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Minimum wage. Should it be $15?


mustang guy

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Yeah and I knew that was coming...

 

I'm considering buying a new washer and dryer. Should I buy appliances made in Ohio or appliances made overseas or appliances built domestically by a foreign owned company? There is basically no cost difference. 

 

Keith

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Whatever you get, buy the extended warranty.  None of them last like they used to.  We bought a Maytag washer dryer set a few years ago and have had zero problems...

 

The problem with todays appliances is that they are only as good as their circuit boards.  Which are probably all made in the same place.  I just found out today I need two dishwashers.  One is a couple of years old.  The other lasted 31 years.  This is Jeff's happy world of globalization.

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Our biggest, most desirable, and durable items are not produced by minimum wage people.  By and large the output of the low salary people in this country is stuff we can live without entirely and probably should.

So you want employees of companies that make products that you like to make good wages, and to hell with the rest?

Carhartt jackets are praised by the working class as some of the most durable stuff they can wear. I used to know people who worked at a factory, they weren't exactly making bank.

Briggs and Stratton is paying probably $12 an hour right now. I used to work there for $7 or so.

As I mentioned before, I'm in the trailer business, and there's no way that on average all the workers involved are making $15 an hour. Hard for the Chinese to build and ship 2,000 pound trailers that are 22' long so most all that is made by American workers.

To be honest I would bet that most manufacturing jobs as a whole is less than $15. In Arkansas alone apparently 52.5% of all manufacturing jobs is less than $15. I just think this stuff touches way more than people realize.

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The German issue did not release toxic gasses right into our living rooms.

And people wonder why I like baltic birch. :) We bought a certain popular Asian brand of desk and bookshelves and the MDF that was in it stunk up my theater room so bad I had to take it back and throw a huge fit.

Edited by MetropolisLakeOutfitters
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TBH, I buy all kinds of Chinese things because they are cheaper than what Germans (and even Americans) can supply them for.  I bet you do, too.  Or have you banned Chinese products from your shopping lists?

Hate to say it but all my tires come from China. Nobody wants to pay the price difference to get anything else. They work fine so whatever, but there's no way I'd get a Chinese chainsaw over a Stihl and feel good about it. Some things, just pay more for it and save some grief.

Edited by MetropolisLakeOutfitters
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Lo and behold they are still making a profit.  LOL

If you read between the lines and realize that their previous average starting salary for an associate was $8.81, then realize that raising it from that to a minimum of only $9 and letting them get more hours in made overall profits tank over 8%... yeah, lots of stuff to laugh about, let's just raise it to 15! Instantly! :)

Edited by MetropolisLakeOutfitters
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Where do you think our steel industry went, for example?

 

and why does their steel suck so much compared to ours, or the Germans, or even the English?

Well, if you want a technical answer, supposedly they don't go through the same purification processes that we do, there's lots of soft metal mixed in because they melt down car doors and whatnot and mold it into screwdrivers and speaker baskets without trying to weed the junk out.

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Lo and behold they are still making a profit.  LOL

If you read between the lines and realize that their previous average starting salary for an associate was $8.81, then realize that raising it from that to a minimum of only $9 and letting them get more hours in made overall profits tank over 8%... yeah, lots of stuff to laugh about, let's just raise it to 15! Instantly! :)

 

Tank?  The point is they are still making a profit.  That's after paying everyone and everything including the executives.  No one is losing here.  My point has always been like Mallette's.  We as a nation pay for the lack of wages one way or another.  Would you rather have it go inefficiently through the government or straight into citizens pockets as a reward for working?  I am not stuck on a number such as 15 and am not stuck on overnight.  Don't confuse me for someone who is.

Edited by oldtimer
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Where do you think our steel industry went, for example?

 

and why does their steel suck so much compared to ours, or the Germans, or even the English?

 

Well, if you want a technical answer, supposedly they don't go through the same purification processes that we do, there's lots of soft metal mixed in because they melt down car doors and whatnot and mold it into screwdrivers and speaker baskets without trying to weed the junk out.

 

Duh.  That was what my rhetorical question was all about, and the follow up about the building collapsing on Jeff.

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If a raise in minimum wage results in higher prices there should be plenty of data on it.

How much did you pay for a Snickers bar in 1978?

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

To answer your question they started out at a dime, then to a quarter, then 35 cents and the 50 cents and the a buck. In 1978 i nelieve they were either 35 or 50 cents.

Impossiple to say how much of the rise on prces were due to labor costs such as sugar orthe main ingredients to makw chocolate.

I met Mr Mars a few times when he wwas lieavìilg in the Las Behas area. Intrstering man, interesting home.

I believe his workers did much better than minimum wage. Hos main business mobel was to use quality ingredients but very low coast packaging.

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There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw

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I am not sure what you mean

 

Google Maguffin or MacGuffin.  It is spelled at least three different ways, perhaps because its popularizer, Alfred Hitchcock, did not specify the spelling.  There are no lions in the Scottish Highlands.

Edited by garyrc
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The problem isn't the one person serving the one cup of coffee to the one customer who will stop drinking coffee if the price increases $.01.  And to keep claiming raising the minimum wage to $15 across the board won't have a negative affect is myopic.

 

Ex: A company has hundreds of workers doing entry level, labor type work for $8/hr. They pay the team leaders $10/hr and shift managers $15/hr.  What happens when the $8/hr jumps to $15? Again, the highest cost to most businesses is labor.

 

People who complain about profits - what drives the stock market, and where is our 401K and other retirement investments?

 

Data, such as the Phillips Curve, which states "consistent inverse relationship: when unemployment was high, wages increased slowly; when unemployment was low, wages rose rapidly." is dated information before Globalization trades.  

 

A lot of data states post hoc ergo propter hoc and a lot of variables are ignored. 

 

Alright sorry for the offense.  It looked to me like you were speaking personally so that's my fault.  I would suggest a refresher in economics though.  Specifically in the mechanics and conditions of the wage-price spiral, and it's never a bad idea to revisit Friedman's theory of inflation.  And to set the record perfectly straight, I also applied the quote to myself.  Yes I did and yes I did.

 

When was his 'theory' written and what was the mindset of the consumer? Since then we've been indoctrinated differently (ex: to buy on price alone). It's great that he wrote that the Federal Reserve caused The Great Depression. We need more people pulling the covers off of that bed, we need to see who is in that bed and who is getting screwed. The book The Creature from Jekyll, have you read it? Also, you mention that You buy this or that because the other stuff is junk. I don't disagree, but can you imagine how many people buy off of the Snap-On truck vs how many shop at Harborfreight?

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Another byproduct of this is hurt feelings. Walmart is already seeing this. Example, a company pays minimum wage starting out. An employee stays loyal, stays there several years, and works their way up to $10, being proud of that accomplishment. Then walmart raises everybody to $10, even the new guys. This loyal employee is going to be like what the hell guys? They make the exact same as the new guys now. They want more at that point.

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,[note 1] promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

 

I believe we came together to establish our governing system for the betterment of the entire populous.  It appears that we've gotten away from this.

 

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