U.S. minimum wage hike a stimulus to economy: report

[wroberts189]

Source: reuters

snippet

Such findings counter conventional wisdom among economists, who tend to argue that mandated wage increases hurt businesses' bottom line, putting a crimp on hiring.

On the contrary, say EPI analysts, who argued that further growth in low-end incomes would go a long way toward engendering an economic recovery.

"An increase in the minimum wage would not only benefit low-income working families, but it would also provide a boost to consumer spending and the broader economy," said Kai Filion, an analyst at EPI.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE54R6YD20090528

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Hard to believe this is not just plain common sense. If you give the poor and middle class more money they are going to spend it on necessities and benefit all businesses. Business may pay little more in wages but they will get more customers.

Its trickle up not down.

[Triana]

1. We knew that. Contrary to the pigshit's bassackwards "logic", it's true.

It IS trickle-UP - not trickle-down.

[Jkid]

2. Raise the minium wage to a living wage: $15 an hour

Then I'll be satisfied.

[MrBlueSky]

5. AND.... end the tip credit so waiters/waitresses can get the full $15.00 per hour n/t

[Liberal Veteran]

3. Peasants with money? Don't be droll!

[bemildred]

4. If giving money to rich people is good, it's hard to see how giving money to poor people

would not be good too.

[sandnsea]

6. It was more fun sucking interest payments out of them

because the ones who engineer the economy knew full well they weren't paying enough for families to live. That's about 60% of families, not just minimum wage workers.

[madrchsod]

7. what? give the help more more money?

what a silly idea...

[progressoid]

8. Nuh Uh.

Sean told me that it's killing businesses.

[harmonicon]

9. duh

[spag68]

10. minimum wage

This is also like the common sense that tells me more union workers will benefit all workers. When working people get a living wage, it may or may no affect business, but there are sure many more workers out there to buy cars.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

32. And fewer on public assistance.

Of course, most of those opposed to aliving wage are opposed to public assistance as well.

[defendandprotect]

11. Ridiculous -- the Minimum Wage should be $20 an hour -- or more . . .

and we need to redefine it as a Living Wage --

[Regret My New Name]

13. extreme?

$20 min wage is a bit too high. I base this on the fact that I've made on average about $14/hr-$16/hr and usually had more than enough money to survive. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, New York(Long Island), Nevada and various cities in Texas. Although, when I was living in NY I probably made slightly more which made up for increases in cost of living. Anyway,I agree that it needs to be higher than what it is now, but it has to be reasonable so that it doesn't actually cause the issues that they say raising it will cause...Out of my ass, I'd say $12 would be something that most people should be able to live on.. of course it should be adjusted for cost of living.

[ProudDad]

16. You do realize that $12 per hour for

the single breadwinner of a family of, say, 4

would be well below the poverty line...right?

In the S.F. Bay Area or NYC it wouldn't pay the rent on a studio apt.

[Regret My New Name]

17. Of course that wouldn't solve that problem.

However, raising the minimum wage to enough to support a family of four(why four, why not six?) isn't the solution either. Not everyone who earns minimum wage has a family of four, and does not require that much as a living wage... So you end up paying some jackass like me $20/hr to do some mindless task like cook your fries or redesign your IP addressing scheme to optimize route summarization in your network... Which are things that require minimal skill and effort on my part. I know that those who don't want a raise of the minimum wage - or even want it to be abolished - use the claim that raising it even half a buck will 'cause the world to end, and I think they're wrong.(for various reasons which I don't think I have to explain here) However, I'm pretty sure that if taken to an extreme it will in fact cause the inflation they talk about...

So obviously raising the wage to a livable wage of a single person won't help someone who has kids, or who some expensive medical condition, or someone who likes to wipe their ass with twenty dollar bills (I might be the only person who does this; I like the texture). In situations like the first two, I suppose the minimum wage could be tied to whatever an individual requires to live(?living wage?). Of course, that opens up a big mess of trying to figure out how that could work... Let's assume we do figure all that out and set it up. Wouldn't that just lead to people passing over those who would have a higher wage requirement? So I guess that wouldn't really work... unless you go down the road of making it a law so that people who have more financial needs always have preference in hiring. Which will never happen in the US... In my useless opinion, it seems like the best solution is for people in need to get aid to help them reach whatever their individual living requirements are.. Smartly, of course, give people free daycare and education, etc.. so that they could find jobs pay enough to get by. How about doing things to lower the cost of living too? Why is it that a small studio costs $3000 in some cities?

I should also note that any minimum wage should be tied to the cost of living in the area. Obviously the minimum wage in NYC or SF should be higher than the minimum wage in Houston, Texas.

In summary, it seems to me like there are far more effective was of helping people that are less sledgehammer-ish.

[ProudDad]

34. What would be best would be what Nixon was ready to sign

on to -- a guaranteed living minimum income for everyone.

Then let the rich bastards fight over what's left...

-------------------------------

What I meant is that $12 per hour probably isn't enough ANYWHERE...

[WriteDown]

26. If you're making 12$....

an hour and have 2 kids, then you are really doing something wrong.

[On the Road]

21. Really? $20 an Hour?

You want all those jobs to disappear that are not cost effective at that rate?

Sounds like a disaster for the working class to me. And this is coming from someone who thinks the minimum wage needs a significant hike.

[WriteDown]

27. dupe

[WriteDown]

28. Why not 100$ an hour?

Then everyone can be rich. :shrug:

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[devilgrrl]

37. Jesus, it stinks in here!

[Javaman]

12. since it helps the lower class and the poor expect the repukes to refute this. nt

[anonymous171]

14. "It's trickle up not down"

:thumbsup::kick:

[ProudDad]

15. All together now...DUH!!!! (n/t)

[Thor_MN]

18. The rich and the Conservative would have you believe wealth is a mountain when it's a toilet

They like the idea of trickle down, because it it makes gravity seem to do all the work of of their BS theory that pouring money on the top of the mountain will cause it to flow down to the poor at the bottom. Ine reality. the rich are at the bottom of the toilet and money flows naturally to them.

In order to get money, most people have to work. It takes effort to pump money up from the depths of the toilet. Interest income requires no labor, it flows effortlessly to those who have money to loan.

If the government wants to stimulate the economy, the most bang for the buck is heaping money on the porrest, as it will be spent, thereby increasing demand, providing jobs such that people have more money, increasing demand, lather, rinse, repeate. Handing money to the rich just makes it disappear into the tax evading sewer of the world economy.

Trickle down, supply side economics is pure bullshit, a PR spin to try to make it look like there are reasons to give tax cuts to the rich. Tax cuts on the high end do nothing but line the pockets of the people in power and stimulate economies of countries that still manufacture things.

[Dark]

19. Economists are fucking idiots. The only decent one was Keynes. The rest are overpaid idiots

who look at pig entrails.

[bemildred]

20. Economists are well-paid tools. nt

[fascisthunter]

23. no pig entrails... they are Lying Tools for the Wealthy Class

[MellowDem]

22. Raising the minimum wage

can have some short term effects, but in the long term it just raises prices. And in areas with a lot of undocumented workers, raising the minimum wage doesn't have as much of an effect for obvious reasons.

It's a vicious cycle. Raising the minimum wage results in rising prices which devalue the dollar. The best thing we can focus on is having efficient social safety nets for things like health care. That would save a ton of money from the current system we have and raise everyone's wealth and standard of living.

[hedgehog]

24. Considering that I am in the debtor class rather than the creditor class,

I'm all for devaluing the dollar. The loans I have with an adjustable rate are already topped out, so it's win-win for me if wages go up and the dollar is devalued.

[MellowDem]

30. Haha, I suppose that's true...

to an extent. But higher prices also mean for the things you buy you will get less. It's a lose lose for everyone when there is inflation.

[Regret My New Name]

29. Well, shouldn't it at least be adjusted to value of the dollar?

At least bit more accurately than it is now?

[MellowDem]

31. It can be raised...

the problem is that it's not a very large part of the workforce that works at minimum wage already. Those businesses that have a ton of minimum wage workers will be likely to raise their prices, and those businesses usually cater to the lower class anyways (fast food for example).

Many argue it should be raised to reflect inflation over the years which makes sense overall but you would still get that price raising effect for some businesses. It's better just to have economic policies that result in the lowering of inflation.

[Selatius]

33. Federal Reserve actions have a larger impact on prices than labor costs at least in the last 10 yrs.

When the minimum wage was frozen for nine years at 5.15 an hour, prices still rose despite the fact. I would say the worry of labor costs is rather small compared to Fed policies impacting the value of the Dollar and still smaller than costs derived from unstable oil prices.

[Danascot]

25. The article had to identify the Economic Policy Institute as a "liberal" think tank

so its findings could be easily dismissed.

[UrbScotty]

35. Pope is Catholic: report