Seattle Passes Ordinance For $15 Minimum Wage

I was at $3.25 in 86 which got bumped to $3.65 in 87 ( min wage went up ) , then in fall of 87 I landed a carpenter's helper job starting at $9 / hour , I remember getting my first cheque and thinking " HOLY SHIT YOU CAN'T SPEND THIS MUCH MONEY IN A MONTH ! " lol

 

Depends what it is. When China is making parts and landing them here at a price less than an American company can, I'd say we have a problem that raising the minimum wage will not solve. There are people that are more than willing to...

1. Work after school instead of 'hanging out.'
2. Not learn skills
3. Not learn launguages
4. Get subsidized by all the 'Rich People' you hate and that you want to deplete their wealth anyway.
5. Have little ambition

Anyone that is worth more than minimum wage will get more than minimum wage. Those that either choose to stay there or not work on finding out how to add more value should stay there.

I have worked with many homeless people and they 'work' for much less than minimum wage and believe it or not, of the 3 types of homeless folks I've worked with, the Urban Campers wouldn't work for any sum and still know how to get that free cup of Starbucks every morning.

Maybe not the American Dream but with Obamacare, and a number of other programs, it can certainly make a start... My sweetheart worked for below minimum wage and put herself through Notre Dame... but she also worked hard at school as well; there was no way she was going to stay there and minimum wage provided a great incentive to find out how to add value.

 

Also forgetting the "hidden" costs that will also go up.

The employer pays a portion of Social Security, as well as workers' comp and other taxes.
These will also go up by the same percentage as the minimum wage increase... so this is not ONLY costing the employers another $6 per hour per employee... it's closer to $10.

As far as health care, anyone at minimum wage is heavily subsidized by those of us who make more than minimum, so while the cost of benefits is not covered by the employer, it is also not a significant cost.
And this is going to hurt them, as the increase in pay will reduce the amount of subsidies that they qualify for.
They will end up paying more for insurance. Adding to that the retail price increases... they're going to end up being worse off than they are now.

 

No shit.
When I was making $3.35, I was thinking I'd have it made at $5.

"Today I am starving on what I once dreamed of making"

Not sure who that quote was from originally... I heard it from my history prof.

 

Rather than play armchair Keynes why don't we check this out for a bit and see what happens? I think it will be an interesting experiment. If it works great. If not we can study the hell out of what happens and learn.

 

Can't help myself

3. Learn languages

 

Read above... just outside of Seattle, the Sea-Tac area has already done it and it is not working out well.

 

My point was, that there are people that are willing to figure out how to get here but would never think of learning the language that would financially benefit them the most. Many of these folks, even at minimum wage are making 10-100 times what they would make in their native land. To them, what do they care? They are living relative high on the hog.

People that think $15 an hour are going to push those people right back to the land they came from when the jobs evaporate. Maybe the $15 minimum wage is a new way to reverse The Dream Act.

 

And in a time that small businesses are struggling - this move along with the EPA recent actions should snuff out a good number of struggling businesses.

 

I'm just rattling your cage however , basing whether or not a raise in the US minimum wage by what Chinese workers get isn't really apples to apples

 

You mean the coal plant emissions announcement today ?

 

I know one guy that did exactly that. 58 people laid off. He owned a plumbing business and a motorcycle shop. Figured he'd let someone else get fucked.

Me on the other hand, I was foolish and went from only employing myself to now buying the opportunity with my life savings and home, to pay 38 other people and hope that we can survive this mess.

My sweetheart and I keep saying if we get fucked, we will be some of the happiest homeless people since everything is now on the line. How stupid could I be?