House votes to raise minimum wage...

[Valentina327]

That's The standard excuse every time a livable wage is discussed. Families living on minimum wage jobs typically get food stamps, free health care and possibly free daycare. So if corporations don’t pay livable wages they government picks up the slack.

And the whole “small business” argument is bullshit. If they cant pay a livable wage they aren’t successful enough to hire employees.

Stores like Sears and Toys r us paid minimum wage and they still went bankrupt. Let’s stop blaming livable wages.

Extrapolate it out. Prices of everything will inflate, by necessity, to cover the fact that minimum wage is doubling. After everything inflates, $15 no longer is enough for the low skilled to make it. It's no longer a livable wage. So now there needs to be another increase. It starts all over again.

What we should be doing is encouraging people to increase their skill level and move up to increasingly better jobs. Establish actual careers. As we've all done. Worked our way up.

Apply for and get a better job. That's called drive. You want a better house? You get a better job. It's what motivates people to keep succeeding. All of this is nothing but encouraging everyone to slack. Why do you need to improve your skills to better your life when you're entitled to make more money at your low skill job? By virtue of you drawing breath, your existence is worth $15 an hour. It's holding people back is what it's doing.

Now those that don't want to put forth the effort are entitled to make more money simply because they exist. There are so many people who have had to WORK their way up to $15 an hour. They've put in the time. They've gotten a education. This is an insult to them.

[AllofFive19]

That's The standard excuse every time a livable wage is discussed. Families living on minimum wage jobs typically get food stamps, free health care and possibly free daycare. So if corporations don’t pay livable wages they government picks up the slack.

And the whole “small business” argument is bullshit. If they cant pay a livable wage they aren’t successful enough to hire employees.

Stores like Sears and Toys r us paid minimum wage and they still went bankrupt. Let’s stop blaming livable wages.

Extrapolate it out. Prices of everything will inflate, by necessity, to cover the fact that minimum wage is doubling. After everything inflates, $15 no longer is enough for the low skilled to make it. It's no longer a livable wage. So now there needs to be another increase. It starts all over again.

What we should be doing is encouraging people to increase their skill level and move up to increasingly better jobs. Establish actual careers. As we've all done. Worked our way up.

Apply for and get a better job. That's called drive. You want a better house? You get a better job. It's what motivates people to keep succeeding. All of this is nothing but encouraging everyone to slack. Why do you need to improve your skills to better your life when you're entitled to make more money at your low skill job? By virtue of you drawing breath, your existence is worth $15 an hour. It's holding people back is what it's doing.

Now those that don't want to put forth the effort are entitled to make more money simply because they exist. There are so many people who have had to WORK their way up to $15 an hour. They've put in the time. They've gotten a education. This is an insult to them.

So please explain why inflation occured when minimum wage remained stagnant.

Those people who are making $15 per hour now should be making so much more, but instead of being upset with the jackals who kept their wages so low, they're upset with those who want to be able to live on what they're paid. Those retail workers are performing a service and deserve to get paid for that service, not the piddling amount they get paid now, but enough to live on, not buy BMWs and mansions, just live.

[Linda_Runs]

We raised ours to $14 per hour January 2018.

[Deleted User 276]

We raised ours to $14 per hour January 2018.

Canadian or US dollars?

[Linda_Runs]

We raised ours to $14 per hour January 2018.

Canadian or US dollars?

Canadian dollars. Sorry I should have clarified.

[Linaluo]

We need it raised, but... this seems like a bad plan.

I think it should be up to the States. Some have a high cost of living where it would be needed, others it will decimate the job market. You think Walmart has more registers than cashiers now??

This exactly!!

[Poietes]

They will always find a way not to pay a decent living wage. That's why minimum wage was established in the 1st place is because stores refused to pay their employees a livable wage. Corporations become too greedy, that is something that has been a thing since the beginning of time and is a bigger thing now.

Minimum wage was never meant to be a living wage. It was meant to be starting pay for new employees and for part time employees.

That would be ok if it was a starting wage. Ask Walmart employees what they are making ten years later. I wrote in my other post that corporations like Walmart can afford to pay living wages. The Waltons would take a pay cut and make $5 billion a year instead of $7.5 billion per year.

As someone who worked there for 8 years. Who worked their way from a cashier to dept mgr and was asked to go into the management program(which I didn’t want to). As long as you work hard the pay is plenty livable. They have a fantastic healthcare and dental plan. Profit sharing and stock matching programs. It really wasn’t a bad place to work at all and I have many many friends that are still there. Many of them went into management and are well off. You do as good as you want to do there. If people aren’t getting good raises or getting promotions it’s their own fault. Although many people’s experiences have to do with the store manager. Get a bad manager then it will change your experience drastically.

[Deleted User 276]

That's The standard excuse every time a livable wage is discussed. Families living on minimum wage jobs typically get food stamps, free health care and possibly free daycare. So if corporations don’t pay livable wages they government picks up the slack.

And the whole “small business” argument is bullshit. If they cant pay a livable wage they aren’t successful enough to hire employees.

Stores like Sears and Toys r us paid minimum wage and they still went bankrupt. Let’s stop blaming livable wages.

Extrapolate it out. Prices of everything will inflate, by necessity, to cover the fact that minimum wage is doubling. After everything inflates, $15 no longer is enough for the low skilled to make it. It's no longer a livable wage. So now there needs to be another increase. It starts all over again.

What we should be doing is encouraging people to increase their skill level and move up to increasingly better jobs. Establish actual careers. As we've all done. Worked our way up.

Apply for and get a better job. That's called drive. You want a better house? You get a better job. It's what motivates people to keep succeeding. All of this is nothing but encouraging everyone to slack. Why do you need to improve your skills to better your life when you're entitled to make more money at your low skill job? By virtue of you drawing breath, your existence is worth $15 an hour. It's holding people back is what it's doing.

Now those that don't want to put forth the effort are entitled to make more money simply because they exist. There are so many people who have had to WORK their way up to $15 an hour. They've put in the time. They've gotten a education. This is an insult to them.

As the mother of a son with some limited ability and who will most likely only be able to secure a minimum wage job, I welcome the increase in minimum wage. It means my son would be able to support himself as an adult. There are people that can increase their skill level and "move up" but there are also people who can't. The idea that low paying jobs in retail, healthcare, hospitality services, and food services are just a gateway for higher paying jobs or careers is just not viable for many people. People don't want to make a living wage "simply because they exist." People want to make a living wage because they actually are employed and work.

[Deleted User 1344]

That's The standard excuse every time a livable wage is discussed. Families living on minimum wage jobs typically get food stamps, free health care and possibly free daycare. So if corporations don’t pay livable wages they government picks up the slack.

And the whole “small business” argument is bullshit. If they cant pay a livable wage they aren’t successful enough to hire employees.

Stores like Sears and Toys r us paid minimum wage and they still went bankrupt. Let’s stop blaming livable wages.

Extrapolate it out. Prices of everything will inflate, by necessity, to cover the fact that minimum wage is doubling. After everything inflates, $15 no longer is enough for the low skilled to make it. It's no longer a livable wage. So now there needs to be another increase. It starts all over again.

What we should be doing is encouraging people to increase their skill level and move up to increasingly better jobs. Establish actual careers. As we've all done. Worked our way up.

Apply for and get a better job. That's called drive. You want a better house? You get a better job. It's what motivates people to keep succeeding. All of this is nothing but encouraging everyone to slack. Why do you need to improve your skills to better your life when you're entitled to make more money at your low skill job? By virtue of you drawing breath, your existence is worth $15 an hour. It's holding people back is what it's doing.

Now those that don't want to put forth the effort are entitled to make more money simply because they exist. There are so many people who have had to WORK their way up to $15 an hour. They've put in the time. They've gotten a education. This is an insult to them.

So please explain why inflation occured when minimum wage remained stagnant.

Those people who are making $15 per hour now should be making so much more, but instead of being upset with the jackals who kept their wages so low, they're upset with those who want to be able to live on what they're paid. Those retail workers are performing a service and deserve to get paid for that service, not the piddling amount they get paid now, but enough to live on, not buy BMWs and mansions, just live.

Exactly!

[Valentina327]

That's The standard excuse every time a livable wage is discussed. Families living on minimum wage jobs typically get food stamps, free health care and possibly free daycare. So if corporations don’t pay livable wages they government picks up the slack.

And the whole “small business” argument is bullshit. If they cant pay a livable wage they aren’t successful enough to hire employees.

Stores like Sears and Toys r us paid minimum wage and they still went bankrupt. Let’s stop blaming livable wages.

Extrapolate it out. Prices of everything will inflate, by necessity, to cover the fact that minimum wage is doubling. After everything inflates, $15 no longer is enough for the low skilled to make it. It's no longer a livable wage. So now there needs to be another increase. It starts all over again.

What we should be doing is encouraging people to increase their skill level and move up to increasingly better jobs. Establish actual careers. As we've all done. Worked our way up.

Apply for and get a better job. That's called drive. You want a better house? You get a better job. It's what motivates people to keep succeeding. All of this is nothing but encouraging everyone to slack. Why do you need to improve your skills to better your life when you're entitled to make more money at your low skill job? By virtue of you drawing breath, your existence is worth $15 an hour. It's holding people back is what it's doing.

Now those that don't want to put forth the effort are entitled to make more money simply because they exist. There are so many people who have had to WORK their way up to $15 an hour. They've put in the time. They've gotten a education. This is an insult to them.

As the mother of a son with some limited ability and who will most likely only be able to secure a minimum wage job, I welcome the increase in minimum wage. It means my son would be able to support himself as an adult. There are people that can increase their skill level and "move up" but there are also people who can't. The idea that low paying jobs in retail, healthcare, hospitality services, and food services are just a gateway for higher paying jobs or careers is just not viable for many people. People don't want to make a living wage "simply because they exist." People want to make a living wage because they actually are employed and work.

That's very true. And all work has a VALUE, intrinsic to what's being provided. That's why a CEO make significantly more than her staff. She has the responsibility to keep the company running successfully in order to keep taxes flowing into our government, keep the company profitable so that they can keep paying their employees, keep paying the company's bills which flows into supporting other industries. You pay $250 for 5 minutes with your doctor, because his work holds more value than a legal secretary earning $50K a year.

Yesterday I went to pick up a single copy from Staples. They don't have my order that I emailed in. They can't find it. I got the acknowledgement via email. They look at me blankly. That's your whole job is running a print center! I get blank looks and have to tell him to search by my email. I have to walk him through looking in the trash folder. That is NOT providing $15 an hour worth of value.

I stop at McD's every once in a while for a diet coke no ice. 90% of the time I get ice. Is that level of service worth $15 an hour? They're not important jobs and the people that work them are already pretty apathetic. They're going to be even more so now.

Why should a teenager at Best Buy be paid $15 a hour? To ignore you when you walk up to continue his conversation with his buddy? To not answer any questions you have, but just read off of what's already on the box? What exactly is he doing that's worth that? What value is he providing?

This giant jump increases ALL of our expenses. It CAUSES inflation, out of necessity, because the cost of everything is driven up to support it.

While it might help a few, all its going to do is strangle society as a whole. We're ALL going to suffer when prices spike. This gift is ALL ON THE CONSUMERS BACK.

There are going to be small business driven out of existence, which employ people. They end up in the unemployment line.

Midsize business will probably have to lay off staff. It's not like the owners are going to pay this extra from their pockets.

The large corporations won't take a hit to their profitability, so where does the money come from? US!

Midsize and large corporations will just start expecting the work of two people from one. All this is going to be is terrible for workers and make their lives miserable.

And they won't be able to go anywhere else because hiring will be frozen because business had to double what they're paying existing staff all of the sudden.

This is a terrible, terrible idea for the economy. Put incremental increases in slowly, sure. A giant doubling at one time is a horrible idea.