For a realistic view of what will happen at McDonald's if the minimum wage is raised to $15, see the book: Ten Unavoidable Problems with a "Living" Minimum Wage from 100% Waste of Your Money to Millions Unemployed

You can read the introduction and first 10% of most books on Amazon for free:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0...

Milton Friedman said, “There is absolutely no positive objective achieved by the minimum wage law,” and ”the people who are hurt most by higher minimums are the most poverty stricken.”

Milton Friedman also spoke as someone who grew up in poverty:

http://www.nobelprize.org/n...

but neither Friedman's nor your childhood poverty has anything to do with the correctness of either Friedman's or your (contradictory) conclusions.

Your and Milton Friedman's conclusions contradict each other's conclusions.

I am sorry if you or others got the impression that I claimed your conclusion or "personal experience" (which has nothing to do with it; my original point) were self-contradictory.

Your statement "controlled samples have shown again and again and again that everyone benefits with an increased LIVING WAGE," would make an excellent straw man to knock down if I were in the habit of doing so.

Obviously not "everyone" benefits since someone has to pay the higher wage.
The price of hamburgers will go up for the rich and poor alike. The unemployed poor, such as students, retirees and the disabled will have to pay more.

Nice up-voting your own post.

never really thought about it like that. great info!

ha!

1) plugging your own book?
2) quoting St Reagan's economic adviser

smh..........

Yes and yes. I only agree with Milton Friedman about 2/3 of the time, and I guess you only agree with him 1/3 of the time or less by chance. But before voting for a minimum wage law that Milton Friedman claimed was worse than Jim Crow laws, I would be 100% sure Friedman was wrong.

Sadly, most of these politicians, such as Bill Clinton mentioned in show, know that the minimum wage laws will not help the poor. But politicians also know that the poor and liberals will vote for them if they raise the minimum wage.

Your first guest mentioned that unions have been "agitating" for improved wages. Why is NRA not 'agitating' for greater gun rights, oil companies 'agitating' for wilderness drilling or other 'agitators' for restricted voting, reduced environmental regulation, associating climate change with FEMA preparedness, etc. And why aren't "journalists" calling people on inflammatory, prejudicial language ro allowing assumptions such as "agitation" to stand

Here's another missing component. No one in the media has ever mentioned theater workers - who have all the problems of both fast food, and walmart.

These are the 8 lowest paying jobs: Fast food, dishwashers, cashiers, hosts, amusement part workers, movie theater workers, farm workers, personal health care aides.

That coloring is all over the media.. It`s sickening..
No matter the topic of any show,the guests find a way to throw a jab at Obama or Hillary..
Today,the guest tried to lie about Bill Clinton.. Clinton DID raise the minimum..

The "liberal" has data. The "conservative" has anecdotes.

As always.

I met a guy at a bar who said he knew some friend of his cousin who said emphatically: It's all Obama's fault. Who can argue with that? HD

and PolitcsWatcher has partisan B.S. As always

FACTS are very partisan

No, FACTS are FACTS and know no boundaries. Ideologists are partisan. You have just proven that point very well. Thanks!

Yes the restaurant guy is full of bs

the data is always fudged...... consider the graphic above.... you can rent a nice 2 bedroom apartment in a major texas city for $800/month.... so make it $1000 with utilities.... at 50% income spent on housing, that's much less than the $16/hour threshold...
nice try though..... there are gazillions of Mexican nationals in the US working low pay jobs who some how also can send BILLIONS of dollars back to Mexico every year

is $16 the minimum wage in Texas?
Assuming the person worked 40 hours a week that would come to 2560 a month. This leave $1560 for taxes, food, transportation, and baby sitting.

The minimum wage in Texas is the Federal Minimum Wage. The current Governor, Greg Abbot, probably sued the Federal Government at some point while he was the the Texas Attorney General to get Texas an exemption from paying the Federal Minimum Wage or having the the Federal Minimum Wage declared unconstitutional so that Texas could set its own minimum wage. (I live in Texas)

"People who work full time will earn enough to not live in poverty" Couldn't agree with you more, but you still have not addressed those who want to be compensated at "full time" rates for "part time" work. As long as the Fed regulates how many work hours are required to be considered "full time" then employers will stay "under the wire".

No one cries, "the sky is falling" when it comes to huge bonuses that the 1% has been receiving for the past 20 years, but God forbid the little guy gets a couple $ more in their paychecks to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living and the corporate fear mongers will come out of the woodwork to claim it's going to cause large job loss. This will never happen. The 1%'ers will always need people to change their Egyptian cotton sheets, flip their Kobe burgers, and valet park their luxury sports cars.

Please remember theater workers, one of the 8 lowest paid jobs in the country, Though never mentioned, they should be included.

These are the 8 lowest paying jobs: Fast food, dishwashers, cashiers, hosts, amusement part workers, movie theater workers, farm workers, personal health care aides.

Higher min wage puts more purchasing power in hands of those who will spend it, and the result is usually more jobs created.

The money for a higher minimum wage isn't printed out of thin air; it's taken from someone else who would have also spent it.

2 points.
The first is that not everyone making minimum wage is flipping burgers. I have friends who are EMT's who make minimum wage. These people literally have your life in their hands. Minimum wage means your boss is going to pay the the absolute least admit possible to maximize their own profit.
The second is that even people who flip burgers deserve the dignity of providing for themselves and their families. If you work for a living you should make living wage.

Yes, Kelly.....

and when all these jobs are at the minimum.....someone besides me--say, maybe some journalist type, do point out that there is ZERO worker loyalty. (if a position comes open closer to their home, reducing transportation costs and time--they're going to jump at the chance)

Elsewhere, Milton Friedman is praised. However, I'd mention to all the anti welfare types that a higher minimum wage absolutely reduces welfare eligibility........and I've met a lot more poor people, than has Mr. Friedman

why are we pretending that working fewer hours for the same take home pay is not a benefit? that's an incredible benefit--work life balance is also important.

Most theater workers, even up to assistant managers, are not allowed either full time work, or the benefits that come with it. We are forced to do part time work.

Find another job...... Are you "forced" to work there?

Let's say everyone did that. Let's say every minimum wage worker went back to school or found a better job - how does that sound?

1. Many have to work, and can't take time out for training

2. Even if they could, there are few jobs for people already trained..

3. Many factory jobs were sent overseas.

4. Customers like you, and companies like theaters, need the low wage jobs filled now.

5. Many corporations are making all time high profits.

Minimum wage should be a fair wage.

I agree that minimum wage should be a "fair" wage. You are trying to make a case that minimum wage should be set high enough that it affords you all of the same benefits that a career employment position does, and those two were NEVER intended to be the same. Part time job is not full time job. Who sets or regulates the number of hours that you work in order to be considered "full time" as opposed to "part time"? Answer? The federal government. You and the nation seem to be just waking up to that fact. The first reason you are waking up is that the abysmal economy has forced a larger sector of our population DOWN to that point of realization (and pay). The second reason the nation is waking up to that point is because it was brought to the fore-front with Obamacare and eligibility for benefits. Paying more at that lower level is not the entire solution. It will provide some relief, but it is not the entire solution. What then, is the obvious solution? More entry level career jobs. Where do they come from? Please don't tell me that the government is going to magically "mandate" them or create them by "executive order".......

The reason it is part time, is that theater workers - even up to the assistant manager positions - are not allowed to have full time hours. That protects the corporation from giving any real benefits.

Actually the Mark Cuban owned theater forced me out after working there 24 years. So thanks shark!

exactly! back when one could live on minimum wage, i got a promotion to a part time job at almost twice minimum. i had a second job, but i also had *time*, which was much more precious to me.

Costco is one of the few companies that "gets it".

"Instead of minimizing wages, we know it's a lot more profitable in the long term to minimize employee turnover and maximize employee productivity, commitment and loyalty. We support efforts to increase the federal minimum wage."

- Costco CEO and President Craig Jelinek

And I'm always struck by the similarity in prices between Costco and other warehouse stores like Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Warehouse.

Evidentally the CEO of Costco is not as greedy as the Waltons etc. We do not have a local Costco but two Meijer stores just opened in my area. I hope they are good employers.

My niece works for Costco and loves it, she previously worked for Kellogg's and they treated her like a serf.

One issue rarely discussed is how a mandated wage increase will affect small, independent, retailers versus large, big box retailers. Walmart is known to have the lowest cost of goods of any retailer. Their size, sophistication, and corporate culture is geared towards extracting the last few pennies from suppliers. This includes the same suppliers used by smaller retailers. In part due to their lower Cost of Goods, Walmart is much better positioned to absorb any mandated wage increase. It will be interesting to see in Seattle, SF, and LA, if the big boxes of the world push out the smaller retailers.

This is why I believe we need a national definition of small businesses based on parameters of # of employees and size of profits. Currently no legal standard definition exists. If we had one laws could be tailored to the needs of the business and its employees.

Seattle breaks businesses into four categories, each with their own schedule to $15. Mom/Pop businesses have smaller wage increases, longer time to $15

You're right, the big boxes have economies of scale over the small retailer, but that's true no matter what the minimum wage is. Small retailers that survived this long aren't competing on price.

Imagine the wailing we would hear if tomorrow WalMart said it was going to charge a $55 annual fee to walk in the store.

10:18 the guy that left his second job when the minimum went up created a job.

Of course we ARE, I pay for Walmart's Medicaid coverage.

And my taxes pay for the food stamps needed to make ends meet by minimum wage workers. Also they need subsidized daycare.

And the Walton Family are in the top of U.S. wealth. That means our tax dollars help pay their employees so more profit goes into the Walton's pockets.