Income Inequality

RedDenver said:
The idea that minimum wage is not effective in a market driven economy isn't true. Prices may go up, but the question is really are the higher prices worth having living wages. A few examples:

The federal minimum wage has been around since 1938, and the US economy remained the strongest in the world from then until now, including the post-WW2 era of incredible middle-class growth, so it can't be that harmful to the economy.

Research shows $15 California minimum wage has big impact on pay, none on jobs.

Fast-food workers paid $20/hour in Denmark as compared to $8.60 in US (133% increase), but McDonald's Big Mac price only $5.60 vs $4.80 (only 17% increase). (Also note that Denmark has no minimum wage law but instead very strong unions that bargain for these wages, so minimum wage laws aren't the only way.)
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Your example from Denmark at 17% is on a $5 price point item.

Imagine if every item you purchased in a months time was raised 17%.

And I didn't say a minimum wage increase has a negative effect on the economy.  The US is full of consumers at every economic level.

If prices go up, you STILL won't have "livable" wages.

Productive, skilled workers can do more for themselves than a government mandate can do for them.

 
TheSker said:
Your example from Denmark at 17% is on a $5 price point item.

Imagine if every item you purchased in a months time was raised 17%.

And I didn't say a minimum wage increase has a negative effect on the economy.  The US is full of consumers at every economic level.

If prices go up, you STILL won't have "livable" wages.

Productive, skilled workers can do more for themselves than a government mandate can do for them.
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Denmark's cost of living is about 30% higher than the US, so you don't have to imagine it. However, Denmark's poverty rates are much lower, so you're claim of still not having livable wages is untrue:

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RedDenver said:
Denmark's cost of living is about 30% higher than the US, so you don't have to imagine it. However, Denmark's poverty rates are much lower, so you're claim of still not having livable wages is untrue:





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My mom is a Bernie fan.

Times are changing in Denmark.  They will run out of other people's money.  It's already on that track...... 

Due to the size differences of the economies, it's not apples to apples to the US.

I believe Denmark has among the highest income tax rates in the world, no?

 
TheSker said:
My mom is a Bernie fan.

Times are changing in Denmark.  They will run out of other people's money.  It's already on that track...... 

Due to the size differences of the economies, it's not apples to apples to the US.

I believe Denmark has among the highest income tax rates in the world, no?
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None of that addresses the original point that a minimum wage is an easy place to start on income inequality. You made some claims about how it doesn't work, and I showed some examples of it working. We can look across a whole bunch of different countries to see how their economic policies both do and don't work; Denmark was just one I had read an article about and could find again easily.

 
RedDenver said:
None of that addresses the original point that a minimum wage is an easy place to start on income inequality. You made some claims about how it doesn't work, and I showed some examples of it working. We can look across a whole bunch of different countries to see how their economic policies both do and don't work; Denmark was just one I had read an article about and could find again easily.
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I made one claim.  That it doesn't work.

You provided one example.  The Bernie Sanders utopia of Denmark.

The non producers in Denmark are starting to cause them some issues.

 
TheSker said:
I made one claim.  That it doesn't work.

You provided one example.  The Bernie Sanders utopia of Denmark.

The non producers in Denmark are starting to cause them some issues.
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That is why I favor Democratic Socialism...because under that system, productive people are rewarded financially.  In a democratic socialist economy, there are still rich people.  They (everybody) just pay a little more back into the system.  

I believe that if someone is willing to work 40-50 hours a week, that person should make enough money to live on. 

The 1% Could End Poverty

 
Ric Flair said:
Does he have a college degree? What’s his background? I’d be happy to try to help find him something better.
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No, he spent his whole life and career as a truck driver. He's not qualified for anything, not able to do anything else, and not able to just go to college as a 60-something year old man who already can't get by financially month to month.

 
If you hate your wage, get into sales.  People in sales are some of the richest in the world and the only thing controlling your wage in sales is your ability to close the sale.  Get a sales job with commission or totally bet on yourself and get a sales job that is 100% commision and work your a$$ off and make a fortune.  

 
Landlord said:
My uncle recently went through an insanely traumatic experience with an incredibly rare disease (sadly I can't remember what the hell it was called) that left him physically and mentally handicapped. He's still got a family to provide for, and being a greeter at Wal-Mart is literally the only work he's been able to find through months of very hard work looking and after near bankruptcy from medical expenses. 
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Has he tried reaching out to his state's Vocational Rehabilitation office? They help folks with disabilities/barriers to work find jobs. 

 
TheSker said:
I made one claim.  That it doesn't work.

You provided one example.  The Bernie Sanders utopia of Denmark.

The non producers in Denmark are starting to cause them some issues.
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I provided 3 examples.

As for Denmark, every country goes through economic highs and lows, so if you want to claim it's the "non-producers" that are causing this low then you'll need evidence and a way to show it's not other confounding factors. Here's a look at their GDP performance with the drop in 2017 highlighted, which shows that they have some up and down like every economy:

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However, their unempoyment rate is dropping and their projected growth over the next year is 2%, so it's not looking too bad.

 
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Again...get into sales.  You control your income.  Sell homes.  Sell cars.  Hustle.  Instead of bringing it up here and being mad about it use your time to get into sales and sell the s#!t out of the product you.  I know dudes in sales that make 5 times what their boss makes...they hustle.  Sales is the great equalizer.

No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time. All you got is life time. Go.

- Henry Rollins

 
RedDenver said:
You know that co-ops exist, right? Proving that if you eliminate the share holders (by making them one and the same with the workers), companies can and do keep functioning and making profits.

Do the workers not work their butts off? Tell me again about how profitable those companies would be with CEO's but not workers because there exist companies (again co-ops come first to mind) without CEO's.
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Most companies, esepcially larger and more complex companies, don’t work as co-ops. Even co-ops and employee-owned companies, have executives and managers that actually run things. 

I’m not arguing that workers don’t work hard. I’m pushing back against the idea that CEOs and executives don’t. And the time of the CEOs and executives is far far more valuable than that of the average worker.

 
teachercd said:
Again...get into sales.  You control your income.  Sell homes.  Sell cars.  Hustle.  Instead of bringing it up here and being mad about it use your time to get into sales and sell the s#!t out of the product you.  I know dudes in sales that make 5 times what their boss makes...they hustle.  Sales is the great equalizer.

No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time. All you got is life time. Go.

- Henry Rollins
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If you do that, will you quit complaining about firemen salaries?

 
Making Chimichangas said:
That is why I favor Democratic Socialism...because under that system, productive people are rewarded financially.  In a democratic socialist economy, there are still rich people.  They (everybody) just pay a little more back into the system.  

I believe that if someone is willing to work 40-50 hours a week, that person should make enough money to live on. 

The 1% Could End Poverty
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I think productive people pay plenty into the system now. 

 
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