...Why this Salary Raise is a Bad Thing Introduction: Economics has been based on multiple theories throughout history, and one of the most popular has been the free market or laissez- faire theories. This theory is based on letting the economy grow on its own without government intervention. The laissez-faire theory is logical for several reasons including, supply and demand and competition. Traditionally, consumers will only pay the amount of value they perceive the product is worth. In the same vein, an employee will only work for a wage that he deems appropriate. If the employer lowers the wage, fewer workers will desire the job. These are a few of the reasons why the free market principle has many benefits. However, in a free market there can also be market failures. Market failures can arise from a multitude of situations such as pollution, or extreme low wages in areas of poverty. In a free market, a company could cause massive amounts of pollution and not have to bear the market cost of that pollution. The society as a whole, including people who do not benefit from the cheaper product, are the ones dealing with the polluted environment. Currently our government has been discussing a raise in the minimum wage. President Barack Obama is pushing for this bill and has many supporters. A rise in the minimum wage will be a major business issue for the next year and presidential election. Pros: Raising the minimum wage some enticing benefits to the American people and...
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...Fast Food Workers’ Strike Raul Valdez’s section On Thursday September 4th 2014, thousands of fast food restaurant workers walked out of their post and joined a street protest demanding a wage of $15 per hour. Fast food workers in more than 100 cities in the US joined the protest hoping to disturb the fast food chains enough to get their executives’ attention. This protest was part of the movement that was organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). A previous strike was organized on May this year and it took place not only in the US but in at least 33 countries like The UK, Philippines, India, Japan, and Belgium among others. The protests were supposed to be peaceful, but there were some instances of protesters blocking streets. The police had to intervene and at least 430 people were arrested. Kendall Fells, the organizer director of Fast Food Forward organization that helped organize the protest said “There has to be civil disobedience because workers don’t see any other way to get $15 an hour and a union” Protesters were hoping that their absence from work would make these fast food restaurants lose revenue and create chaos forcing executives in these establishments to accept the protesters’ demands. A similar strike took place when the Market Basket workers abandoned their posts when the Market Basket Board of Directors decided to replace their CEO. Although the fast food protest was highly organized and the majority of workers joined, some workers...
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...ENG 111 10 March 2014 The Reasons Why Federal Minimum Wage Is Raised U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order on February 12, 2014 to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10 an hour starting next year and encouraged employers nationwide to increase wages for their workers. The president also announced during his State of the Union address last month that he intended to take executive action to raise wages for federal contract workers (Mason). Order to understand this issue, we are going to understand what the Federal Minimum Wage is and when started it in the U.S.A. According to the United States Department of Labor (USDL), early in the administration of the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA), it started to be apparent that the use of the legal minimum wage was prone to producing undesirable efforts upon the financial systems of Puerto Rico and also the Virgin Island if put on all their covered industries. As a result, on June 26, 1940, an amendment was passed prescribing the establishment of special industry committees to find out, and problem through wage orders, the minimum, wage levels relevant in Puerto Rico and also the Virgin islands. The rates established by industry committees might be under the legal rates relevant elsewhere within the United States. In 1949, the minimum wage was elevated from 40 cents an hour or so to 75 cent an hour so for those employees and minimum wage coverage was extended to incorporate employees in mid-air...
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...poverty is to raise the minimum wage to 15 dollars national wide without even think of how it is going to affect the economy as well as the citizens of this country. Raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars national wide will lead to a disaster. According to Douglas Holtz- Eakin, raising the minimum wage will hurt the poor citizens more than people think it would help them (Holtz-Eakin, 2015). As it is obvious, the cost of living is different in every states. Therefore, raising the minimum wages to 15 dollars national wide will be such disadvantage for many states in this country. For instance, New York, the minimum wage...
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...Value of Minimum Wage The first attempt to establishing minimum wage was during the Great depression. It failed, due to the Supreme Court striking it down in 1935. Three years later, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, as a result, a minimum hourly wage of 25 cent was inaugurate. Over a century later, Americans are still debating the merits of this fundamental portion of the New Deal. The question is, is it necessary for government to ensure that, low skills worker receive a decent paycheck, or would the economy and low wage earners be better off without government intervention. The logical response is latter, primarily because, the continuity of minimum wage would only raise the unemployment and diminish the employment for low skilled workers. The first argument is, minimum wage will escalate the raise of unemployment rate. –Its basic economics. If the price of labor increase, the demand will plummet. According to James A. Dorn article, Obama Minimum wage hike: A case of zombie economics, “A fundamental law of economics-Law of demand-states that when price of anything increase, the quantity demand will decrease…in the case of labor, this means as the price of labor increase, the number of job will decrease” (Dorn). Dorn statement validates the assertion of unemployment rate escalating while, employment plummet. However, opponents such as President Obama, disregard the law of supply and demand by, proposing to increase the federal minimum wage. During...
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...Minimum wage In our country so many people live in poverty. Even if they are working hard and doing everything right. Except the government who has been spending so much money on foreign soil that we have none left to spend on ourselves. Minimum wage is not as high as it should be with all of these outrageous prices and spikes in gas and food. It should at least be bumped up to eight dollars an hour starting out or maybe more. In these times of need we need companies to start appreciating there help instead of working them to death with little to show for it. I understand that our country is in crises with the economy being so bad. I also understand that we should help other countries if we can because we may need help in the future and making allies is a big deal. And, on a cynical level, I suspect that the government may know more about this kind of stuff than we do. Nevertheless, the government’s solution to cut pay or lay off hardworking people is unfair to our country and to the everyday, hardworking people of our country. Knowing how it feels to be a hardworking American I support the raise in minimum wage. Having two children and a husband who is not working being a single working household, I know how hard it is trying to live on minimum wage. I probably have the least amount of bills a person can have but we still struggle every day. The government’s decision not to raise the minimum wage already is turning people against everything it stands for...
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...Should minimum wage increase? “The bottom line is that five million low-income Americans working full time for minimum wage, deserve a raise,” says Jim Clyburn. The argument that has continued for years is whether the American federal government should increase the minimum? The two opposing sides on this argument are the Republicans and the Democrats. The Democrats are for minimum wage to increase, unlike the Republicans, who are against it and think of it as a job killer. There are many reasons why the Democrats are for the increase of minimum wage. Currently, there are approximately 3.8 million people who are working at minimum wage or below it. Fewer than one in four minimum wage workers are teenagers and more than half are 25 or older. (Dickinson) If minimum wage were raised to $10.10 it would trim payrolls by less than one-third of one percent, which would help approximately one million Americans out of poverty. It has been proven by the Congressional Budget Office that the raise will not affect the number of jobs as much as people think, and the increase will accomplish more than just harmful situations. There should have been a consistent raise in minimum wage from 1968 to now, but there has not been. The federal government minimum wage should be close to $20 an hour. Tax money could potentially fund less food stamps, welfare, and other financial support for this to occur. A family of four trying to be successful and build their family is living on the earnings of being...
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...Why We Should Raise the Minimum Wage Imagine working full time, but you can’t still make enough money to support your family. That's what millions of Americans who work on minimum wage experience. Minimum wage should be raised because it would reduce government welfare spending and poverty rates. According to Fletcher, raising minimum wage “would reduce federal food stamp spending by $4.6 billion a year” ( Fletcher 1). This increase in minimum wage allows the government to free up an astonishing amount of funds that they can end up spending on our military, education, and so much more. Imagine what we could do if we spent the money on developing cures and furthering our space exploration. The welfare spending could end up going to education which in return leads to more students getting degrees which leads to better jobs and even less spending on food stamps. It becomes a cycle to where the more people the...
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...arguments for and against raising the minimum wage are almost unavoidable in the labor market, with each side having individually strong points. Advocates say that anyone who works 40 hours a week or more deserves to earn a decent living wage and get out of poverty, while opponents argue that high wages cost jobs. Most of the arguments for increasing the minimum wage are more emotional pleas and theories with very little evidence for achieving the desired outcome. The truth is that raising the minimum wage does not lead people to get out of poverty, but what it does is make it more difficult for younger workers to find entry-level jobs to build their skills. By raising the minimum wage, experts argue that it will make it more difficult for younger workers entering the workforce to get a job. Employers will be hiring workers with more experience and skills, since they can attract these workers with higher wages. Therefore, raising the minimum wage may be causing more harm to a younger workforce looking to find their first job to gain relevant work experience. Our country needs to focus on the inconvenient truths about the real impact around raising the minimum wage. Some of these inconvenient truths are highlighted by the research that clearly shows how raising the minimum wage may cause more harm than good, and have significant consequences to the younger and entry-level workers vs. the emotional theories that state increasing the minimum wage will get more people out of poverty...
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...Increasing the Minimum Wage Jacqueline S. Nock May 19, 2014 Abstract The issue of minimum wage increases has been controversial since the inception of the minimum- wage law in 1938. The minimum-wage law, which includes child labor laws, was put into place to protect American workers from exploitation and poverty during tough economic times (Schuldt, Robert; Woodall, Davis; Block, Walter E., (2012), par.4). Although the law accomplished what it was intended to at the time, increases in the minimum wage over the years have produced higher unemployment rates and higher poverty levels. As the minimum wage increases, employers are forced to eliminate employees who are not working up to the current minimum wage level and hire better-skilled people who are worth the wages they are paid. Increasing the minimum wage causes an increase in unemployment among certain populations for this very reason. Completely eliminating the minimum-wage law is not the solution to the problem, but if the minimum wage remains at its current level for a few more years, it might motivate minimum wage earners to do more to protect their own financial future. The History of Minimum-Wage Law President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the federal minimum-wage law into effect in 1938. It was part of a larger bill called the Fair Labor Standards Act. The minimum-wage law was created to protect workers from not being paid a fair wage for the work they perform. It guaranteed workers a fair wage, ensured safe working...
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...section. This paper includes no trademarked material, logos, or images from the Internet, which I do not have written permission to include. I further agree that my name typed on the line below is intended to have, and shall have the name validity as my handwritten signature. As of January 1, 2013 there was a minimum wage increase of 15 cents from $7.70 to $7.85 in the state of Ohio and 19 other states, this affected Ohio’s local government. Ohio’s local government will be responsible to enforce this new policy to employers. The department of labor wage and hour division is also responsible in ensuring this process is used by properly. The minimum wage increase policy was developed as a cost of living increase. Ohio will be affected by this new policy it will be more money back into the communities and give the minimum wage employees some spending power. The policy that has affected the local government is the minimum wage increase, which begins on Tuesday January 1, 2013. The local government who is Mayor Michael Coleman is responsible to ensure that employer comply with this new policy. This will raise benefits of 215,000 for lower wage workers (Hanaver, Stieglitz, 2012). The increase will be 15 cents from $7.70 to $7.85 an hour this means an increase of $340 dollars per person per year, Ohio is accompanied by 10 other states in this...
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...Minimum wage has been a problem in many states simply because people believe that their pay isn’t enough and should be raised to support themselves and others. But why should minimum wage be raised? I believe otherwise because the US raising minimum wage can cause problems for us, don’t you think? I believe minimum wage shouldn’t be raised. I believe that raising minimum wage can destroy businesses. The government raising minimum wage can destroy those small companies that already cannot afford to pay their employees more than the minimum wage. No company would want to lose their business because they are trying to pay employees more when they know they can’t afford it. If a person really thinks about it they will be able to see that if businesses did start to pay more than the minimum wage many people can lose their jobs. In the article, For the first time, majority of states have minimum wage above federal level, Charlene Conway a co-owner of the Carousel Family Fun Center will have to lay off staff members to be able to pay more money to the employee’s “ She might have to layoff several members of her 40 person staff and totally eliminate the younger workforce”...
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...When examining the topic of minimum wage, it is imperative that one has a basic understanding of the United States economy, as well as an understanding of basic monetary principles. The United States has a Capitalist economy, which means that the economy is owned by private investors rather than the government, and prices and production are determined by supply and demand. Inflation, another key term when discussing money, is, principally, the devaluing of currency. This inflation can happen several ways: first, the currency becomes less rare, making it worth less and less; second, an increase in the price of goods or services without an increase in the value. One example of the latter process would be increasing the cost of labor without increasing...
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...Lesson 4.02: Should the Government Control the Economy? (2 Part Assignment: Pick a Topic and Persuasive Essay) Part 1: Pick a Topic from the two listed below… 1. Should government raise the minimum wage? or 2. Should government set the price of gasoline? You will need to research for and against arguments based on the topic you selected. Note your sources as you will need to provide MLA citations later. Part 2: Compose your Essay. (80 Points) Write a persuasive argument as an essay or blog entry to address your topic. Use a minimum of 400 words. State your claim clearly with details from reliable sources. 3. Your essay will include no less than four paragraphs: Should government raise the minimum wage? or Should government set the price of gasoline? (1) Introductory Paragraph which contains your position, (2) Supporting Paragraph #1 in support of your claim with three examples (3) Supporting Paragraph # 2 opposing your claim with at least one example and how you challenge it (EXAMPLE: ALTHOUGH….) (4) Closing paragraph restating your claim. Write your essay below. At the end of your essay include your MLA Citations to cite your reliable resources. Visit this website for help composing your MLA Citations: http://www.citationmachine.net/mla/cite-a-book Suggestions for websites to use: Step 1: Pick a Topic Minimum Wage- For / Against: Shows both sides: http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/demonizing-minimum-wage If you are in favor...
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...Minimum Wage: The Effects of Minimum Wage on the Economy and Poverty Level in relation to Living Expenses Alison Denne Central Virginia Community College Minimum wage started with the “New Deal” program. In 1933, Roosevelt’s advisers decided to develop a National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA) to “suspend antitrust laws so that industries could enforce fair-trade codes resulting in less competition and higher wages” (Grossman, 1978). In his President’s Reemployment Agreement, Roosevelt accepted “to raise wages, create employment, and thus restore business” (Grossman, 1978). This began the arrangement of the government creating a policy for the working class. In order to offset the “overwork, underpay” regulations in the US economy,...
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