Minimum wage should be $30)hour

No. Minimum wage jobs are for High Schoolers and part-timers. Any able minded and able bodied adult can get a job at Wal-mart, Gas 'n Go, etc and make more than Minimum wage.

The problem with raising minimum wage is that it will result in a higher cost of goods, so that higher raise didn't really help.

I think the minimum wage should tied to the CPI.

Alan

Adults who fail at life who find themselves working a high schoolers job well into their 20s also should not be paid that much.

Federal minimum wage is dumb and just ruffles feathers. What the working class needs is union participation, like they have in Nordic countries. A blanket federal minimum wage just nukes small businesses in lower cost of living areas.

Better yet- remove the minimum wage altogether. All it does is give corporations collective wage-fixing power sponsored by the Fed. Put talent out on the open market and let the market determine the price. Offer $5/hour, nobody takes the job. Offer $25/hour, good people will compete for and retain jobs through good performance.

I taught Econ to seniors and I always told them that in 1980, I live in Upstate NY, I made about $4.00 an hour.

I:

Rented a 5 bedroom house with 4 friends.

Had a car.

Literally paid CASH for two courses a semester at our local State University.

Had enough money to buy running shoes and gear and race.

Had enough left over to go out sa often as I wanted.

And I never worried about money or my future monetary needs.

To do that now you would need at least $30 an hour and that wouldn't include college.

In 1977 I went to a private university out of state and paid $600 for the first semester- that included EVERYTHING.

This will 'work' temporarily and then inflation will get crazy and then these people making $30 per hour won't be living very comfortable anymore since that $30/hour won't be able to buy what it used to. A lot of people just work enough to buy their pack of beer and get drunk on the weekends, and watch their TV. At $30/hour these people don't have to work as much, so they won't work as much. This means less stuff gets done. This means there is less stuff produced and less services available. The result then is that the prices of these things all go up, for everyone. Their $30/hour can't buy what it used to eventually, and they have to work a lot more and eventually we're right back where we started.

And another repercussion is why do a more challenging job that pays $35/hour when you could find the easiest one at $30/hour? Every other job will bump up its pay. That might sound great, but that leads to less people getting hired because companies can't afford to pay everyone more across the board. Then we have an unemployment issue. On top of companies not being able to pay more, but some people who do not work, either because they're retired or their spouse already makes a lot, or maybe they're in college not wanting to work too much yet, they will now enter the job market because $30 is now worth it to them when $10 wasn't worth it. So now you have a lot of people entering the job market, which will make the idiots be the bottom tier who used to get the crappy jobs and now they don't get any job, they are now unemployed, further worsening the unemployment crisis from increasing the minimum wage so much.

Want to make it so that everyone has their basic needs met? Make people work, make people produce a bunch of stuff. This makes it so that everything is CHEAPER, and these people don't even need to work very much to meet their basic needs. You meet everyone's basic needs by making everyone work. If it's possible for a bunch of people to work less, then everyone suffers because less stuff gets done.

You aren't very good at economics for an econ teacher.

First of all, your numbers are way off. In 2017 I made 25k and lived in a house with a few people in a moderately high cost of living area. I had enough money to have a computer, a smartphone, and go out and drink beer a few times a week. I bought running shoes when I needed them. I ate out probably a few times a month and was careful about what I ordered. I bought clothes from stitchfix, not walmart. I could have been more frugal and lived on less.

Second, even if your math weren't grossly off, it's still not an argument for raising the minimum wage due to...economics.

The idea that minimum wage should be $30 an hour is
stupidity. Money does not just magically appear it is funded through our tax
dollars which means people like myself who worked there behind off to get well
beyond $100,000 a year typically get destroyed during tax season. I always
listen to people complain about the financial position they are in. If you want
more money do the requirements to get more money. The number of people that are
too busy to spend a couple of hours a night knocking out a college degree is
mind boggling but they have plenty of extra free time to go sit at the bar and
get drunk every night. I knocked out a bachelors and masters while on active
duty. I am working on a third degree as we speak so is my wife. Look more money
should be reserved for people who have specialized skills to get more money it
should not be reserved for a job that requires zero skill. Anyone who thinks
minimum wage should be nearly $65,000 a year is a moron.

But we have inflation anyway. Things are getting more and more expensive and salaries need to rise accordingly to maintain purchasing power. People are looking for more pay to meet the increasing costs of living and are being told they can't because that will cause further inflation. Something will have to give.

If minimum wage is an inflation risk, why aren't multi million dollar salaries? If senior management get an extra few million sent their way, why do people not fret it will cause the cost of production to increase in the same way they do when it's the lowest income bracket? Why are people arguing to restrict or abolish the minimum wage, instead of limiting senior pay? If they were consistent, both have the same effect. It's a matter of choice, not economics.

Union wages, and hence Federal required "Davis Bacon" wages, are tied to the minimum wage such that a minimum union wage is about 15% greater than the legal minimum wage. All more senior union wages are tied to the minimum union wage. So, increasing the Federal minimum wage to $30/hr would greatly increase the wages of almost all public sector workers, including police (I thought they were to be defunded) and fire, many manufacturing and construction jobs; and increase the cost of Federal contracts, including all of those supposed "Build Back Better" projects. That would result in not so much being built back, regardless of whether it was actually better.

Minimum wage should be $100/hr with full benefits. That way people can afford the lifestyle they want without providing themselves the training or education to earn that lifestyle. It's their right.

My numbers are exactly as they were, you fool. Seriously, I'm giving you facts. It was my life.

Wow.

They did a research project on living in three parts of the country on $15 an hour. They had to find an apartment and buy groceries. Obviously, they couldn't do it.

I'm sorry that the facts, as I lived them, don't line up with your misconceptions (?) or is your lack of intelligence? I don't know what your problem is but, anyway, YES, minimum wage should be $30 an hour.

welcome to 15% inflation

The economy always adjusts. I think you are right, but the "economy" has been getting fat for far too long on low wages. The statistics bear this out. People used to be against raising the minimum wage to a living wage because they used the excuse that these jobs are not meant to be careers etc... But the new reality is, do you want to live in the "greatest country" in the world? Its not free. All the minimum wage jobs can no longer be filled by high school students. We actually need people to change the sheets and clean rooms if you want to go on vacation. There is an infrastructure we have built that now necessitates career low wage job workers. In the richest country in the world...why not at least give them a living wage? Or do you want homeless to be lining every sidewalk? Or do we want to haiti eventually? With 1 or 2 % living behind barbed wire while 90% + are in poverty? A middle class is not a bad thing. Do you really want homeless people cooking your food and cleaning your room?

Completely wrong. Motivated people will still seek a better life even if we raise the minimum wage to a living wage. People dont need the carrot of billions to work harder. Even 100-200K will be enough to motivate the right folks lets not punish the people who are working their a$$ off for minimum wage. Nobody said 100/hr. Lets just be reasonable. Capitalism works, but has side effects as currently designed, lets just add a little better floor. Even if it makes you bitter.

you don't think inflation is high enough already?

But inflation is the reason for the need for an increase in the first place. Chicken or egg.

In 2021, the National Association of Realtors reported that from 2000 to 2020, there should have been 5 Million additional units of housing constructed to meet the needs of growth in the number of households in the US.

A $30 per hour minimum wage would mean housing price inflation even worse than we have now because people at the low end of the income scale would still be competing for the same inadequate number of housing units.