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Originally Posted by stevo
So all companies look like the one you just described? didn't know that. What about the company without a CEO? What about the guy who runs his own consulting business? Him and his wife are the only employees. They want to hire someone as an office assistant but can only afford to pay $20,000/yr. They put out an add in the paper and someone replies. They want the job and they seem to be ok with the compensation since they responded to the add and accepted the job. Everyone wins.
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Not all companies look like the one I described, but it's not uncommon at all. A friend of mine works at Custom Chrome in Gilroy, and that is almost exactly the pay grade of the employees. What about the guy who rusn his own business? Well If his business nets $40 million a year and his worker gets $20k a year, then that poor kid is getting the shaft big time. Like I've said several times: it's dependant on the income of the top. If, in your hypothetical business, the owner makes $115k a year, then $20k a year isn't unreasonable at all.
I still can't believe that you seem to think that everyone who has low income made a decision to take that crappy job. No on wants to work at McDonalds. Some people have to work at McDonalds, or they will starve. Do you understand? When I was in college, I HAD to take a job landscaping for minimun wage because I would have had to drop out of school and screw up the rest of my life to work for more.
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Originally Posted by stevo
But if there's a mandated minimum wage that has to be "livable" and that wage is equal to $30,000/yr our consultant can no longer afford to hire and pay for an office assistant. So this assistant still doesn't have a job and this consultant doesn't have an office assistant. Too bad the gov't decided what he had to pay.
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Who said livable? It's just a matter of trying to even out incomes. I'm not suggesting a $30k a year minimum wage. I'm suggesting a maximum wage.
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Originally Posted by stevo
Or how about the restaurant owner who pockets $60,000 a year. Employs a staff of 30. The managers make $11/hr, cooks make $8-10, while the busboys, dishwashers, and wait staff all make minimum wage (bus boys and wait staff get tips).
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Sounds fair to me.
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Originally Posted by stevo
But you, and other people in favor of increasing the minimum wage don't think he should be paying his employees what he does. according to you, not one of his employees is making enough. So after the law is passed he goes out of business because he can't afford to operate his restaurant with any less staff, but he can't afford $750,000 annual payroll expenses either. So he closes his doors.
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I think minimum and maximum wage should exist. I think that companies should have the common sense to do it themselves, instead of making everyone complain to the government. In a eprfect world, people would be paid fairly for their work. While I know we don't live in that perfect world, it would be a damned shame to give up on it compeltly.
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Originally Posted by stevo
I could go on and on. Not all businesses are like the one you described. Like I said before. Its real easy to talk about a livable minimum wage, especially when you forget about the average business owner.
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Livable minimum wage isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about two things: raiseing the wages of lower income workers as the business model allows, and putting a glass ceiling on income for those who make a ton of money.
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Originally Posted by stevo
Look at your local franchise gas station. Do you think the owner of the stop-n-go on the corner is living the high life? do you think he could afford tripleing his payroll expenses? Those are the people you hurt when you mandate such things.
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I have a friend who owns a 7-11. He lives in a $4 million dollar home in Saratoga, where he is planning on retiring after sending his 2 kids through Stanford. He wasn't even born in the US. Do you know how much 7-11 pays for all that crappy food? Almost nothing. Their profit margins are uncanny. The same thing is true of the oil/gas industry. They are making more money now than most other industries combined.