What is your opinion on a Universal Living Wage?
478203
I disagree.  This is basically a communist idea.  The Universal Living Wage would cause america to lose a ton of jobs to lower wage countries.  We are already having problems competeing with counrtries that pay their workers 500 dollars a year.  This would drastically raise unemployment which is bad especially for poor people.  We would be looking at unemployment rates like those found in France and Germany of around 12 percent.  It would also stunt long term growth.  Everyone in America can eat well enough.  I have know obese people who were on welfare.  People in America are well off, poverty is more of a relative thing.  Poor people in America still have a lot more than people in the Sudan.  It is only when compared to insanely rich people in Manhattan that they seem so poor.  That is not to say that poverty is not a problem in America it is, but a Universal Living Wage would amplify this problem not fix it.
925398
The 2 are not compatible. Know your economics. In high job rate and income areas, that means the standard of living is high and therefore the cost of living is likewise. It is like taxes, the more you earn, the more you pay, and the opposite, the less you earn, the less you pay.Look for a state where jobs are in great demand by employers willing to pay high wages for workers and is at the beginning a potential boom cycle that costs to live have not as yet risen.
1109800
The reason intelligent people are against the raising of minimum wage(or min wage all together), is because when you raise the minimum hiring wage you force the business owners to take the blow to their profits, which they are not going to do.  \nYou not only have to pay the basic unskilled worker coming in the door more per hour but by nature all skilled workers are going to want a raise by equal increments.  \nNot to mention the  price of ever day good will go up.  Your hamburger at McDonald's will be $10(exaggerated a little)\nThis is a political trick usually by Democrats to "buy" votes from the poor and uninformed.  It sound good to raise wages, but it doesn't work.  The free market should decide what a good wage for a good job is.
1059180
Yes, I do.  The government expects people to survive so pay wages that we can survive on!  When I was in the 9th grade, minimum wage went from $3.85 to $4.25.  I've seen it rise slowly since, & I believe it's about $6.75 here in California.  You can't live on that, even if 2 parents are working for the same amount, especially after taxes.
1165391
I think rent control ought to be law, It should be 1/4 of your pay a month. If your unemployed and collecting unemployment it should be 1/4 of that. If going to a lesser paying or more paying job it should be adjusted to that pay. Every body should have a right to live in a shelter dwelling. Than living on the streets. that will eliminate have of the homeless on the streets.
1018850
Unfortunately there is no way to really fix this problem. If you increase the minimum wage, the prices of everything else would go up. It will most likely cause more out sourcing of good jobs, and leave the people who are making minimum wage in worse shape than they already are.  Minimum wage is really not intended for somebody to be able to live and support a family off of. \nIn a capitalistic society, there will always be rich people and poor people, there is no way around that. \nThere is a form of government that regulates every body's wages, provides everything for its citizens, and treats everybody equally. It is called communism. Ask anybody from the former Soviet Union or Cuba how that works out.
353767
I´m a free market, capitalism all the way kinf of guy. But what you are saying can only be posible if there were no unemployment what so ever. If there is unemployment, in a very minimized example, 4 workers can be up for 1 spot. Who do you think the company will hire if all of them have the same skills/lack of them? The one who will work for less, of course. So, minimum wage applies mostly for phisical labour, where, even if unskilled, plenty can do the same job the same exact way. Now, Jack has 2 daughters and a wife and Steve is single, if the company offers 4 an hour, Steve can say, give 3, i don´t care! They are going to hire Steve. In the low level works, skills and attitude are pretty much not needed to make the same product as your competitors. skills and attitude might get an individual to get better jobs as time goes on, but in the mean while, it doesn´t matter if you know what 5*7 is or have a smile on while moving piles of dirt form one place to another. \n\nIf you take away minimum wage, you might as well take away every other incentive and rights the work force has. No social security, no goverment interference what so ever. Soon, we´ll have another 1929 al over again! Goverment interference got the US out of the Great Depression... Read some Keynes, he explains thing better!
703087
Why not make it $100? \n\nThan making $208,000 a year will be equivalent to making $10,712 a year right now.\n\nOh, but that would mean the price of everything would go, since everyone would be making so much more money.  So, the price of a house that once was $200,000 would than be $5,000,000.  Still out of range for someone making $208,000 a year!\n\nBut other than that, great idea!!!\n\n***********\n\nPeter F, that's a really great idea taxing wealth at 3%.  The government already does too much wealth redistribution, we don't need anymore.\n\nThe answer is simple, the US rewards hard work.  If you want more money either work harder, or get more education.  If you are stuck making only minimum wage for more than a year or two,  then develop some ambition!!
288683
The heart of your thinking I think would be best applied through strengthening the workers in this country (and thus the broad tax base) A strong family that is secure in it's health and it's retirement will turn their thoughts away from a day to day struggle that pursists today, and toward their surroundings. This would greatly help us to address other issues such as the environment and poverty right here at home. There should be a worker's rights amendment. The right to cheap health coverage. The right to job saftey. The right to a living wage. I think the fastest way to get this sort of broad based reform done is through organisation. Not like a classical union. More like an association that would draw together to leverage certain trhings from our government. Like a group that is millions strong would be able to negotiate better health coverage than even a large corporation could. Starting there and with similar issues that could be achieved through a voter soliderity almost like that of a union, but a little bit more effective, and with a different mission. It wouldn't be done through the work place, but at home so there couldn't be any kind of adverse reactions from corporates and the like. As long as you work and pay taxes, you would be eligable for membership. And with success, taking bigger bites at the apple. AAnd who knows, maybe something like that would end up putting a fire into our 2 party system of government. Or perhaps replace it altogether.
476924
The United States Congress is currently considering a law that would increase minimum wage to about $7.25. I am just above the current minimum wage and would love to make $7.25, the only problem is economic effects that this could have on the country. Due to the huge rise in wages companies would have to pay out, they would be forced to raise prices to make up for that difference. That would cause the standard of living to increase, which would have a negative impact on our economy and perhaps bringing us back to this same issue. Again I do believe in a high minimum wage, but perhaps (and hopefully) smaller increases over a long period of time would remedy this problem.
1051771
I think it's absolute nonsense. They should be paid a normal wage like everyone else. Isn't it good enough that they get to do what they love for a living?
95403
Not at all - part of the basis of capitalism is that the better skilled you are in a field, the more you can earn to move ahead.\n\nIf there were a maximum wage, it would be interesting to see who would set it.  Politicians?  They could then make sure that they, along with industries that support them are subject to higher maximum wages than those they oppose.
508793
A combination of both seems to me the best thing.  Let the market play to set prices/wages but have some control over it so you don't get a dysfunctions between what you earn and the price you pay for basic necessities.  Otherwise you fall into a feudal system where you have a 3%-5% upper class which is filthy wealthy and the rest which is poor and can be exploited.
702426
Pro:  The minimum wage ensures that mentally disabled/challenged workers are not legally taken advantage of, in terms of pay.\n\nCon:  The economic value of a job is not changed by the minimum wage.  Raising the minimum wage simply raises the prices of goods & services (inflation) and increases the attractiveness of foreign outsourcing.\n\nThe minimun wage is a great campaign issue because most voters want/expect a raise.  In reality, it is a worthless promise of increased wealth.  In relative, inflation adjusted terms, the minimum wage earners will still be poor and have the same buying power.
1085561
It would help if you define what you mean by 'supplemental wages'. It sounds to me as though that's a term used outside the US
887758
No\n\nThe point your trying to make is that a price floor actually creates a shortage.  That is classic economic principles at work.  Lets let go of the emotion and think.  For all of those who think that those earning minimum wage would be better off if we raised minimum wage, consider this:\n\nWhat if, due to the higher cost of labor, businesses hired less people and those people who had the jobs get fired in an attempt by the business to cut costs.  Then their lives would get a lot harder.  Other companies would be doing the same thing.  They may not be able to get any job.  What then?  How are they going to feed their families.  \n\nIts a hard decision to make.  but it is a fact.  Price floors create shortages. To help the unfortunate... what do you do.\n\nThe deeper concepts are that the market sets the price that labor is worth.  If a business cant find any people to do the job that it needs done they raise wages.  The law of supply and demand.  Lots of fast food places don't even pay min wage.  The harsh truth is that if the job that these people were doing was worth more to the business they would be paid more.  When you force a business to pay someone more than they are worth (whether that arbitrary price keeps up with inflation or not) they will take certain steps to require less help from labor.  Mechanize or whatever they need to do.  Jobs will decrease.  \n\nAnyone who is in desperate need of higher min wage should think about moving to New Mexico.  Their min wage is like 9 bucks an hour.  Why are people not stumbling over themselves to go there?  Because there aren't enough jobs to go around.  The price floor of wages has created a shortage and has slowed economic growth.  This is a real life example.
866005
To screw us all, of course.  \n\nFor people who claim to be "for the little guy" they sure aren't showing me anything.  \n\nI'm a far cry from wealthy, but all the "social program" garbage they push for really screws me.  Why should I work extra hard to make sure some halfwit, who did nothing more than spend ten minutes on her back, has a roof over her head?  Take the kid, and give her a card board box.  Not my problem.  \n\nHealthcare for all?  I worked hard and got a job with great health benefits.  Before that, I hadn't been to the doctor in six years, yet you didn't see trying to get my hands on someone else's paycheck to get there.  I'd lose quite a bit that I don't have to lose in a system like that.\n\nRaising the minimum wage is a joke too.  I make over minimum wage because I work hard.  I'm currently in school, which I had to wait to attend because I was a "dependent" student, yet I watched welfare bums, the same age as me get reimbursment checks because they were given too much financial aid.  Anyway, I still have two more years before I'll have a bachelor's, but I still make more than minimum wage.  If minimum wage is all your making, perhaps you should consider the possibility that something is wrong with you.  Seriously, all it takes is a little effort.  So we raise minimum wage, then what?  Businesses have to raise prices, so we're back at square one.  Almost.  Except now, between handing out raises to other employees, and the business loss due to higher prices, those of us who make more than minimum won't get raises.  Or, what about the guy who is hired somewhere at minimum wage, and works his way up to say, $7?  Isn't it a slap in his face to watch a new hire come in at a wage he worked his way up to?  \n\nThey want to see our country flooded with illegals.  I worked with a girl who's old enough to remember immigrating here legally.  She's proud to be here, and be able to say she did it the right way, but she feels insulted that these people don't have to do the same.  If your country sucks, make it better, don't come ruin ours.\n\nThey want to see this country destroyed by terrorists.  It makes me sick to watch them insult our military and sympathize with our enemy.  If you disagree with the war, that's fine, but insulting our troops is revolting.  These are men and women who have chosen to protect us all, knowing they may not come home, yet the liberals call them criminals, or stupid, or whatever else they say without thinking.  And the real criminals?  Oh yeah, they want to protect them.\n\nSo, I guess what I'm getting at is....they want to turn is into...Canada.  Now there's a scary thought.