2 ms·

Yes, exactly. The economic right wing has a valid point, that many small business owners cannot bear the burden of a higher minimum wage. Asking a factory owner

Yes, exactly. The economic right wing has a valid point, that many small business owners cannot bear the burden of a higher minimum wage. Asking a factory owner who is barely making payroll due to competition from China to boost his wages could be a death knell. The money for wage increases needs to come from those who are the big winners in the winner-takes-all-games that are technology and globalization.

001sky 12y ago
Also, the value of min wage needs to be mapped on some topography of need. A $15/hr in SF or NYC is paltry due to the geographic localization of other prices--higher cost of living. Meanwhile, hiring 16 year in some middle-america towns probably shouldn't be dictated by "rich people's problems" imported from New York or California. All that being said, I also like the top-posters idea about adding a subsidy to basic negotiated/market wages. Because ultimately everything is simply a negotiation. And the non-work-related subsidy is something people can use to "walk"--so it's effective leverage as a tool of last resort.
- bokonist 12y ago
  If SF or NYC wants a higher wage, the city could augment the subsidy out of its own tax coffers. I am however, very much against the idea of taxing a machinist in Alabama to subsidize wages in NYC. I am also amenable to the idea of having the subsidy only be for those over 18, or people who are supporting families. But I do think it is reasonable to provide $15 jobs in middle America. Right now, young people feel a compulsion to head to NYC/SF/DC to gain access to these job markets, which feed off the money surplus from winner-take-all-industries. I would rather that the money get spread around more, and that once again a decent middle class life would be easy to obtain in what is now known as the rust belt.
  - sstrudeau 12y ago
    Right now we tax workers in NYC to subsidize people on in Alabama. (NYC gets < $0.60 for every $1 of federal taxes collected; Alabama gets > $2).
    - benjohnson 12y ago
      It's true that rural areas get a lot of farm and energy subsidies - but those subsidies also lower prices for those of us that live in the cities.

001sky 12y ago

Also, the value of min wage needs to be mapped on some topography of need. A $15/hr in SF or NYC is paltry due to the geographic localization of other prices--higher cost of living. Meanwhile, hiring 16 year in some middle-america towns probably shouldn't be dictated by "rich people's problems" imported from New York or California. All that being said, I also like the top-posters idea about adding a subsidy to basic negotiated/market wages. Because ultimately everything is simply a negotiation. And the non-work-related subsidy is something people can use to "walk"--so it's effective leverage as a tool of last resort.

bokonist 12y ago
If SF or NYC wants a higher wage, the city could augment the subsidy out of its own tax coffers. I am however, very much against the idea of taxing a machinist in Alabama to subsidize wages in NYC. I am also amenable to the idea of having the subsidy only be for those over 18, or people who are supporting families. But I do think it is reasonable to provide $15 jobs in middle America. Right now, young people feel a compulsion to head to NYC/SF/DC to gain access to these job markets, which feed off the money surplus from winner-take-all-industries. I would rather that the money get spread around more, and that once again a decent middle class life would be easy to obtain in what is now known as the rust belt.
- sstrudeau 12y ago
  Right now we tax workers in NYC to subsidize people on in Alabama. (NYC gets < $0.60 for every $1 of federal taxes collected; Alabama gets > $2).
  - benjohnson 12y ago
    It's true that rural areas get a lot of farm and energy subsidies - but those subsidies also lower prices for those of us that live in the cities.