Now the Tea Party dominated Republicans want to enslave children! Yet they have the audacity to say that violent insurrection is needed against those who oppose them!!! (page 6)

Terra Incognita

Terry: "Villabolo is Terra Incognita is Alice in Wonderland is Sammielee is....???"

Alice???

Terra Incognita

DaCheech Finger puppet: "terry, in my area the worst politicians hitting the corruptions scandals news: are democrats"

It would help if you expanded both your geography and your sense of smell.

Berengaria

What do you think will happen if all companies had to $12 to $15 per hour for all their labor?

Will Prices Increase?

Will Companies employ fewer people?

Or Fill in the blank: _________

cheers

Well first of all, I don't think this scenario is reasonable until we do something about our trade issues. Not only have we put in place policies that allow companies to look for cheap labor off shore, in some cases we have policies that encourage it.

If we look at historical minimum wage increases, we would see a short period of slightly lower unemployment followed by increased employment and productivity. Remember if a guy that works in a shoe store starts making more money, it's likely he can buy more shoes.

But I think higher taxes on the upper levels of business is a factor as well. If you are a business owner, and you can either pay higher taxes or higher operating expenses, what would you do?

There is no simple bumper sticker slogan to this stuff, as much as the right has bamboozled thier rank and file in to thinking so.

Terra Incognita

Darthfader:

Sammie, Berengaria, Terra Incognito,

What do you think will happen if all companies had to $12 to $15 per hour for all their labor?

Will Prices Increase?

Will Companies employ fewer people?

Or Fill in the blank: _________

Let's do some math! Workers salaries and benefits amount to roughly 10-15% of the gross that a company makes. If the company were to increase its salaries by 50% (GASP!), that would be an increase of 15 to 22.5 cents on the dollar. An item that previously cost $1.00 would now cost $1.15-1.23. The only reason a company would have to cut its workforce would be to capitalize on the potential for increased profits (translation, greed); not because it really has to in order to compete with others. The others would also have an identical hike in prices.

That increase in wages would boost the purchasing power Mammon sacrificial offerings that each worker worshipper is capable of. I, who live in poverty, would gladly pay that small amount of extra money. In fact, I would no longer live in poverty but in the lowest rung of the lower middle class (Ever heard of the middle class? Catch one before they go extinct.).

Just to let you know, to me these are reformist ideas. Better than the caca we now have but beneath the dignity of true visionaries. I'm not going there though.

darthfader

Berengaria, agreed, there are problems with our trade policies which would need to be addressed first.

I try not to be foolish enough to beleive that these problems are only two or three bullet points away from resolution. There are many complex consequences to new policy change that I think no human or group of humans can properly understand. I know that in my business, there is little room for payroll increases without increasing the cost of my goods for sale. It's just that simple. Im sure that there are other companies who run with a much higher profit margin who can absorb the labor increases, but inevitablely I beleive that increased labor costs will increase the cost of goods sold. And shoe salesman will have to pay more for his shoes - returning him to a similar economic situation.

I have many times been underemployed, each time when the situation became unbareable, I looked for a solution, sometimes specialized education, sometimes a different career path. Each time, has been a growth experience for me and an oportunity to move on to bigger and better things. Anyone can evevate their earnings by looking for oportinities and acting on them - the supermarket can stacker could decide that it wasnt for him, he needed more money than the company's "employment path" could provide, so he makes a "calcuated decision" to create a new product in his garage and sell them on the internet. To sit in the same job for decades without taking the initiative to "better oneself" is nearly criminal in my book. And that step may not always be with the employer. It may be any side job or niche market capitalized on by even the simplest of idea.

cheers

TheClarinetist

What takes up the other 85-90%? You have to pay workers the whole way up the food chain, from truck drivers to manufacturers. While at second glance I understand your comment and it makes sense, what about the other costs? For instance, increasing the minimum wage across all jobs by 50% would also increase (for a given store) the cost of cleaning supplies, delivery costs, etc... Can you link to your source? I'd imagine that while the change in labor costs would be 15 to 23 cents on the dollar, there would also be other rising costs which would push it closer to (though probably not hitting) the same 50% increase...

Farkel

terra,

You really have made no argument. You have just waved your hands and blustered.

What is your argument? Where are your facts so I can genuinely debate you?

If your argument is enslaving children I will thrash it! Make it specific.

I'm your huckleberry.

Farkel

darthfader

Terra Incognita,

I dont agree with your 15% of the retail price being that of labor. In reality the payrol percent is %40 to %50. With other operating costs in place, a lot of companies average less than %15 profit. That's visible in their income statements and the dividend statements.

So, your factors and explaination doesnt work.

cheers

Terra Incognita

Made a big boo boo with the math. Based on those percentages a 50% increase would have amounted to 5-7.5 cents extra.

However, assuming it's 40-50%, increasing that by 50% would come out to 20-25 cents extra per dollar.

darthfader

25 cents on the dollar for every value added layer of the goods from raw materials to final consumption. So we are not just talking about one 25% increase in the cost.

Lets use a Big Mac for example. It's components are: Beef, Buns, Lettuce, Cheese, Pickles, Onions ans finally the magic "Secret Sauce"...

Each one of those items originates from some place other than McD's. The beef must be grown, transported and butchered. The buns are composed of multiple components, flower, sugar, yeast, transportation, etc. The flower component of the buns is from wheat and it must be grown, harvested, transported and milled.

There are a lot of places in that chain where labor is less than $15 per hour..

The point Im trying to make is that a simple 1% (for example) increase in labor at EVERY level can increase the final price of a good by a lot more than 1%.

Now the Tea Party dominated Republicans want to enslave children! Yet they have the audacity to say that violent insurrection is needed against those who oppose them!!!

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