Election 2024: Kamala Harris on NBC vows to double federal minimum wage to $15
Election 2024: Kamala Harris on NBC vows to double federal minimum wage to $15
Wait, doubling it -to- 15 dollars an hour? Holy shit, I knew it was bad, but that is insane. Ours is already starting to feel too low at 17.40 here in Canada, granted that is about the equivalent of around $12.50 USD. So it's lower than what she is proposing, maybe if she manages it, we'll be able to get ours up.
Yeah, the states have been moving towards 15, but the national minimum wage has been stuck for a few decades. And also yes, 15 is already way too low.
Even the McDonalds around here know that even the most desperate laugh at 7.25 an hour
Most states have their own minimum wage laws at this point. Not all of them. So this will help a handful of mostly-red states.
It varies by province and at the federal level in Canada, 17.40 is for BC specifically, Alberta and Saskatchewan are the lowest at 15, Nunavut is the highest at 19 and it's 17.30 for jobs under federal jurisdiction.
The last place I worked upped their minimum wage to $10 an hour. It certainly wasn't because of benevolence or federal shifts...they slowly realized that when you pay the absolute minimum, you only attract the minimum talent, and most of those positions had very high turnover rates that were costing the company more than it'd be to just raise the starting pay rates.
It was cheaper to pay those positions more money.
Unfortunately in my state where the minimum wage is higher than the federal, many service industry companies refuse to learn that lesson. Or they think 16 cents above minimum wage is enough to attract top tier talent.
It'd only put the US at 5th in the world for minimum wage, which considering the cost of living in the US vs most other countries.
TBF developed countries like Switzerland don't have a minimum wage law, but have near universal union representation.
I'll believe it when I see it. Seems every candidate has promised this for as long as I've been following American politics and no one actually manages it.
They'll blame someone other than their ineptitude in governing
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Oh.
My minded automatically corrected that as "doubling from 15 to 30". Because that's what it needs to be, at least.
What's the basis for $30/hr? First time seeing that number in the wild.
Y'all really making this Reddit with less content. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Because we've been arguing it should be at least 15 for 10 years, and inflation is a bitch and if federal minimum wage had tracked with inflation since it was implemented, it would be closer to 30 bucks an hour than to 15.
I think the common sentiment is that minimum wage should be rated annually tied to a major factor on how much spending power that money has like inflation or productivity.
Minimum wage started in 1938 at $0.25. if it kept up with inflation today that would be $5.59, which is far from enough to survive with even the most basic rent and groceries.
""" The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.68% per year between 1938 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 2,136.18%."""
https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1938?amount=0.25
Productivity however has decoupled from wages decades ago, here's the EPI graph most reference:
If we re-coupled those values for minimum wage today that would be much higher. 3 years ago CBS reported it would be about $26: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minimum-wage-26-dollars-economy-productivity/
Where did that money go instead of paying fair wages?
I'm seeing 21.50 from articles in 2020 tying min wage to productivity. Maybe that's the number basis? Or living wage? A living wage per state adjustment for one adult with one child seems to put lw around 30 in a lot of states, with the single adult needing 13-20.
And out comes the abacus.
fight for 15 years late
I can get a two dollar raise...
Well it's better than the FUCKING CONCENTRATION CAMP I'd get from the other guy
Yeah except the concentration camps come with free room and board.*
*Charges for the room and board will be deducted from your earnings as a slave.
Name a more iconic duo than politicians and making promises that rely on the cooperation of other branches of government.
Not voting in enough Democrats into Congress to do anything and saying the Democrats didn’t actually want to do anything
Politicians being bought and sold to the highest bidder of the campaign trail.
Good!
Now also link it to yearly inflation annually in December!
The number needs to be set to a good value, but this is the most frustrating aspect of this whole song and dance, because there shouldn't even be a question about whether it should track inflation. Just setting another flat value so we can watch it atrophy away is maddening. The whole concept is directly related to the cost of goods, and the people needing this wage are the most impacted by price changes. And since it's supposed to be a floor, you know minimum wage employers aren't going to voluntarily raise wages to track inflation. They'd be paying even less if they were allowed.
Even if the businesses-first majority of politicians try to low-ball the target, there's no legitimate argument for not making it auto-update. Businesses just like to reap the extra exploitation between updates.
That's great!
Certain burger-flipping former presidents have legal fees to pay and this goes a LONG way to making due.
I believe all promises that are made within the last 30 days of an election!
This was literally her supposed signature issue when she was running with Biden.
She didn’t fight for it at all.
If the house and Senate approve. She can't just do it on her own
Heard this before. Democrats will encounter one tiny setback and give up until the next election cycle.
Two words: Arms embargo.
Other than that, ask the Cheney's for some more advise on how to campaign.
Did you post this in the wrong thread, or did lemmy do the thing where you post in one thread and it winds up in another?
And yes, there needs to be an arms embargo. Unless the intended thread was about Ukraine. Ukraine needs the support we're wasting on Netanyahu.
And they'll STILL walk it back the moment some unelected clerk with only ceremonial authority objects. If not before THAT even happens.
They always start negotiations at "nowhere near good enough" and make tons of concessions to Republicans from there.
Even the GOP becoming a literal fascist party that never negotiates in good faith hasn't changed their toxic inadequacy and insistence on bipartisanship being the highest political virtue possible.
Is this an argument as to why we shouldn't raise the minimum wage?
How out of touch do you need to be to offer something lower than Walmart's starting wage? And how many times have we heard this lie?
Surely we'll get it this time.
Economies work from the bottom up and never the top down. The more money people have, the more money they can spend, and thus the more goods and services they can buy, and thus the more demand there is, and thus the more supply there will be.
This has been my argument for years. If you want a strong economy have a strong middle class...they're the ones with the disposable income.
I doubt many people make anywhere close to minimum, but no excuse not to raise it!
That's in fact one of the best reasons to raise it as it's a clear indicator it's failing to perform its purpose. We know there are exploitative employers who will pay as low as they possibly can and nothing has changed in our economy or country to suggest that the market now naturally provides a baseline living wage, so it rarely being in effect is a big flashing red sign that it's woefully out of date.
What the fuck is with that horrible picture jesus CHRIST
And note that her wording was "at least $15", so she's signaling openness to doing more than that
Good, because "fight for $15" has been going on so long that the real number to regain parity with what minimum wage used to be is a lot higher than that by now.
it's $22 now
$15.05 an hour! Increasing at a rate of 11 cents per year from the current minimum of $7.25 Except tipped workers; they still get $2.13.