What is a decent minimum wage?

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Inflation is when the prices of necessary items go up - groceries, mortgages, and gas.
I don’t buy that for a second.

Morgages are effected by other factors then minimum wage, but more importantly many (perhaps most) mortgages were negotiated by someone with an ounce of sense and the payment is static throughout the life of the loan.
Inflation won’t touch it.

Gas is effected by too many items to really be a gauge for how the dollar is doing.
The price of gas going anywhere is more an indication of the oil market and the supply rather then the dollars health.
 
I don’t buy that for a second.

Morgages are effected by other factors then minimum wage, but more importantly many (perhaps most) mortgages were negotiated by someone with an ounce of sense and the payment is static throughout the life of the loan.
Inflation won’t touch it.

Gas is effected by too many items to really be a gauge for how the dollar is doing.
The price of gas going anywhere is more an indication of the oil market and the supply rather then the dollars health.
Inflation won’t affect a fixed rate mortgage, but it will affect the adjustable rate loan.
 
I don’t buy that for a second.

Morgages are effected by other factors then minimum wage, but more importantly many (perhaps most) mortgages were negotiated by someone with an ounce of sense and the payment is static throughout the life of the loan.
Inflation won’t touch it.

Gas is effected by too many items to really be a gauge for how the dollar is doing.
The price of gas going anywhere is more an indication of the oil market and the supply rather then the dollars health.
Sorry, but housing, grocery, and gas prices are how we judge how well or poorly the economy is doing - open the business section of your local newspaper - that’s what they’re reporting on. Not the prices of burgers and motel rooms.

And you’re right - minimum wage levels have little or no effect on these things. 🙂
 
Hardly the detailed response I gave you. I feel neglected. I propose a new Minimum Attention law that will force other to give me a just amount of their cognitive facilities.
You responded with some right wing think tank pieces offering predictions about the effect of the minimum wage. There isn’t a whole lot anyone can say about them, because they are all pretty much back of the envelope conjectures.
 
Sorry, but housing, grocery, and gas prices are how we judge how well or poorly the economy is doing - open the business section of your local newspaper - that’s what they’re reporting on. Not the prices of burgers and motel rooms.

And you’re right - minimum wage levels have little or no effect on these things. 🙂
Patently false- when the bureau of labor statistics publishes an inflation rate they use the core rate of inflation which excludes highly volatile items, most notably gas and food.
What local newspapers are doing is irrelevant.
 
Patently false- when the bureau of labor statistics publishes an inflation rate they use the core rate of inflation which excludes highly volatile items, most notably gas and food.
Again - open today’s business section to the financial page, and read what they are reporting on.
 
Again - open today’s business section to the financial page, and read what they are reporting on.
Do local newspapers do nation wide surveys that determine the inflation rate? Does the Fed act based on what is written in the business section of the local newspaper?
 
Do local newspapers do nation wide surveys that determine the inflation rate? Does the Fed act based on what is written in the business section of the local newspaper?
Those are the prices that we concern ourselves with, to know what is going on in the economy, and to know whether there is inflation, or not.
 
Those are the prices that we concern ourselves with, to know what is going on in the economy, and to know whether there is inflation, or not.
“We”? The government employs thousands of economists who’s job it is to determine the inflation rate so that the Fed can set an appropriate monetary policy- guess what? They ignore gas and food since you can’t fix a hurricane that drives up the price of gas and food with monetary policy. You’ve got local newspapers on your side, I’ve got the federal government- you know, the people who actually have the power to define the inflation rate.

And even so, if minimum wage forces up the wages of people working at grocery stores, in farms, and in loading bays then guess what? The price of food goes up.
 
And even so, if minimum wage forces up the wages of people working at grocery stores, in farms, and in loading bays then guess what? The price of food goes up.
Hopefully, we don’t pay those people quite so badly as that - after all, they’re in charge of the safety of our food supply 😉
 
Hopefully, we don’t pay those people quite so badly as that - after all, they’re in charge of the safety of our food supply 😉
I’d be quite shocked if farm hands, warehouse/distribution employees, janitors and cashiers made more than minimum wage.
 
Inflation won’t affect a fixed rate mortgage, but it will affect the adjustable rate loan.
Right, which is why I said “many (perhaps most) mortgages were negotiated by someone with an ounce of sense and the payment is static throughout the life of the loan.”

I know well there are many that got caught by the adjustable interest scheme.
 
The idea that you can’t quantify the value of a person’s labor is belied by the fact that there are LITERALLY millions of instances of just this everyday.

A worker would presumably accept no upper limit on how much they would take to do a job; vice versa for employers. The equilibrium wage is where they agree on a price.

That is the supply and demand portion of a wage rate. That notwithstanding, some professions have higher equilibrium wages than others, and the reason is the relative value of the work done. Ceteris paribus, a ditch digger is going to make less than a brain surgeon because brain surgery is simply more valuable to society.
Job difficulty, required skills and contribution are usually all related, but it’s through the labour market that different sorts of work are assigned an average hourly rate or salary, not an employer’s balance sheet.

If a company switches it’s manufacturing to the Philippines, and turnover is the same, then the equilibrium wage for those workers, doing the same jobs, is lower. Does that mean their contribution is less?
 
You may believe this if you wish, but practical experience as well as sound economics and business practices show otherwise.
I forgot to address this earlier. Your claim is that sound economics says that the minimum wage is a cause of inflation. If you are correct, then I am sure there must be some economists who make this claim. Perhaps you can cite some research. Because if the minimum wage causes inflation I am sure that it must be taught in most graduate schools. Providing the evidence should not be that hard for you.
 
I forgot to address this earlier. Your claim is that sound economics says that the minimum wage is a cause of inflation. If you are correct, then I am sure there must be some economists who make this claim. Perhaps you can cite some research. Because if the minimum wage causes inflation I am sure that it must be taught in most graduate schools. Providing the evidence should not be that hard for you.
The minimum wage contracts supply by raising the costs to business.
Basic model-(Move the blue line closer to the Y axis. Note that the intersection of the line with AD is at a higher price level.)
 
The minimum wage contracts supply by raising the costs to business.
Basic model-(Move the blue line closer to the Y axis. Note that the intersection of the line with AD is at a higher price level.)
Nice try. Let’s ignore the fact that if the money supply stays constant then an increase in prices in one area mean they have to fall someplace else. i.e. if we all have $100 to spend and the price of hotel rooms goes up from $50 to $55, then we only have $45 to spend on other goods, so the sellers of the other goods will have to lower their prices to sell their goods.

So ignoring that, if the minimum wage goes up by a $1 per hour, and assuming no behavioral effects and everyone works full time, so our 1 million min wage workers now cost $2 billion more per year. How is that extra $2 billion going to shift aggregate supply in any perceptible way n a $16 trillion economy?
 
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