Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Post for Discussion (and BP)

What should the minimum wage be for the USA?
Use YHR article as a reference for your conversation.
Should there be a minimum wage?

9 comments:

scott said...

I believe that if our minimum wage continues to rise at this staggering rate than there will be less incentive for people to become educated. our nation would start to resemble that of a communist nation.

Lindsy M. said...

I think that the minimum wage should be $8.50. Although that isn't really enough money to live off of if you are supporting a family it is better than nothing. I believe that minimum wage jobs should be given to high school and college students. I feel that there should be certain jobs set aside for students who are trying to earn gas money or to pay tuition. The biggest problem in today's society is that there isn't enough money for employers to be able to hire the amount of employees that they need so there are many people that don't have jobs. This forces elderly people to work at places like McDonald's. By doing this it takes away for the amount of jobs that are left for high school and college students.

Jonathan said...

I think minimum wage should be lower than it is. However, the only people who should work minimum wage jobs are teenagers and other young people. Older people really should be getting more than minimum wage, no matter what job it is.

steve said...

I have to agree with Ms. Mercy in the article. Minimum wage was never intended to be a “living wage”. It would be great if everyone could make more money, but we know what the effect is; higher prices that lead to a need for a higher wage, that lead to higher prices, that lead to need for a higher wage, that lead to higher prices... You get the idea. Raising the minimum wage is not a solution for dealing with socioeconomic inequality, which is usually its proponent’s argument. Instead, we should focus on removing barriers for people who are in need of a living wage, (which excludes people still mooching off their parents (no offence intended.)) and instill a conspicuously lacking work ethic in society.
-Matthew

Kirsten said...

After reading the article in the Yakima Herald I most definetly agree with the statement that minimum wage was never meant to be a living wage. I think Ms. Mercy's idea of a "Training wage" for highschool students during their first month's on the job was also very good idea. In my opinion, High school students should recieve lesser pay so that they realize early on in life how important it is to continue their education and get a better paying job in the future.

Unknown said...

In my opinion I think minimum wage should stay at 8.50. People that choose not to go to school and want to keep minimum wage jobs then they deserve to be paid low wages. Going to school and getting an education should be an incentive for someone. If you can live off of minimum wage then a lot more people would choose to not go to school and just work at places like mcdonalds. I know that there are single parents that cant afford to go to school and everything but they choose to become a parent, no one made them. So that is a choice that they made and have to live with. Just because people made bad choices in life doesnt mean that the employers should have to suffer.

Anonymous said...

If we are going to go through life thinking that corporations aren't making a tremendous amount of profit off of government buy outs,loans and loopholes that's funded with OUR tax paying dollars, let's not change the minimum wage let's make ALL wages the bear minimum. Also is anybody wondering why inflation is on the rise in our country?

TeslaRR said...

i feel that some of these comments are being insensitive to those who hold these low paying jobs. yes they chose not to go to college, but how do we know that it wasn't a choice based on responsibilities such as taking care of an ailing loved one. they can't go to school if they are responsible for someone who is dying, and must become a provider. yes, these people chose to start families under poor circumstances, but does that mean that they have to suffer these consequences for their ENTIRE life? Minimum wage shouldn't be expected to be lived off of, but millions do..we need a living wage.

Jonathan said...

In response to Tesla:
You talked about poor people making mistakes and how they shouldn't be punished for those mistakes their whole life. I completely agree. People should be punished for bad choices, but their whole life shouldn't be screwed up because of one mistake. Both rich and poor people make bad choices, however, the poor often suffer more from these mistakes than the rich do. If a rich person had a child and was forced to drop out of high school, they would still be able to live off their parents; a poor person would not have that option.