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"$12 By '20": Democrats Seek 70% Increase In Minimum Wage

Tyler Durden's picture




 

As regular readers are no doubt aware, wage growth in America has never been higher — for your boss. If however, you belong to the 83% of the US workforce that falls under the BLS’ “non-supervisory” category, you haven’t been so fortunate and in fact, your wages are now growing at a measly pace of 1.5%, down from more than 4% before some folks on Wall Street — who, statistically speaking, make between five and six times as much as you do on average — built a financial Frankenstein which promptly murdered most of its creators before escaping the lab and running amok through global capital markets until it was finally brought down by central banker monetary bazooka fire.

In a happy coincidence for the 17% of Americans who are “supervisors,” the policies which (temporarily) kept the Wall Street-borne crisis from destroying the entire global financial system have also served to inflate the assets most likely to be held by those who make more money, which helps to explain why, as the St. Louis Fed recently pointed out, the Middle Class is rapidly disappearing in the post-crisis era. 

 

And while Hillary Clinton’s “everyday Americans” wait not-so-patiently for Ben Bernanke’s “wealth effect” to slowly trickle down to them, economic growth is being choked off because when three quarters of GDP depends on consumer spending and consumer spending is almost perfectly correlated with wage growth, policies that work to exacerbate the gap between the haves and the have nots are counterproductive when it comes to economic output. 

Against this backdrop, Democrats are moving on a “$12 by ‘20” pitch, whereby they hope to have the minimum wage hiked to $12 within the next five years. The rationale is simple: restore the purchasing power Americans once had and you will restore robust economic growth. Republicans contend a $12 minimum wage would cause employers to cut jobs. Here’s The Washington Post

Top Democrats laid down their minimum-wage marker on Capitol Hill on Thursday, setting up their party's middle-class-focused economic message heading into the 2016 elections campaigns.

 

Their pitch: "$12 by '20" — a $12 per hour federal minimum wage by 2020, which they say will give a pay raise to nearly 38 million Americans.

 

"This is a key piece of our effort to grow the economy from the middle out not from the top down," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a lead sponsor of new legislation to reset the minimum wage. "It would help the economy grow in a sustainable way, and it’s an important step toward expanding economic security and making sure more families can make ends meet”...

 

But Republicans, with a few exceptions, have grown consistently move opposed to minimum wage increases in recent years, arguing that any hike would tamp down economic growth…

 

Last year, for instance, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he considered any minimum wage hike to be "bad policy" that would hurt minorities and others holding low-wage jobs by eliminating some of those jobs. "When you raise the cost of something you get less of it," he said after President Obama announced an executive order raising the minimum wage for federal contractors…

 

The $12 an hour wage, supporters say, will restore the purchasing power that the federal minimum wage had in the late 1960s, when the American manufacturing economy was at its height, and provide enough income to keep a family of three out of poverty.

Note the latter point there about keeping families out of poverty. Even if Boehner is correct (i.e. if raising the minimum wage causes companies to fire existing employees and/or hire fewer workers), some will likely argue that because more than half of welfare spending goes to working families, many of those who would be subject to layoffs in the event lifting the minimum wage prompts job cuts are already impoverished and dependent upon the government to make ends meet in the first place, so if there’s even a small chance that a $12/hour minimum doesn’t lead to mass layoffs it’s a risk worth taking. Still, overcoming the notion that a near 70% hike in the country’s pay floor won’t cost the country jobs is likely to be difficult.

Here’s more color from WSJ:

Democratic lawmakers are upping the ante on the minimum wage Thursday, pitching a plan to lift the federal pay floor by 66% to $12 an hour by 2020.

 

The proposal appears to be a long-shot—a plan to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour failed last year. But the new legislation helps frame the wider debate around income inequality just as the 2016 presidential campaign gets under way…

 

Republican lawmakers have said a large increase in the minimum wage will cost the country jobs. A report from the Congressional Budget Office published last year showed an increase to $10.10 an hour would cost the economy about 500,000. A smaller increase to $9 an hour was projected to cost 100,000 jobs.

 

Ms. Murray and Mr. Scott’s proposal would also gradually eliminate the lower minimum wage received by workers who earn tips, something not in last year’s measure. Currently, waiters and similar workers are only required to be paid $2.13 an hour, so long as they receive tips to bring their hourly rate in line with the minimum wage (ZH: does this mean the “bartender recovery” is about to become a viable economic concept?) 

 

Thursday’s proposal ties future wage increases to changes in the median wage paid to workers. A specific ratio has yet to be released. The federal minimum wage has not previously been indexed for automatic raises. Congress must vote for the pay increase...

 

Connecting the minimum wage to the median wage of all workers more directly addresses concerns about income inequality. It assures the lowest paid workers don’t fall too far behind the middle...

 

Economic Policy Institute economists said their initial read of the new proposal would bring minimum-wage workers back in line with the 1968 level by 2020.

The proposal “would raise the purchasing power of the minimum wage modestly relative to where it was five decades ago,” they said in a paper released Thursday. It would also restore the relationship between the minimum wage and the wage of workers in the middle.”

In the end, it's difficult to argue with the notion that raising the standard of living for Americans making minimum wage would be a good thing. The problem is that as with all attempts to centrally plan something that would normally be dictated by market forces, there will invariably be unintended consequences and if the extra money earned by those who keep their low-paying jobs after a minimum wage hike is completely offset by the lost income of those who are fired because their employers can no longer afford to keep them employed, then the net result of the entire enterprise will be negative.

*  *  *

Finally - if that's not clear enough...

 

h/t @DavidJamesJr

 

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Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:13 | 6051325 This is it
This is it's picture

Unemployment FTW.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:14 | 6051336 TruxtonSpangler
TruxtonSpangler's picture

If you base the real inflation off the price of a common automobile, in order for wages to track inflation the minimum wage should be $25-$40. YMMV

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:15 | 6051339 TruxtonSpangler
TruxtonSpangler's picture

In a capitalist economy, the actual minimum wage is $0.00

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:17 | 6051351 Beam Me Up Scotty
Beam Me Up Scotty's picture

Wage and price controls failed in the 1970's.  Now we have stealthy wage and price controls.  And the printing press.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:21 | 6051380 froze25
froze25's picture

buying votes works.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:28 | 6051409 Beam Me Up Scotty
Beam Me Up Scotty's picture

Yes it does.  Why do you think we have this huge assanine tax code?  Its nothing more than a vote buying scheme.  Both parties LOVE it.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:17 | 6051628 Laowei Gweilo
Laowei Gweilo's picture

lol at min. wage increases....

 

only way US would ever fix the income disparity is through income and business tax, and we know just how much Americans looooove taxes haha

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:24 | 6051666 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

I support all attempts to bring about a totalitarian utopia.

https://exit.liberty.me/2015/04/18/want-to-win-vote-socialism/

Give the State the rope with which it will hang itself.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:41 | 6051728 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

Socialism is collapsing on it's own, it's bankrupt.  Then we can lose our marxist central planners and their manipulation of society.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:45 | 6051742 Buzz Fuzzel
Buzz Fuzzel's picture

Why $12?  Why not $100 or even $500?  Hell, if this is how it works why don't we make everyone rich.

 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:10 | 6051838 rbgnr111
rbgnr111's picture

why not???

if everybody is rich... nobody is rich

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:31 | 6051424 McMolotov
McMolotov's picture

Buying politicians works, too. In our current system, the people who do best are those with the ability to do the buying and those with a sufficient lack of morals such that they can be bought.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:39 | 6051470 Ham-bone
Ham-bone's picture

Add to this the hype of manufacturing returning to America...and the propaganda is in full force.

FROM MARKET WATCH _ Record number of manufacturing jobs returning to America

So, just to make it clear what is happening...and a portion of why Baltimore and other cities are likely to continue burning...A report card on Manufacturing in America.

http://econimica.blogspot.com/2015/05/manufacturing-recovery-or-manufactured.html

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:52 | 6051527 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

Next month, Inflation Soars & QE comes to an end as Fed signals rate hikes, markets begin to tank in response...?

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:22 | 6051655 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

In this world of QE, if the Repubs were smart, they'd promise to double the offer.  We're in a grinding deflation in part because the working folks have no liquidity.  You can't have hyperinflation without $$ velocity.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:36 | 6051911 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

The current batch of politicians should be making minimum wage so they'd have to have a "real job" on the side to make ends meet.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 21:42 | 6052682 Milestones
Milestones's picture

Morals is too broad. How's integrity instead? Just a comment, not a critique.

Milestones

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:19 | 6051361 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Yes, but in a capitalistic economy you can also lose all your wealth if you mis-manage your company/business.  So, fuck right off as such an economy has not existed for fucking generations.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:32 | 6051428 seek
seek's picture

It's still true for small businesses and people that work for themselves. So perhaps it makes the most sense for those categories to be excluded from minimum wage laws. (it also happens these are the segments least able to afford minimum wage, so an exemption would encourage them to grow to the size where the wage laws would apply.)

Of course, larger companies are more than OK with smaller more competitive ones going out of business, so they'd be dead set against this.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:49 | 6051518 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

In any case, no one does any worthwhile work for free, period. 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:32 | 6051426 Ethelred the Unready
Ethelred the Unready's picture

That seems to imply that you are likely to find someone willing to work for nothing.  

 

Hey, that's called an Intern!

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:46 | 6051498 Skateboarder
Skateboarder's picture

+1. Was going to convey the same message. I've seen my fair share of "Wanted: Unpaid Intern" the last time I looked for a job. This is what it looks like today in SF Bay Area (few postings, surprisingly), home of unpaid interns who 'love' technology:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/jjj?query=unpaid+intern

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:55 | 6051534 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

Que?  Si podemos!

 

How's that Immigration coming along Dick?  

What Immigration Reform?  

Exactly...

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:55 | 6051542 d4pwnage
d4pwnage's picture

It could be negative infinity in principle.  Someone might pay $$$ to work in exchange for experience and connections.

Hey, colleges charge money and make students do (home)work...we should make that illegal!!!

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:27 | 6051407 seek
seek's picture

You can also compute using silver -- if that $1 wage in the late '50s and early 60's were paid in quarters, those quarters would be worth $11.64 today, and that's with the insane level of price suppression that's taken place with silver. A few years ago it was closer to $20.

All of this stuff is just symptomatic of having a fiat-based monetary system that's being constantly inflated.

Realizing that inflation is a tax, what's really happening is we have a government that has taxed the bottom of the employment base so severely they've regressed in earning power from middle-class into poverty.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:35 | 6051445 Thisson
Thisson's picture

Your overall point is worth considering, but it's idiotic to assume that if prices are manipulated, it's only in one direction (as if banksters would want to make only half of the potential profits).  The reality is that silver in an industrial metal, and industry is in the toilet, so the price is low.  Same as oil, iron, and everything else these days.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:09 | 6051833 quasimodo
quasimodo's picture

So what you are telling us is that there is no inflation. 

Brilliant 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:18 | 6051864 Agstacker
Agstacker's picture

Ground beef and other foodstuffs don't seem so cheap to me.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:41 | 6051478 Citxmech
Citxmech's picture

Hmmmm:  Minimum wage increase = witholding tax increase = increased revenue for the government.

Clever way to compensate for decreased tax revenue due to unemployment and rampant printing/inflation.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:52 | 6051528 Skateboarder
Skateboarder's picture

All the while paving way for inflation on basic necessities. When 1 hour of work buys you 1 gallon of milk, we will have reached a critical point.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:42 | 6051483 post turtle saver
post turtle saver's picture

I have a better idea... the minimum wage should be abolished and what you make should be what the market can bear...

people need to learn that no one owes them a living... it's that simple...

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 21:49 | 6052699 Daddio7
Daddio7's picture

My 1974 Ford Maverick cost $4000. Automatic and air. 2015 Ford Fiesta is about $14000. One year's income at minimum wage. About the same. Now to buy the same ammount of gas you need do $20 an hour.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:20 | 6051363 rubiconsolutions
rubiconsolutions's picture

What happens if my child is willing to work for $10 and hour? Or $8 an hour. Would the act of engaging in a private employment contract with an employer for less than a .gov mandated minimum make him/her (and the employer) a criminal? It is not, not about a living wage or some such nonsense. It's about a person having the right to the fruits of their labor and privacy. Everything else is subterfuge.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:25 | 6051400 froze25
froze25's picture

The way to do it would be to just contract for the job per day.  For example, You need a trench dug in your back yard, you know it will take 8hrs to do it.  So the Job (digging a 10' x 2'x1') trench is a 64 dollar job.  Don't hire them, just contract with them for the specific job.  Assemble 20 widgets and I will pay you $100 dollars for it etc.  

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:37 | 6051457 Thisson
Thisson's picture

Nice theory, but it doesn't work like that in real life, as Yogi stated:

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:03 | 6051574 Frank N. Beans
Frank N. Beans's picture

heck, that's how the illegals do it.  Stand around at home depot, wait for truck to pull up, get job, get paid.  I'm sure they're not concerned with min wage (they probably make more anyway). 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:24 | 6051878 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

They set their own minimum wage, which is often higher than minimum wage..  They also want to know what you expect them to do and for how long, then they'll tell you how much.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:36 | 6051912 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

You don't pay them for the work, you pay them to leave.  

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:07 | 6051828 booboo
booboo's picture

Republicans should double it and throw in a free spiderman towl.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:13 | 6051327 orangegeek
orangegeek's picture

just brings in more automation and fewer jobs - stupid fucking politicians, stupid fucking gubbamint

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:16 | 6051342 Beam Me Up Scotty
Beam Me Up Scotty's picture

Automation is going to come, whether the wage is raised or not.  Isn't that the Utopia everyone dreams of?  The machines do all the work, and we have all the fun??

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:20 | 6051366 McMolotov
McMolotov's picture

In this shiny new Utopia, the machines, which will be owned by some filthy rich SOBs, will do all the work and the rest of us will be deemed inconvenient and expendable.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:21 | 6051382 TruxtonSpangler
TruxtonSpangler's picture

Thats the whole plan

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:27 | 6051406 froze25
froze25's picture

ehh, open source robotic software is availible and growing.  The education to do it is already on youtube.  They will not have a monoply till they outlaw it for our safety.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:38 | 6051464 Thisson
Thisson's picture

It's not that they have a monopoly on the robots, it's that they have a monopoly on the other inputs of production (land and capital, with the robots contributing the labor).

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:16 | 6051348 McMolotov
McMolotov's picture

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:18 | 6051354 Beam Me Up Scotty
Beam Me Up Scotty's picture

Brown-noser....Have to come up with a new term when the robot overlords take over. 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:47 | 6051746 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Lithium Greaser.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:13 | 6051328 AIIB
AIIB's picture

"A nickle ain't worth a dime anymore"

- Yogi Berra

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:02 | 6051569 Mayer Amschel R...
Mayer Amschel Rothschild's picture

"We're lost, but we're making great time."

 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:13 | 6051329 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

The scary thing is, even if they can pull off $12/hr by 2020, the $12 is going to be worth squat.  Actually, $12/hr in 2015 is jack squat.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:14 | 6051337 AIIB
AIIB's picture

see above

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:13 | 6051331 firstdivision
Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:13 | 6051333 Beam Me Up Scotty
Beam Me Up Scotty's picture

Doesn't matter if the minimum wage is $10 or $100.  You will still live a minimum wage lifestyle.  Business HAS to raise prices to pay the higher wage. 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:17 | 6051352 InTheLandOfTheBlind
InTheLandOfTheBlind's picture

Cut payroll taxes of they truly be serious about raising quality of life

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:23 | 6051394 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

That's not how parasites function.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:23 | 6051395 Beam Me Up Scotty
Beam Me Up Scotty's picture

That IS the whole problem.  .Gov is taking too much of the "working" class's money.  They say "Tax Freedom day" is sometime around April 24th.  However, that only includes federal, state, and local taxes.  Add in the rest of your taxes......property, sales, gas, and the myriad of other hidden taxes and fees on all of your bills.  Top that off with all of the licenses and fees, and EVERYONE who works is paying AT LEAST 5 out of every 10 of their labor work days to the government.  And if you are in  a higher tax bracket, its even WORSE. 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:32 | 6051431 Luckhasit
Luckhasit's picture

only when you are the .1% do you enjoy the benefits of crony capitalism.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:32 | 6051696 Beam Me Up Scotty
Beam Me Up Scotty's picture

Thats right.  Taxes are only for "little people".  Married couples making over $189k get kicked into the 33% Federal bracket, and probably into their respective state's top bracket.  And those people don't live anything like Uncle Warren Buffet or Bill Gates.  Or Al Gore for that matter.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:19 | 6051360 InTheLandOfTheBlind
InTheLandOfTheBlind's picture

Cut payroll taxes of they truly be serious about raising quality of life

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:23 | 6051393 Postal
Postal's picture

Business HAS to raise prices to pay the higher wage.

No, they don't! They just have to stop being so greedy. They make huge profits. They can pay from that.

</sarc>

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:23 | 6051398 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Surely they can sell more bonds to the pension funds to cover the gap?

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:07 | 6051593 corporatewhore
corporatewhore's picture

maybe if the president of the firm didn't make 1000x over the lowest paid guy in the trenches , the company might be able to pay a better wage.

maybe if the president wasn't a brain dead egotistical sociopath he/she might figure that out

good taste and sensibility seem lost forever

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:14 | 6051334 Salah
Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:17 | 6051350 Elliott Eldrich
Elliott Eldrich's picture

If we were to repeal NAFTA, GATT, and every other treasonous travesty masquerading as a "free trade" treaty, and bring back tariffs, there would be much less need to raise the minimum wage, since there would be many more higher-value manufacturing jobs available. When you offshore all of the high-value gaining jobs, and leave behind only low-value adding service jobs, what do you think is going to happen to average wages? Particularly when all of those formerly employed in manufacturing are now competing for the service jobs.

Increased supply meets reduced demand, and the price of labor drops through the floor; gosh, how did that happen? Special thanks to the Clintons for helping shove NAFTA and GATT down our collective throats, along with their worker-crushing buddies from both sides of the aisles. Hillary wants to be a "champion for everyday Americans" like Colonel Sanders wants to be a champion for the average chicken.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:21 | 6051649 Binko
Binko's picture

This is true. The people in power have systematically shipped a huge percentage of what used to be good paying American jobs overseas in quest of short term profits. They have compounded the problem by allowing massive numbers of foreigners to enter the country and fill many domestic jobs, both illegals at the low end, and H1B workers at the top end.

Basically they have gutted the nation's job base. And they are still working at the behest of their multinational corporate masters to make things worse. Congress has zero thought of throwing out old trade agreements or revising to tax code to encourage domestic manufacturing. Instead they are pursuing new trade agreements.

And now the despicable fools think they can just decree prosperity. The puppets in congress are so stupid and so bought out and so thorougly living within a big government bubble that they don't understand the first thing about real wealth creation. Things are going to get a lot worse soon because a decimated job base means a decimated tax base. And it means an unhappy public.

Once the phoney bubble economy pops we will all wake up and find out we are living a much poorer country. And a much angrier one.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:17 | 6051353 Shizzmoney
Shizzmoney's picture

You are against raising wages, you are an agent of the Federal Reserve. 

They are the reason why people need more money, not businesses (for the most part; the bigger one collude with the Fed to keep wgaes down because, in the end: the Fed kinda doesn't want TOO much inflation b/c their oligarch buddies who own all the debts lose money on that inflation).

 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:25 | 6051357 Mercury
Mercury's picture

"$12 By '20": Democrats Seek 70% Increase In Minimum Wage


Unemployment for 16-24 yr. old blacks is 37% in Baltimore now.

What do you think it will after this plan?

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:51 | 6051767 Arnold
Arnold's picture

They make license plates and furniture in prison don't they?

Oh well laundry and commissary then.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:20 | 6051364 Frank N. Beans
Frank N. Beans's picture

This isn't Democrats pandering for votes now, is it? 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:23 | 6051396 cheech_wizard
cheech_wizard's picture

They don't call them low information voters for nothing. 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:29 | 6051415 Beam Me Up Scotty
Beam Me Up Scotty's picture

Well, once everyone has their FREE Obamafone, they need to come up with a new method to buy votes.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:04 | 6051577 corporatewhore
corporatewhore's picture

They've already got 49% locked up.  Who are they pandering too?

What a stupid idea.  How about reducing taxes---na, can't do that.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:20 | 6051368 gdiamond22
gdiamond22's picture

Anything the government does has the equal and opposite effect of its initial goal. Except wars and theft - they have a great track record achieving those goals.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:21 | 6051381 StaresWithStares
StaresWithStares's picture

I say raise it now, more shit hitting fan = more thug life.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:24 | 6051399 jjsilver
jjsilver's picture

The United States government does not have granted authority to force "private" companies(foreign) outside the District of Columbia what they pay workers.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:26 | 6051405 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Look like they do.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:32 | 6051429 Hungarian Pengos
Hungarian Pengos's picture

Yes, by all means, raise the minimum wage.   Here's my minimum wage encounter for today:

 

Went to a convenience store and bought a snack.  The bill was $5.68.  I handed the clerk a $20 bill, two quarters, a dime and two nickles ($20.70).   A sheer look of terror came over his face as he realized he'd have to do 1st grade math and/or handle making change.

After fumbling with the change for a minute, he proceeded to hand me 92 cents, then counts out $14 dollars in his drawer, places the cash back into the drawer and closes it.  Speechless, I ask where my change is.  He says right there, pointing at the random 92 cents in my hand.   I explain that I gave you $20.70, so I should be getting $15.02 back, not just 92 cents.

He is completely flustered now, and said that because I gave him two nickels, he "got screwed up".   He finally re-opens his drawer and hands me $13(!) to go along with my 92 cents.

And these morons want paid a lot more.  Good god.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 19:50 | 6052407 Pancho de Villa
Pancho de Villa's picture

Ha, ha! That's so hilarious! If he was paid more, he might figure out how to do simple math? 

 

A few years ago I had a friend tell me about encounter at the cash register after picking up a few items... She had some change due and the cashier, she picked up an old Morgan Dollar and asked, "You want one of these? It's funny, kinda big and odd, but it's a Dollar! Not wanting to appear too eager, Liz casually said, "Sure... Do you have any more?". She left that store with four old silver dollars for $4... 

 

Good god, indeed!

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:36 | 6051448 Consuelo
Consuelo's picture

This minimum wage issue won't matter a whit in 1 years time.   Finding a can of pork & beans, or Dinky-Di for dinner however, might.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:36 | 6051450 surf0766
surf0766's picture

Make it 15 so there are no more stores for peeps to loots.

 

 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:37 | 6051455 Zero guest
Zero guest's picture

Index the minimum wage to congressional pay.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:38 | 6051465 gmak
gmak's picture

Guess these clowns haven't heard of inflation. If you increase wages without a corresponding increase in production / services, all prices will go up.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:43 | 6051486 Thisson
Thisson's picture

That's not technically true.  If everything else remains the same, as wages go up, the things the recipients of wages demand go up, and the things the payors of wages demand go down.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:51 | 6051524 gmak
gmak's picture

Total income / goods and services is the ratio.  If total income goes up, but goods and services stay the same then prices GENERALLY go up.   Mit may not be technically true, but it is mathematically true. 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:23 | 6051658 Sanity Bear
Sanity Bear's picture

then the Fed and its slush fund half the size of the national economy steps in and all bets are off

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:38 | 6051466 RabbitOne
RabbitOne's picture

These liberal idiots just don’t get it. People like me on social security are not going to buy those pricier hamburgers because of minimum wage increases. We don’t get a similar pay increase on our social security to afford the new higher priced hamburgers. So someone has to get fired…

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:00 | 6051555 Quinvarius
Quinvarius's picture

They need to hurry up with the plan to turn all the minorities into homosexuals so there is less demand for jobs.  I wonder how long they were secretly feeding Bruce Jenner female homones on that Kardashian show before he finally convinced himself he was a woman?  That dude Rob was getting the same treatment, but they just made him super fat.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:02 | 6051566 corporatewhore
corporatewhore's picture

doesn't anyone in either party have any new ideas?

throw them all out of office-- good (oxymoron), bad, and braindead

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:04 | 6051581 Quinvarius
Quinvarius's picture

I think the problem has been "new ideas" for a while.  We are about 1/2 of a stroke of genius from complete financial destruction.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:13 | 6051614 CHC
CHC's picture

Democrats are totally stupid.  They haven't a clue of the ramifications of what they're proposing.  Zero!

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:14 | 6051619 Rentier88
Rentier88's picture

Go for it I won't be living here when I retire anyway, but this be even more of a reason to leave.

 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:21 | 6051651 Sanity Bear
Sanity Bear's picture

Democrats push for a raise in the minimum wage whenever American workers get desperate enough to pose a serious threat to the employment prospects of illegal aliens.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:22 | 6051652 PGR88
PGR88's picture

Want to fix income inequality?   Kill the Federal Reserve.  That will prevent Wall Street from being the corrupt first-handler of printed money and debt.  It turns S&P 500 companies from financial engineering organizations back in to true manufacturers or providers of services.  It greatly limits the role of government to expand all of its wealth-destroying progressive social-engineering schemes.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:22 | 6051657 jomama
jomama's picture

How much does the average lapdog lawmaker make per hour (red or blue puppets are indistinguishable)

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:33 | 6051698 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

I'm constantly amazed at how fucking ignorant our lawmakers are. You can always raise fiat wages and fiat prices will go up and you will end up in the same place. Any wage increase that doesn't have a corresponding increase in productivity is merely inflation, nothing more nothing less. I can give you more and charge you more and you are still fucked

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:34 | 6051704 Mike Honcho
Mike Honcho's picture

This is the intellectual content that MSM pushes.  12 by 20, you will still be in poverty.  The politicians focus on the emotional elements of what they are selling.  No how to, or figures, just lets all feel good.

 

Bet a bar tab that gym tvs will be M.D. riots and nothing more, because nothing else is happening in the world now.  I get offended when watching most programs because they present to you as if paint chips are part of your noshing.  If you dont well then....yeah.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:20 | 6051870 MrSteve
MrSteve's picture

Here is the moral quandry:

Do you mop and sweep up the paint chips or do you let Junior snack on a few so you can draw a "lead check" based on blood tests for a boost to your standard of "groveling"?

I hadn't heard of the concept of "lead check" until I read a story about the dearly departed Mr. Gray and his neighborhood living conditions.

 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:34 | 6051705 adr
adr's picture

I worked for $4.35 an hour in 1993. A Big Mac meal was $2.85, a taco at Taco Bell was $.25, a gallon of gas was $1.10

Right now people get $7.85 for the same job. A Big Mac meal is $7.75, a Taco Bell Taco is $1.35, and gas is $2.75 a gallon.

 

You got a lot more for your money on your $4.35 an hour than you do on your $7.85 now. Raising the minimum wage to $12 will have the same effect and drive even more people into poverty as an even greater percentage of your income goes to purchasing essentials. You used to be able to buy a decent used car in the '90s for $2500. Now you can barely find anything worth driving for under $10k. I see cars from 2003 with 350k miles on them for $7500. I bought a 1985 RX7 with 48k miles in 1993 for $3500.

Like I said before. Every second that goes by in this shithole is worse than the second before.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 15:37 | 6051710 Zero guest
Zero guest's picture

Where are the estimates on how much this would save the government in welfare payments?

If we save $6.2 billion from Wal Mart employees alone then I am confident we would come out ahead even with the expected rise in  unemployment.

Who would suffer? Shareholders and upper middle class employers.

In a consumer driven economy this is as close to a "no brainer" as you will ever get.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:02 | 6051791 gwar5
gwar5's picture

This is how the socialist democrats label the private sector "greedy" and blame them for the inflation that their welfare and immigration policies are causing. Worker pay does not go far enough because living expenses due to inflation have increased >>25% under Obama's debts and deficits and immigration is hurting corresponding inflation of workers real wages to keep pace.

 

Stop the wasteful government spending and watch prices come down to being affordable again!  Stop the massive waves of illegal immigration of cheap labor into the USA and watch wages go up!  Stop the global warming hoax and watch lower energy prices trickle through the entire economy!

 

 

 

 

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 16:14 | 6051846 MrSteve
MrSteve's picture

Spot On! The whole wage increase issue could be handled through adjustments to Form 1040 income tax standard deductions, among the most regressive and rapacious causes of steady losses to the middle class. Raise the personal exemption by a factor of five and triple the standard deduction. End of deductions and exemptions. Tax everything at one flat rate to balance a reduced federal budget.

Can I dream on or what? It could be this simple, but then TPTB wouldn't have their annual extortion racket to replenish campaign coffers, so I guess we also need public funding of elections, to close out the big Conressional loophole that has allowed the current looting and pillaging of the citizens.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 19:15 | 6052348 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

dont pretend to be stupid-or maybe youre NOT pretending. But look at it this way: people with extra money in their pockets tend to BUY things....which help the economy.

Henry Ford knew this-he paid his workers generous wages. He wanted them to BE ABLE buy his cars.....

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 17:50 | 6052119 Rikeska
Rikeska's picture

12 dollas ain't what is used to be.

I prefer Charmin.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 20:46 | 6052543 Herodotus
Herodotus's picture

It would be a whole lot easier to just raise tariffs on imported goods.

Fri, 05/01/2015 - 22:18 | 6052766 theFNG
theFNG's picture

Efficiency is costing jobs.  We need to do what was done in the past and mandate inefficiency into the system.  Double wages and half the work week for full time employment.  This doubles the demand for full time workers.  Crazy but it would work! 

Sat, 05/02/2015 - 08:54 | 6053295 Billy Bob101
Billy Bob101's picture

Every governmental interference in the employment relationship (or anything else, for that matter) through taxes and regulation reduces employment.  The reason is simple:  whenever you force a person to do something, they will stop doing something else to compensate.  That's just the way things are.  Robotics are on the near horizon, and this will simply make them more attractive.  

If the minimum wage was really effective, it should be raised to $100 an hour so we could all live well.   

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