Congressional GOP Are Scum!

[Thucydides]

Originally posted by pchang
Not so sure there isn't a correlation. Among the states with the highest minimum wages, the only one that as low unemployment is VT (CT is in the middle and the others are all at the upper end).

You forgot Hawaii, which has the smallest unemployment on the list and Delaware.

[pchang]

Hawaii is higher than the Fed, but not among the highest. If we go to the next tier on wages we also have DC. I think Florida may be a good test bed. However, I question how enforcement of the national minimum wage reconciles with all the exceptions and different state minimum wages.

[One_Mean_Rabbit]

Any increase in companies overhead makes less money available for more hiring, raises, and R&D. Which leads to more people making less, if working at all.

Who said it's a right to have a livable income?! It's also our right to be stupid, not get good grades, make poor business decisions, have kids too early with ****ty partners, and other CHOICES that lead to financial hell.

Who the hell hopes to get minimum wage? Those who do DESERVE to make that change. I earned minimum wage for a whole 3 months before I changed jobs at 15 and made more. There are niches for everyone, and we all have a CHOICE which niche to fill.

There is NO excuse to be poor for a long time period, except mental and/or physical retardation. Immigrants from ALL over *Mexico, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East* come to America and start their own businesses. They are quite successful on the whole. Why is that? Surely Middle Easterners are more discriminated against than any other race. Yet, they are owning more and more businesses.

They don't *for the most part* even know our language or have had access to our culture or educational system. Yet they prosper. Why? Because in America, they can if they work hard enough, learn from failure, and make consistently good choices.

Minimum wage stall? Who cares but those who choose to make that silly wage.

[One_Mean_Rabbit]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Why do you support child pvoerty? Why do you want children of single mothers to be homeless!?!

Because single mothers/fathers have the right to have children before they are able to care for them or themselves. It's sad that they drag the children along, as they are the true innocents.

We cannot make laws to keep people from being stupid. So, making laws that justify stupidity and enable it is just bad policy.

[Boris Godunov]

Yup, you're scum!

[Shi Huangdi]

As I understand it, most of the empirical research that has been done on this shows a relatively small impact on employment, so raising the minimum wage to $7 probably wouldn't change things that much.

" And guess what, when people make more money, they spur demand for new goods and services, which means that employers need more people, which means more people get hired."

That's not correct, for long-term economic growth you want to see more investment and less consumption. Simply put, the higher the rate of growth of capital, the greater to capital to labor ratio, which leads to a higher wage rate.

[One_Mean_Rabbit]

While I support the minimum wage stall, I do think they overshot with the bankruptcy bill. Many go bankrupt with medical bills, even with Insurance. And while Chapter 13 should be harder to get, Chapter 7 should stay the same.

[Shi Huangdi]

One_Mean_Rabbit:

Society can't be made up entirely of management and professional workers, you also need low end workers such as cleaners, restaurant employees, etc. So it doesn't really make sense to blame the people in these positions, as we are going to need them anyway.

[One_Mean_Rabbit]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Yup, you're scum!

Because I believe in personal responsibility? Ok, fine. You're an enabler who only keeps teh poor poor.

"If only I could make SEVEN dollars an hour, I could have enough money to buy those shoes I really wanted or go to Starbucks 6 times a week!" People in America are poor not because of a low minimum wage, they are poor because of over-consumption, poor choices, and lazyness.

When FOREIGNERS can come here without knowing our language, culture, or education, and can make MORE than enough to support their families, there is NO excuse for ANY person born in America to be poor. None.

[Shi Huangdi]

Of course, there are many economists who strongly oppose a minimum wage, some of there work is here:

http://www.epionline.org/index_mw.cfm

[One_Mean_Rabbit]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
One_Mean_Rabbit:

Society can't be made up entirely of management and professional workers, you also need low end workers such as cleaners, restaurant employees, etc. So it doesn't really make sense to blame the people in these positions, as we are going to need them anyway.

I never implied we do not need them. On the contrary. I believe in a balance, much like that which is attained by nature. There must be checks and balances *laws to inhibit excesses*, but also allow for freedom to move up or down.

Here, a son/daughter of a minimum wage worker can go to school, not do drugs, don't have kids too early, get loans/grants/scholarships to get higher education, make good choices, and become financially more successful than their parents, HOPEFULLY passing on those traits to their children.

We do need all jobs, no doubt. And I don't look DOWN on those who bust their ass for a low wage. I look down on those who think they are stuck there, or that their children cannot achieve more. Because here, it's simply not true.

[Odin]

OMR, you are so deluded it is sickening.

The idea that poor people are lazy is a myth. Most of the poor people I know work very hard. A good example I have is the mother of a close friend (the friend is still in high school and he has a mentally retarded older brother). She is a single mom (the dad is in jail for assault, the stepdad died of a stroke about a year ago) works 2 low-paying jobs (because she never had enough money to go to a 2-year college), and still makes barely enough to get by, let alone help pay for my friend's college education.

The American Dream is dead, it was probably never viable, or realistic, anyway.

Oh, and I agree with Boris, you are scum.

[rah]

In all fairness One_Mean_Rabbit, a lot of the Indian or Middle eastern Immigrants that come here and start their own business were middle to upper middle class in their own countries and invest their life savings to buy the quickie marts, gas stations, etc. And most of them were professionals with English as their second language.

So I don't think it's quite fair to compare their success with others.

[One_Mean_Rabbit]

Originally posted by Odin
OMR, you are so deluded it is sickening.

The idea that poor people are lazy is a myth. Most of the poor people I know work very hard. A good example I have is the mother of a close friend (the friend is still in high school and he has a mentally retarded older brother). She is a single mom (the dad is in jail for assault, the stepdad died of a stroke about a year ago) works 2 low-paying jobs (because she never had enough money to go to a 2-year college), and still makes barely enough to get by, let alone help pay for my friend's college education.

The American Dream is dead, it was probably never viable, or realistic, anyway.

Oh, and I agree with Boris, you are scum.

Did I only say lazy? I also said made bad choices, among other things. Not to bring her in, but since you brought her up, let's just see what mistakes she made.

1. Married an *******, almost promising her a life of single-motherhood. Was she forced?

2. There are MANY people without ANY college who make very good money. Hardly an excuse. Besides, if she is giving her son a better chance at success than she had, she is doing her job. American Dream.

The rest isn't worth responding to.

Take care.

[One_Mean_Rabbit]

Originally posted by rah
In all fairness One_Mean_Rabbit, a lot of the Indian or Middle eastern Immigrants that come here and start their own business were middle to upper middle class in their own countries and invest their life savings to buy the quickie marts, gas stations, etc. And most of them were professionals with English as their second language.

So I don't think it's quite fair to compare their success with others.

And alot aren't. What about Asian's? Mexican's? Central/South American's? Or black/white/brown people here born in ghettos who become successful?

Sure, it's EASIER to succeed coming from a successful family. So goes nature. But that doesn't mean poor people are stuck being poor. That's an ideology the far left promote to stay in power.