[quote]tedro wrote:
[quote]ZEB wrote:
[quote]tedro wrote:
[quote]ZEB wrote:
Sure you can make the guy who owns 5 health food stores pay their bottom tier people $15 an hour instead of $9 or $10. But you must realize that the owner of those 5 stores is going to pass that expense on to his customers. So instead of paying $3.00 for a natural yogurt you are going to pay $4.00 for the exact same product. Then when you decide you need new tires for your car the normal cost of say $200 a tire will now be $250 per tire.
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Pricing is ultimately dictated by the consumer, not the owner. If the consumer was willing to pay $4.00, the owner would already have his pricing there. Your argument only holds true for products where the margin is so tight across the entire market that all sellers must raise prices.[/quote]
Well OBVIOUSLY if the consumer has a choice he or she is going to purchase an equal product at a lower price DUH!~!
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You and Nick are both making the assumption that a raise in the minimum wage will actually result in a real increase in the wages of those buying a given product, and thus turning into nothing more than an inflation spike.
In all likelihood the minimum wage increase will have no effect on the vast majority of wages in America. For those that do see an increase, there will be an equal number seeing a decrease via reduced hours, reduced benefits, or unemployment. Fast food restaurants today are glorified vending machines. There is plenty of equipment ready to be implemented today that would replace plenty of workers, but it’s not currently economically viable. It’s easier to pay a few hamburger flippers $8/hour than it is to pay a maintenance man $30. Ditto for all of the self-checkout lanes we see today.
Raising the minimum wage is more likely to decrease the marginal purchasing power than increase it. Products like “natural yogurt” were never going to be affected in the first place. Those consumers aren’t working for minimum wage. Same for the $30/hour maintenance man. He can afford a few luxuries already.
There is enough competition today for basic necessities that price is based almost exclusively on demand. Producers will continue to produce under a higher wage environment with very little long term operational cost increases. The demand for superior goods does not come from the minimum wage population. Producers of some of those products may be forced to take lower margins, but it will not affect the price. In those cases it will amount to nothing more than a wealth transfer, but the market for superior goods does not typically depend on many minimum wage workers.[/quote]
Did you read my last post? I think I said pretty much what you said here. I believe that the intent of minimum wage laws is to force those in the least valuable jobs completely out of work.
A rise in the minimum wage can only be accomplished by inflation(making the rise pointless), reduction in employment(leaving most minimum wage workers worse off than before), or raising the prices of products associated with the labor of minimum wage workers(either reducing consumption of those products and leading to the elimination of many of those jobs-I.e., scenario two-, or accomplished by inflation-scenario one). There is just no other possibility.
I would love to hear how anything else is possible, from those who feel(this is the correct word because they are definitely not thinking) differently.
