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Bill: Minimum Wage - It has to go
Details
Submitted by[?]: Freedom Party
Status[?]: defeated
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: April 2172
Description[?]:
| # The vast majority of economists believe the minimum wage law costs the economy thousands of jobs. The most fundamental principle of economics is 'supply and demand'. In the case of labor, this means that the supply of workers goes up as wage goes up, and the demand for workers by employers goes down as the wage goes up. For example, imagine a janitorial job was advertised for hire. If the wage is $100 per hour, thousands of people would want the job. If the wage was $1 per hour, you probably wouldn't find anyone to do it. Conversely, if the government forced the employer to pay at least $7 per hour, the employer might decide not to hire a janitor at all, instead opting to have other staff pick up the duties. Thus, a job would be lost because of the minimum wage. Another example is restaurant employment. A manager might have $10,000 in her monthly budget to hire bus persons. If the wage is set at $7 per hour, the manager may only be able to hire 10 bus people instead of 15. Setting a mandated wage limit disrupts market forces of supply and demand. Just because there is no minimum wage doesn't mean companies can pay whatever they want. Would you work a dishwashing job that paid 25 cents per hour? Would anyone? If they raised the wage to $4 per hour, they might be able to hire a high school student. Consider some highly skilled jobs such as accountant, lawyer, and engineer. Do these people make $5.15 an hour? Obviously, the answer is no. Market factors of supply and demand determine how many jobs are available and what each job would pay. In summary, as the minimum wage goes up, the number of people employed goes down. When the minimum wage goes down, the number of people employed goes up. Keep in mind: the minimum wage only applies if someone is employed. # Teenagers, workers in training, college students, interns, and part-time workers all have their options and opportunities limited by the minimum wage. Over 95 percent of minimum wage jobs are taken by the groups named above. You cannot make a living and support a family on a minimum wage job. These jobs are typically positions requiring little or no training that can be filled by almost anyone. Many students, part-timers, and other young workers are willing to take much less than minimum wage, especially if it is a fun or educational job. We all know that having a paying job when you're young teaches values such as discipline, hard work, and responsibility. It teaches young workers how to handle money and deal with other people. Thus, as a society we want to maximize the number of young people that work, even if it's for small wages. In fact, earning low wages provides extra motivation to go to college or acquire advanced job skills by some other method. Raising the minimum wage to $7 or more will definitely help some people trying to support a family, but it will hurt the group that holds almost all minimum wage positions. It will simply mean fewer low-skill jobs for those that actually need them. # The minimum wage can drive some small companies out of business. Many people believe businesses have endless supplies of cash and can easily withstand minimum wage increases or other cost increases. Unfortunately, that's simply not the case. Over 90 percent of businesses fold within the first few years. Every time there is a recession, thousands of businesses go under. Restaurants, which pay wages at or near the minimum wage level, have the highest rate of failure of any business type. Anytime you increase the costs of businesses, you push them closer to the edge. Let's take an example. Imagine a small neighborhood hardware store. This hardware store isn't going to have the logistics and economy of scale advantages of say, Wal-Mart; thus, it must charge more. It probably makes up the price difference with better service. When you raise the minimum wage, it increases the operating costs for that hardware store even more. Thus, it must raise it's prices to cover costs. Eventually, prices get so high that customers conclude that shopping there isn't worth the additional cost. Slowly, the local hardware store is driven out of business. # A minimum wage gives businesses an additional incentive to mechanize duties previously held by humans. Most businesses, especially in the manufacturing and retailing area, have many mundane tasks that need to be done, such as running a cash register or tightening a bolt on an assembly line. One of the reasons the manufacturing sector has not been part of the job recovery is that businesses have found it's much cheaper to use machines to do tasks that were previously done by people. Whenever businesses automate any task, they usually must spend a lot of upfront money and time in order to save down the line. Because of the minimum wage, spending the upfront time & money seems more worthwhile. For example, Wal-Mart is in the process of adding automated check-outs to almost all of its stores. Thus, all those cashier jobs will disappear. Imagine what would happen if the minimum wage was raised to $6 or more, as some politicians want. Do you think Wal-Mart will be more willing or less willing to add more automated checkouts? |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change The nation's policy on minimum wage regulation.
Old value:: There shall be a minimum wage at a level that a single full time worker on it can adequately subsist.
Current: There shall be a minimum wage at a level considered a "living wage," well above the poverty line for a full time worker.
Proposed: There is no provision for a minimum wage.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 23:10:30, January 14, 2006 CET | From | Liberal Imperialist Party | To | Debating the Minimum Wage - It has to go |
| Message | Aye. |
| Date | 01:40:42, January 15, 2006 CET | From | Grand Republican Party | To | Debating the Minimum Wage - It has to go |
| Message | Aye for this legislation. |
| Date | 15:12:30, January 15, 2006 CET | From |  Freedom Party | To | Debating the Minimum Wage - It has to go |
| Message | Can those who oppose this give reasons why? |
| Date | 18:14:01, January 15, 2006 CET | From | Conservative Party | To | Debating the Minimum Wage - It has to go |
| Message | Because I need some reason to support my flat tax :rolleyes: |
| Date | 17:05:44, January 16, 2006 CET | From | RSDP - Democratic Front | To | Debating the Minimum Wage - It has to go |
| Message | Nay, a minimum wage gives one thing which is more valuable than all wealth and plenty in the world: certitude. You are certain that you won't die from hunger. |
| Date | 17:06:23, January 16, 2006 CET | From | RSDP - Democratic Front | To | Debating the Minimum Wage - It has to go |
| Message | I forget to add: You are certain that you will always have sufficient money to have a decent quality of life. |
| Date | 21:53:49, January 17, 2006 CET | From | Freedom Party | To | Debating the Minimum Wage - It has to go |
| Message | i COULD OF SWORE I HAD A MESSAGE I REPLIED ON LAST NIGHT, I KNOW I DID! :-( |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||||
| yes | Total Seats: 202 | ||||
| no |
Total Seats: 331 | ||||
| abstain | Total Seats: 66 |
| Random fact: All role-play must respect the established cultural background in Culturally Protected nations. |
| Random quote: "We’ve got to stand with our North Korean allies." - Sarah Palin |