< Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Position: Act should be passed
This position addresses the topic Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007.
For this position
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"It’s even doubtful that the wage increase under discussion — a $2.10 increase over roughly two years, to $7.25 — would impair business. Eighty-six percent of small-business owners surveyed by the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index said the minimum wage had no effect on their businesses."
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"Business lobbyists will tell the Senate about the doom and gloom that justice for workers will cause. Before a 1998 initiative passed, Washington voters heard about the many jobs that would be lost and the hard times coming for Eastern Washington businesses. State residents didn't buy the line, and neither should U.S. senators."
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"In Kentucky, 680,151 people live in families with earnings below the federal poverty line of $19,350 for a family of four. A significant portion of that group, 287,037 Kentuckians, live on half that, which is called deep poverty. Any raise means a lot for those families."
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"Some opponents argue that wages should be decided exclusively by the free market. But the nation decided otherwise in 1938, when Congress created the minimum wage so the poorest workers would have a chance at a decent living. And it's hard to recall similar free-market complaints about the tax code, which is all about picking winners and losers — homeowners over renters, for example, or investors over workers."
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Against this position
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"True compassion for our fellow man requires that we examine not the intentions behind public policy but the effects of that policy. There's no question that Congress can mandate the minimum wage at which a person is hired but Congress hasn't found a way to mandate that a person have a level of productivity commensurate with the wage."
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"There’s a more direct path to improving incomes for the working poor. Instead of requiring employers to pay more, and then allowing them to apply for reimbursement through tax subsidies, why not skip the middleman and subsidize the worker directly?"
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"But the minimum wage should be the same everywhere: $0. Labor is a commodity; governments make messes when they decree commodities' prices. Washington, which has its hands full delivering the mail and defending the shores, should let the market do well what Washington does poorly."
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"Although some workers benefit -- those who were paid the old minimum wage but are worth the new, higher one to the employers -- others are pushed into unemployment, the underground economy or crime. The losers are therefore likely to lose more than the gainers gain; they are also likely to be poorer people."
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"As a small businessman who has hired hundreds of employees, I know government regulations are both costly and counterproductive. The federal minimum wage increase certainly falls into both categories."
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"Unlike many large businesses, most small businesses operate on razor-thin profit margins. The proposed increase of $2.10 in the minimum wage is a 40% hike over the current $5.15. All small businesses operate in a highly competitive, global marketplace and can ill-afford to raise prices on their customers by 40% and stay competitive."
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Mixed on this position
No results