Obama proposed making it illegal to hire someone if you weren't going to pay them at least $9/hour. Should the federal government prevent someone from getting hired if the value of their labor isn't greater than $9/hour?
Wouldn't letting young or underskilled workers get jobs help to distribute the wealth better? When people can't get jobs, that just leaves the money in the hands of those who would normally be employers.
the_real_prince2000
Favorite Answer
their si so much more to this question like what if the people ar not doing their job or can't should they still be getting $9+/hour in my opinion unless you earn it you shouldn't be paid it.
Big Red
It should be illegal for someone who looks like that head shot you've used to be so ignorant. Then again, that's typically how it works, right? The pretty ones coast through life and don't have to use their brains.
Economists--people who study a complex field and get PhDs exist for a reason. Taking the opinion of a politician or pundit on economic issues makes about as much sense as getting on a plane with someone who has read a few articles and has a strong belief that they can figure out how to fly. Overwhelmingly, nonpartisan studies have shown that the economy benefits by setting a minimum wage that helps people get above the poverty line. Even more beneficial would be to keep the minimum wage lower and relieve the tax burden on the very poor by increasing it on the very rich--but people have a problem with that and like to say that people aren't paying their "fair share."
Mr. Smartypants
We decided decades ago that if someone works in The Richest Country in the World, their work is worth at least a reasonable minimum amount. I think it's scandalous that someone who shows up at a job 40 hrs a week, does a good enough job to keep his job, could still live below the poverty line. Conservatives like to demonize the poor as lazy and worthless, even as cheaters and leeches. But 80-90% of the poor in the US are WORKING poor, people who work and 'play by the rules' but still live beneath the poverty line. BTW the 'poverty line' hasn't been moved in about 40 years.
The Republicans also insist (they have for years) that rises in the minimum wage leads to fewer jobs. That's a totally specious argument. It sounds good, but many studies over decades have shown that rises in the minimum wage have no downward pressure on employment.
Opposition to the minimum wage is just a small part of a larger program of concentration of wealth. For several decades now they've been trying to convince us that working people must make sacrifices, they must come to expect less, so the rich can get richer, because that's better for everyone. So far it's only made the rich richer. Which was the idea all along.
Jeffrey B
The minimum wage in New York State is currently $7.25, so it is perfectly legal to employ somebody for less than $9.
As to the question of SHOULD this be the case: yes. I believe that, subject only to minimum wage laws and collective bargaining agreements, the wage is set between employer and employee.
Anonymous
No, it should not.