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Low prices or livable wages? Let's discuss


umbertino
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October 10 2014

 

 

 

My brother read my recent article on income inequality and asked me a question that I think is more generally at play in the debate: "Won't the costs of increasing the minimum wage simply be passed on to consumers?"

 

My first, rather knee-jerk, response to such a question is always why can't these costs come out of salaries at the top of these companies or come out of corporate profits? I did, in that article, refer not just to raising the minimum wage but also to equalizing wages, which-if you didn't get it-means salaries at the top might have to be adjusted lower (go ahead and call me a communist), as any solution to income inequality, almost by definition, will need to involve redistribution of existing wealth.

 

Corporations for decades have maximized profits by lowering wages and decreasing benefits. Can't we ask that corporations show a minimal responsibility not just to their workers but to the society of which they are a part? Such behavior is actually in the self-interest of these corporations-even Harvard says so.

 

But then I moved past my knee-jerk thinking and considered the question, and it became pretty interesting to me. So what if the costs of raising the minimum wage were passed on to consumers? When that question is posed, it is usually done so rhetorically, with the assumed answer that-God forbid!-it would be horribly unacceptable to raise prices for consumers, and thus we cannot raise the minimum wage-end of conversation.

 

But what would it mean to pass the cost of a minimum wage hike on to consumers (who, let's not forget, are typically workers, too, a fact often lost or neglected in such conversations)? I started to think about this question as something more than rhetorical, and my thinking led me to reflect also on how this debate on income inequality provides an important opportunity for us to really re-assess American values and, in ways we haven't done, consciously craft-and pay for-the kind of world we want.

***

CNBC editor Heesun Wee reports, for example, that, "Particularly for younger consumers, including millennials, purchasing decisions are about more than cheap prices. Shoppers are buying based on a company's values, which can include domestic manufacturing, environmentalism and ethically sourced raw materials, ranging from cocoa to cotton fibers." These millennials, and no doubt others across generations, appear to be thinking very consciously about the type of world they want, buying organic goods and recycled products to protect the environment, free-range chickens to ensure humane treatment of the earth's creatures, fair-trade coffee, and the like.

***

What would the cost be for this Better, if not Good, Society? Well, a 2011 study regarding wages at Walmart offers some insight into this issue, finding that to raise every worker at Walmart to at least a $12 per hour wage would cost the average Walmart customer 46 cents per trip or about $12.50 annually.

This doesn't seem like much to pay so many can receive a more livable wage (we might have to pay more for a true living wage), but maybe I'm wrong...

 

Click here to read the full article. Excerpted from politicususa.org.

 

 

keep-calm-raise-wage2.jpg

 

Photo: From the May 15 global strike of fast food workers (PW/Teresa Albano)

 

 

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/low-prices-or-livable-wages-let-s-discuss/

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Dear Tim:   There's no such thing as income inequality.  Period.  Any worker's value is based on his worth to his employer.  Different workers... different values.  Different jobs... different values.   Different industries... different values.  There is NO WAY to equivocate such income valuation.   Don't like your pay?  Try another job... another field... self-employment, perhaps. 

 

Income and wealth-redistribution?  NO.  And NO THANKS... if ever even offered to this "employee"!

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Not only do I not believe that raising the minimum wage to $12.00 / hour would only cost some $12.50 per year per shopper, I do not believe that the vast majority of Americans would be willing to pay what it would truly cost. Why else would so many manufacturing jobs have left this country?  Not just because Corporations can find such cheap labor in other non union countries but also because so many people want to buy at the cheapest price.

Let's not forget that minimum wage jobs were originally for school kids & retirees to subsidize retirement not for heads of households. We need to get rid of illegals that would force jobs to be available, stop subsidizing through entitlements all capable working age recipients even if we have to bring the CCC program back and do away with income taxes & install a national sales tax. Exempt basic necessities & then the truly poor wouldn't pay any taxes but the rich certainly would because they would still be buying what they wanted.

Instead of trying to make equality through communistic fashions, lets go back to the fact that we are all born with an equal right to become unequal!

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Not only do I not believe that raising the minimum wage to $12.00 / hour would only cost some $12.50 per year per shopper, I do not believe that the vast majority of Americans would be willing to pay what it would truly cost. Why else would so many manufacturing jobs have left this country?  Not just because Corporations can find such cheap labor in other non union countries but also because so many people want to buy at the cheapest price.

Let's not forget that minimum wage jobs were originally for school kids & retirees to subsidize retirement not for heads of households. We need to get rid of illegals that would force jobs to be available, stop subsidizing through entitlements all capable working age recipients even if we have to bring the CCC program back and do away with income taxes & install a national sales tax. Exempt basic necessities & then the truly poor wouldn't pay any taxes but the rich certainly would because they would still be buying what they wanted.

Instead of trying to make equality through communistic fashions, lets go back to the fact that we are all born with an equal right to become unequal!

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!  Nice line Bob!  :twothumbs:  If not for "inequality"... who would be the bosses... the innovators... the producers?!!!   Who is John Galt?

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What a messed up, outrageously bad (as in false) assumption that the "excess" corporate salaries could EVER cover the cost of a 50% wage hike for the lowest paid employees!  Ludicrous!

 

Also, it is a VERY communistic view to create this envy of incomes.  Breezing right through that line does NOT make it OK.  Period.  Those people made their deals with whomever pays them that much the SAME WAY THAT A UNION NEGOTIATES SALRIES FOR THEIR MEMBERS!  I don't hear the union wages mentioned as excessive, when it's double, even triple the current "living wage".  Afraid to piss off the unions?  No, you could never do that.  The unions have many members, and your "mob rule" proposals wouldn't work then, would they?

 

Stop worrying over how much someone else makes, and concentrate on finding jobs for everyone.  The money saved on cut taxes and unnecessary unemployment benefits would make the point of a "living wage" increase moot.

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This person picked Wally World to do their report because they know that

99 percent of their products are imported from China therefore the manufacturing cost will remain the same the only cost that will increase is the cost of goods after crossing

into America.

 

 

Totally blows my mind how easy it is to get liberals to support shooting themselves in the foot.

Raising the minimum wage to $15.00 hr would insure that America is knocked out of the global economy.

There is no way we could compete globally what is left of our manufacturing would be forced to close or relocate.

This desire to raise the minimum wage is not centered on helping the American people

    It is centered on helping the Democratic Virus gain votes in the short term

They do not care what happens after it is instituted they will not even talk about what they know will happen.

 

They will jump up and down touting how they just lifted millions out of poverty because they will not adjust the federal poverty index

This way the numbers will be on their side and prove that they helped America

Now the fun begins. Higher pay roll taxes benefit the government

Tax rates may increase because we must bring welfare riders up to the same standard the rest of us are at.

Obama care subsidies will disappear because the numbers say we have no more poor

All Federal, State and local government fees will increase because of increased cost 

Utility cost will soar, all insurance rates will go up every item on every shelve in every store will increase Made In America will disappear

Every one will want to tap into America’s new wealth so everything from rents to pool and lawn care will go up except retirement benefits , social security benefits and COLA raises

That index and the poverty index will remain the same for years so the Virus can claim that they have helped all Americans.

You Liberal Zombies need to pay attention to where the gun is pointed before you squeeze the trigger because it is pointing at your own family.

 

                        No Surrender No Retreat and No Compromise

     

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I'm in a supervisory position. My wages have not gone up with the minimum wage. Since I started this job, minimum wage has increased 80 cents. It's going up another 15 cents the first of the year. I have given my notice. The owner has repeatedly told that I'm not easy to replace, but their will be no increase in my wages. The last job I quit because of wages, they had to hire 2 people to replace me. The job before that it took three. I don't understand the logic. I've come to the conclusion there is none.

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October 10 2014

 

 

 

My brother read my recent article on income inequality and asked me a question that I think is more generally at play in the debate: "Won't the costs of increasing the minimum wage simply be passed on to consumers?"

 

My first, rather knee-jerk, response to such a question is always why can't these costs come out of salaries at the top of these companies or come out of corporate profits? I did, in that article, refer not just to raising the minimum wage but also to equalizing wages, which-if you didn't get it-means salaries at the top might have to be adjusted lower (go ahead and call me a communist), as any solution to income inequality, almost by definition, will need to involve redistribution of existing wealth.

 

Corporations for decades have maximized profits by lowering wages and decreasing benefits. Can't we ask that corporations show a minimal responsibility not just to their workers but to the society of which they are a part? Such behavior is actually in the self-interest of these corporations-even Harvard says so.

 

But then I moved past my knee-jerk thinking and considered the question, and it became pretty interesting to me. So what if the costs of raising the minimum wage were passed on to consumers? When that question is posed, it is usually done so rhetorically, with the assumed answer that-God forbid!-it would be horribly unacceptable to raise prices for consumers, and thus we cannot raise the minimum wage-end of conversation.

 

But what would it mean to pass the cost of a minimum wage hike on to consumers (who, let's not forget, are typically workers, too, a fact often lost or neglected in such conversations)? I started to think about this question as something more than rhetorical, and my thinking led me to reflect also on how this debate on income inequality provides an important opportunity for us to really re-assess American values and, in ways we haven't done, consciously craft-and pay for-the kind of world we want.

***

CNBC editor Heesun Wee reports, for example, that, "Particularly for younger consumers, including millennials, purchasing decisions are about more than cheap prices. Shoppers are buying based on a company's values, which can include domestic manufacturing, environmentalism and ethically sourced raw materials, ranging from cocoa to cotton fibers." These millennials, and no doubt others across generations, appear to be thinking very consciously about the type of world they want, buying organic goods and recycled products to protect the environment, free-range chickens to ensure humane treatment of the earth's creatures, fair-trade coffee, and the like.

***

What would the cost be for this Better, if not Good, Society? Well, a 2011 study regarding wages at Walmart offers some insight into this issue, finding that to raise every worker at Walmart to at least a $12 per hour wage would cost the average Walmart customer 46 cents per trip or about $12.50 annually.

This doesn't seem like much to pay so many can receive a more livable wage (we might have to pay more for a true living wage), but maybe I'm wrong...

 

Click here to read the full article. Excerpted from politicususa.org.

 

 

keep-calm-raise-wage2.jpg

 

Photo: From the May 15 global strike of fast food workers (PW/Teresa Albano)

 

 

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/low-prices-or-livable-wages-let-s-discuss/

 

Umbertino

 

What is the minimum wage in your neck of the woods?

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$7.25 min wage 

 

gas this morning $2.72 on my way into work

 

Unemployment is CRAZY high here. (above the national average)

 

Tulsa always does OK....oil gas and banking town

 

Funny when we travel...Tulsa always has the lowest gas prices around. Not sure why...been that way for many many years

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Brief answer to your question - Heck yeah the raise of minmium wage will be offset by companies raising the prices for EVERYTHING! In the end, everyone loses out on this!

 

Yes - Corporate America should balance profits with consumer welfare, or the welfare of our economy BUT they are in business to make money!

 

Greed has taken over America! I do not know what the answer to this problem is but at one time Corportate America was American! NOT ANY MORE!

 

I guess it is up to the comsumers to ban together and demand - by not purchasing the product, that changes be made! Yeah right, like that's ever going to happen right? LOL

 

America is in a dire period in it's history where genuine leadership is absent. Political and spiritual.......................everyone's hoping for change!

 

I guess we will see in the coming years! :)

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Umbertino. Everything is supply and demand. Low prices/ livable wages are just words to let some people think they care. People choose to be high wage earners or low wage earners. If you don't want to continue being a low wage earner then do something about it. Go to school or learn a trade.Those that choose neither deserve what they get.

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