Which number is bigger? The $$$ the MinWage increase will give to the poor...

[Richard Steele]

...or the total $$$ increase that six years of Dubya
have given to the already-wealthy?

That's not a rhetorical question; I'm actually ASKING,
because I'd like to know. And, if I know DU, there's
someone around here here who can tell me.

And I expect that the answer is gonna come in handy
as a FreepSlapping tool in the days to come.
..........................................................


But, even without knowing the answer, I think the question
really points out what greedy, self-serving LIARS the
Repubs are.

They SCREAM that this tiny pittance offered to America's
hardworking POOR is going to "hurt small businesses"...
while they work hard to enable huge pay increases for the
Über-wealthy corporate FUCKWADS who have deliberately
GUTTED and LOOTED entire sectors of our once-strong national
economy.

How is it that giving a 2-dollar raise to a poor person
"hurts the economy", but giving an extra billion to
every billionaire (from the SAME pot of $$$) is labeled
as 'robust growth'?
(That last question WAS rhetorical; but y'all knew that.)

[Jackpine Radical]

1. It's the way you think it is.

For one thing, Min Wage is pretty much a symbolic thing rather than something that will have a major impact on the economy--the number of people at minimum whose wages will actually be affected is relatively small. I don't have the numbers for the tax cuts, but I know the impact was absolutely huge for the top 1%. Something like a $50k windfall per year per person for that top percentile, to the total tune of many billions.

[Egalitariat]

15. Minimum wage increases usually mean big $$ for union employees too

b/c many times union contracts call for contracts to pay 200% or 250% of the minimum wage. So a $2 per hour minimum wage increase could mean a $5/hour raise for union jobs.

A $5/hour increase is real money.

[unpossibles]

2. and don't forget the "loopholes" created for the oil industry to drill without

paying us royalties. Then there's the money wasted and/or lost in Iraq.

But you know - it's the Mexican welfare queens we really need to worry about </sarcasm>

[elmerdem]

3. what good...

is it to have small businesses when the employees of these businesses can't afford to buy things from other small businesses?

These small businesses should go under if their employees are "going under" the poverty line. FAIR WAGES FOR EVERYONE, INCLUDING CEO's.

[Richard Steele]

6. Hey, elmerdem, WELCOME to DU!

And thanks for that dead-on rhetorical Q!

What good is it to create an entire national economy of McJobs
that don't pay enough to buy a Happy Meal?

[Broken_Hero]

12. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Richard Steele]

13. KICKING to see if the after-9:00 crowd has any economists who can answer this one.

EDIT: sorry I made ya look, Petersond; I meant to
put this messageless KICK at the bottom. My bad.

[Broken_Hero]

18. No worries, :) nt

[Warpy]

4. More people with money to spend means more profit

all the way up the line until it gets to the super rich. The money pump works from the bottom up in the 70% of our economy that is consumer driven, something most economists have either forgotten or simply neglected to admit.

Since that is the case, it's impossible to say, especially since a minimum wage increase at the bottom tends to increase income at all levels.

[Rex]

5. Well they LOST 2 trillion dollars so

why don't we tack that on too and see what that comes to for every American?

[MiniMe]

7. Not to mention that minimum wage workers will actually spend that money

While the rich just sock it away and crow about how rich they are.

[Richard Steele]

8. Exactly. Warpy touched upon this BASIC TRUTH above, with his "trickle-up" reference.

A single penny which changes hands several times a day
does more to help any "economy" than all the buried and
forgotten gold and jewels in the world.

[Sal Minella]

11. Sock it away in the Caymans or Bermuda or Argentina, no less.

[doc03]

9. Here is a surprising thing I have experienced since

Ohio increased the minimum wage on January 1. I am starting to have doubts if it really accomplishes anything. Every person I have talked to that is actually a beneficiary of this increase complains about it. Just a couple hours ago I was at a local carry out store and a customer made a comment about the beer prices going up and the cashier said that's the new minimum wage increase and they will really go up if the National minimum wage goes up. I said didn't you like getting a raise and she said she actually makes less money because they cut their hours. That is what they have done around here they either cut laid off employees or cut hours. Another thing I think this will give employers more incentive to go out and hire illegals that are willing to work for less money. Don't get me wrong I have been for the increase all along but it seams that the labor unions are the only ones that are happy with it.

[Richard Steele]

10. EVERYONE who got a raise 10 short days ago has COMPLAINED about it, you say?

Thanks for bumping my thread. Have a blessed, MegaDitto day now, y'hear?

[doc03]

14. Sorry but it's the truth, so now I am a ditto head.

I said don't get me wrong I supported the raise in the minimum wage. But I have heard several people that get the minimum wage saying that very thing. We have known about the minimum wage going up in Ohio since the November election and I have heard form several different people employers and workers that they would be forced to cut jobs or hours and that is what happened since January 1. The lady at the carry-out got down right hostile when I mentioned her pay raise.

[Richard Steele]

16. Oh, hey, I hope you don't think I was accusing you of lying...

That's not what I meant at all!
(I almost put the "sarcasm" smiley at the end of that response
to you, but decided against it because it just wasn't what
I was trying to say....
And, sadly, DU doesn't yet have a smiley that means:
"Oh-holy-shit-what-a-horrible-bunch-of-B*shBots-you-
are-surrounded-by-I-wish-I-had-some-useful-comment-but-I-don't
so-I-made-light-of-your-situation-instead-because-it's-better-to
laugh-than-cry")

Believe me, I've seen a few of those same people myself down here in NC.

It's the "What's Wrong With Kansas" phenomenon;
for whatever reason, a certain percentage of the people who
get shit on the worst are the most blindly loyal supporters of
the bastards who are doing the shitting.

[doc03]

17. A lot of those thoughts have been planted into the

employees head by their employers. Some of the comments I heard before the wage increase went into effect were employees repeating their employers threats. One small grocery store owner I know that is a Republican has all the toys, a new truck, boat, 4 wheeler a very nice home and enough land to board a couple riding horses, he cut his employees hours a month before the new minimum wage went into effect.