I understand the argument of why
the minimum wage should be raised. It makes sense that if you raise the minimum
wage, people would get paid more, and those people would be farther away from
poverty. With that said, I stand firmly against raising the minimum wage.
Raising the minimum wage would do the exact opposite of what it is supposed to
do. More people would be in poverty if it were raised. The unemployment rate
would also skyrocket. If the minimum pay were raised, then small businesses
would be forced to fire people. Then those people would be out of a job and not
earning enough money to live.
Also, prices of products would go
up. If stores had to pay their workers more, then they need to gain that extra
money from somewhere. That extra money would come from the store’s goods being
raised. That would make life even worse for those still not able to find jobs.
There are already not enough jobs
out there for people, and this government has opposed things that will create
more jobs (I would elaborate, but that is a completely different topic). If
the minimum wage is increased, then there would be even less jobs open for
people. Which leads to a higher unemployment rate, as stated earlier. Which
leads to more people on welfare, which is also a topic for later. Though I will
say one thing about that topic: An administration’s success shouldn’t be based
on how many people are added onto welfare, but how many people are taken off of
welfare.
Alright I kind of went off on a little political rant… Sorry about that… Oh well. What do you guys think about this topic? I would be interested to hear different
opinions.
Wow, Mike! You made a very strong case against raising the minimum wage, and I can see how you "pulled an Adam"! I feel that many people think that raising this wage will have magical effects. As you highlighted, however, there are serious downsides to the possible change. Although it may lead to fewer people in poverty, the increase in the price of goods would move a portion of people closer down towards the poverty line. This is a very serious, controversial issue, so knowing Congress, this won't get passed for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the majority of companies paying minimum wage are those that could easily afford to pay more. Examples include McDonald's, Burger King, and pretty much every other fast food giant out there. In fact, 22.3% of those making at or less than the federal minimum wage work in "food preparation and serving related occupations," according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, occupations such as those provided by the companies listed above. We should not live in a society in which a CEO, namely that of Starbucks, makes $9,200 an hour, at LEAST 1000 times the hourly wages of their employees, according to Yahoo Finance. Just one man has the ability to pay the wages of at least 500 or his employees and live comfortably yet chooses not to because of personal greed. Greed seems to be at the core of our absurdly uneven wealth distribution. Finally, I would agree with your statement: An administration’s success shouldn’t be based on how many people are added on to welfare. The success of an administration, indeed of a society, should be based on how it cares for the poorest among us. Right now, we, in America, the "land of opportunity", are failing our poor. Raising the minimum wage, while not a silver bullet, and certainly not flawless, is the most viable option today to truly provide justice to thousands of Americans.
ReplyDeleteI do understand that most owners do not pay their employees nearly as much as they earn themselves, but there may be a few reasons for this . One is that there are so many workers working for Starbucks around the world, and the owner won't (though he can) pay all of them 9 dollars an hour. The owner would just end up firing some workers to keep his own wages the same. That would contribute more to unemployment. Also, you are forgetting about the businesses that aren't large corporations. The small businesses that pay minimum wage would be forced to let people go. So, as raising the minimum wage would put some people above the poverty line, it would force many more below the poverty line. Also, the definition of the poverty line would have to increase because the prices of food would increase.Then we would keep on raising the minimum wage until it got ridiculously high. That is why it is best to keep the minimum wage where it is.
DeleteFood proces would not rise because they are part of a farm bill that is enormously generous in its giving to producers of common crops such as wheat and corn. This bill is unlikely to change at all except on the other half of the bill, the food stamp part. Since food producers make so much money because of the government subsidies they receive, they would be able to keep food prices low. There is also lots of competition that would ensure this too. Raising the minimum wage doesn't seem like it would have much effect on food prices.
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