Robert Reich: 7 Reasons Why the Minimum Wage Should Be Raised to $15 an Hour!

Seattle is an awesome city.

Aren't you the poster who refuses.to use paragraphs, misapplies context to what others write, and punishes us with long winded posts full of meaningless invective and self promotion?

A sentence is only a paragraph in newspaper writing and children's books. Most newspapers are written at the seventh grade level and the sentence length is generally 7-11 words in length. The New York Times is written at the 11 grade level and its sentences can be up to 15-20 words in length and the paragraphs in the Times sometimes contain 2 sentences. Perhaps you should read other things you would understand something about differences in writing style. The length of a paragraph does not make it any less of a paragraph. If you read something that required some thought and was written by someone with a higher understanding of complex issues than people who confuse sentences and paragraphs as you seem to do you would know that. Claiming that a paragraph such as this one that has more than one sentence isn't a paragraph makes you just look silly. But so does this stupid sports affiliation. I bet it appeals to cawacko though! And anyone who has been paying attention knows he hasn't been in top form lately. Probably too much alcohol taken to self medicate against the self-inflicted pain that comes with accepting that big government handout--an unemployment check!
 
No you ignorant twit, labor is not a commodity; claiming it is makes you an ignorant twit.

Read and become informed instead of an ignorant twit stuck on stupid:

com•mod•i•ty [kuh-mod-i-tee]
noun, plural com•mod•i•ties.

1. an article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service.

2. something of use, advantage, or value.

3. Stock Exchange. any unprocessed or partially processed good, as grain, fruits, and vegetables, or precious metals.

4. Obsolete . a quantity of goods.


Clearly you're too fucking stupid for prime time.

If you had the capacity for thought you might conclude that labor is in fact #2 here: "something of use, advantage, or value." Since employers have been paying for labor for hundreds of years one must conclude that labor is something of value or that employers of labor world-wide have all been duped for those many years. The main fantasy here is that you believe you can post something that refutes what you claim, that is, something that says the opposite of what you claim it says and your interpretation will be accepted without question. You righties do that a lot. You should stop such outright falsehoods. They only make you look like utter liars or worse, ignorant fools.
 
The money is already in circulation retard.

Mitt Romney's millions in Caribbean tax havens is not in circulation in the same way that the money in my pocket that will be spent in the next couple of days on goods and services in my community is in circulation, Romney's money is circulating who knows where and mine is paying someone's wages in my community, but I don't think you do such distinctions very well.


LMAO...The higher the minimum wage goes, the more those jobs get replaced by tech. Add in the fact that if you raise labor costs, you are going to tend to have higher costs of goods sold.

the only fool here is you. We have had a minimum wage since the 30's. It has been similar since that point in time (adjusted for inflation). There is no reason to increase it.
The ignorance is with those that thinking wage inflation is a positive for the economy.

Unfortunately, you have nothing to support these claims except unsubstantiated opinion and right wing talking points or propaganda. In fact, even that communist rag The Wall Street Journal disputes your claims here:

What Happened to Fast-Food Workers When San Jose Raised the Minimum Wage?

By: Eric Morath
The Wall Street Journal
Thursday, April 10, 2014


A 25% minimum-wage increase in San Jose, Calif., didn’t cause the region’s fast-food franchises to stop hiring. But it might have caused some heartburn.

A 2012 ballot initiative, started by San Jose State University students, resulted in a $2 increase to the city’s minimum wage. Opponents of the increase said it would lead to job losses. Initial data suggests that isn’t the case.

The pace of hiring at fast-food joints and other quick-service restaurants in the metro San Jose area slowed in December 2012 and January 2013. That was after San Jose voters approved the measure in November 2012 but before the increase took effect in March 2013.

Fast-food hiring in the region accelerated once the higher wage was in place. By early this year, the pace of employment gains in the San Jose area beat the improvement in the entire state of California. Nearly half of all minimum-wage workers are employed in food service.

The city of San Jose accounts for about half the population in the metro area, which also includes Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. The minimum wage in those neighboring cities is $8 an hour, matching the state level. (San Jose’s minimum wage rose in January to $10.15 an hour from $10 due to an automatic inflation adjustment.)

The results are far from conclusive. Still, they seems to fit with studies that found minimum-wage increases at a local level haven’t led to significant job losses at fast-food restaurants.

Those local findings stand in contrast to a recent study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In a February report, the CBO estimated raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour from $7.25 would reduce U.S. employment by 500,000 while pulling 900,000 people out of poverty (my emphasis).


Sorry mediocre man not even your bastion of capitalist propaganda agrees with your doomsday assessment of the perils of raising the minimum wage! In fact, it would appear that even The Wall Street Journal refutes your dreary economic pronouncements. But nothing can go too wrong in a capitalist world because we always have the "invisible hand" to correct all ills and make things right! Right mediocre man/accountant? You do believe in the "invisible hand" don't you, mediocre man? After all it's magical powers are part and parcel of your religion of capitalism.
 
You sure ran from my question...

Also, if a ship is sinking there isn't anywhere to run to.

If you ever watch a ship sink at a dock (I know, not a common sight in general) the mooring lines will be covered with rats fleeing from a watery grave.
Believe it or not, it is a very common cliche in any sea coast area. Clearly a far less common occurance since the invention of automatic bilge pumps and the substitution of steel rather than wood for hull material.

As to your question, I am not omniscient. Were I to be, I would be depositing funds from my latest winning lottery ticket instead of entertaining myself here. However, the general guidline in American style capitalism is to pay as little as possible, yet enough that the worker feels compelled to return to work every week. Clearly $15/hr isn't enough considering the particular requirements and almost total lack of benefits. These days benefits are taken into account by most employees, so if there were at least a decent benefit or two, perhaps $15. would suffice.

(I used to pay high school seniors $15/hr to apprentice in my machine shop in the early '90s as long as their welding instructor vouched for their skill. I was seldom disappointed especially since myself and two other shop owners designed the curriculum for the welding shop at the local Technical High School.
 
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30K for all that? LMAO.No wonder the position is open.
Lawn mower drivers are worth more than that.

30 K for a degreed, licenced, experienced
So you're saying a 21 year old community college grad with an associate's degree in engineering technology is looking at a STARTING salary of $15 an hour, with benefits, and saying, "screw that, I'm going on the dole and staying in my parent's basement". Is that what our future workforce has been reduced to? And what about the guy with 5 or even 10 years experience in this kind of work? Let's say he's been looking for a job for 6 months(and from what I've heard, that's old school. most people are going on 2 years or more!). Is he going to look at this opportunity and figure he's got a much sweeter deal going with unemployment at say, $350 a week and obamacare? We are screwed.
 
So you're saying a 21 year old community college grad with an associate's degree in engineering technology is looking at a STARTING salary of $15 an hour, with benefits, and saying, "screw that, I'm going on the dole and staying in my parent's basement". Is that what our future workforce has been reduced to? And what about the guy with 5 or even 10 years experience in this kind of work? Let's say he's been looking for a job for 6 months(and from what I've heard, that's old school. most people are going on 2 years or more!). Is he going to look at this opportunity and figure he's got a much sweeter deal going with unemployment at say, $350 a week and obamacare? We are screwed.

No, that is what you are saying.
What I am saying can be ascertained by the words I used. Since you didn't seem to comprehend them (and there are many others like you) I will attempt to clarify my position using other words.

"We have a spot open for a metallurgical lab tech where I work. Starting pay is $15/hr. Benefits are the ability to purchase health insurance (at the same rate as if you weren't employed) and an optional 401k. Requirements are at least an associates (or 5 years experience), no criminal record, metallurgical knowledge, the ability to read a blueprint, operating machinery (CNC, band saw, Etc), and a forklift license."

I am saying the anyone who can meet all these requirements is worth more than $15/hr. The proof that I am correct is the fact that the opening is unfilled.

Associates degree in Metallurgy (no mean feat in itself, in fact I have no idea why anyone would bother with an associates degree in such an advanced science but whatever)
Blue print reading (an additional year of study, blueprint reading is not part of a metallurgy curriculum)
Experience operating CNC machinery ( I attended Wentworth Institute of technology to learn to operate CNC equipment, and again, completely outside the realm of metallurgy study)
Forklift license (additional course required)

So we can see that clearly no 21 year old could be qualified for this position.
Further, unemployment benefits last for six months only and one must be qualified to receive them (having been layed off involuntarily from a job at which one had worked for at least 3 months, within the last 12 months). As to your reference to Obamacare, WTF are you on about now?

One can't choose to "go on the dole". This is just another ridiculous GOP talking point, one of many you are well known for parroting.
 
So you're saying a 21 year old community college grad with an associate's degree in engineering technology is looking at a STARTING salary of $15 an hour, with benefits, and saying, "screw that, I'm going on the dole and staying in my parent's basement". Is that what our future workforce has been reduced to? And what about the guy with 5 or even 10 years experience in this kind of work? Let's say he's been looking for a job for 6 months(and from what I've heard, that's old school. most people are going on 2 years or more!). Is he going to look at this opportunity and figure he's got a much sweeter deal going with unemployment at say, $350 a week and obamacare? We are screwed.

I guess so because they have been trying to fill this position for months according to all the times Billy has posted this crap since last July and I they still haven't filled it. But most young community college students haven't worked the required number of quarters to be eligible for unemployment compensation, which you are unkindly referring to here as the dole; something that will give cawacko a twinge when he returns. And since unemployment has been cut back to less than 40 weeks in many states and the House failed to pass another extension, I doubt that there is anyone in America who is still getting unemployment insurance after two years of being unemployed. Don't ever let the facts get in the way of a good tale! You're a Republican after all!
 
If you had the capacity for thought you might conclude that labor is in fact #2 here: "something of use, advantage, or value." Since employers have been paying for labor for hundreds of years one must conclude that labor is something of value or that employers of labor world-wide have all been duped for those many years. The main fantasy here is that you believe you can post something that refutes what you claim, that is, something that says the opposite of what you claim it says and your interpretation will be accepted without question. You righties do that a lot. You should stop such outright falsehoods. They only make you look like utter liars or worse, ignorant fools.

People/labor is not "something" of value you ignorant twit; it is an input to create a product or commodity.

You fucking leftist dunces are too fucking stupid for prime time.

You're beyond a mere moron when you make such incredibly stupid comments with such misplaced arrogance.
 
People/labor is not "something" of value you ignorant twit; it is an input to create a product or commodity.

You fucking leftist dunces are too fucking stupid for prime time.

You're beyond a mere moron when you make such incredibly stupid comments with such misplaced arrogance.

Call it whatever you want, I sell my labor on the free market and get a paycheck for it. It seems to me that it is a commodity and as a laborer in the market place I am commodified! More importantly when I am looking for a job the people at the unemployment office keep telling me that I need to improve "how I market myself in the current labor market," which seems to me to indicate that not only is my labor a commodity that I am marketing, but that I myself am a commodity that I am marketing together with my labor! In short, Marx was right and you are wrong! My labor is a commodity I sell to the highest bidder I can find in the market place; that is why it is referred to as the "labor market"!

Now blither on; continue with your ignorant drivel!
 
People/labor is not "something" of value you ignorant twit; it is an input to create a product or commodity.

You fucking leftist dunces are too fucking stupid for prime time.

You're beyond a mere moron when you make such incredibly stupid comments with such misplaced arrogance.

You might like to be informed that you're arguing with someone who is saying labor is a commodity, who has never had a job and dumpster dives for his essentials.
 
No, that is what you are saying.
What I am saying can be ascertained by the words I used. Since you didn't seem to comprehend them (and there are many others like you) I will attempt to clarify my position using other words.

"We have a spot open for a metallurgical lab tech where I work. Starting pay is $15/hr. Benefits are the ability to purchase health insurance (at the same rate as if you weren't employed) and an optional 401k. Requirements are at least an associates (or 5 years experience), no criminal record, metallurgical knowledge, the ability to read a blueprint, operating machinery (CNC, band saw, Etc), and a forklift license."

I am saying the anyone who can meet all these requirements is worth more than $15/hr. The proof that I am correct is the fact that the opening is unfilled.

Associates degree in Metallurgy (no mean feat in itself, in fact I have no idea why anyone would bother with an associates degree in such an advanced science but whatever)
Blue print reading (an additional year of study, blueprint reading is not part of a metallurgy curriculum)
Experience operating CNC machinery ( I attended Wentworth Institute of technology to learn to operate CNC equipment, and again, completely outside the realm of metallurgy study)
Forklift license (additional course required)

So we can see that clearly no 21 year old could be qualified for this position.
Further, unemployment benefits last for six months only and one must be qualified to receive them (having been layed off involuntarily from a job at which one had worked for at least 3 months, within the last 12 months). As to your reference to Obamacare, WTF are you on about now?

One can't choose to "go on the dole". This is just another ridiculous GOP talking point, one of many you are well known for parroting.
well, I've been googling my fingers off and I can't find the school that offers a "Associates degree in metallurgy" anyway. What I can find is associates degrees in engineering technology, which usually concentrates on either mechanical, electrical, or chemical engineering. I guess you could fit metallurgy (I think this job is actually metalworking if you want to get technical) into the mechanical engineering category.
This website ,http://www.onlinedegrees.org/degrees/metallurgy/states that the MEDIAN annual income for someone with an "Associates degree in metallurgy" to be almost $69,000 a year. That's the median, which includes people just starting out in the career all the way up to the people that have been in it all their lives. I would also ASSUME that anyone making $70,000 a year in metallurgy would have by that time, acquired a more advanced degree.

As far as blueprint reading, it is part of the engineering technology curriculum at our local community college. We also spent a lot of time on blueprint reading when I was becoming a certified welder. Now, the job description says "the ability to read a blueprint, operating machinery (CNC, band saw etc.) and a forklift license". It does NOT say that you must have a certificate or be licensed in those areas (and as you probably well know, there is a huge difference between operating a CNC machine and operating a band saw). That job description would most definitely not scare me off if I didn't know how to operate a CNC machine, and I can get a forklift license in one day for $37.

The unemployment situation that I described does not pertain to the 21-year-old, and I provide this link explaining how unemployment works in my state:
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/collecting-unemployment-benefits-florida-32505.html

And just now as I've been writing this, I'm remembering an incident that occurred a few months ago at the vocational-technical school where I work. One of the welding students who graduated last year stopped in to say hello and touch base with us. I asked him where he was working, and he said nowhere because he had just quit. This kid (19 years old) is a good AWS 6G certified welder. The state of Florida paid his tuition for his welding school (the state does this to build the taxpayer base, it has mixed results). He had graduated from the school and took a job starting at $17 an hour. Now he had quit his job to take basically the same job in North Dakota, where he would be making about three times that. It's just speculation, but this could be the reason why a $15 an hour job is going unfilled when somebody can make twice or three times as much just by moving to a place where the job climate is better.
 
So I'll posit this question AGAIN, because damned if someone had an answer last time...

We have a spot open for a metallurgical lab tech where I work. Starting pay is $15/hr. Benefits are the ability to purchase health insurance (at the same rate as if you weren't employed) and an optional 401k. Requirements are at least an associates (or 5 years experience), no criminal record, metallurgical knowledge, the ability to read a blueprint, operating machinery (CNC, band saw, Etc), and a forklift license.

Why should a burger flipper make as much as someone who can do all that?


One other thing here: the "ability to purchase health insurance at the same rate as if you weren't employed" is not a benefit at all! It means you get to pay for your own health insurance! Most unemployed people if they have the money can already do that! But surely you know that!
 
If you ever watch a ship sink at a dock (I know, not a common sight in general) the mooring lines will be covered with rats fleeing from a watery grave.
Believe it or not, it is a very common cliche in any sea coast area. Clearly a far less common occurance since the invention of automatic bilge pumps and the substitution of steel rather than wood for hull material.

As to your question, I am not omniscient. Were I to be, I would be depositing funds from my latest winning lottery ticket instead of entertaining myself here. However, the general guidline in American style capitalism is to pay as little as possible, yet enough that the worker feels compelled to return to work every week. Clearly $15/hr isn't enough considering the particular requirements and almost total lack of benefits. These days benefits are taken into account by most employees, so if there were at least a decent benefit or two, perhaps $15. would suffice.

(I used to pay high school seniors $15/hr to apprentice in my machine shop in the early '90s as long as their welding instructor vouched for their skill. I was seldom disappointed especially since myself and two other shop owners designed the curriculum for the welding shop at the local Technical High School.
Benefits come after 180 day's Rune. I've NEVER heard of a company offer benefits to starters.
 
well, I've been googling my fingers off and I can't find the school that offers a "Associates degree in metallurgy" anyway. What I can find is associates degrees in engineering technology, which usually concentrates on either mechanical, electrical, or chemical engineering. I guess you could fit metallurgy (I think this job is actually metalworking if you want to get technical) into the mechanical engineering category.
This website ,http://www.onlinedegrees.org/degrees/metallurgy/states that the MEDIAN annual income for someone with an "Associates degree in metallurgy" to be almost $69,000 a year. That's the median, which includes people just starting out in the career all the way up to the people that have been in it all their lives. I would also ASSUME that anyone making $70,000 a year in metallurgy would have by that time, acquired a more advanced degree.

As far as blueprint reading, it is part of the engineering technology curriculum at our local community college. We also spent a lot of time on blueprint reading when I was becoming a certified welder. Now, the job description says "the ability to read a blueprint, operating machinery (CNC, band saw etc.) and a forklift license". It does NOT say that you must have a certificate or be licensed in those areas (and as you probably well know, there is a huge difference between operating a CNC machine and operating a band saw). That job description would most definitely not scare me off if I didn't know how to operate a CNC machine, and I can get a forklift license in one day for $37.

The unemployment situation that I described does not pertain to the 21-year-old, and I provide this link explaining how unemployment works in my state:
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/collecting-unemployment-benefits-florida-32505.html

And just now as I've been writing this, I'm remembering an incident that occurred a few months ago at the vocational-technical school where I work. One of the welding students who graduated last year stopped in to say hello and touch base with us. I asked him where he was working, and he said nowhere because he had just quit. This kid (19 years old) is a good AWS 6G certified welder. The state of Florida paid his tuition for his welding school (the state does this to build the taxpayer base, it has mixed results). He had graduated from the school and took a job starting at $17 an hour. Now he had quit his job to take basically the same job in North Dakota, where he would be making about three times that. It's just speculation, but this could be the reason why a $15 an hour job is going unfilled when somebody can make twice or three times as much just by moving to a place where the job climate is better.

In other words, after all that, you agree with all us libruls who said the job is going unfilled because the pay is too low!
 
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