Which is better minimum wage or minimum income?

by hoser 53 Replies latest jw friends

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  slimboyfat

  Minimum wage was bitterly opposed by the Tories in the 1990s. They only changed their mind after it was introduced, and because it was so popular.

  It will probably happen the same with basic minimum income.
  

  See book by Guy Standing: basic minimum income saves money, promotes creativity, entrepreneurship, wellbeing, and economic growth.

  Bankers getting bonuses from public money after the banks failed is stealing. Ordinary people being guaranteed food and shelter is a civilised society.

  The interesting thing is that right wing think tanks and politicians are beginning to support basic income: to avoid a more radical revolution. I think it’s pretty inevitable to happen. The argument seems to moving on to how to do it rather than whether to do it.
• 

  JeffT

  It's interesting to watch people support higher wages on one thread, and argue for importing cheap labor on another thread. You apparently don't notice (or don't want to notice) that people who employ illegal labor don't pay much attention to labor laws.
• 

  MeanMrMustard

  People with mental or physical disabilities... [snip]

  People with mental disabilities are exempt from minimum wage laws. You can hire a mentally retarded individual for $1 per hour if you want.

  They are exempt because if you require an employer to pay $15/hr for the labor of someone who is mentally retarded, that employer will simply not hire those people. Those exemptions are put into the law for this very reason! It is much better to have these unfortunate people hired by someone, staying active in something, instead of just sitting at home.

  The same applies to interns. You can hire an intern for $0/hr. Is that exploitation? Many interns would disagree.

  If the value of your labor is less than the minimum wage, then you are unemployed.
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  MeanMrMustard

  Let’s pass a better minimum wage law: $1,000,000/hr for everyone! I mean, why stop at $15/hr? Why are we being so stingy? One million per hour for everyone. Poverty would be a thing of the past. Surely nothing bad can come of that!
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  MeanMrMustard

  Question for the minimum income advocates: What do you think will happen to prices once a base income is established? To help: what would happen if the minimum income was set to $1,000,000 per year? Do you think a loaf a bread will stay anywhere near the same price?
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  slimboyfat

  Personally I would set a basic income about £2000 a month or $3000, or whatever is purchasing power equivalent in the US. Which is below average but certainly enough to live. The idea is that people supplement it through work to bring up their standard of living to a more comfortable level. But no one is starving or homeless.
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  _Morpheus

  You mean supplement it by taking money from me because i worked harder...? So that in the end i will realize more work = more taken away and quickly realize its better to do less and keep more?
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  Simon

  Good god, can you imagine the state of the economy if you started paying people $3k a month to do nothing!

  The tax rate to support that would be enormous so even less worthwhile working to get a few pennies more.

  Leftist utopia - no one needs to work!

  Then they wonder why 60m people will starve to death.

  Welcome to communism, population: dead.
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  hoser

  If there was a min income it can’t be set so high that people would just sit on their ass and do nothing. AISH in alberta is 1500$ per month
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  dubstepped

  It bothers me to hear people equate minimum wage to slavery. Don't like minimum wage? You have the ability to walk out and apply elsewhere. You can start a business today more easily than at any other time. There are many options but many people don't want to work. My friend has a handyman business and pays ridiculously well but the people he hires don't work, steal, etc. I know owners of cleaning businesses that can't even get people to show up for an interview. Heck, I turn down work all the time because I don't want to babysit grown ass people that I'm also paying.

  I am for a minimum wage like what we have now. It isn't enough to live on and shouldn't be.

  I hate the idea of a minimum income. We have programs to catch people now if they fall. Everyone wants to be the savior of the poor. I grew up poor. Poor people often have poor ways of living that keep them there. It's not pc but it's true. Give them money and watch them squander it. Heck, I watched my parents do just that with their inheritance from my grandparents.

  People get more lazy and entitled the more we give them, imo. There are countries in Africa that have asked the US charities to stop because their people are getting lazy. A person I knew of started a business there paying more and the people just worked less. Many people don't believe they're worth anything more than what their lot in life is and you can't give them that belief. Comfort is one hell of a drug and it keeps people stuck. I'm against minimums that make people too comfy. That's just my feelings on the matter.