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Wojtek The Bear
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Comments by "Wojtek The Bear" (@wojtekthebear4958) on "Does the Minimum Wage Prevent Poverty?" video.
Economists support what's known as the EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) and the NIT (Negative Income Tax). There are two main problem with the minimum wage. 1) different geographical areas have different costs of living. While a $15 minimum wage works fine in NYC or Seattle, it would doom a town in rural Arkansas as their cost of living is much lower (this is also why pegging something to inflation is usually a bad idea. Inflation occurs at different rates across the country). 2) Not everyone on minimum wage is actually poor. If the goal was to help the poor, why would you go about it through such an indirect method? To solve both issues, economists want the two programs mentioned above. That way policy makers (hopefully backed by economists) can pick an income level, like the poverty line, and say that anyone below that line will be subsidized by the government. The US already has this system set up, but economists really want these programs to be expanded as economic research suggests that they are very effective at what they do.
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Unemployment is less than 5%, the natural rate. Real incomes are rising (or were last I checked. Our healthcare is amazing, it's just expensive. We have 9 out of the ten best hospitals in the world. Bad trade laws. Yeah, protectionism is pretty stupid, I agree. Factory jobs moving away? Because who wants to work as an accountant or financial consultant when you can work the assembly line! Also these jobs are being lost to automation. You know, technological advancement? Better vacation and holidays? What does that even mean? You had more time off. Reality check, average hours worked by an American hasn't changed from the 90's to now. I can source all the information I provided.
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They are the most profitable because they are the biggest in their field, but they by no means have the highest profit margins compared to their competitors. This is a very important difference to make. Similarly Kroger makes a lot of money as the largest grocery store in the country, but their profit margins are only about 2%. A minimum wage hike would therefore destroy them.
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They control nowhere near 93% of wealth. That number is bogus. They're just over 50% right now (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/01/19/richest-global-wealth/21983443/). Also you somehow thing the answer to this is a minimum wage? Like that will somehow solve anything?
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