$7.00 Minimum Wage????

[migrendel]

I never saw why there is this liberal deference to small business. At this stage in the game, we should be moving to nationalize economic functions, not decentralize them.

But you must consider this. The minimum wage as it was in the late sixties would be $8.17 today adjusted for inflation and small business was surviving. I suppose we have to account for higher interest rates and amenities that businesses need today that weren't needed then, but my point is that that was what was considered needful back then. Considering some of the things that families need today, it would be obscene for the minimum wage to not be higher than that. The fact of the matter is that it is pointless to talk about small business owners when their workers can't make enough money to survive.

[migrendel]

Low wages deincentivize labor. Think about it this way. If welfare recipients can get not much less than they would get making the minimum wage, and since it's non-taxable, in real terms they'd have a higher standard of living, why would they work? But if they would be earning more by working, there would be more of a reason to get up in the morning. In the long run, an increased minimum wage could reduce welfare spending.