting is potentially a lot more dangerous.

Not individually. Collectively, well, Men in Black hit the nail on the head.

[SteveK]

A problem arises when the government sets the minimum wage above the value that a worker brings to the company. If a low skilled worker can only produce $8/ hour of value for his employer, Obama would have the employer either engage in $1/ hour of charity or replace him with someone more skilled.

For most people, minimum wage jobs are the first rung of a career ladder. It does not benefit anyone to have that rung raised prohibitively high.

[stitch626]

You have to get a license to drive a car; voting is potentially a lot more dangerous.

Not individually. Collectively, well, Men in Black hit the nail on the head.

They certainly did.

I personally wouldn't care one bit about being paid more if gas prices could somehow be forced back to $1.50 a gallon.