Minimum Wage and You
Do you think that the minimum wage should be raised? Or do you think that it is only good for making sure that people that work get paid at least that wage? Should the minimum wage be raised? Would it help? Some think not.
I think that the minimum wage should most definetly NOT get raised. Why? Don’t I think that people deserve a decent wage? Sure I do. But raising the minimum wage isn’t the answer. Think of gas prices as a minimum wage. When gas prices go up, so does the price of everything else. In the same way, if the minimum wage goes up, so does the price of everything else. If the orange farmer has to pay his orange pickers more than the minimum wage that he currently pays, that extra expense has to get passed on to somewhere.
The farmer isn’t going to want to eat that extra expense. Neither is the frieght company that delivers it to the warehouse. And you can be sure that after it gets passed all the way up to the grocery store, they aren’t going to eat it. So, who pays that extra expense? We do. The consumer. So, if you don’t mind paying extra for everything that you buy, by all means raise the minimum wage.
Personally, I’d rather see the minimum wage gotten rid of entirely. Our country has thrived on a capitalist supply and demand economy. True supply and demand works quite a bit better than what we have going now. For instance, Walmart pays more than minimum wage. Why? Because supply for even their more lackluster jobs is less than the demand. There are more open jobs than there are workers. Because supply and demand has worked in that way, Walmart pays more than some of it’s competitors to get more workers who will stay.
The same could work for our gas industry, however, we as a world population demand much more each and every day and as such, supply cannot keep up. As a result, prices go up.
Next time you argue that the minimum wage should go up, remember that the guy who takes your money (or pumps your gas in some states) is likely being paid minimum wage. The owner of the gas station will have to pass that extra expense on to someone. And it will be you!
Technorati Tags: minimum wage, supply and demand, supply, demand, economics
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Michael said,
Wrote on May 25, 2006 @ 4:16 pm
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind paying a bit more for everything if I thought it would help minimum wage earners. The problem I have with a higher minimum wage is that all those minimum wage earners are also going to have to pay a little bit more for everything. The net result is that we all pay more for stuff without actually helping anybody live a better life.
Kevin S. said,
Wrote on May 26, 2006 @ 7:05 am
actually minimum wage would not increase cost of goods. I used to use that same arguement. What will happen is the gap between minimum and higher wage earners would be closed…Thus the higher end wage earners get screwed especially those that were already making the new minimum wage before it was the minimum wage.
Something else to consider is that there are number of companies out there where they could care less about the employees. they pay them as little as possible and stuff their own pockets. So if they did raise their charges to the consumer, it would only to continue to line their own pockets, because they won’t pay good employees more. Of course those places probably have high turn over, or a lot of illegal workers.