The problem with concepts like "minimum wage" laws is the results that are produced are not expected by the law maker(s). Never underestimate the creativeness and ingenuity of an entrepreneur. Rise the minimum wage for fast food workers and soon you'll see robot applications to replace human labor and/or higher levels of "self serve" venues. Most "lawmakers" do not have business backgrounds and have no idea how the minds work of business leaders. Face it: labor is an asset to the business and when it can be replaced at a lessor cost and higher output, it will be replaced. Regardless of how "human" laws are meant to be, competitiveness will always win. After all, if a business cannot operate at least break-even financially they will no longer be in business and capable of employing anyone!

The problem with concepts like "minimum wage" laws is the results that are produced are not expected by the law maker(s). Never underestimate the creativeness and ingenuity of an entrepreneur. Rise the minimum wage for fast food workers and soon you'll see robot applications to replace human labor and/or higher levels of "self serve" venues. Most "lawmakers" do not have business backgrounds and have no idea how the minds work of business leaders. Face it: labor is an asset to the business and when it can be replaced at a lessor cost and higher output, it will be replaced. Regardless of how "human" laws are meant to be, competitiveness will always win. After all, if a business cannot operate at least break-even financially they will no longer be in business and capable of employing anyone!

A lot of people think that raising the minimum wage would make life much better for "no-skilled" to "low-skilled" people needing employment; we hear it daily........"people can't survive on minimum wage". Guess what......that's only about half true, and the other half is the familiar "stinky stuff", commonly referred to, as "pure horse "puckey"; I don't remember any more what the year was when the so-called "Federal Minimum Wage" was first started, but I CAN tell you, it was years and years AFTER I graduated from high school (in 1950 ), and started supporting myself. I can also assure you that between 1950 when I graduated, and 1997 when I retired, the so-called "Federal Minimum Wage" never made 15 cents difference, one way or the other in my making a living.

Did the minimum wage make it "easier" for people just entering the labor market, "way back then"? The answer to that question is "yes and no"; (exactly like it is now, 2013, 63 years later ). If you really want to make "your life easier", by far the best way to do it is to "learn to make yourself useful"; the best way to start is by graduating from high school; hopefully, by then you should have learned to read and write, how to at least spell "hat", "cat" and "that", and you should have mastered at least, fourth grade arithmetic; also hopefully, you should have learned to "talk"; (so that adults can understand what you're talking about. ) Say you don't "like" adults? That's just fine, but tell me, how many teenagers do you know who "employ people"? You say you don't want an "ordinary job", and you'd prefer to go right to the "big money"; hey, that's just great! You can always be a "rock star", a "movie star", a "sports star", or a "TV star"; (but you'll still need to know a few things you probably haven't learned yet. )

There are a few other "careers" that quite a few people try, to "get right to the big bucks"........like "dope pusher", "car thief", or "burglar"; most of the people who choose that route are now either in jail, dead, or both; (and relatively few of them ever got rich before becoming "dead" ). But back to the minimum wage; it was yet another liberal "scheme" to jump the line and get ahead of the next guy; you can read below to see how well it has worked.


Insider Report from Newsmax.com
Headlines

1. Raising the Minimum Wage Has 'Unintended Consequences'

Raising the minimum wage would not necessarily reduce the $7 billion a year that fast-food workers receive in government benefits.

A widely reported study by university researchers, released in October, asserted that at least 52 percent of fast-food workers receive benefits from one or more government programs: Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program; Earned Income Tax Credit; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps); and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

The study fueled renewed calls for a significant increase in the minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour at the federal level.
"Because pay is low and weekly work hours are limited, the families of more than half of the workers in the fast-food industry are unable to make ends meet," according to the study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
They described the $7 billion as "the public cost of low-wage jobs in the fast-food industry."

But other researchers dispute that, maintaining that if fast-food restaurants raised their wages, that would not guarantee a decline in government benefits, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Some restaurants might increase automation and cut jobs, leading to increased benefits for the laid-off workers. In some cases, a worker's family members could remain eligible for benefits even if wages were increased.
In other cases, workers might reduce their hours in response to a salary hike, and wage increases would boost the earned income tax credit received by some employees, according to the Journal.

"There are unintended consequences associated with raising the minimum wage," said Michael Saltsman, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The Journal also pointed out that the $7 billion is only about one-fifth or one-quarter as much as fast-food restaurants pay workers in wages and benefits, and it is less than 2 percent of the total benefits paid out by the four government programs.
UCLA economist Jerry Nickelsburg added that studies of the effect of minimum-wage increases are "all over the place."

The university study also disclosed that the restaurant/food services sector leads all industries in the share of workers with a family member enrolled in one or more public programs, 44 percent. Just 13 percent of fast-food workers receive health benefits from their employers.

In Louisiana, 73 percent of fast-food workers and their families receive benefits, the highest percentage in the nation. In California, 52 percent, or 227,000, get benefits.
Another analysis, by George Mason University senior scholar Antony Davies, estimates that raising the minimum wage in New Jersey by $1 an hour will increase unemployment by about 2 percent among workers without a high school education.

Gitzo again;
There are literally thousands of ways to "make money"; I know, because while I was driving a truck, I tried about half of them; some work great, some "not so great", and ALL take effort. By far the BEST way to make more money, is to find out who's making the most "bucks" doing something you can already do, (or learn to do ), then start "doing it". Example; one time when I was first married and had a couple of kids, I needed some plumbing done; when I found out what plumbers charge, I bought a couple of plumbing books and learned how to "plumb"; I never did quit my "day job" and become a plumber, but then again, I've owned dozens of houses since then, and I've never once had to pay a plumber for anything. The same thing holds true for house wiring; I actually like to do house wiring, but I never wanted to do it to make a living; but I could pay all of the electricians I've had to pay in the last 50 or 60 years with what I made in a week at my last job before I retired. ( and I still install an outlet here, a ceiling light there, and I never have to pay an electrician ! )

Or.......if you are just completely "turned off" all together by working, you can always make a living as a professional parasite, and you'll always have "the gubmint" dreaminig up more ways for you to "get free stuff"; who was it, maybe during Bill Clinton's sorry 8 years, that someone in "the gubmint" wanted to give all the welfare lay-abouts free viagra, because even "lay-abouts" "deserve" to "have fun too"; (or something equally as ridiculous as that. )

A lot of people think that raising the minimum wage would make life much better for "no-skilled" to "low-skilled" people needing employment; we hear it daily........"people can't survive on minimum wage". Guess what......that's only about half true, and the other half is the familiar "stinky stuff", commonly referred to, as "pure horse "puckey"; I don't remember any more what the year was when the so-called "Federal Minimum Wage" was first started, but I CAN tell you, it was years and years AFTER I graduated from high school (in 1950 ), and started supporting myself. I can also assure you that between 1950 when I graduated, and 1997 when I retired, the so-called "Federal Minimum Wage" never made 15 cents difference, one way or the other in my making a living.

Did the minimum wage make it "easier" for people just entering the labor market, "way back then"? The answer to that question is "yes and no"; (exactly like it is now, 2013, 63 years later ). If you really want to make "your life easier", by far the best way to do it is to "learn to make yourself useful"; the best way to start is by graduating from high school; hopefully, by then you should have learned to read and write, how to at least spell "hat", "cat" and "that", and you should have mastered at least, fourth grade arithmetic; also hopefully, you should have learned to "talk"; (so that adults can understand what you're talking about. ) Say you don't "like" adults? That's just fine, but tell me, how many teenagers do you know who "employ people"? You say you don't want an "ordinary job", and you'd prefer to go right to the "big money"; hey, that's just great! You can always be a "rock star", a "movie star", a "sports star", or a "TV star"; (but you'll still need to know a few things you probably haven't learned yet. )

There are a few other "careers" that quite a few people try, to "get right to the big bucks"........like "dope pusher", "car thief", or "burglar"; most of the people who choose that route are now either in jail, dead, or both; (and relatively few of them ever got rich before becoming "dead" ). But back to the minimum wage; it was yet another liberal "scheme" to jump the line and get ahead of the next guy; you can read below to see how well it has worked.


Insider Report from Newsmax.com
Headlines

1. Raising the Minimum Wage Has 'Unintended Consequences'

Raising the minimum wage would not necessarily reduce the $7 billion a year that fast-food workers receive in government benefits.

A widely reported study by university researchers, released in October, asserted that at least 52 percent of fast-food workers receive benefits from one or more government programs: Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program; Earned Income Tax Credit; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps); and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

The study fueled renewed calls for a significant increase in the minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour at the federal level.
"Because pay is low and weekly work hours are limited, the families of more than half of the workers in the fast-food industry are unable to make ends meet," according to the study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
They described the $7 billion as "the public cost of low-wage jobs in the fast-food industry."

But other researchers dispute that, maintaining that if fast-food restaurants raised their wages, that would not guarantee a decline in government benefits, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Some restaurants might increase automation and cut jobs, leading to increased benefits for the laid-off workers. In some cases, a worker's family members could remain eligible for benefits even if wages were increased.
In other cases, workers might reduce their hours in response to a salary hike, and wage increases would boost the earned income tax credit received by some employees, according to the Journal.

"There are unintended consequences associated with raising the minimum wage," said Michael Saltsman, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The Journal also pointed out that the $7 billion is only about one-fifth or one-quarter as much as fast-food restaurants pay workers in wages and benefits, and it is less than 2 percent of the total benefits paid out by the four government programs.
UCLA economist Jerry Nickelsburg added that studies of the effect of minimum-wage increases are "all over the place."

The university study also disclosed that the restaurant/food services sector leads all industries in the share of workers with a family member enrolled in one or more public programs, 44 percent. Just 13 percent of fast-food workers receive health benefits from their employers.

In Louisiana, 73 percent of fast-food workers and their families receive benefits, the highest percentage in the nation. In California, 52 percent, or 227,000, get benefits.
Another analysis, by George Mason University senior scholar Antony Davies, estimates that raising the minimum wage in New Jersey by $1 an hour will increase unemployment by about 2 percent among workers without a high school education.

Gitzo again;
There are literally thousands of ways to "make money"; I know, because while I was driving a truck, I tried about half of them; some work great, some "not so great", and ALL take effort. By far the BEST way to make more money, is to find out who's making the most "bucks" doing something you can already do, (or learn to do ), then start "doing it". Example; one time when I was first married and had a couple of kids, I needed some plumbing done; when I found out what plumbers charge, I bought a couple of plumbing books and learned how to "plumb"; I never did quit my "day job" and become a plumber, but then again, I've owned dozens of houses since then, and I've never once had to pay a plumber for anything. The same thing holds true for house wiring; I actually like to do house wiring, but I never wanted to do it to make a living; but I could pay all of the electricians I've had to pay in the last 50 or 60 years with what I made in a week at my last job before I retired. ( and I still install an outlet here, a ceiling light there, and I never have to pay an electrician ! )

Or.......if you are just completely "turned off" all together by working, you can always make a living as a professional parasite, and you'll always have "the gubmint" dreaminig up more ways for you to "get free stuff"; who was it, maybe during Bill Clinton's sorry 8 years, that someone in "the gubmint" wanted to give all the welfare lay-abouts free viagra, because even "lay-abouts" "deserve" to "have fun too"; (or something equally as ridiculous as that. )