The $15 an hour minimum wage

Obviously, there's a limit to how much the minimum wage can be raised at any point. But, having written about it, I'm familiar with the history of the MW. It was started by FDR in the midst of the Great Depression, when employment was issue #1. Opponents raised vociferous objections that it would kill jobs. It didn't. Neither did economic disaster strike after the MW was raised a number of times over the decades. All the doomsday prophecies put out by opponents every time raising the MW is proposed simply have not come true. History says a reasonable advance in the MW is good for the economy and for workers.

People will lose more jobs to automation, because machines will turn out to be cheaper to run. And as you say, what about people who have worked long and hard to get their salaries up to $15 an hour or more? Suddenly , all those years of hard work and raises are meaningless.

Once the jobs are gone, they are gone forever. When you think about the workers in Asia who want to toll for 16 hours just to make $2 per hour, you can see that the businesses want to close down the factories in US and Europe, and move to Asia. In the context of developing countries, where qualified doctors who have qualified from US universities make just USD1000, you can imagine how low the wage of the unskilled workers is.

When the minimum wage goes up so doesthe price of everything else that you buy.

It's a vicious cycle.They need the money to live, if they get it the price of things will go up

In my son's job, the wage was raised, but now they give thier workers fewer hours. They have to stick with a payroll budget regardless of what they are paying. Oh we'll now he has more time to look for another job.

Once minimum wage is raised, it's unlikely to be brought back down again, so we're all just going to have to deal with the repercussions of it. I'm guessing eventually all wages will be raised across the board as will cost of living. NY recently passed the raise in minimum wage, although it will take a few years for it to go into effect. I'm seriously hoping that something changes before the wages are actually raised.

I definitely see more problems along the road with the $15 an hour minimum wage. - Cost of inflation is going to kick in for (housing/rent, food, gas, basically cost of living as if it wasn't hard already)

A raise in minimum wage will basically make everyone else poor. It will raise the cost of EVERYTHING, and so people who went to school and worked hard to get say a $20 an hour job that was actually decent pay will now be lower middle class at best.

This is why som McDonalds have put in self ordering kiosks. They are giving the workers higher pay, but firing half of them to keep profits high.

We would all like to have that kinda raise 15 minimum wage.

I've said that for years, that when the minimum wage increases so does everything else. It would be nice if most employers would give raises to their employees without being delegated by the government. We pay higher than minimum wage even for people just starting out in the hopes that they will stay with us.

So it's okay for YOU to make good money, but not other people.

You are absolutely right. Employers would implode if stretched to that degree, and what about all the people in companies that already make that amount? So the burger flipper all of a sudden makes what the night shift manager makes. So either the night shift manager feels slighted or you have to give her a raise, too, commiserate with the minimum wage increase. It doesn't stop there. Then you have the day manager who also wants a raise, and all the rest of the staff up the manager line. The snowball effect is terrible. Minimum wage was NEVER meant to be a living wage, and all the years I worked for minimum wage, I never expected it to be. That's why they call it minimum. Housekeepers now where I am get almost as much as I do, and I have a Master's degree and 30 years of experience in the medical field. It's gotten crazy.

15 an hour won't work. That will create even bigger problems. What about those who have many years of experience? Goes that mean that their wages will also increase? It would do this country a great disjustice if that occurred. That sort of move would not be beneficial.

Well sometimes those who try to push for such things end up benefiting so they care less about others