Reuters:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A higher U.S. minimum wage is providing a cushion to the economy when it is most needed, according to a report released on Thursday.
Jonathan Tasini: The Minimum Wage: A Disgrace and a Scandal
Rep. Jan Schakowsky: Minimum Wage Increase in the First Hundred Hours
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Clearly "trickle down" economics has not worked. Let's create fair taxation of the wealthiest, reinstate estate taxes, repeal tax breaks UNTIL jobs are created (not in hopes they'll be created), and give tax breaks to the people who will spend it and stimulate the economy.
When will naysayers learn that when the bottom earners do well, it lifts the entire economy. When the rich get richer, they sit back and watch their savings blossom in offshore accounts.
The only way to enforce your suggestion is to vote ALL of the incumbents out of office, vote for new people regardless of party affiliation and then fire them again after 4 years. Only then will they
start to work for the people again, those who put them in office!!!!!!
A grotesque intervention in the economy by a central government, which, in cahoots with a fractional-reserve, debt-based fiat paper money-issuing banking cartel, is slowly and systematically destroying the purchasing power of our currency, which necessitates the further damaging intervention of legislating what workers should minimally be paid.
It is not possible for this circus, run by politicians in D.C., to get more absurd. Amazingly, these shining intellects, haven't a clue.
(I take that back. It would be possible for these clowns to act more absurdly---they could repeal the law of gravity.)
I had to read this one twice. I think I get what you're saying now. If we have all the money our purchasing power is maximum. Ergo the more money they have, the less we have to purchase powerfully.
The grotesque central government intervention keeps us from increasing our concentrated purchasing power by broadening that power, there by diluting our optimal purchasing capabilities.
thusly they have a raised minimal purchasing capacity at our expense.
Not quite convoluted enough. Please try again.
"concentrated purchasing power"= accumulated wealth in the hands of a few= good
Money in the wallet of some poor slob= shopping at Walmart= bad?
Please....
And the government does not purchase things thus increasing the purchase-power of the US?
I am sorry, but money going to the government will not disappear in some black hole. It will be spend on infrastructure, schooling, health. Meaning: new jogs for engineers, building construction companies, more orders for companies like Caterpillar, more teachers are needed, nurses, doctors etc etc.
These people will make (more) money that they can spend, thus increasing the purchasing power of the US as a whole.
Of course the Lib think tank says yes and the Economist say no! It is ridiculous.
Is that why my State of ORgon has one of hte highest min wages $8.40/hr and also has the highest Unemployment rate too! 13.8% in my county!
Good linkage, silvercreeklady!
Take a look at more data.
There is no relationship between minimum wage and the unemployment rate.
NONE.
Just because 2 things are happening does not make them related. Perhaps the unemployment rate is so high where you live because you let a big f@rt that still has lingering effects.
What county? What is its economic base? How is the rest of the state doing?
Equating minimum wage with unemployment is like saying the sun came up when people lost their jobs, blame the sun.
Try Michigan or North Carolina with 25% unemployment, though not official. Our unemployment numbers are skewed as were the GDP numbers when Bush was in office.
"Minimum Wage Hike A Stimulus To Economy: Study"
Great, now people can have Ramen Noodles 7 nights a week (at .45 cents a pack) as opposed to only 5 nights a week. Thanks, Congress.
the increase in the minimum wage doesn't do much when a higher percentage of the labor force has to work for minimum wage. it does prevent employers from paying the 3 bucks/hr they would rather pay, however...
The study is rubbish.
From the article: “The study found that the bottom-rung pay increases will boost spending by $4.9 billion.”
There is no free lunch. The analysts failed to mention that the employer’s must REDUCE their spending by $4.9 billion to pay the increased wages.
From the article: “Such findings counter conventional wisdom among economists, who tend to argue that mandated wage increases hurt businesses' bottom line, putting a crimp on hiring.”
No hurting bottom line? Really? Have they heard of the current recession? Have they not heard that income tax collections are something like 35% lower than last year?
No crimp in hiring? How could the authors have missed that the unemployment rate has significantly INCREASED since the minimum wage was raised in July 2007 (4.7% unemployment rate) and again in July 2008 (5.8% unemployment rate). As of April 2009, the unemployment rate is 8.9% and rising. In July 2009, the minimum wage will increase again. Any guess what will happen to the employment rate?
If raising the minimum wage works as stated, then raise the minimum wage to $50 per hour.
Geez, liberals will believe anything.
When you analyze the unemployment rate compared to the minimum wage, there is NO correlation between the two.
Anyway you look at it!
Absolutely none!
This means the only thing we should be considering is how reduced income drives DOWN the economy. When workers have less to spend this naturally means that companies will have less spent on whatever it is they provide. WHICH then drives companies to cut back. And then we get into a spiral of contracting spending. This is what drives up unemployment.
Now having the minimum wage at an extreme rate will drive up inflation which can also be bad so there mostly needs to be a decent wage. I suggest you look up Teddy Roosevelt and see what he felt about decent wages.
Your analysis is flawed in that it assumes a static busienss model. Those lower wage earners are spending their 4.9 bil at BUSINESSES, which can use the money to generate more revenue.
It's also unrealistic to attribute an increase in unemployment to an increase in the minimum wage when corporations are stealing billions and firing people to do so.
Stop looking at labor as a liability and see it for the asset it truly is!
Basic economics. The higher the price, the lower the demand. If minimum wages increase, the demand for labor is lower and unemployment increases.
Minimum wage earners are usually forced to USE all the dollars they earn, so they're right back in the economy whereas business owners of all kinds often save money - or give it to a highly paid executive tho buys little with it - or only big-ticket items whose appreciation sucks up the $, as, for example, realestate. That is, rich people's incomes are not generally helpful to the economy.
.
Wrong again, unemployment did not increase because of the hike in minimum wage but because of the higher cost of living, gas, utilities and stagnant wages over a long period of time.
Has nothing to do with liberals at all but with facts. And we cut the working hours for employees
since 1998. Less hours for employees per week.
Or they could just not pay the CEOs 100 million dollars this year....
For the hard core advocates of minimum wage, the actual report is a great read!
http://www
Now, how best to counter the hard core, microeconomics 101 business school supply/demand "this minimum wage thing is a farce" mindset?
Oh man. Another far right talking point, destroyed against the rocks of reality.
Remember when all the conservatives claimed raising minimum wage would DOOM!!!! DOOM!!!! DOOM!!!!! business?
So wrong, for so long- the GOP.
The article states:
"The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think-tank based in Washington, said recent rises in the minimum wage have acted as a "stealth stimulus," preventing the worst recession in generations from spiraling out of control."
A LIBERAL THINK TANK. Do you think there was any bias to the report? Just asking. I don't think a report from a liberal think tank can destroy a right talking point any more than YOU would think that a report from a conservative group would destroy a left talking point.
Considering conservative think-tanks are factories of reality denial... yes, I do believe them.
Conservatives are incapable of telling the truth, or handling facts. That's precisely why they can't win elections any longer.
Look up the numbers yourself. Compare the minimum wage to the unemployment rate and try to find any relationship. I just went through 1955-2006 and ran the numbers.
You will find none.
No kidding...
http://www
This is a no brainer issue with most economists; putting more money in the pockets of those most likely to spend it will stimulate the economy and do it fairly quickly as opposed to the dumb "trickle down" supply side economics perpetrated by Reagan. Of course the GOP has opposed any increase to the minimum wage and tried to get the Supreme Court to strike it down when it was created by FDR. The U.S. has one of the lowest minimum wages of any industrialized economy, and has not kept up with inflation which minimizes the impact it could have in stimulating the economy even further.
Then we should cut taxes and put more money in the pockets of those most likely to spend it and stimulate the economy.
And that is exactly what Obama plans to do. The people most likely to spend it and stimulate the economy are the are the people in the lower 50% of income earners. They spend most if not all of their money as opposed to the upper 2% who tend to either save or invest their money in stocks, bonds and other investments that do not create jobs in this country. Investing in new factories in this country creates jobs.
Imagine that. Trickle down economics is BS, and rich people don't need to have all the money.
Who could seen this coming?
This article cannot be correct. All the republicans I used to work with on wall street assured me any increases in the minimum wage were sure to cause the economy to shrink because rich people would get rich more slowly.
Go figure. ;-)
When millionaires have more money they put it in off-shore tax havens, when the poor have more money they spend t on necessities. It's simple math spread the money around and it benefits everyone because more people will have money to spend. Henry Ford knew this, that is why he paid his workers enough to allow them to buy his cars. He knew economics, today's CEOs are just plain greedy and have exploited every productivity increase in the last 15 years for their own aggrandisement.
Higher wages is our only way out and wages not keeping up with productivity has been killing the U.S. economy. Low wages = Low Demand.
People earning minimum wage need that extra money to pay for the extra taxes on cigarettes.
In other words, the only thing that the minimum wage is "stimulating" is government and future union contracts.
Aren't you pleased the raise stretches your own crack budget to the end of the month now?
He'll just do more.
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First Posted: 05-28-09 07:05 PM | Updated: 05-28-09 07:09 PM