http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills info@washingtonwatch.com http://www.pjdoland.com/chai/?v=0.1 http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#41347 READ THE BOOK "WHO STOLE THE FISHPOND" FOR A FREE (LIMITED) COPY WRITE 1524 N.CHURCH STREET, BURLINGTON , N. C. 27217 YOU WILL BE CONVINCED ONCE AND FOR ALL.... 41347@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:23:03 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#34669 One of the underappreciated reasons why minimum wage laws are advocated in the United States is that some union contracts stipulate a minimum pay rate at some multiple of the established federal minimum wage. Hence, as the federal minimum wage increases, union workers earning at rates much higher than the minimum wage experience even greater wage increases. For a policy objective proposed to help the poor (even though many minimum wage earners are actually teenagers), the primary benefactors are members of heavily Democratic unions.... 34669@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 13 May 2008 04:03:32 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#22267 For the guy who was in the Navy. If you lived on base you had no rent expense, and your food was free on base as well. Also, your medical needs and Rx were free too...should I say more?... 22267@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:01:55 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#16215 Those receiving an > will pay more in federal income tax, McDonalds, Walmart will increase prices and have fewer "sales". The net result is to increase the poverty level via increased tax base. $5.25 40 hours 52 weeks +$10920 per year 10% tax rate. Overtime at that base is 10% tax rate to $15000 annual income. At the $7.25 rate, 40 hours per 52 weeks is $15,080 so all overtime in the new plan is 15% taxed, higher prices, fewer "sales" higher taxes is bad. Now if that person has "2" jobs, no overtime taxed at the 15% rate above $15,000 the actual poverty rate increases. government controls is a method to get more tax dollars, > poverty and get votes from those who got hurt and didn't know it.... 16215@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:18:18 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15537 Granted, I base this strictly on anecdotal evidence and I have no hard statistics to back this up, but if this country wants to end welfare, they will raise the minimum wage. Making $6.50 an hour is barely enough to support an individual - let alone a family. When people see no option for bettering their situation, they will simply stop trying - hence the epidemic of high school dropouts, drug abuse, single parenthood, and alcoholism. Why struggle making $5 an hour in a thankless job when the government will pay you to have kids and stay home with them? Raising the minimum wage would stop the federal subsidy of these social scourges (which welfare effectively is). Raising the minimum wage will reduce welfare payments and increase self-sufficiency. I say this as someone who just graduated from college (after working a series of low-wage jobs for 4 years), and observing firsthand the poverty and hopelessness of many.... 15537@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Thu, 10 May 2007 09:40:48 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15530 The minimum wage should be tied to the poverty threshold used to determine eligibility to receive foodstamps. I can't see how we can tolerate a minimum wage structure that would have a full-time employee earning such a small amount that would *still* qualify for financial assistance. And don't get me started regarding health care!... 15530@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 09 May 2007 22:25:24 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15508 Brad... It takes a couple of weeks to starve for lack of food. If you can't learn to fish in that amount of time, you should probably be on social security. My wife, three kids and I practically lived off of the scholarships and grants she received while she was attending the community college. She got around $2,000 / semester in grants for attending full time, even while I was making over $20,000 / year.... 15508@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 09 May 2007 15:04:16 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15506 Minimum wage increase is the wrong way to help poor families. This is because the benefit is diluted by recipients who don't need it, such as kids from wealthier families who work part-time after school, etc. A better way to do this would be to take the same ammount of funds and target it more accurately through expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit.... 15506@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 09 May 2007 13:57:51 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15504 "Any business that can't afford $7.25 needs to be OUT of business." who are you to say what a business can and cannot handle regarding their costs? I don't have the data on me, but pretty much every economist you find will say that artificial price floors are a bad idea. There might be people starving at $5.50 an hour but there will be just as many, if not more at $7.25 because they won't have a job at all. On top of that, what happens when all these bad businesses that you're referring to go out of business? Oh that's right, all those jobs that they had created are lost and those employees have to hope they can find a job somewhere else.... 15504@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 09 May 2007 13:47:58 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15491 For those who think it's not a good idea, would they support lowering minimum wage? Sure, that'd help out the economy and business at the cost of starving hundreds of thousands of families. But yeah, $7.25 is WAY too much to ask for. Are you kidding me? I like this quote: "What most Minimum wage earners dont seem to understand..." They and their children understand poverty. Higher education? When are they supposed to attend school between their three jobs to support their children? Any business that can't afford $7.25 needs to be OUT of business. Give a man a fish while he's starving, and you save his life. Teach a man to fish while he's starving, and he'll die before he learns.... 15491@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 09 May 2007 12:24:45 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15489 Minimum Wage increases is a horrid idea. What most Minimum wage earners dont seem to understand is that the cost increase to the employer will ultimately be placed right back on the worker. Every time a minum wage increase is done the cost for services also increase, do you think Mcdonald's is going to just eat the profit loss from having this increase. There going to raise the basic prices for goods made by these employees to maintain the profit margin. Effectively doing nothing but creating artificial inflation. Congress should reexamine higher education incentives for these workers. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.... 15489@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 09 May 2007 12:17:07 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15486 Should we institute a price ceiling on gasoline again while we're at it? That worked really well for us in the 70s. Let the market decide how much an employee is worth and not the government pulling arbitrary numbers out of a hat so politicians can look good to their constituency.... 15486@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 09 May 2007 12:05:14 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15474 Minimum Wage is just that, the minimum an employee should get paid. But we're missing the point of minimum wage jobs. They're not jobs for working families to support their entire household on, they are jobs intended for high school/college age people who need income and can work a crap job. If you're supporting your family, yes minimum wage is too low, but you should reconsider why your trying to support a family by flipping burgers, and address that problem seperatly from raising minimum wage, and in turn the cost of living for those who make minimum wage.... 15474@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Wed, 09 May 2007 10:40:20 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15454 I come from the stand point of a person in the service industry, and I am not sure how this will affect my pay increase ( $2.13 hour + the crummy tips you f**kers leave ;], but I do know that this increase will make companies fire people to cut back on cost. We really don't need a law passed to be able to put food on the table or a roof over our heads, we need companies to simply give us a greater share of the profits of our labors, even if those hours we spend are toward the dreams of someone else. I think that Unionizing is the best way to go, for every skill, every position. Especially now that a BA or BS doesn't really take you that far in today's USA. Trade Skills and Sales seem to offer the most advancement for your time.... 15454@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 May 2007 21:46:55 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15438 I am opposed to raising the minimum wage. My thought process is this... If the job doesn't pay well, no one will want that job anyway. The business will have to raise the wage to get employees. If that is the only job you can get, too bad so sad. Get an education, learn a new skill. Raising the minimum wage, will make everything more expensive and bring more people down rather than bringing anyone up. If you are an adult making minimum wage, I suggest you look in the mirror and ask yourself what you have been doing with your life.... 15438@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 May 2007 18:34:27 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15435 People say, "let the market decide a fair wage.” Sadly, with Scrooges on every street corner, for many it's not a choice of good job vs. better job, it's poor job vs. no job. The few good opportunities that do exist have far more applicants than positions. If the minimum wage didn't exist, many would be paid obscenely low wages that couldn't pay for anything above the barest of essentials, and would likely die at an early age. Most companies would go under since the average Joe couldn't afford to buy the goods or services they sell. Basically, we would become a 2nd world country where the only successful businesses would be Chinese importers like Walmart. The only alternative to the economic apocalypse would be to sure up the poor with tax credits. Of course that money will have to come from the taxes paid by the middle and upper classes. So would you rather pay out to an inefficient, bureaucratic machine, or just pay the workers directly?... 15435@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 May 2007 17:31:08 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15422 Teacher: I think that would just encourage employers to hire high-school dropouts instead. Given a choice, employers will usually go with the cheaper employee (illegal immigrant vs. citizen). That would lower the opportunities for those who actually finished high-school, it would actually be easier for dropouts to get a job.... 15422@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Tue, 08 May 2007 12:43:30 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15376 Logic: You're not taking into account the markup of goods once they are priced the market (most important in this case is profit) and the effect of competition on prices. A price isn't simply what it costs to make the goods. Also, there is ten years worth of inflation between the minimum wage and the price of goods right now since the minimum wage hasn't increased in that much time. And considering the bloat at the top of the income ladder, it's about time a little of that was redirected. Though raising the minimum wage isn't a foolproof method. All in all, it's a little reductionistic to suggest the market works in such a mechanical manner. And if we follow your logic the increase in wealth should lead to an increase in demand, then the usual overcompensation of supply, which means prices will eventually fall...... 15376@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 May 2007 20:48:22 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15372 Oops, meant to direct my comment to Conor.... 15372@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 May 2007 20:24:40 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15371 Sharper: Money is simply a representation of work done. Right now, the representation of minimum work done is ~$5 an hour. That wage is reflected in the price of all goods, since all goods require work to produce them. The absolute minimum you can charge for a good that takes 1 hour to produce is $5, (and realistically, you'd be taking a loss, but we'll ignore other costs for now). If wages go up to $7, then the price of goods go up proportionally to compensate. If you still charge $5 for the item that took 1 hour to produce at $7/hr, then you're losing $2 per item. The prices MUST go up, therefore the "extra money" will still buy the same amount of goods. Even for items which do not require labor to produce, like real estate, if everyone suddenly has $500,000 to spend instead of $100,000, then the prices will go up accordingly. The only way to make "more" money is to make more than other people are making.... 15371@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 May 2007 20:23:08 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15359 Prove a minimum wage increase causes an increase in inflation, job loss, and hurts the poor. Put up or shut up.... 15359@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 May 2007 19:12:02 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15355 What right does the government have to tell teenagers and others new to the workforce that they aren't allowed to accept a job they are willing to do, but doesn't pay what some Democrat Congressman thinks is enough? I don't see the power anywhere in the Constitution to forbid people from working for whatever wage they're willing to work for. This law doesn't set a minimum wage level that people must be paid, it sets a minimum wage level that people aren't allowed to work for less. They're forbidding people from getting a job who otherwise would be able to work and earn money if an employer could pay them what is economically feasible for their current skill and knowledge level.... 15355@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 May 2007 19:00:44 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15343 The point is that a minimum wage already exists, it's just been neglected; if this had been done steadily and gradually year on year with inflation very few would be arguing against it.... 15343@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 May 2007 17:31:55 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15342 The net effect is to remove the bottom rungs of the ladder, hurting those we wish to help by shutting them out of the jobs that would be their entry into the marketplace.... 15342@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Mon, 07 May 2007 17:26:29 EDT http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_2.html#15293 I believe everyone should be paid minimum wage no matter what. If the person is owns their own business and has people work for them they should still pay that person minimum wage. no questions asked.... 15293@http://www.washingtonwatch.com Fri, 04 May 2007 13:26:37 EDT