New Jersey Governor Christie vetoes minimum wage hike to $15/hr

[OriZ 3,157]

I think most people mean the post war years when they refer to the good ole days. Usually that means the 50's when Eisenhower was President not the 40's.

Because wages in the pre-war 1940s were artificially low due the the great depression which triggered the necessity of Social Security, the 40 hour work week and minimum wage. I would'nt compare the value of your home to 1940 and today, I sure as heck would not compare the value of your labor.

It's even higher today than the 50's, and even part of the 60's, and even from the peak in the 60s is nowhere near twice as high as today. Just pointing out the obviously wrong information. It's been stagnant, yes. And it's slightly lower than it was at one point in the 60's. But for the most part it's gone nowhere, and it's higher than it was during the mid 80's, 90's, and early 2000s.

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

I forgot to mention, there is no inflation adjustment for today's minimum wage.

[Rob L 3,811]

It's even higher today than the 50's, and even part of the 60's, and even from the peak in the 60s is nowhere near twice as high as today. Just pointing out the obviously wrong information. It's been stagnant, yes. And it's slightly lower than it was at one point in the 60's. But for the most part it's gone nowhere, and it's higher than it was during the mid 80's, 90's, and early 2000s.

In the 40s, 50s and into the 60s we had real poverty. Thats why Johnson had a war on poverty. If the 60's were are high water mark and we have regressed since then, what does that say about the working poor in America? Food may be cheaper, TVs cheaper but housing, medicine getting to work and many other essential elements to life take more out of their pocket.

Edited September 2, 2016 by Rob L

[Merle 458]

Raising min wage to $15 an hour would do nothing to help working people. It would cause companies to lay people off, and raise prices to make up the difference. In VT they are in the process of raising it to $10 an hour and every time a raise kicks in even the price of coffee at DD spikes. Now, you could say "ok, it might not help, but at least it won't hurt" because the price increase will likely be equal or less than the wage hike. However, there are people that this would severely hurt and it's those who can't find a job at all. If today they can still afford a few things, the more prices rise the less they'll be able to afford. I'd have to take Christie's side on this one.

Exactly! I live in Washington state where the wages are high. However, everything else is high (literally with many of the people who live here) to match. So it's a wash.

[OriZ 3,157]

Exactly! I live in Washington state where the wages are high. However, everything else is high (literally with many of the people who live here) to match. So it's a wash.

Yeah, that's normally how it goes, like here in VT median wages are higher than average but so are prices. Cheaper states like Texas also earn less. However the margins vary("purchasing power") so some states still fare better than others. According to this map VT appears to be right in the middle and WA fares slightly worse. In general and for obvious reasons(taxes, regulations - such as wages for example, etc) it's clear to see that the more liberal states have less purchasing power while the more conservative states have more. But there are definitely a few exceptions in this map. The charm of most of those states(including WA) with the exception of CA and a few others though is that there is in general more personal freedom than the less expensive states, which is more important to me personally and is how my wife and I normally end up in these states rather than the cheaper ones.