The increase in the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 is a jump of nearly 40%. That’s a pretty substantial increase at the stroke of a pen.
So… where’s the money coming from to pay for this? Who pays for the Democrats’ insistence on paying off the union thugs who helped them get elected?
Bat One - 12:01pm on 01/04/2007
Generally the people who pay for these things are the people that it’s intended to help.
I’ll say the entry level worker takes it by (1. not getting that first job), (2. not getting benefits with their job), (3. not getting the hours that you would have otherwise work.)
The Whistler - 12:01pm on 01/04/2007
My calculations are rough, but adding in employer-paid FICA (another liberal lie!), unemployment insurance, and state-mandated workman’s comp payments, that comes to somewhere between $90 and $100 per week for each minimum wage worker currently or projected to be on payroll. So where does that $4,000 to $5,000 per employee come from each year… especially for the small businessman or woman?
Bat One - 12:01pm on 01/04/2007
Labor is a commodity
And that right there is why conservatives are viewed as cold hearted. I don’t generally disagree with George Will (never when it comes to baseball), but humans are not just cogs in the machinery. That sort of attitude that really will put us on the road to serfdom.
There are a dozen reasons to be against the wage floor, but labeling people and the labor they provide as a commodity undermines all those reasons.
FreeRepublicans.com - 01:01pm on 01/04/2007
freeloader you don’t think that anyone’s going to work for zero do you?
In fact I’d be happy enough if they left it alone since it’s largely irrelevant now and getting more so everyday. That’s because the market works.
The Whistler - 01:01pm on 01/04/2007
And that right there is why conservatives are viewed as cold hearted.
Free: You make a typical leftie, irrelevant, emotion-based argument. Labor is a commodity, in terms of the market, not on the human level(obviously). The workers want to get paid, don’t they? Commodities are paid for, aren’t they? Commodities are paid for according to their worth, and so if you want to get a raise, make yourself more valuable. Duh. Get a clue.
robert108 - 01:01pm on 01/04/2007
Labor is a commodity
And that right there is why conservatives are viewed as cold hearted.
But labor IS a commodity! I’m in the service industry and I sell it by the hour.
This has nothing to do with my relationship to my employees or how warm and fuzzy I feel about them or they about me! If this were a volunteer glee club, people could come and go as they please and I would not count the hours. But this is a business and the hours my people sell keep them gainfully employed and provide them with all of the other things in life that make them feel warm and fuzzy. Sheesh!
Proof - 01:01pm on 01/04/2007
Labor is a commodity;
It’s not of course unless one considers capital a commodity as well in which case the term loses much of its usefulness.
MikeAdamson - 01:01pm on 01/04/2007
What is capital then?
Meaning the capital market determines interest (and other costs of capital).
In fact there is no minimum return on capital, is there?
The Whistler - 01:01pm on 01/04/2007
TW...generally no although you can negotiate a minimum return on capital in any transaction. My point is that if labour is considered a commodity then capital must be as well in which case every input is a commodity i.e. capital, labour, materials. Why bother with the term “commodity” if it doesn’t mean something distinct from the other inputs? Commodities are things to be traded IMO.
The increase in the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 is a jump of nearly 40%. That’s a pretty substantial increase at the stroke of a pen.
So… where’s the money coming from to pay for this? Who pays for the Democrats’ insistence on paying off the union thugs who helped them get elected?
Generally the people who pay for these things are the people that it’s intended to help.
I’ll say the entry level worker takes it by (1. not getting that first job), (2. not getting benefits with their job), (3. not getting the hours that you would have otherwise work.)
My calculations are rough, but adding in employer-paid FICA (another liberal lie!), unemployment insurance, and state-mandated workman’s comp payments, that comes to somewhere between $90 and $100 per week for each minimum wage worker currently or projected to be on payroll. So where does that $4,000 to $5,000 per employee come from each year… especially for the small businessman or woman?
And that right there is why conservatives are viewed as cold hearted. I don’t generally disagree with George Will (never when it comes to baseball), but humans are not just cogs in the machinery. That sort of attitude that really will put us on the road to serfdom.
There are a dozen reasons to be against the wage floor, but labeling people and the labor they provide as a commodity undermines all those reasons.
freeloader you don’t think that anyone’s going to work for zero do you?
In fact I’d be happy enough if they left it alone since it’s largely irrelevant now and getting more so everyday. That’s because the market works.
Free: You make a typical leftie, irrelevant, emotion-based argument. Labor is a commodity, in terms of the market, not on the human level(obviously). The workers want to get paid, don’t they? Commodities are paid for, aren’t they? Commodities are paid for according to their worth, and so if you want to get a raise, make yourself more valuable. Duh. Get a clue.
But labor IS a commodity! I’m in the service industry and I sell it by the hour.
This has nothing to do with my relationship to my employees or how warm and fuzzy I feel about them or they about me! If this were a volunteer glee club, people could come and go as they please and I would not count the hours. But this is a business and the hours my people sell keep them gainfully employed and provide them with all of the other things in life that make them feel warm and fuzzy. Sheesh!
It’s not of course unless one considers capital a commodity as well in which case the term loses much of its usefulness.
What is capital then?
Meaning the capital market determines interest (and other costs of capital).
In fact there is no minimum return on capital, is there?
TW...generally no although you can negotiate a minimum return on capital in any transaction. My point is that if labour is considered a commodity then capital must be as well in which case every input is a commodity i.e. capital, labour, materials. Why bother with the term “commodity” if it doesn’t mean something distinct from the other inputs? Commodities are things to be traded IMO.