POLL: Should minimum wage be somewhere between 8 and 9 dollars?

[Selatius]

At the end of the 1960s, when one adjusts for inflation, the minimum wage in that era was worth over 8 dollars in real purchasing power today. Should we restore it to its former peak?

[AndyA]

1. Our government needs to make sure it doesn't place burdens on people

that they can't possibly comply with. For instance, a working couple making minimum wage today can barely scrape by. When you consider they must insure their cars to drive them, pay taxes, fees, and do all the other things required by law, that leaves precious little to buy food with, pay for medical care, etc.

The minimum wage must be set realistically, so that people can afford to pay the costs government entities place upon them by law, and still be able to afford life's necessities.

[Selatius]

3. Unfortunately, the feds didn't write most of the laws requiring mandatory auto insurance

Most of those were passed by state governments lobbied by insurance companies under the guise of ensuring both compensation to all and lower prices. The lower prices bit didn't really pan out.

[4morewars]

2. At least $10.00 / hour

At 40 hours that's a gross of $400.00, uncle sam will take at leat $100.00 of that, (probably more) leaving about $300.00 a week (or less).

I don't know how anyone can support a family on this paltry sum.

[CrispyQ]

11. I agree.

Actually, for some areas, I would say $15. That's just over $30k a year. I'd like to see our representative & senators live on that, without all their freebies, no less!

In Senator Dorgan's book "Take This Job & Ship It" he states that if minimum wage had kept up with CEO pay since 1990 it would be $23.08.

:wow:

[morgan2]

4. there is no number minimum wage should be

its not an instinsic value. It should be determined by the prevailing economic conditions of the time.

[Idioteque]

5. I think we should raise the EITC instead of the minimum wage...

The EITC helps directly lift people out of poverty without setting a market distorting price floor.

Edit: Before I get flamed, I know they aren't mutually exclusive. I could live with a raise to $7.50 and indexing it to inflation so we don't fight over it anymore.

[Selatius]

13. Thinking it over, I would favor a basket of solutions

I would be fine if they passed a federal law raising it to 7.25 or 7.50 or whatever they proposed and then indexing the minimum wage to inflation to remove the issue as a political football and just to stop the bleeding of purchasing power because of inflation, but I would also say I favor, as you do, increasing the EITC at the same time. It's true the EITC is far more effective at targeting help at the poor.

Maybe while we're at it, we can increase funding for food stamps and other programs and ensuring people aren't automatically bumped out of receiving aid they would have received if it weren't for the increased minimum wage leaving them ineligible for aid because they now make "too much."

[athena]

17. Let me just point out that food stamps alone would be useless.

When companies like Walmart can get away with paying their workers next-to-nothing thanks to the availability of welfare and foodstamps, taxes end up subsidizing the companies, not the poor.

I know you're not advocating replacing the minimum wage with food stamps, but it needs to be made perfectly clear that food stamps, welfare and the EITC are not in the same category as a reasonable minimum wage.

[athena]

15. Are you aware

that the Republicans have placed all sorts of obstacles to getting the EITC? People claiming the EITC are audited much more than people who do not. Since the poor know about this, many of them don't bother to claim the EITC. If you say audits are unnecessary, then you should know that some rich people whose main income comes from offshore trusts also manage to claim the EITC and get away with it.

Also, are you aware of how tax companies like H&R Block rob the poor of their tax refunds? Do you really think a lump-sum tax refund can make up for below-poverty-line wages?

Tax breaks are not the way to lift people out of poverty. The EITC is supposed to simply make it more profitable to work than to go on welfare. It is not meant to replace the minimum wage.

[AllegroRondo]

6. The tricky part of a national minimum wage

is that cost of living varies so much by where you live.

In the midwest, $300 a week might be enough to scrape by. In California or New York, it would be impossible.

[Vanje]

7. 10 bucks an hour

Set the wage at $10 minimum, and see what kind of retail season we have this christmas.

Trickle it up.

[TahitiNut]

8. How about making it equal to 20 First Class postage stamps??

[Vincardog]

9. Raise it and make Congress raise it every time they raise their own wages.

By the same amount.

[mainegreen]

10. Higher than that.

If a business can afford to pay that, then they can't afford to have employees.

[papercut]

12. $10/hr.

At least.

[librechik]

25. make it 15 and a person can afford a roof of his own,

anything less won't fix the problem.

[noonwitch]

14. Yes, but there should be a separate minimum wage for 16-18 year olds

If minimum wage is 8.50 an hour, but McDonald's should be able to hire teens for less, like 6.50 or something.

The traditional food service and retail jobs for teens have dried up, because adults are so desperate for jobs they are taking them all up. This is not good for either group.

Before people start saying that then places will only hire teens, that's just not true. Teens are only allowed to work between certain hours and work only 20 hours a week maximum. They are not allowed to operate a lot of kitchen equipment (meat cutters, etc.) and the better-paying supervisory jobs will always go to those over 18.

[On the Road]

16. I Would Agree With $10/Hr

giving high-cost states the opportunity to go a little higher. Now that most exportable jobs have already been offshored or outsourced, the effect should be less than it would have been in the 70s or 80s.

Right-wingers claim that businesses will cut down on hours and hire fewer people, which is true. However, if you're making twice as much, you can afford to work one job instead of two.

[helderheid]

18. according to Kucinich it should be $15 with inflation

[Justyce]

22. I went to college, struggled to

find a job, worked really hard to work my way slowly up the ladder, and finally, I'm making a couple of bucks more an hour than you just quoted for the proposed minimum wage... I certainly would never begrudge anyone a decent living, but it's strange to think that a 16-year-old working a summer job as a clerk would make basically as much as I make now. It sucks that with inflation as high as it's been, most jobs haven't adjusted their payscales accordingly, but I guess with so many of the companies outsourcing, there's no reason for them to give raises.

[TahitiNut]

26. The MEDIAN wage in 2005 was less than $24K ($12/hour full-time)

HALF the workers in 2005 were paid less than $23,962.20 - which, assuming 2,000 hours of work, is less than $12/hour. Now, clearly, these figures represent EVERYONE who worked at all for wages during 2005, including part-time workers but also including workers who were paid wages for two or more jobs.

[Ignacio Upton]

19. How high was it back in the late '60s?

Raise it to the equivalent of that.

[Selatius]

21. Adjusted for inflation, it would be between 8 and 9 now, somewhere in that range.

[PeaceProgProsp]

20. 40 hrs per week x $10/hr working at McDs = $19,200 per year

That's still a little low. Get that up to $22K/year, and that would be about right.

[TahitiNut]

27. The MEDIAN wage in 2005 was less than $24K ($12/hour full-time)

(See my post above.)

[PeaceProgProsp]

28. What do you think the implications of that are?

Do you think that means that $10-$12/hr is to high?

[TahitiNut]

30. As I said above, only somewhat facetiously, ....

... the minimum wage should be equal to the postage needed to pay 20 bills by mail - 20 times the cost of first class postage. When I look at how the postage cost has been managed in comparison to how the minimum wage has been maintained, especially looking at the history of both, it seems clear the equivalence should be maintained.

At the same time, however, I'm in favor of a 36-hour work-week (IMMEDIATELY) and double time for all overtime. I'm also in favor of outlawing mandatory retirement at any age lower than the full-benefit age for Social Security and putting bigger teeth into age discrimination statutes.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. It should be tied to purchasing power

As I recall prices from 1968, when the minimum wage was $1.25, I think the current minimum wage should be about $9.75, although it should be phased in gradually to avoid giving too much of a shock to small businesses.

When I was in England this summer, I learned that the minimum wage there is £6 per hour, or about $11.40. Of course, consumer prices are higher, too, partly because of the value-added tax, or VAT, which is 17.5% and which is folded into the retail price instead of being tacked on at the cash register, like a U.S. sales tax.

[damntexdem]

24. No, higher.

It was never adequate.

[Greyhound]

29. Voted with the majority, but we also need to address the number

manipulation that our government has engaged in for over 40 years.

Every administration since Kennedy has added a little more dishonesty to the inflation and unemployment numbers until we are at the point that they are meaningless. Financial publications have to print "official" numbers and also estimated real numbers just to have a clue as to what is really happening.

ShrubCo. removed the baseline from the inflation calcs so that we will never see more than 3% - 4% inflation, no matter what happens to the cost of living. As the costs rise, the baseline is adjusted to match it, making the the figure utterly meaningless.

Note to seniors and others receiving checks from the SSA; you are being shorted by about 22% thanks to these political lies.