To reignite the economy, reduce the minimum wage (among other things)

[Peikko 1,575]

I truly think that the minimum wage should be age specific.

16 to 17, less than 'normal'

18 and up, normal.

I thought it was?

Of course the US can compete with the third world if its poor are prepared to live at third world levels of prosperity. Otherwise, pay a decent amount for decent goods and quite worrying that you can't buy every last piece of plastic ####### available

[Niels Bohr 72]

I thought Operational Cost determines product cost. A piece of the operational cost is labor. That is what I always thought.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Big Dog, you and your inflation adjusted fuzzy math.

I don't know about the fuzzy part - my dollar doesn't buy what it used to.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If we had more fair trade agreements, we'd still have a robust manufacturing industry right here in the USA.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

If we had more fair trade agreements, we'd still have a robust manufacturing industry right here in the USA.

Relax, the crumbling dollar is fixing that.

Production jobs have been moving out of Europe for years. But as the Daimler decision last week to move C-Class production to the US shows, the process is accelerating as the dollar becomes weaker. Companies from Airbus to ThyssenKrupp are opening factories in America to improve their bottom lines.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I used 1 dollar for 1960 and plugged it into here: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

They didn't annualize the inflation rate.

You can check it manually by putting in the data on a year to year to basis...it seems pretty accurate (they tend to round to the nearest .1%).

[Jenn! 918]

I used 1 dollar for 1960 and plugged it into here: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

They didn't annualize the inflation rate.

You can check it manually by putting in the data on a year to year to basis...it seems pretty accurate (they tend to round to the nearest .1%).

Never mind, I thought your point was that the figures couldn't be correct since 600% inflation is too high. I was just pointing out that it was total inflation over the period and not average annual inflation.

[SMR 368]

Minimum Wage 1955-2009

A day of unskilled labor is worth a day of unskilled labor. You can't legislate it. When retailers are forced to pay cashiers more, prices go up. The cashiers turn around and can't buy any more than they used to because everything costs more. Manufacturing goes over seas because the government is penalizing those companies that don't outsource.

Explain to me again how legislating minimum wage is a good thing?

Low wage jobs will go overseas? Explain how Walmart and other retail stores would be forced to go overseas to hire cheaper labor to run the cash register?

Actually, I said manufacturing jobs. Obviously Walmart cannot outsource cashiers to India. It can, however, manufacture automatic checkout machines in China and employ fewer people here.

Big government has been beating up on big business for the last 100 years, accusing big business of greed, cruelty, theft, pollution, etc. If you penalize businesses for being in America, they will eventually go elsewhere.

[Niels Bohr 72]

True. When the business leave, they can leave whenever they want. Noone will or can stop them.

There was a factory here that make bulletproof vest and want to relocate to Peurto Rico. Barney Frank made a deal with them so they will change their decision to stay here in MA. If they moved, hundreds of people will become unemployed. Whatever that agreement is, it's probably less taxation on them or whatever. The military is on contract with this factory to supply bulletproof vest as well.

This happened not that long ago.

Minimum Wage 1955-2009

A day of unskilled labor is worth a day of unskilled labor. You can't legislate it. When retailers are forced to pay cashiers more, prices go up. The cashiers turn around and can't buy any more than they used to because everything costs more. Manufacturing goes over seas because the government is penalizing those companies that don't outsource.

Explain to me again how legislating minimum wage is a good thing?

Low wage jobs will go overseas? Explain how Walmart and other retail stores would be forced to go overseas to hire cheaper labor to run the cash register?

Actually, I said manufacturing jobs. Obviously Walmart cannot outsource cashiers to India. It can, however, manufacture automatic checkout machines in China and employ fewer people here.

Big government has been beating up on big business for the last 100 years, accusing big business of greed, cruelty, theft, pollution, etc. If you penalize businesses for being in America, they will eventually go elsewhere.

Edited December 14, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If we had more fair trade agreements, we'd still have a robust manufacturing industry right here in the USA.

Relax, the crumbling dollar is fixing that.

Production jobs have been moving out of Europe for years. But as the Daimler decision last week to move C-Class production to the US shows, the process is accelerating as the dollar becomes weaker. Companies from Airbus to ThyssenKrupp are opening factories in America to improve their bottom lines.

Interesting. I suppose Labor is the last flexible component of production for large corporations who see it as something they can easily replace or dispose of. What a wonderful world this will be.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

If we had more fair trade agreements, we'd still have a robust manufacturing industry right here in the USA.

Relax, the crumbling dollar is fixing that.

Production jobs have been moving out of Europe for years. But as the Daimler decision last week to move C-Class production to the US shows, the process is accelerating as the dollar becomes weaker. Companies from Airbus to ThyssenKrupp are opening factories in America to improve their bottom lines.

Interesting. I suppose Labor is the last flexible component of production for large corporations who see it as something they can easily replace or dispose of. What a wonderful world this will be.

This is why fuel prices/weak dollar are an equalizer. There is a chance that manufacturers will adjust and place smaller facilities near their major client cities instead of placing it in a 3rd world country to avoid high transport costs and poor exchange rates.

Edited December 14, 2009 by Sousuke