The ideal minimum wage of 2014 (user search)
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
June 08, 2024, 01:56:09 AM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  General Politics
  Economics (Moderator: Torie)
  The ideal minimum wage of 2014 (search mode)
Pages: [1]
Poll
Question: What would you consider to be the ideal minimum wage for US workers for the year 2014?
#1
$7.25 (current level)
 
#2
$8
 
#3
$9
 
#4
$10.10 (Senate proposal)
 
#5
$11
 
#6
$12
 
#7
$13
 
#8
$14
 
#9
$15
 
#10
$16
 
#11
$18
 
#12
$20
 
#13
$22
 
#14
$25 or higher
 
Show Pie Chart
Partisan results

Total Voters: 78

Calculate results by number of options selected
Author Topic: The ideal minimum wage of 2014  (Read 5069 times)
Ban my account ffs!
snowguy716
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 22,632
Austria


« on: January 29, 2014, 09:41:08 PM »

I do like the idea of a generous minimum income that provides basics for all people.  Let the earnings beyond that from work be "disposable" income.  I'd be willing to lower the minimum wage in exchange for that.  Allow businesses to pay $5/hour because maybe it's an art gallery and that's what they can afford to pay... but the workers love doing it.

That kind of a "free market" approach would be best.  Where nobody is wanting for food, shelter, etc.  but where work allows you to pursue your interests... work in exchange for money to spend in leisure.
Logged
Ban my account ffs!
snowguy716
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 22,632
Austria


« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2014, 07:11:51 PM »

$0 and a minimum income

The minimum wage is just a proxy for a semblance of fairness. No "ideal" plan should include a blatant market inefficiency.

Really, I wouldn't be surprised if this became a more mainstream position in the future. It's a market solution that would have the potential to increase aid for the lowest classes.

The potential losses here are that service and menial jobs could see incredibly high wages with a high enough basic income, because not many people would want to flip burgers if they already have money coming in. With that said, I posit that the minimum income high enough for that is not really a realistic goal right now.

If everyone would have a guaranteed minimum income then many people wouldn't feel an incentive to work right? Doesn't seem like the optimal market solution to me.

Every industrialized country has a minimum income btw. For a reason.

In Norway, the minimum wage depends on what kind of work you have. The very lowest paid occupation is that of farm workers. A 16 year old temporary farm worker is the lowest paid of all kinds of works in Norway. He or she would get an hourly salary of only $13.87. If this temporary farm worker was grown up, that is 18 or over, he or she would get at least $18.23 an hour. Now, if the farm worker was permanently employed, she would get $20.16 an hour. That's basically the absolute lowest minimum wage for a grown up permanent employee in Norway. If the farm worker was a cleaner instead, her minimum wage would have been $25.97.
I think the point is that a basic minimum income would provide you with the basics so if you didn't work, it wouldn't be a huge problem.

It might hurt low wage businesses, who would have a bigger incentive to automate... but it would create a whole other sector of low wage businesses that focus more on hobbies.
Logged
Pages: [1]  
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.021 seconds with 12 queries.