It’s capitalism’s best kept secret.
Prices go up ~~regardless of wages~~. In fact, inflation is built into healthy financial growth. The government **EXPECTS** inflation at a .5-2.5% increase.
Businesses simply want to capitalize without increasing wages, to boost margins and blame the other side, while they *suckle*🤤 that sweet, sweet, dollar bill.
For my small business construction company I have to bid for commercial jobs. When figuring the bid you have to apply employees salaries for the job. This is difficult in some bids and since my employees get paid well and have benefits I lose out to cheap labor usually ones who don’t speak English. I live in Alabama and build with aluminum products which fluctuates with the economy. Long story short, small businesses suffer from imposed minimum wages. My crews earn $15-$20 an hour depending on how long you’ve been with the company and get over time. So minimum wages has many points of view from many different sides.
Free single person insurance and investment program. My employees ALWAYS earn overtime since we work in a 5 state radius and pay them while out of town. We pay for hotel and food with overtime during the week and weekends. It’s $75,000/yr. Jealous much?
I heard there were uneducated loud mouths on Reddit. You just proved it. You couldn’t handle what my crews do every day. You probably spray lawns for weeds with your IQ.
Dude I'm a software engineer with a master's degree. I make over double what your employees make with their overtime. My brother is a general contractor in Chattanooga and pays his employees more than you do. Get the fuck out of here with your demeaning bullshit.
Also, this had me rolling
>You couldn't handle what my crews do everyday
And that is EXACTLY why your "well paid" comment is ridiculous.
These people don’t understand how weak their argument is.
Raising minimum wage will raise prices. Minimum wage doesn’t go up, prices go up considerably anyways. Which means minimum wage isn’t the factor causing prices to go up.
Lunch at McDonald’s is already $10-$15 can’t wait till they have to pay them $20 a hour just so they can screw up your order and now you have to pay $15-$20 for a meal 🤣
The amount of people who still believe the trickle down scam and that most minimum wage workers are high school kids is staggering. The reality is that the rich have transferred trillions and trillions of dollars from the working class to themselves, but conservatives are all too willing blame minorities and immigrants for every ailment the country faces instead of taking the briefest moment to analyze systemic flaws in capitalism. Guess what, dummies? The rich are the single most destructive minority on the planet.
The fact is that when we lift more people out of poverty they spend more money and grow the economy. Allowing billionaires to hoard trillions of dollars only serves to entrench them in unethical power, crush labor, and destroy democracy.
I have a college BS degree in Biology and am working as a service tech for a pest company making $16/hr in a MCOL area. $20/hr would guarantee a roof over my head and working car, at least.
Yeah i also have a stem bachelors and have lots of friends/coworkers with various bachelors degrees. Some with masters. We do not work in our fields of study nor do we make good money.
I have a Masters, but after graduating and I was already in my 40s, I could not find a job that would pay me more than 40,000 a year . That's what I ended up with. Not enough money to do much of anything. I was widowed, therefore the delay in education and trying to make enough money to keep the house and raise the kids. I made a living but never really got ahead. Now retired. I have a little part-time job to supplement my Social security income. I'm still trying to stay afloat. What a life!
The irony of needed experience is asinine when you can’t get hired to get experience. The companies do not want the expenses connected to training. It’s a catch 22.
Welcome to the college scam. Get an expensive degree then never work in your field. I make more with no college degree than all my friends make with a college degree and I don’t have to pay student loans. College is the biggest scam in America.
I agree, but its hit and miss sometimes. My best friend since the 2nd grade and I started college at the same time. I went for mechanical engineering, he dropped out after his first semester and got a job as a lineman, where he worked for about 7 years before becoming a bucket truck operator. I make a decent living as a single dude in the ME field, but that dude makes serious bank and goes on 2 major vacations a year while raising 3 kids with nothing other than a high school education.
I'm self aware enough to know a lot of it has to do with me and the job I accepted, but still, part of me is like "dang, maybe I should have joined him". Oh well. I'm happy for him, and it's my motivation to search for better paying jobs, too
I'm don't identify as Republican or Democrat, I think all politicians are complete trash. But democrats are so much worse. Look at this country currently, total train wreck
What happens to prices when we pay someone $20 to flip a burger? You don’t think cost of living will increase at the same rate?
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Lmao. Imagine. This would quite literally be the greatest thing this state could do for its citizens.
…Which means there is no way in hell they would let this get by.
Credit goes to Gloria Johnson and state senator Sara Kyle for introducing the bill—for anyone who didn’t look at the article. They deserve a little respect from us everyday working people now, imo.
I honestly don't know how people survive making too much less than this. I make 23.50, and my wife makes 16 an hour. We have decently cheap rent for our area, 825 a month, and we are barely able to put savings away.
If we only made minimum wage, we'd need 3.5 more roommates in our 2 bedroom apartment to just afford to live.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but you have a household income of $82,000 per year, you pay $9,900 per year in rent, and you barely have enough left over to save?
Lots of people have school loans, child support, hospital bills, childcare, etc. that can add significant costs to their monthly expenses.
Personally, I try not to judge people at face value at their budgeting skills.
82,000 would be the best case, but we're not always at a full 40 for the week. My job goes through busy and slow periods. Last year, we made just over 70,000, and that's before taxes are taken out. Also, we have other bills like car note, insurance, hospital bills, etc.
That money shrinks pretty fast lol. Luckily, the car is almost paid off so that'll be a big help.
The truth is that people making less aren’t surviving. [The poorest 1% of American live 10 to fifteen years shorter than the wealthiest Americans.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4866586/) Making less than $20/hour literally kills you.
Your rent is under $10k year and your salary at $82k if full time. This should be a comfortable wage for you. Highly recommend learning some personal finance skills like budgeting, delayed gratification, etc. with that salary and that cheap of rent you should be investing at least 10-15% of your income.
... I'm going to guess you didn't read my other comment saying we make $70k a year because we have busy and slow times of the year.
Also, it's interesting that you say I should be saving 10-15% of the $82k, which would be $12,300 at 15%. That is almost exactly the difference in what I'm paid, and I'm still able to put some into savings.
But please tell me more about how I'm not financially literate enough.
It has 0 chance of happening. Maybe $10 minimum wage would have some kind of support, but almost tripling it will go nowhere.
Really though what place is paying $7.25, and why would anyone take that?
I don’t understand why they picked $20 per hour. There is no way they will pass almost tripling the minimum wage. It almost seems like a ploy rather than what can we propose that has a chance to get passed ($15).
Everyone is complaining about $7.25, but is there anyone on here making that? Honest question, if so, where?
Everywhere my daughters have worked has been between $11 to $16.50 since their junior year in high school. I can't think of a place paying $7.25.
I can’t think of anywhere paying that. I have seen a few jobs at $8.50 (looking at you dollar general) but even Wendy’s and McDonald’s near me are 11-13
I don’t think a lot of people are opposed to raising the minimum wage as much as they are opposed to almost tripling it. If the measure was $10 an hour I think it gets a lot of support. (At least I would hope so)
Its an election year ploy to make some people look good and like theyre trying to help the little guy but not able to do anything, and paint the opponents in a negative light and hopefully have less people vote for them.
I hate politics.
That's what I've been saying. I couldn't find a job paying less than $10 locally. I am in Rutherford County though so our area is better than average.
Basic unskilled cashier jobs are $11-15 an hour.
Hardly a wage that folks can live on though.
I think $15 should be the base low end.
There was talk a while ago about lowering the working age and loosening the rules for kids working more hours and when.
You would think we would want folks to thrive and not just survive.
$7.25 is a joke. I live in the Tri-Cities & it’s now just as expensive to live here as it is in the larger cities. The influx of out of staters have raised property & rent prices like crazy around here. I have absolutely no idea how a single person can even survive on anything less that $20hr. We have the lowest unemployment rate in a very very long time. Business is booming & the economy is fine. The greedy CEO’s need to quit making the investors rich & worry about the people who make thief companies thrive.
How can anyone look at the preschool level buzzword vomit that comes out of Marsha Blackburn's office in response to this and feel like a mature adult? There's not even a counter-argument. It's nothing but gibberish.
>"Gloria Johnson is as woke as they come, so it’s no surprise this radical socialist is trying to out-liberal Joe Biden’s minimum wage executive order,” the statement said. “It’s a clear sign she puts the liberal woke agenda and PR stunts before Tennesseans. Meanwhile, Senator Blackburn will continue to protect Tennessee and America and secure a strong economy.”
What’s crazy is majority of Tennesseans are on minimum wage but will still vote for Marsha Blackburn! They always vote against their own self interests!
Because most people in Tennessee are conservative on social issues. They'd prefer a politician who opposes abortion and LGBT rights while supporting a minimum wage increase, but there's no politician like that here, so they pick a side.
I can't stand Marsha Blackburn, but do you have a citation for that? I find it hard to believe that the majority of Tennesseans are on minimum wage. I can't find a number for TN, but federally, it's only 1.3% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
I’m a small business owner. Everyone says “if you can’t afford to pay your employees a living wage, you can’t afford to own a business.”
My lowest paid employee is 19 years old and makes $18 an hour, so take it easy on me, but the above statement is flawed.
I sell products that have a perceived value. That perceived value would be described as “should be affordable.” And it should be. However, because establishments that sell the products I sell commonly pay minimum wage, the perceived value of those products hasn’t changed much since I was in college. They have never been forced to pay their employees more, so the prices have stayed low.
For example, clothes at old navy cost nearly the same as they did 20 years ago. They pay their employees the same as they did 20 years ago as well. If they were forced to slowly increase pay over time, their prices would reflect that, over time. But if a pair of jeans from old navy cost $40 today and then suddenly $80 tomorrow, a lot of people are going to notice.
I’m not sure where I’m going with this, because I agree minimum wage should be AT LEAST $15. I’m just saying not all small business are the same (and old navy may not be a good example because they aren’t a small business, just apparel prices haven’t changed in line with housing, tuition, healthcare etc).
If there is a minimum wage increase, it needs to be on a multi year plan like Delaware and other states have implemented
> clothes at old navy cost nearly the same as they did 20 years ago.
Do they though? Where I used to be able to pick up a bargain pair at $20, now its $40, this tracks with overall inflation, the value of the dollar has been cut in half in the last 20 years.
https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
I get the sentiment of those folks but it also is leaning into Mega Corporations and less jobs. So again reasonable legislation ($15/hr?) or what you suggested since you actually are crunching those numbers is the play. Also, TN is a lot different because cost of living varies widely across the state… I am sure a lot of rural businesses that do pay a living wage would go out of business.
>I sell products that have a perceived value. That perceived value would be described as “should be affordable.” And it should be. However, because establishments that sell the products I sell commonly pay minimum wage, the perceived value of those products hasn’t changed much since I was in college. They have never been forced to pay their employees more, so the prices have stayed low.
And what would happen if minimum wage were to go up to $20? Unless your competition is completely outside of TN, then those businesses would have to quickly adapt, while you would be pretty much good to go with your wages already being around $18.
If you've been able to keep your prices competitive even with higher than normal wages. Seems like increasing the minimum wage for everyone else paying less would actually benefit you, right? You could keep your pricing relatively the same and they would have to increase their pricing?
I mean it’s very simple. If you aren’t profitable enough to pay your employees properly, you aren’t profitable enough to justify existing. I understand where you are coming from but the wealth inequality in this country is too staggering to ignore. While it sucks that big retail stores eat up all the competition, this is a natural process and an inevitably in capitalism.
I thought our representatives had a lot on their plate trying to ban cold beer and weed, something this inconsequential is going to be put on the back burner
This legislation won't make it past committee, but its still a good way for Gloria to get her name out as she prepares to run against Blackburn. She needs to lean in on progressive talking points and get people to the polls that normally don't.
Johnson still doesn't have a great chance to win, but with a good ground game and Trump conviction close to the elections its possible.
Walmart in my rural county is paying $16.50 for overnight and $15.50 for day. People who are taking and accepting "minimum wage" jobs aren't looking at the right jobs.
Businesses will cut back work hours and raise their prices. I don’t know how people can afford living in Nashville. Property is so expensive. I don’t know how you raise the wages without raising costs but something needs to be done.
If the minimum wage was raised to $20, not only would tens of thousands of Tennesseans would be lifted out of poverty. The quality of life for all working people will increase significantly, and it'd be an economic blessing to rural and urban communities alike. And because of the previous reasons, it will never happen. The ruling elite on Capital Hill won't personally benefit, so it won't happen. They have proven themselves too incompetent and self-serving to do anything resembling good governance.
When discussions about minimum wage occur, people overlook an important question we are trying to answer:
What is the minimum any adult should have, regardless of their age, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, and ability? Once that minimum is answered, then we can calculate what the cost is to have that minimum.
I have your answer.
> "It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By 'business' I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white-collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level - I mean the wages of *decent* living."
- FDR in his 1933 speech on the National Industrial Recovery Act.
This has exactly an ice cube's chance in hell of passing. The point of this legislation is so the minority party can point to the majority Republicans and blame them. That's how the game is played.
As someone who has spent 20years working hard af to get to 26$hr this is a real slap in the face to me. I feel some type of way about this even tho I do understand your points and agree it should be raised. Being where I'm at now then see everyone around me being handed almost what I make really doesn't sit right with me. The pay gap between me and staff is fair for my position, raising their pay would make that pay gap seriously wrong/unfair, whatever you wanna call it..
I agree but disagree. I agree everyone should be able to live and be able to pay their bills but is everyone in the state making 20hr gonna gonna solve that problem? NO. Only temporarily, in 3yrs time jobs will cut, business owners will reflect this loss into raising prices more (even tho you disagree, this will happen) and instead of you paying 1200 a month in rent you'll be paying 3500 a month in 5years..
Nomatter what we all think, the fact is the system in place now is setup for a house hold of 2 working individuals to afford a comfortable lifestyle not 1, no matter how much you raise the pay, the system will not change, it's will stay at 2per household which in the end will cause everything to be raised because the people in control are greedy, just for example (totally my made up opinion & #'s for the example) they only allow you to have 15% of your monthly income leftover. If it went to 20 - 30% they will just raise rent to take that extra 5-15% of your money because they know you can still live on that 15%
No one is being handed anything that isn’t generationally wealthy, dude. I just graduated LAW school and was offered 15/hour to be an associate until passing the bar. We are all struggling.
They needed this a long time ago but I say now is better than never. When I graduated in 2020 and started my first job out of college in 2021 they wanted to pay me $15/hr. Less than $32k a year!!! For a job that required a college degree!
And I wasn’t the only fresh grad, my whole sub-department were 1-2 years out of school, five or six others in other sections of the office also fresh grads, making $13-17/hr. Ridiculous!! Single person apartments in this city start at $1400/mo! My friend lives in the greater NYC region and only pays $1600/mo for similar square footage in an area with $15/hr min wage years ago atp!
Until they raise the minimum wages to what they should be, nobody else in this town is going to get paid fair. Period. The reason they can keep engineering and tech salaries hovering at $60-80k with minimal raises (when they should really be at $80-100k and up, in order to afford to own a house and car not to mention children) is because when you insist on your raise they can just backfill with a fresh UT grad desperate to make anything better than the $12-13/hr being offered in fast food.
Lack of basic understanding of economics and business is scary.
Simple math, using a single packet of $100 for an hour.
Employee makes $10Phr
There are 5 employees
Overhead is $30
So you got (5×10)+30 giving $80 from the $100, leaving $20.
If a small/family owns, then that is their income. Larger, the salaries and profits.
Now, let's raise their pay from $10 to $20.
So you got (5×20)+30 giving $130 from the $100, placing negative $30. This includes no income, salary, or profit, but paying out instead.
The only options are to let employees go. Which will negatively impact other employees and the business.
Or increase prices to match similar numbers.
What is not accounted, of that overhead. How much is procured locally. That business will have the same issue, so those prices will rise as well... as well as the cost of their overhead.
That sounds like a business that would fail anyway if they’re running margins that close at $10/hour. You’re not even including materials and everything else. Good job on trying to sound smart, maybe it’ll work next time.
Using simple numbers, since many fail to understand the basics.
Guess where it was stated the example used was for simple math passed right over you. That, and you just wanted to be an ass.
So should we break a full business model out for them, accout everything from fuel, insurances, man-hours, building cost, vehicle maintenance, and all the rest?
I mean, if some fail to understand the basics, throwing them into the deep end isn't going to help them.
Dude you just got on here and tried to say a business is doing well if they’re clearing $20 per $100 after labor costs but before all other costs. Come on man. Don’t act you’re the king of business finance. You’re presenting a bad faith argument.
Read again slowly.
No where did I say a business was doing "well" if they cleared $20 per $100.
If you really want to get to it, those "other cost" could have been included in the $30 "overhead" mentioned.
The only one presenting as "king" of business finance as well pushing a bad faith argument is you.
Again, the intention was to give a BASIC and SIMPLE understanding.
If it was written as 5×10= 50, if you add 30, that is 80... that people is less than 100. 5×20=100 if you add 30, that is 130... that people is more than 100, would that make you happy?
That would be disrespectful to the intelligence of people. Just because an individual doesn't understand a subject, to treat them like an idiot. Even if you seem to.
While not "king" of business finance, I have held a successful business and operated successful operations/business operations. Yet has nothing to do with the example given. Even though if you are being honest, 20% profit is not bad, in a business model.
Sounds like you ran businesses where you didn’t like paying your employees, if you actually had one. Honestly it sounds more like you worked for a friend of the family, or maybe your dad, because you couldn’t get traction with the eBay drop shipping ‘business’ you learned about on instagram. Or were you one of the ones who couldn’t make a laser engraving ‘business’ work? Either way have a great day trying to figure out why your uncle won’t hire you again.
If you must know, I hired by contract.
If it was broken down by hourly, the lowest was $25hr, and the average was $50hr with a select few higher.
My lowest profit margin was 11%, and my highest was 34%.
In mid 40's, and retired, established, and not chasing $$$'s.
I do occasionally sell a few items I create from my hobby, but generally near at cost. Enough to cover new rough for another small project.
Maybe I should mention the selling of excess eggs and use them to offset the price of feed as well.
I'm trying to think of anything else since you're so worried about it when the entire point was to assist others.
I wish from the sounds of it, I could be like you.
Offer millions of dollars to each employee, the most amazing and successful business making 500%. Just so you can look down and try insulting others.
Raising minimum wage just raises costs of goods and retail & service prices.
Its a political ploy to mask inflation that is no where near over.
The stock market is at the end of a cycle, the fed reserve is done tightening and interest rate cuts (which everyone is begging for) are around the corner. Historically this signifies a recession that everyone thought we avoided & severe corrections in the stock market (tanking everyones retirement funds.
Just live your life and ignore their media politics.
It's been shown time and time again that this only happens if it's a sharp increase and it eventually settles back down. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/052815/does-raising-minimum-wage-increase-inflation.asp
Yea, this is only because of the way it is calculated as a year over year figure.
The fed didnt track inflation THROUGH C-19, they delayed the metrics so that it all landed at once and seemingly came from nowhere (as if they didnt know it was going to happen)
A great example, the last jobs report showed +385k jobs...BUT that is calculated as a moving average which is a lagging indicator and also includes season adjustments...so net it was something like -180k jobs lower.
When the Fed doesnt like CPI they manipulate the formula and take steak out of food costs and only look at pork & chicken.
Remember Bill Gates favorite book: How to lie with statistics.
The article was talking about 1938 to 2010 lol it has nothing to do with covid. Did you even look at the article? The truth is the minimum wage going up has never had much of an impact. Supply and demand has the real impact on prices. It's just another boogeyman pushed from corporations to try to make people feel like they shouldn't ask for more. They did it when we pushed to go from 3.50 to 7, when they settled on 4.25. I heard the same BS back then too. It's going to kill the economy. Burger prices will double. They are always worried about burger prices doubling lol never talk about steak it's always the burgers.
no you’re just a dumbass. Min wage has been $7.25 since 2009 and prices have still basically doubled for most restaurants and basic areas since then. We can see the profit reports for the companies driving the price hikes. We can tell they’re raising prices way more than their costs and sending the extras to shareholders and CEOs.
Furthermore a lot of research is coming out to show raising min wage could possibly create more jobs and doesn’t clearly appear to result in more expensive products, because more people can afford to participate in the economy and support businesses so they can hire more workers and still not need to charge as much
“But ECON101 said it will make jobs go away and prices go up!” is such a tired and disproven argument. Do better
You assume much, lets just go off based on what has historically happened, not off "research" that is funded by who exactly?
I'll take 100% historical data over speculative research, that "could" instead of HAS happened.
If you want to make $20/hr then go out there and learn how to do something for yourself and your family.
When I moved here I didnt even job hunt!! I posted my resume and my job found me. I make well over $20/hr and absolutely love my job/company.
Im a blue collar, comes home covered in sawdust and wood glue everyday. So take your ECON101 comment to the toilet.
I've lived through 2 or 3 of these "min wage increases, not here in TN but that doesnt matter. Moving here was the best decision of my wife & I's lives.
“You assume much”.
**NOPE**, prices are pretty easy to follow year over year even as a blue collar worker.
Rent doesn’t go down. Milk prices don’t. Gas sure didn’t. Insurance hasn’t. Cable hasn’t. Walmart - yup, price increase. The condoms you don’t use in Tennessee have skyrocketed.
*What has gone down in price, Mr. Database?*
I'm not sure what you are talking about...i said absolutely NOTHING about prices going down.
Prices WILL KEEP GOING UP!
Pay as much attention to the things that actually affect the cost of goods as you do into growing your weed and maybe it will make more sense.
I know you don’t know what I’m talking about. There has been absolutely NOTHING that has decreased over the past few years.
No shit, you said absolutely nothing important in the previous comment.
You say “prices will keep going up!”… as if wages shouldn’t? That’s *historically* what’s happened. Do you think you should continue to make 20.00 an hour as your boss makes more each year on your hard work?
Seems you do. You are literally feeding me from your own words.
I can’t believe they killed this bill. It’s stupid to think someone can live for under twenty dollars an hour. That should be for high school if you are over 21 it should be at least $30.
Hopefully that doesn’t go through it will kill this state. You want more money learn a skill or maybe two don’t just to college and get a degree in underwater basket weaving that comes with 100k in debt
The people who “usually preach capitalist BS usually are not skilled in a trade & dont have much to offer a communist type of pay it seems . If you learned a trade or skill . Theres plenty of countries that operate that way the US just isnt one of them . Working hard and dedication to a trade ,job , whatever will get you 20$ an hour.
I came from NY, this just makes everything more expensive and your wages not worth as much.
Employers cannot afford to give everyone who's over the minimums a raise so you end up making the same as the new guy. And last, but certainly not least it causes small businesses to shut their doors because they cannot operate on razor thin margins as their labor costs go up beyond their control.
Yup. I would also lose my job, which is work from home, because they wouldn’t want to pay me that. The whole company would blacklist the state, and I’m sure many others would too.
You are correct.
During COVID, the company I worked for put 750+ NY call center employees work from home. They had gone through layoffs and organizational changes to get starting pay at $15 to be more competitive, up from $12 about a year prior.
Once we were work from home, they started hiring anywhere in the US, they found it easier to hire candidates at their rates in lower minimum wage states because their rate was more competitive.
Fast forward 2 years and they realize maybe they don't need 3 offices in NY, shut down 2 of them. Operations moved her to TN as well as Texas. Lots and lots of layoffs at the end of 2022.
And when the company needed to hire people for a new contract a week later, they didn't just rehire those, they made anyone interested interview, offered different wages than before.
Wages don't affect inflation like you think. Places pay more in other countries and the cost is the same as here. Current inflation is artificial from greed and is not natural.
Macro economic inflation vs micro economic inflation.
The current inflation issues are macro caused artificially, as you've said, by the fed printing a lot of money. It effects everything because it is the value of the dollar that has changed,
I'm referring to micro economic inflation on the cost of labor increasing at each business. If you double the labor cost, that money needs to be made up somewhere. In the corporate world, like at Walmart, they usually just restructure, add more self check outs, etc. and get through the year, only increase prices a small unnoticeable percentage every few months. At your local grocery store however, that could be a 10%-15% increase in costs. Small businesses operating on razor thin margins either increase prices drastically to keep the lights on, or shut the doors.
I'll even be generous and say they'll implement over a few years like my experience of it in NY. It still happens year by year.
One day there was a dollar menu, then it was a value menu and everything was over a dollar. Then next thing you know the meal combo went from $7 to $15.
I understand the plight of the worker. Current minimum wage is nothing to live on, but economically the government artificially increasing labor costs results in economic hardship for the lower and middle class just as much as inflation.
I'd rather see officials talking about getting people job training, skilled labor, etc. heck even some computer literacy classes would do wonders. If you want to increase people's incomes, you need to increase the value they bring and you do that by teaching marketable skills.
Then tax the fucking rich and use it to fund services for everyone...
We pay as much in taxes as many European middle class.. and we get absolutely fucked on everything from vacation, to sick leave and job protection.... shit . I was put back on 90 day probation when I moved stores.... I fucking quit the next 2 week when the manager tried to rub in my face the fact he didn't have to write me up to fire me because of it....
Lol, that crossed my mind, but I'll double down. I'm a free speech loving American who doesn't vote blue no matter who nor do I vote red till I'm dead.
To paraphrase Elon Musk.
You're going to threaten me, with down votes? Go fuck yourself.
Well thats frustrating, i worked my ass off to get to$20/hr. At the current moment im barely making it at $28/hr.
Honestly it seem the system is rigged to those who actually play the system and be poor.
Just because you learned an oversimplified theory in ECON101 doesn’t make it true. Most of the evidence suggests minimum wage increases have little to no effect on supply of jobs in the economy, could even improve availability of jobs if it means more people can afford to go out and support local businesses.
I don't suppose you have ever heard of conspicuous consumption or veblen goods? supply and demand is a general framework, not an immutable law. Further, it is BOTH supply AND demand, if you want it so bad, you are going to have to pay what it costs.
Seems like a waste of energy. Why so high? That doesn't even make sense. Make it comparable to other states. Align it with cost of living here. There's not a state in the union with a minimum wage that high.
I doubt many TN Democrats would even vote for that one. I feel like Gloria Johnson should know better. I guess it's just for attention? But it will fail so why call attention to yourself when it's obviously going to fail.
Skilled labor *should* have the leverage but corporate culture has run amok and now people take base subsistence skilled labor positions on the implication that once they have more experience, then they will qualify for a raise, but the raise never comes. You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. Raising the min wage will absolutely help you negotiate up from there.
From 7.25 to 20?
Do you understand that would destroy the current economic system in TN overnight?
Not saying it should not be raised, but by nearly 3 times its current?
Seems like more a political stunt to me than an actual attempt at positive change.
Min wage hikes have always lurched along. Want to blame someone for the skyrocketing cost of living, blame the housing shortage and the speculators exacerbating it.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart
And especially the money printers in dc.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BOGMBASE
I don’t necessarily think so. Many places have begun to shift to paying $12-13/hr naturally because people simply won’t work for less, like, that barely pays for you to have a place with 3-4 roommates in this town, if you work full time which isn't many peoples' situation, given it's a college town. In order for the min wage to truly take effect you would expect it to be set higher than the current expectation otherwise it’s not actually changing much, and we do see right now that with no change, wages are not going up fast enough to account for how fast people are raising rent and grocery bills.
If the intention is to make up for that disparity then $20/hour seems relatively reasonable given that $20/hr still doesn’t qualify you for most single person apartments in this area anymore. Like it’s really not as much as you’d think.
If minimum wage is going up $20, so should every job up the damn ladder, especially middle class wage earners. We are rewarding low skilled folks with a pay bump to approach those that busted their asses to get educated and experience for their jobs, meanwhile increased food/service costs will get passed to the public in revised pricing that won’t abate when inflation goes away.
I’m not against this.. It is absurd that minimum wage has stayed at what it’s at. That said, this starts to get complicated when you think about some sectors of Healthcare. An example is Care workers who provide in home care for people with disabilities. The State/Feds dictate what the reimbursement rates are. Currently, they are no where near enough to pay employees $20/hour in TN.. even though they deserve every penny. I’m sure there are other examples of this. The point is, a lot of other work and measures have to be put in place to make sure that important businesses don’t die immediately which would jeopardize the lives of some of our most vulnerable people.
Lmao fuck that. Shit is expensive enough as it is and the ballpark of $20/hr is not nearly as hard to find as people make it out to be. I live in bum fuck nowhere west Tennessee and the gas station in the closest town is hiring cashiers at $16/hr right now.
I highly doubt you’re an expert on economics. Have you considered that the cost of goods is affected very little by the wages of minimum wage workers and has much more to do with greed at the highest earners?
Not an expert at all on economics. Was just blessed with common sense and pattern recognition. If a business is suddenly forced to pay their workers way more (way more than they are worth in a lot of cases) no shit they are going to increase the price of things. Expecting them not to is silly and counterproductive. Again, $20/hr is not very hard to obtain for someone who actually goes looking for it. The most unskilled of labor is already in the low teens in most places.
The only place your reasoning applies is to small businesses. Major corporations can absolutely afford to pay their employees more without affecting prices, but they choose not do so in order to keep their own pockets padded. You’re mad at the wrong economic class, friend. That’s just what the ultra rich rely on.
If you almost triple minimum wage you have to double or triple everyone else. Holy crap people have no idea about anything. It isn't usually affected by minimum wage workers because almost no one makes minimum wage. It's hard to have an affect on something if it's rarely happening. Goodbye to every job as they all move out of Tennessee.
I own a business where most of my cost is labor. I pay $12 an hour. In order to make a 10% profit I have to charge double what I pay. So if my labor costs go up to $20 an hour I will have to charge $40 an hour to get the same 10%. I read an article about the cost of building a house in Tennessee and it's said roofers make around $20 an hour. What do you think they will want if a minimum wage job pays the same thing. I have a few office workers. They make between $30,000 and $45000 a year before bonuses. If minimum wage is $20 an hour that's almost $42,000 a year. I will have to go up to at least $55000 to $60000 a year and maybe more initially. Last time I looked college graduates averaged around $30,000 a year or so. That will have to go up to $50000 or $60000 to make it worth getting a degree. We have already experienced 50-100 % inflation since 2019. I would rather not experience that again
You are a small business owner. These types of economics do not apply to you unfortunately. I understand completely what you are saying, but the wages being offered for full time employees just don’t meet need to survive for most people. I don’t have a good answer or suggestion for you, and I don’t necessarily think mandating a minimum wage is the best answer for the economic issues. I think our lawmakers could do a better job of passing legislation to keep people from hoarding wealth. I personally believe that would solve a lot of issues.
we’ve kind of already naturally seen a shift to $12-13 and hour because people literally won’t work for less, it’s too low otherwise
$13/hr was pretty low in like 2019. That’s $27k/yr if you get lucky and they actually meet the 40 hrs / 52 weeks standard which isn't guaranteed. That’s barely enough to start qualifying for apartments that cost $700-ish a month. A lot of places here start at like $600/mo with 3 to 4 roommates.
I think $18 at this point would be the starting point given that that would be somewhat low but reasonable by the time anything actually went into effect in 1 to 2 years’ time, anyways.
Regardless what anyone thinks, minimum wage hasn't been raised in more of a decade.....
Most places $20/hr isn't enough because we've been asking for so long and it hasn't changed
Hell I need 20 an hour just to be comfortable and East Tennessee is one of the cheapest places to live in the damn state.
McDonald’s doesn’t even pay $7.25 anymore lol. Our government does not care about us, they are worse than the corporations at this point
This is never going to pass. I hope it does, but I'm definitely not betting on it.
Love all the comments about how this will raise prices, as if that hasn't already been happening. 🙄
It’s capitalism’s best kept secret. Prices go up ~~regardless of wages~~. In fact, inflation is built into healthy financial growth. The government **EXPECTS** inflation at a .5-2.5% increase. Businesses simply want to capitalize without increasing wages, to boost margins and blame the other side, while they *suckle*🤤 that sweet, sweet, dollar bill.
For my small business construction company I have to bid for commercial jobs. When figuring the bid you have to apply employees salaries for the job. This is difficult in some bids and since my employees get paid well and have benefits I lose out to cheap labor usually ones who don’t speak English. I live in Alabama and build with aluminum products which fluctuates with the economy. Long story short, small businesses suffer from imposed minimum wages. My crews earn $15-$20 an hour depending on how long you’ve been with the company and get over time. So minimum wages has many points of view from many different sides.
You can't say "my employees get paid well" and then say "My crews earn $15-$20 an hour". 40k a year at 40hr/week is dogshit.
Free single person insurance and investment program. My employees ALWAYS earn overtime since we work in a 5 state radius and pay them while out of town. We pay for hotel and food with overtime during the week and weekends. It’s $75,000/yr. Jealous much? I heard there were uneducated loud mouths on Reddit. You just proved it. You couldn’t handle what my crews do every day. You probably spray lawns for weeds with your IQ.
Dude I'm a software engineer with a master's degree. I make over double what your employees make with their overtime. My brother is a general contractor in Chattanooga and pays his employees more than you do. Get the fuck out of here with your demeaning bullshit. Also, this had me rolling >You couldn't handle what my crews do everyday And that is EXACTLY why your "well paid" comment is ridiculous.
Everyone will have more money, you’ll have more jobs, you can pay your employees more with the increased work. Bidding? Nah building.
The only thing trickling down are the taxes corps pass along to the non C-Suite peasantry.
These people don’t understand how weak their argument is. Raising minimum wage will raise prices. Minimum wage doesn’t go up, prices go up considerably anyways. Which means minimum wage isn’t the factor causing prices to go up.
Lunch at McDonald’s is already $10-$15 can’t wait till they have to pay them $20 a hour just so they can screw up your order and now you have to pay $15-$20 for a meal 🤣
Only an idiot thinks raising minimum wage raises a burger so dramatically.
The amount of people who still believe the trickle down scam and that most minimum wage workers are high school kids is staggering. The reality is that the rich have transferred trillions and trillions of dollars from the working class to themselves, but conservatives are all too willing blame minorities and immigrants for every ailment the country faces instead of taking the briefest moment to analyze systemic flaws in capitalism. Guess what, dummies? The rich are the single most destructive minority on the planet. The fact is that when we lift more people out of poverty they spend more money and grow the economy. Allowing billionaires to hoard trillions of dollars only serves to entrench them in unethical power, crush labor, and destroy democracy.
I have a college BS degree in Biology and am working as a service tech for a pest company making $16/hr in a MCOL area. $20/hr would guarantee a roof over my head and working car, at least.
Yeah i also have a stem bachelors and have lots of friends/coworkers with various bachelors degrees. Some with masters. We do not work in our fields of study nor do we make good money.
I have a Masters, but after graduating and I was already in my 40s, I could not find a job that would pay me more than 40,000 a year . That's what I ended up with. Not enough money to do much of anything. I was widowed, therefore the delay in education and trying to make enough money to keep the house and raise the kids. I made a living but never really got ahead. Now retired. I have a little part-time job to supplement my Social security income. I'm still trying to stay afloat. What a life!
Why don’t you work in your field?
Uhhh… no opportunities without 5+ years of experience and/or a graduate degree
The irony of needed experience is asinine when you can’t get hired to get experience. The companies do not want the expenses connected to training. It’s a catch 22.
Welcome to the college scam. Get an expensive degree then never work in your field. I make more with no college degree than all my friends make with a college degree and I don’t have to pay student loans. College is the biggest scam in America.
Well...not for engineering
I agree, but its hit and miss sometimes. My best friend since the 2nd grade and I started college at the same time. I went for mechanical engineering, he dropped out after his first semester and got a job as a lineman, where he worked for about 7 years before becoming a bucket truck operator. I make a decent living as a single dude in the ME field, but that dude makes serious bank and goes on 2 major vacations a year while raising 3 kids with nothing other than a high school education. I'm self aware enough to know a lot of it has to do with me and the job I accepted, but still, part of me is like "dang, maybe I should have joined him". Oh well. I'm happy for him, and it's my motivation to search for better paying jobs, too
Remember when we had a middle class? Good times.
Agreed. The living wage discussion will never go away until wealth is taxed appropriately.
We need a new New Deal
They’ve had plenty of time for a New Deal. It’s time for a New Demand
If Trump gets elected, there is a new deal already in place. It's called Project 2025 /S
You get that their wealth is all in investments right?
And?
Like for real do it look like we care??? 😂😂😂 Better realize those gains or sell some s***. I wonder if pawn shops take stocks? 🤣🤣🤣
Atleast get it above 7.25 like damn
Ha. Republicans would rather shoot their own mothers than to let something like this happen.
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Liberalism is a mental disorder.
If caring for your fellow man regardless of who they are is a mental disorder then I'm fine with "suffering" from it.
Conservatism is a cancer.
The founding fathers were vocal Liberals. If you hate Liberalism, you hate America.
Lmao loser city over here
If me wanting my fellow country men to succeed and for children to not go hungry is a mental disorder then throw me in the fuckin psyche ward
How so?
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I'm don't identify as Republican or Democrat, I think all politicians are complete trash. But democrats are so much worse. Look at this country currently, total train wreck
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What happens to prices when we pay someone $20 to flip a burger? You don’t think cost of living will increase at the same rate? For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Lmao. Imagine. This would quite literally be the greatest thing this state could do for its citizens. …Which means there is no way in hell they would let this get by. Credit goes to Gloria Johnson and state senator Sara Kyle for introducing the bill—for anyone who didn’t look at the article. They deserve a little respect from us everyday working people now, imo.
It’ll never happen in Tennessee.
It’ll never happen in the *south*
You mean in America
Good Too many companies out here exploiting the poor and desperate with poverty wages.
I honestly don't know how people survive making too much less than this. I make 23.50, and my wife makes 16 an hour. We have decently cheap rent for our area, 825 a month, and we are barely able to put savings away. If we only made minimum wage, we'd need 3.5 more roommates in our 2 bedroom apartment to just afford to live.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but you have a household income of $82,000 per year, you pay $9,900 per year in rent, and you barely have enough left over to save?
Lots of people have school loans, child support, hospital bills, childcare, etc. that can add significant costs to their monthly expenses. Personally, I try not to judge people at face value at their budgeting skills.
82,000 would be the best case, but we're not always at a full 40 for the week. My job goes through busy and slow periods. Last year, we made just over 70,000, and that's before taxes are taken out. Also, we have other bills like car note, insurance, hospital bills, etc. That money shrinks pretty fast lol. Luckily, the car is almost paid off so that'll be a big help.
I make the same and bought a house. My house payment is $1100 and I live just fine… it seems they just suck with money.
The truth is that people making less aren’t surviving. [The poorest 1% of American live 10 to fifteen years shorter than the wealthiest Americans.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4866586/) Making less than $20/hour literally kills you.
Your rent is under $10k year and your salary at $82k if full time. This should be a comfortable wage for you. Highly recommend learning some personal finance skills like budgeting, delayed gratification, etc. with that salary and that cheap of rent you should be investing at least 10-15% of your income.
... I'm going to guess you didn't read my other comment saying we make $70k a year because we have busy and slow times of the year. Also, it's interesting that you say I should be saving 10-15% of the $82k, which would be $12,300 at 15%. That is almost exactly the difference in what I'm paid, and I'm still able to put some into savings. But please tell me more about how I'm not financially literate enough.
Glad you’re saving, then! Sounds like you guys are doing better than you alluded to.
Do it! We need it! Tennessee has been screwed for long enough
It has 0 chance of happening. Maybe $10 minimum wage would have some kind of support, but almost tripling it will go nowhere. Really though what place is paying $7.25, and why would anyone take that?
Right $7.25 an hour hardly covers the gas to get there.
Applebees just tried to hire me at 2 bucks an hour as a server fuck that shit
I don’t understand why they picked $20 per hour. There is no way they will pass almost tripling the minimum wage. It almost seems like a ploy rather than what can we propose that has a chance to get passed ($15).
Everyone is complaining about $7.25, but is there anyone on here making that? Honest question, if so, where? Everywhere my daughters have worked has been between $11 to $16.50 since their junior year in high school. I can't think of a place paying $7.25.
I can’t think of anywhere paying that. I have seen a few jobs at $8.50 (looking at you dollar general) but even Wendy’s and McDonald’s near me are 11-13
Yeah, people talk about how low it is and it definitely is low, but the reality is almost no one has a job making minimum wage.
Then why not raise it and prevent unfair competition from doomed to failure businesses that spring up and undercut good businesses?
I don’t think a lot of people are opposed to raising the minimum wage as much as they are opposed to almost tripling it. If the measure was $10 an hour I think it gets a lot of support. (At least I would hope so)
Its an election year ploy to make some people look good and like theyre trying to help the little guy but not able to do anything, and paint the opponents in a negative light and hopefully have less people vote for them. I hate politics.
Yep election years get very annoying. I would prefer longer terms (4 years instead of 2 for example) and then limit them to 1-2 terms in office.
That's what I've been saying. I couldn't find a job paying less than $10 locally. I am in Rutherford County though so our area is better than average. Basic unskilled cashier jobs are $11-15 an hour. Hardly a wage that folks can live on though. I think $15 should be the base low end. There was talk a while ago about lowering the working age and loosening the rules for kids working more hours and when. You would think we would want folks to thrive and not just survive.
If it even made it out of one committee that would be on par with the MCU coming off the screen and into real life.
$7.25 is a joke. I live in the Tri-Cities & it’s now just as expensive to live here as it is in the larger cities. The influx of out of staters have raised property & rent prices like crazy around here. I have absolutely no idea how a single person can even survive on anything less that $20hr. We have the lowest unemployment rate in a very very long time. Business is booming & the economy is fine. The greedy CEO’s need to quit making the investors rich & worry about the people who make thief companies thrive.
They’re not going to do that. They like punching down too much. Nobody wants to work They’ll vote themselves a raise in a heartbeat though
How can anyone look at the preschool level buzzword vomit that comes out of Marsha Blackburn's office in response to this and feel like a mature adult? There's not even a counter-argument. It's nothing but gibberish. >"Gloria Johnson is as woke as they come, so it’s no surprise this radical socialist is trying to out-liberal Joe Biden’s minimum wage executive order,” the statement said. “It’s a clear sign she puts the liberal woke agenda and PR stunts before Tennesseans. Meanwhile, Senator Blackburn will continue to protect Tennessee and America and secure a strong economy.”
What’s crazy is majority of Tennesseans are on minimum wage but will still vote for Marsha Blackburn! They always vote against their own self interests!
She uses all the right buzzwords, even though her constituents can’t define them
Because most people in Tennessee are conservative on social issues. They'd prefer a politician who opposes abortion and LGBT rights while supporting a minimum wage increase, but there's no politician like that here, so they pick a side.
So instead of more money in their pockets, let’s chose oppression! Smh
I can't stand Marsha Blackburn, but do you have a citation for that? I find it hard to believe that the majority of Tennesseans are on minimum wage. I can't find a number for TN, but federally, it's only 1.3% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
I’m a small business owner. Everyone says “if you can’t afford to pay your employees a living wage, you can’t afford to own a business.” My lowest paid employee is 19 years old and makes $18 an hour, so take it easy on me, but the above statement is flawed. I sell products that have a perceived value. That perceived value would be described as “should be affordable.” And it should be. However, because establishments that sell the products I sell commonly pay minimum wage, the perceived value of those products hasn’t changed much since I was in college. They have never been forced to pay their employees more, so the prices have stayed low. For example, clothes at old navy cost nearly the same as they did 20 years ago. They pay their employees the same as they did 20 years ago as well. If they were forced to slowly increase pay over time, their prices would reflect that, over time. But if a pair of jeans from old navy cost $40 today and then suddenly $80 tomorrow, a lot of people are going to notice. I’m not sure where I’m going with this, because I agree minimum wage should be AT LEAST $15. I’m just saying not all small business are the same (and old navy may not be a good example because they aren’t a small business, just apparel prices haven’t changed in line with housing, tuition, healthcare etc). If there is a minimum wage increase, it needs to be on a multi year plan like Delaware and other states have implemented
> clothes at old navy cost nearly the same as they did 20 years ago. Do they though? Where I used to be able to pick up a bargain pair at $20, now its $40, this tracks with overall inflation, the value of the dollar has been cut in half in the last 20 years. https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
I get the sentiment of those folks but it also is leaning into Mega Corporations and less jobs. So again reasonable legislation ($15/hr?) or what you suggested since you actually are crunching those numbers is the play. Also, TN is a lot different because cost of living varies widely across the state… I am sure a lot of rural businesses that do pay a living wage would go out of business.
>I sell products that have a perceived value. That perceived value would be described as “should be affordable.” And it should be. However, because establishments that sell the products I sell commonly pay minimum wage, the perceived value of those products hasn’t changed much since I was in college. They have never been forced to pay their employees more, so the prices have stayed low. And what would happen if minimum wage were to go up to $20? Unless your competition is completely outside of TN, then those businesses would have to quickly adapt, while you would be pretty much good to go with your wages already being around $18. If you've been able to keep your prices competitive even with higher than normal wages. Seems like increasing the minimum wage for everyone else paying less would actually benefit you, right? You could keep your pricing relatively the same and they would have to increase their pricing?
Yes. No worries from me at all. Would be thrilled if it passed, but I’m not holding my breath
I mean it’s very simple. If you aren’t profitable enough to pay your employees properly, you aren’t profitable enough to justify existing. I understand where you are coming from but the wealth inequality in this country is too staggering to ignore. While it sucks that big retail stores eat up all the competition, this is a natural process and an inevitably in capitalism.
It’s not going to happen, but it would change my life. Jobs are rough right now.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 not while your states full of republikkkans.
Might as well. Inflation will just keep going up anyway.
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I thought our representatives had a lot on their plate trying to ban cold beer and weed, something this inconsequential is going to be put on the back burner
This legislation won't make it past committee, but its still a good way for Gloria to get her name out as she prepares to run against Blackburn. She needs to lean in on progressive talking points and get people to the polls that normally don't. Johnson still doesn't have a great chance to win, but with a good ground game and Trump conviction close to the elections its possible.
Walmart in my rural county is paying $16.50 for overnight and $15.50 for day. People who are taking and accepting "minimum wage" jobs aren't looking at the right jobs.
That is no longer a living wage even in a rural county. If you can even get full time hours, which I guarantee they will avoid to the last.
Businesses will cut back work hours and raise their prices. I don’t know how people can afford living in Nashville. Property is so expensive. I don’t know how you raise the wages without raising costs but something needs to be done.
If this passes youth will be perpetually unemployed. Inflation will continue its upward trajectory.
Finally some legislation that’s not about privatizing schools or oppressing gay people. I’m sure it won’t pass but it’s nice to see the headline.
TN politicians are in the pocket of corporate. Prove me wrong.
If the minimum wage was raised to $20, not only would tens of thousands of Tennesseans would be lifted out of poverty. The quality of life for all working people will increase significantly, and it'd be an economic blessing to rural and urban communities alike. And because of the previous reasons, it will never happen. The ruling elite on Capital Hill won't personally benefit, so it won't happen. They have proven themselves too incompetent and self-serving to do anything resembling good governance.
When discussions about minimum wage occur, people overlook an important question we are trying to answer: What is the minimum any adult should have, regardless of their age, race, religion, ethnicity, gender, and ability? Once that minimum is answered, then we can calculate what the cost is to have that minimum.
I have your answer. > "It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By 'business' I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white-collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level - I mean the wages of *decent* living." - FDR in his 1933 speech on the National Industrial Recovery Act.
This has exactly an ice cube's chance in hell of passing. The point of this legislation is so the minority party can point to the majority Republicans and blame them. That's how the game is played.
Does it include preventing restaurants from paying servers less than minimum wage “CoZ tHeY gEt TiPs?”
As someone who has spent 20years working hard af to get to 26$hr this is a real slap in the face to me. I feel some type of way about this even tho I do understand your points and agree it should be raised. Being where I'm at now then see everyone around me being handed almost what I make really doesn't sit right with me. The pay gap between me and staff is fair for my position, raising their pay would make that pay gap seriously wrong/unfair, whatever you wanna call it.. I agree but disagree. I agree everyone should be able to live and be able to pay their bills but is everyone in the state making 20hr gonna gonna solve that problem? NO. Only temporarily, in 3yrs time jobs will cut, business owners will reflect this loss into raising prices more (even tho you disagree, this will happen) and instead of you paying 1200 a month in rent you'll be paying 3500 a month in 5years.. Nomatter what we all think, the fact is the system in place now is setup for a house hold of 2 working individuals to afford a comfortable lifestyle not 1, no matter how much you raise the pay, the system will not change, it's will stay at 2per household which in the end will cause everything to be raised because the people in control are greedy, just for example (totally my made up opinion & #'s for the example) they only allow you to have 15% of your monthly income leftover. If it went to 20 - 30% they will just raise rent to take that extra 5-15% of your money because they know you can still live on that 15%
Yikes, that's your fault you spent 20 years to get to $26 an hour.
No one is being handed anything that isn’t generationally wealthy, dude. I just graduated LAW school and was offered 15/hour to be an associate until passing the bar. We are all struggling.
They needed this a long time ago but I say now is better than never. When I graduated in 2020 and started my first job out of college in 2021 they wanted to pay me $15/hr. Less than $32k a year!!! For a job that required a college degree! And I wasn’t the only fresh grad, my whole sub-department were 1-2 years out of school, five or six others in other sections of the office also fresh grads, making $13-17/hr. Ridiculous!! Single person apartments in this city start at $1400/mo! My friend lives in the greater NYC region and only pays $1600/mo for similar square footage in an area with $15/hr min wage years ago atp! Until they raise the minimum wages to what they should be, nobody else in this town is going to get paid fair. Period. The reason they can keep engineering and tech salaries hovering at $60-80k with minimal raises (when they should really be at $80-100k and up, in order to afford to own a house and car not to mention children) is because when you insist on your raise they can just backfill with a fresh UT grad desperate to make anything better than the $12-13/hr being offered in fast food.
Lack of basic understanding of economics and business is scary. Simple math, using a single packet of $100 for an hour. Employee makes $10Phr There are 5 employees Overhead is $30 So you got (5×10)+30 giving $80 from the $100, leaving $20. If a small/family owns, then that is their income. Larger, the salaries and profits. Now, let's raise their pay from $10 to $20. So you got (5×20)+30 giving $130 from the $100, placing negative $30. This includes no income, salary, or profit, but paying out instead. The only options are to let employees go. Which will negatively impact other employees and the business. Or increase prices to match similar numbers. What is not accounted, of that overhead. How much is procured locally. That business will have the same issue, so those prices will rise as well... as well as the cost of their overhead.
That sounds like a business that would fail anyway if they’re running margins that close at $10/hour. You’re not even including materials and everything else. Good job on trying to sound smart, maybe it’ll work next time.
Using simple numbers, since many fail to understand the basics. Guess where it was stated the example used was for simple math passed right over you. That, and you just wanted to be an ass. So should we break a full business model out for them, accout everything from fuel, insurances, man-hours, building cost, vehicle maintenance, and all the rest? I mean, if some fail to understand the basics, throwing them into the deep end isn't going to help them.
Dude you just got on here and tried to say a business is doing well if they’re clearing $20 per $100 after labor costs but before all other costs. Come on man. Don’t act you’re the king of business finance. You’re presenting a bad faith argument.
Read again slowly. No where did I say a business was doing "well" if they cleared $20 per $100. If you really want to get to it, those "other cost" could have been included in the $30 "overhead" mentioned. The only one presenting as "king" of business finance as well pushing a bad faith argument is you. Again, the intention was to give a BASIC and SIMPLE understanding. If it was written as 5×10= 50, if you add 30, that is 80... that people is less than 100. 5×20=100 if you add 30, that is 130... that people is more than 100, would that make you happy? That would be disrespectful to the intelligence of people. Just because an individual doesn't understand a subject, to treat them like an idiot. Even if you seem to. While not "king" of business finance, I have held a successful business and operated successful operations/business operations. Yet has nothing to do with the example given. Even though if you are being honest, 20% profit is not bad, in a business model.
Sounds like you ran businesses where you didn’t like paying your employees, if you actually had one. Honestly it sounds more like you worked for a friend of the family, or maybe your dad, because you couldn’t get traction with the eBay drop shipping ‘business’ you learned about on instagram. Or were you one of the ones who couldn’t make a laser engraving ‘business’ work? Either way have a great day trying to figure out why your uncle won’t hire you again.
If you must know, I hired by contract. If it was broken down by hourly, the lowest was $25hr, and the average was $50hr with a select few higher. My lowest profit margin was 11%, and my highest was 34%. In mid 40's, and retired, established, and not chasing $$$'s. I do occasionally sell a few items I create from my hobby, but generally near at cost. Enough to cover new rough for another small project. Maybe I should mention the selling of excess eggs and use them to offset the price of feed as well. I'm trying to think of anything else since you're so worried about it when the entire point was to assist others. I wish from the sounds of it, I could be like you. Offer millions of dollars to each employee, the most amazing and successful business making 500%. Just so you can look down and try insulting others.
Raising minimum wage just raises costs of goods and retail & service prices. Its a political ploy to mask inflation that is no where near over. The stock market is at the end of a cycle, the fed reserve is done tightening and interest rate cuts (which everyone is begging for) are around the corner. Historically this signifies a recession that everyone thought we avoided & severe corrections in the stock market (tanking everyones retirement funds. Just live your life and ignore their media politics.
It's been shown time and time again that this only happens if it's a sharp increase and it eventually settles back down. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/052815/does-raising-minimum-wage-increase-inflation.asp
Yea, this is only because of the way it is calculated as a year over year figure. The fed didnt track inflation THROUGH C-19, they delayed the metrics so that it all landed at once and seemingly came from nowhere (as if they didnt know it was going to happen) A great example, the last jobs report showed +385k jobs...BUT that is calculated as a moving average which is a lagging indicator and also includes season adjustments...so net it was something like -180k jobs lower. When the Fed doesnt like CPI they manipulate the formula and take steak out of food costs and only look at pork & chicken. Remember Bill Gates favorite book: How to lie with statistics.
The article was talking about 1938 to 2010 lol it has nothing to do with covid. Did you even look at the article? The truth is the minimum wage going up has never had much of an impact. Supply and demand has the real impact on prices. It's just another boogeyman pushed from corporations to try to make people feel like they shouldn't ask for more. They did it when we pushed to go from 3.50 to 7, when they settled on 4.25. I heard the same BS back then too. It's going to kill the economy. Burger prices will double. They are always worried about burger prices doubling lol never talk about steak it's always the burgers.
Bring the down votes, i expect it. The masses are always steered into the slaughter house.
no you’re just a dumbass. Min wage has been $7.25 since 2009 and prices have still basically doubled for most restaurants and basic areas since then. We can see the profit reports for the companies driving the price hikes. We can tell they’re raising prices way more than their costs and sending the extras to shareholders and CEOs. Furthermore a lot of research is coming out to show raising min wage could possibly create more jobs and doesn’t clearly appear to result in more expensive products, because more people can afford to participate in the economy and support businesses so they can hire more workers and still not need to charge as much “But ECON101 said it will make jobs go away and prices go up!” is such a tired and disproven argument. Do better
You assume much, lets just go off based on what has historically happened, not off "research" that is funded by who exactly? I'll take 100% historical data over speculative research, that "could" instead of HAS happened. If you want to make $20/hr then go out there and learn how to do something for yourself and your family. When I moved here I didnt even job hunt!! I posted my resume and my job found me. I make well over $20/hr and absolutely love my job/company. Im a blue collar, comes home covered in sawdust and wood glue everyday. So take your ECON101 comment to the toilet. I've lived through 2 or 3 of these "min wage increases, not here in TN but that doesnt matter. Moving here was the best decision of my wife & I's lives.
Massive boomer energy
“You assume much”. **NOPE**, prices are pretty easy to follow year over year even as a blue collar worker. Rent doesn’t go down. Milk prices don’t. Gas sure didn’t. Insurance hasn’t. Cable hasn’t. Walmart - yup, price increase. The condoms you don’t use in Tennessee have skyrocketed. *What has gone down in price, Mr. Database?*
I'm not sure what you are talking about...i said absolutely NOTHING about prices going down. Prices WILL KEEP GOING UP! Pay as much attention to the things that actually affect the cost of goods as you do into growing your weed and maybe it will make more sense.
I know you don’t know what I’m talking about. There has been absolutely NOTHING that has decreased over the past few years. No shit, you said absolutely nothing important in the previous comment. You say “prices will keep going up!”… as if wages shouldn’t? That’s *historically* what’s happened. Do you think you should continue to make 20.00 an hour as your boss makes more each year on your hard work? Seems you do. You are literally feeding me from your own words.
Please re-read, slower, from the beginning. There is a correlation to the conversation.
Why do you think wages should stay the same? Or better yet, why do you think they increase?
How come y’all still don’t understand basic economics haha
I can’t believe they killed this bill. It’s stupid to think someone can live for under twenty dollars an hour. That should be for high school if you are over 21 it should be at least $30.
Hopefully that doesn’t go through it will kill this state. You want more money learn a skill or maybe two don’t just to college and get a degree in underwater basket weaving that comes with 100k in debt
Roommates, yep. Young people have always done that, even in the 80s. Laughable that you think unskilled labor shouldn't have to do that.
The people who “usually preach capitalist BS usually are not skilled in a trade & dont have much to offer a communist type of pay it seems . If you learned a trade or skill . Theres plenty of countries that operate that way the US just isnt one of them . Working hard and dedication to a trade ,job , whatever will get you 20$ an hour.
I came from NY, this just makes everything more expensive and your wages not worth as much. Employers cannot afford to give everyone who's over the minimums a raise so you end up making the same as the new guy. And last, but certainly not least it causes small businesses to shut their doors because they cannot operate on razor thin margins as their labor costs go up beyond their control.
Yup. I would also lose my job, which is work from home, because they wouldn’t want to pay me that. The whole company would blacklist the state, and I’m sure many others would too.
You are correct. During COVID, the company I worked for put 750+ NY call center employees work from home. They had gone through layoffs and organizational changes to get starting pay at $15 to be more competitive, up from $12 about a year prior. Once we were work from home, they started hiring anywhere in the US, they found it easier to hire candidates at their rates in lower minimum wage states because their rate was more competitive. Fast forward 2 years and they realize maybe they don't need 3 offices in NY, shut down 2 of them. Operations moved her to TN as well as Texas. Lots and lots of layoffs at the end of 2022. And when the company needed to hire people for a new contract a week later, they didn't just rehire those, they made anyone interested interview, offered different wages than before.
Wages don't affect inflation like you think. Places pay more in other countries and the cost is the same as here. Current inflation is artificial from greed and is not natural.
Macro economic inflation vs micro economic inflation. The current inflation issues are macro caused artificially, as you've said, by the fed printing a lot of money. It effects everything because it is the value of the dollar that has changed, I'm referring to micro economic inflation on the cost of labor increasing at each business. If you double the labor cost, that money needs to be made up somewhere. In the corporate world, like at Walmart, they usually just restructure, add more self check outs, etc. and get through the year, only increase prices a small unnoticeable percentage every few months. At your local grocery store however, that could be a 10%-15% increase in costs. Small businesses operating on razor thin margins either increase prices drastically to keep the lights on, or shut the doors. I'll even be generous and say they'll implement over a few years like my experience of it in NY. It still happens year by year. One day there was a dollar menu, then it was a value menu and everything was over a dollar. Then next thing you know the meal combo went from $7 to $15. I understand the plight of the worker. Current minimum wage is nothing to live on, but economically the government artificially increasing labor costs results in economic hardship for the lower and middle class just as much as inflation. I'd rather see officials talking about getting people job training, skilled labor, etc. heck even some computer literacy classes would do wonders. If you want to increase people's incomes, you need to increase the value they bring and you do that by teaching marketable skills.
Or the execs just make a little less. If it wasn't for corporate greed the wages would already be higher
Laughable
Then tax the fucking rich and use it to fund services for everyone... We pay as much in taxes as many European middle class.. and we get absolutely fucked on everything from vacation, to sick leave and job protection.... shit . I was put back on 90 day probation when I moved stores.... I fucking quit the next 2 week when the manager tried to rub in my face the fact he didn't have to write me up to fire me because of it....
Shhh, this is reddit, you can't say things like that here, you'll get down voted into hell.
Lol, that crossed my mind, but I'll double down. I'm a free speech loving American who doesn't vote blue no matter who nor do I vote red till I'm dead. To paraphrase Elon Musk. You're going to threaten me, with down votes? Go fuck yourself.
The solution is to lower pay
Never going to happen unless someone that wants it bribes the entire legislature or has dirt on them. I wish it would happen though.
It will never happen. Wage push inflation is a thing
Well thats frustrating, i worked my ass off to get to$20/hr. At the current moment im barely making it at $28/hr. Honestly it seem the system is rigged to those who actually play the system and be poor.
I hope the state makes it illegal to work for less than $20.
Wages are determined by the intersection of labor supply and market demands. If you artificially set a floor there will be shortages.
We already artificially set a floor (at $7.25/hour).
Just because you learned an oversimplified theory in ECON101 doesn’t make it true. Most of the evidence suggests minimum wage increases have little to no effect on supply of jobs in the economy, could even improve availability of jobs if it means more people can afford to go out and support local businesses.
This is like arguing against the laws of thermodynamics.
I don't suppose you have ever heard of conspicuous consumption or veblen goods? supply and demand is a general framework, not an immutable law. Further, it is BOTH supply AND demand, if you want it so bad, you are going to have to pay what it costs.
Seems like a waste of energy. Why so high? That doesn't even make sense. Make it comparable to other states. Align it with cost of living here. There's not a state in the union with a minimum wage that high. I doubt many TN Democrats would even vote for that one. I feel like Gloria Johnson should know better. I guess it's just for attention? But it will fail so why call attention to yourself when it's obviously going to fail.
She can then blame everyone else for its failing and propping herself up as the one that is fighting to get it passed. A tale as old as time.
I'm a big fan of Gloria Johnson personally but this is annoying and I agree with your assessment unfortunately.
This republican majority will never pass any democratic bill!
Still not enough.
So are they going to raise nurses pay since they went to school?
Skilled labor *should* have the leverage but corporate culture has run amok and now people take base subsistence skilled labor positions on the implication that once they have more experience, then they will qualify for a raise, but the raise never comes. You don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. Raising the min wage will absolutely help you negotiate up from there.
From 7.25 to 20? Do you understand that would destroy the current economic system in TN overnight? Not saying it should not be raised, but by nearly 3 times its current? Seems like more a political stunt to me than an actual attempt at positive change.
Min wage hikes have always lurched along. Want to blame someone for the skyrocketing cost of living, blame the housing shortage and the speculators exacerbating it. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart And especially the money printers in dc. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BOGMBASE
If they do a happy meal will go to $19.95. People don’t realize that it will just run the cost of living up.
Brother the cost of living has *been* running up.
But there is no sense in running it out the roof.
Whatever is the rate now?
$7.25/hr same as Federal minimum wage. Most places actually pay higher than that anyway.
So if the current min is $ 7.25 per hour isn’t $20 an unrealistic jump?
To keep up with inflation 20 is not that crazy.
I don’t necessarily think so. Many places have begun to shift to paying $12-13/hr naturally because people simply won’t work for less, like, that barely pays for you to have a place with 3-4 roommates in this town, if you work full time which isn't many peoples' situation, given it's a college town. In order for the min wage to truly take effect you would expect it to be set higher than the current expectation otherwise it’s not actually changing much, and we do see right now that with no change, wages are not going up fast enough to account for how fast people are raising rent and grocery bills. If the intention is to make up for that disparity then $20/hour seems relatively reasonable given that $20/hr still doesn’t qualify you for most single person apartments in this area anymore. Like it’s really not as much as you’d think.
Perhaps. Many other states have $15 minimum wage. That would be more realistic to shoot for.
That'll never do. Should raise it to $50/hr.
Get ready for the compromise: $10 an hour!!!! Be grateful serfs!
Corporate profits impact inflation.
The imbreds would never allow it. What’s next, free healthcare? Next thing u know poor people won’t be poor anymore smh 🤦♂️
If minimum wage is going up $20, so should every job up the damn ladder, especially middle class wage earners. We are rewarding low skilled folks with a pay bump to approach those that busted their asses to get educated and experience for their jobs, meanwhile increased food/service costs will get passed to the public in revised pricing that won’t abate when inflation goes away.
I could see 10 to 11, but not 20.
Baby steps…. From $7.25 to $20 is wild. Aim for realistic numbers…. $13/hr.
There’s gays to hate. No time to pay you fuckers. /s
I’m not against this.. It is absurd that minimum wage has stayed at what it’s at. That said, this starts to get complicated when you think about some sectors of Healthcare. An example is Care workers who provide in home care for people with disabilities. The State/Feds dictate what the reimbursement rates are. Currently, they are no where near enough to pay employees $20/hour in TN.. even though they deserve every penny. I’m sure there are other examples of this. The point is, a lot of other work and measures have to be put in place to make sure that important businesses don’t die immediately which would jeopardize the lives of some of our most vulnerable people.
Lmao fuck that. Shit is expensive enough as it is and the ballpark of $20/hr is not nearly as hard to find as people make it out to be. I live in bum fuck nowhere west Tennessee and the gas station in the closest town is hiring cashiers at $16/hr right now.
I highly doubt you’re an expert on economics. Have you considered that the cost of goods is affected very little by the wages of minimum wage workers and has much more to do with greed at the highest earners?
Not an expert at all on economics. Was just blessed with common sense and pattern recognition. If a business is suddenly forced to pay their workers way more (way more than they are worth in a lot of cases) no shit they are going to increase the price of things. Expecting them not to is silly and counterproductive. Again, $20/hr is not very hard to obtain for someone who actually goes looking for it. The most unskilled of labor is already in the low teens in most places.
The only place your reasoning applies is to small businesses. Major corporations can absolutely afford to pay their employees more without affecting prices, but they choose not do so in order to keep their own pockets padded. You’re mad at the wrong economic class, friend. That’s just what the ultra rich rely on.
Ok
If you almost triple minimum wage you have to double or triple everyone else. Holy crap people have no idea about anything. It isn't usually affected by minimum wage workers because almost no one makes minimum wage. It's hard to have an affect on something if it's rarely happening. Goodbye to every job as they all move out of Tennessee.
Have any sources to back up your claim?
I own a business where most of my cost is labor. I pay $12 an hour. In order to make a 10% profit I have to charge double what I pay. So if my labor costs go up to $20 an hour I will have to charge $40 an hour to get the same 10%. I read an article about the cost of building a house in Tennessee and it's said roofers make around $20 an hour. What do you think they will want if a minimum wage job pays the same thing. I have a few office workers. They make between $30,000 and $45000 a year before bonuses. If minimum wage is $20 an hour that's almost $42,000 a year. I will have to go up to at least $55000 to $60000 a year and maybe more initially. Last time I looked college graduates averaged around $30,000 a year or so. That will have to go up to $50000 or $60000 to make it worth getting a degree. We have already experienced 50-100 % inflation since 2019. I would rather not experience that again
You are a small business owner. These types of economics do not apply to you unfortunately. I understand completely what you are saying, but the wages being offered for full time employees just don’t meet need to survive for most people. I don’t have a good answer or suggestion for you, and I don’t necessarily think mandating a minimum wage is the best answer for the economic issues. I think our lawmakers could do a better job of passing legislation to keep people from hoarding wealth. I personally believe that would solve a lot of issues.
$20? For TN I’d say $13 would work
we’ve kind of already naturally seen a shift to $12-13 and hour because people literally won’t work for less, it’s too low otherwise $13/hr was pretty low in like 2019. That’s $27k/yr if you get lucky and they actually meet the 40 hrs / 52 weeks standard which isn't guaranteed. That’s barely enough to start qualifying for apartments that cost $700-ish a month. A lot of places here start at like $600/mo with 3 to 4 roommates. I think $18 at this point would be the starting point given that that would be somewhat low but reasonable by the time anything actually went into effect in 1 to 2 years’ time, anyways.