Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2014 (Tabled)

[bore]

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Sponsored by: TNF

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I don't think we can or should be setting the minimum wage a decade out, when we don't know the inflation pressures, cost of living or economic mix.

[Cranberry]

I echo Senator Polnut's comments. We cannot know what will happen tomorrow, so we have not the smallest of clues on what the world wil look like in 2025. I guess smaller steps of no more than two/three years ahead are far more sensible when dealing with such a sensitive issue as our economy.

[TNF]

Funny how restraint is always raised by our moderate friends when it comes to helping workers, but never when the issue is handouts for corporations or the military.

This bill will ensure that the minimum wage remains a living wage. As to the concerns of inflation voiced by Polnut and Cranberry, the Atlasian minimum wage already adjusts with inflation. This will allow it to increase beyond the inflation rate, assuming that the wage adjustment only allows wages to remain equal to what they were before. In effect, this is a wage increase.

[Cranberry]

Funny how restraint is always raised by our moderate friends when it comes to helping workers, but never when the issue is handouts for corporations or the military.

You show me when I ever supported any handouts for corporations

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Funny how restraint is always raised by our moderate friends when it comes to helping workers, but never when the issue is handouts for corporations or the military.

This bill will ensure that the minimum wage remains a living wage. As to the concerns of inflation voiced by Polnut and Cranberry, the Atlasian minimum wage already adjusts with inflation. This will allow it to increase beyond the inflation rate, assuming that the wage adjustment only allows wages to remain equal to what they were before. In effect, this is a wage increase.

Are you serious about this Bill, or are you just here to pick an argument?

[TNF]

I am serious about every bit of legislation that I introduce. At the very least, the workers of this country deserve raises that go beyond inflation. Their labor is, after all, the source of profit in the first place.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

So what happens when the cost of a loaf of bread is ten dollars because we keep spiraling things up and up and up?

[Maxwell]

So what happens when the cost of a loaf of bread is ten dollars because we keep spiraling things up and up and up?

Then we keep printing more and more, because

step 1. hike minimum wage again
step 2.
step 3. profit!

[Lumine]

TNF's usual political arguments aside, I am most certainly not signing the current version should it pass the Senate.

[TNF]

So what happens when the cost of a loaf of bread is ten dollars because we keep spiraling things up and up and up?

Then we seize bread production, turn it over to the workers, and do the same with the rest of industry.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

So what happens when the cost of a loaf of bread is ten dollars because we keep spiraling things up and up and up?

Then we seize bread production, turn it over to the workers, and do the same with the rest of industry.

And then the workers would establish some kind of organizational framework and hierarchy because, contrary to popular belief, that's necessary for the functioning of an industry, and then some in the hierarchy would demand more for expending more effort, then the system would warp and become even less equitable, and then we'd be back at the same "problem" we had in the first place, having done nothing to combat inflation.

All this when, in the first place, a little restraint with minimum wage hikes could've kept things in check much sooner.

[Bacon King]

I don't like the idea of increasing the minimum wage when our minimum is already a living wage tied to inflation.

If we're looking for a compromise here, how about something that offers incentives for employers to give raises to employees that are at or near the minimum? A tax credit or something?

[Maxwell]

Not to mention we also have Nixcome...

[TNF]

I'd rather not shower employers with tax credits, frankly. Either we raise the wage or we don't. Tax schemes like the EITC promote low-wage employment.

[Senator Cris]

I don't support the bill, for the reasons pointed out by my colleagues.

[TNF]

I have no problem with internal hierarchies, provided that those are chosen by democratic vote, rather than capitalist fiat, Hagrid. I'm not an anarchist.

[Cranberry]

Why do such bills always have to end up in Senator TNF providing his views on how he thinks our economy should be managed?

[TNF]

A good revolutionary never misses an opportunity for agitation, Cranberry.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Why do such bills always have to end up in Senator TNF providing his views on how he thinks our economy should be managed?

I'm happy to entertain a decent minimum wage increase that isn't inflationary at a time when our inflation-rate is higher than it should be and therefore the purchasing power of that minimum wage drops.

[TNF]

Then what suggestions do you have as to amending this bill, Senator? I'm willing to entertain them.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

As has been expressed, aggressively raising the minimum wage like this is counterproductive and will degrade the purchasing power of the present living wage.

The minimum wage does not occur in isolation and my preference would be to eventually phase it out or at least to scale it back as practical in exchange for more efficient and modern approaches that better operate within the broaded context of the economy. Of course, this is a substantial undertaking and completing such enormous tasks and getting enough people focused on it and supportive of such is rather difficult to say the least.

[Maxwell]

TNF likes to do this little wink and a nod as he consistently moves the goal posts. It's cute, no doubt, but I think it's time the Senate stop ceding ground on the issue and call it settled (considering we have already us moving the minimum wage for a significant amount of time).

[Lumine]

I agree with Maxwell, and I think it is for the best for this bill to be tabled.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

This is economically unviable.  Can we consider a monetarist plan to get the economic engine going?