Quote:THAT, is something no one seems to grasp...If minimum wage was a wage suitable for families to live a comfortable life, that's that's pretty much what every company would pay..There are industries that pay more because of the nature of the work, but if every company in the country paid $17 an hour there would be no more separation of pay other than executives...People would balk at doing harder jobs for the same amount of money as easier jobs such as fast food, but in the end, the jobs would still be filled

 

The jobs would be filled, but for how long?  You then run into the "trickle up" effect.  Say for instance, someone that works in an industry that requires some form of skill or education makes $17 per hour.  If the same wage could be made flipping burgers at micky D's or somewhere like that, then that job that the person works at would be warranted a pay raise, because after all, the skills/knowledge of the position is higher than the skills/knowledge required to flip burgers.  There would most certainly have to be an incentive to get these higher skilled workers.  So say you raise their pay to $25 per hour.

 

Again, the same thing happens.  Those people that currently earn $25 per hour because perhaps their skill and/or education/experience is higher than the people that just got a raise to $25 per hour.  The same scenario happens again.  You need to raise their pay, and the cycle continues.

 

Along with the rising salaries you need to also look at the price of goods/services.  Prices will rise, and even though more people have "more money", they still will only be able to afford what they can now.  This is basically what is called Inflation.

 

Raising the minimum wage will do more to de-value the dollar.

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