what would be the result of abolishing minimum wage?

Discussion in 'Economics' started by strantor, Jan 3, 2012.

  1. strantor

    strantor

    If minimum wage were abolished tomorrow, what do you think would be the effect? I just had this discussion with a family member. said family member is very adamant that "something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it, including labor" - which I almost totally agree with, except in the area of the minimum wage. He thinks that there should be no minimum wage, and all wages should be determined by supply and demand. I think that if there were no minimum wage, people with no skills would make so little that the burden on the tax payers would be substantially increased. I think it would be a bad move. I think the companies would rape the people. However, I have heard some very compelling arguments to the contrary. what are your thoughts?
     
  2. Hows about a maximum wage limit. That would stop a lot of what's wrong with america.:D
     
  3. achilles28

    achilles28

    It wouldn't be a problem except for the influx of low-skilled, Mexicans who would (and already do) drive down wages. Unchecked "migrant" workers are the equivalent of H1B's for unskilled labor.
     
  4. Abolishing minimum wage alone isn't the solution to anything. What we need but will never do includes...

    1. Rounding up all illegal aliens and deporting them so that the jobs they now work would be taken by Americans.

    2. Revising "social support" to incentivise unemployed Americans to take the jobs vacated by illegals.

    Every solution to our problems eventually includes a significant reduction in the standard of living for nearly all Americans. The sooner we take our medicine, the less the pain will be. And if we postpone action too long, the results will be catastrophic for us all.
     
  5. zdreg

    zdreg

    #2 is a pipe dream. 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, while doing nothing to receive them puts european welfare benefits to shame.

    if the constitution is not changed to get rid of anchor babies(being born in america makes you a citizen automatically) nothing will change.
     
  6. achilles28

    achilles28

    Oh, I agree. I was merely attempting to stay on point :D

    Not to worry, the GOP establishment have resolved to rob Paul in Iowa, if he gets close to a win tonight.
    http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=233946
     
  7. [​IMG]

    vs



    The standard criticism of the minimum wage is that it raises employers' costs and reduces employment opportunities for teenagers and disadvantaged workers. However, several studies have found that the last two increases in the minimum wage had an insignificant effect on employment. Furthermore, an extension of the time-series studies that had previously been used to claim that raising the minimum wage decreases employment, no longer finds a significant impact.

    In a recent review of the literature, Professor Richard Freeman of Harvard, a widely respected labor economist, wrote: "At the level of the minimum wage in the late 1980s, moderate legislated increases did not reduce employment and were, if anything, associated with higher employment in some locales."

    In discussing the minimum wage, Robert M. Solow, a Nobel laureate in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recently told the New York Times, "The main thing about (minimum wage) research is that the evidence of job loss is weak. And the fact that the evidence is weak suggests that the impact on jobs is small."

    --Source

    -------------

    Textbook gibberish vs real world.
     
  8. Yet another example of the fact that there is really only ONE political party in America.. The Big Government Party... whether DemoCrap or ReplubliClown... two sides of the same coin. Ron Paul represents reversion to the Founders and Constitutional principles... none of which is of interest to political powers today.

    :mad: :mad:
     
  9. achilles28

    achilles28

    ^If that's the case, then why not raise the minimum wage to 50 dollars an hour? Heck, why not pay everyone 1,000 dollars an hour! We'll all get rich.
     
  10. Stay tuned...it's coming.
     
    #10     Jan 3, 2012