Comments by "whyamimrpink78" (@whyamimrpink78) on "Fight for $15" video.

  1. Sharon S You can't compare the min. wage to inflation. If you do then brick cell phones would cost $4000, never mind smart phones. A computer in from the 60s would cost over $40 million.
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  2. Sharon S Nope, just saying the truth showing you don't know anything about economics.
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  3. XellosTheDragon No, what Sharon was saying is that everything should go up in price, including labor because "inflation". Some goods have dropped in price and the same is with labor. Some goods have remained the same in price and some have gone up like in labor. Before the tractor we had people working on the farms. The tractor came and those working on the farms ended up getting a value of $0. With Netflix and Red Box we have seen Blockbuster employees go to a value of $0. In my hometown there was a battery plant and in the 90s it employed over 800 people. So many appliances used batteries as in walkmens, RC cars, cordless phones and so on. Now with Ipads, cell phones, laptops and so one having batteries on boards that recharge, the demand for batteries dropped. That company started to close down factories and when it closed down the one in my town it only employed around 200 people. That means the value of those workers is no $0. To think that the value of the person running the cash register or flipping burgers at a restaurant has gone up is ludicrous. It hasn't. If you look at technology and the trend in the economy inflation should not be happening and if it is it shouldn't be happening much at all. The reason why food is expensive at the grocery store is because of a policy such as the min. wage. The min. wage went up, a low wage employer such as the grocery store need to pay the employees more now by law, thus they increased prices. We are producing more food than ever due to technology, we even throw away food. The price of food should be dropping. But the min. wage, which is outpacing productivity, is causing them to go up. And to think that a min. wage was needed so you can't starve is not true. You are mandating how much is being paid per hour, but not per week. Your grasp of economics has dropped to a new low.
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  4. Vance Wade I am using my head. Sharon's one argument for raising the min. wage is simply "inflation". But what I clearly shown was not everything inflates. Goods are no different than labor. There are jobs that simply don't exist anymore due to technology making those workers worth $0. Their value has dropped, not risen. Really technology makes low skilled workers easier. A cashier has a giant computer in front of them and people pay with cards now. They don't have to obtain an easy, but lost skilled such as counting back change. I was buy something at a gas station the other day. The lady rung me up wrong. I did the price in my head and said she rung me up wrong. She didn't believe me. I told her the numbers and she still couldn't figure it out. She rung me up again and got the right price. This lady couldn't add two numbers in her head, and people feel she is worth $22/hr?
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  5. Vance Wade I am using my head. Sharon's one argument for raising the min. wage is simply "inflation". But what I clearly shown was not everything inflates. Goods are no different than labor. There are jobs that simply don't exist anymore due to technology making those workers worth $0. Their value has dropped, not risen. Really technology makes low skilled workers easier. A cashier has a giant computer in front of them and people pay with cards now. They don't have to obtain an easy, but lost skilled such as counting back change. I was buy something at a gas station the other day. The lady rung me up wrong. I did the price in my head and said she rung me up wrong. She didn't believe me. I told her the numbers and she still couldn't figure it out. She rung me up again and got the right price. This lady couldn't add two numbers in her head, and people feel she is worth $22/hr?
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  6. Vance Wade If groceries have gone up due to inflation then why not everything else? We are producing too much food, so what gives? The term "living wage" is subjective and means nothing when broken down. And you are talking about skills, what type of skills? Some with a history degree and a lot of writing skills might not be worth much if someone doesn't demand them. You blame greedy executive. If the CEO of Walmart and McDonalds were to earn $0, the workers there will earn an extra......wait for it.......$0.001 per hour.
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  7. Vance Wade But everything hasn't gone up, I shown you that. I drive a better can than some rich person did in the 70s. What define a "living wage"? What you said means nothing so far without standards.
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  8. DynamicUnreal Inflation is caused by the min. wage. There are other factors as well but the min. wage plays a role. Technology is getting cheaper in two ways, by the quality and by the price. I can hook up my Ipad to a set of speakers and have a stereo sound system all cheaper for what a record player cost in the 60s. I can take that Ipad for a jog with me as well. Cars are cheaper and last longer along with get better mileage. Their price has dropped, not inflate. The same can be said about labor. Look at blockbuster employees. Due to Netflx and Red Box the value of those employees have gone to $0. Due to appliances having rechargeable battery on board the value of the workers at batter factories went to $0. The value of some workers went up, others have gone down, others have stayed the same. I disagree that it is greed that has led to inflation. It is things that devalue the dollar. Pumping of money by the fed. is one way, another is raising the min. wage. Do you really think that guy who cooks hamburgers at a restaurant is worth more now than 30 years ago?
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  9. Mike Stavenes I actually never worked for blockbuster, I just used that as an example. I can also use the example of how the tractor replaced the farm workers. It is how the economy evolves. But to think that the min. wage should be $15/hr, and when it gets raised we see food prices go up and teenage unemployment go up and scratch our heads why is acting pretty dumb in itself.
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  10. Mike Stavenes "The economy only works when money flows" The economy works when there is wealth creation. If all it took was money flowing then why not just give people checks for $20,000? "Putting more money in the hands of the average citizen encourages spending all the way across the entire economic spectrum" You can't consume what you don't produce. If you just put money in the hands of anybody, including the "average citizen" but there are not any goods and services to consume, then all you have done is increase prices. "If businesses know that there are customers in the area" They raise prices. We have seen this with college loans and tuition, or healthcare now with the ACA and rates going up at higher than normal rate. When they know customers are just given money where consumption increases they have to increase prices. What drives the economy is wealth creation, not money flow.
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  11. Mike Stavenes You create wealth by having people work at the best of their ability and having them be paid the market rate. Just giving people money does nothing if they are not producing wealth. You can have a lot of money but with little wealth that money is worthless. If you run a business that say sells milk, and people have more money but you don't have more milk, you have to raise the price of milk. If people have $100 more in their pockets but there isn't more goods and services in existence then prices will go up. You have this feeling that prices won't go up, they will. You idea about local businesses is flawed. No business is isolated. You want to talk math? Ok, you have 5 workers at a business. They produce 100 widgets and are paid $100 a day. Now they are, through government law, required to earn $200 day but still produce only 100 widgets between them. What has to happen is that prices have to go up. That is how it works. Businesses simply can't afford higher wages.
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  12. Vance Wade I have read the literature, and yes, what I am saying is supported by real life.
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  13. Mike Stavenes I am in my upper 20s. I have worked a min. wage job for years and it wasn't hard work. You have little responsibilities, it requires little skills, the hours are flexible, and overall the work is easy. So yes, those on min. wage don't work hard. "Maybe if they did that same job with more efficiency, that the boss would reward them by paying them more, out of the kindness of his heart?" The boss does out of an investment to keep their more productive employees from going to another job. "How hard people work has nothing to do with how much money they make" Yes it does, along with skill set and demand. "If they want to keep more of the money they make from the labors of their employees...they pay them less, and demand more...which is exactly what you see happening in the US economy." Except less than 5% of workers earn at or below the min. wage, around 50% of workers earning a min. wage get a raise within a year, and the average hourly earnings in the US is around $24/hr. "And you really have to stop using the bullshit about a lack of goods" Goods are limited. Where are the goods going to come from? Your idea of money is flawed. If the money isn't there then the price of goods will drop. A company just holding onto goods gives them nothing. In smaller more local areas goods are cheaper for a reason. The US moved factories overseas for 2 reasons, expensive regulations and overall the evolution of the economy. Saying the economy is consumer based if flawed, you can't consume what you don't produce. If people had the more money but the amount of goods are the same guess what happens? Prices go up. Businesses simply can't afford higher wages. If Walmart and McDonalds CEOs were to take in $0 and pass it on to the workers their employees would earn an extra $0.001 per hour. The money simply isn't there.
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  14. Vance Wade In other countries cost of living is higher. Plus, we shouldn't be concerned with what goes on in other countries, there are many other variables beyond the min. wage that are involved. If all it took was a small increase in prices to give more wages without chasing away customers then why don't businesses like Walmart just increase prices already and earn that much more in profit? The answer is because it isn't that easy. "Walmart alone cost the taxpayers 6.2 billion in public assistance in 2013." No, their employees who Walmart choose to hire have been.
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  15. Instead of striking how about they better themselves by finding a way to become worth more.
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  16. XellosTheDragon I know several friends that did. I have several students that do now.
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