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Little-Acorn
04-17-2014, 04:58 PM
The Democrats' War on Businesses goes on.

The non-partisan COngressional Business Office has calculated that the Democrats' proposed wage hike will costs American businesses $15 billion.

The Democrats have made no proposals on what expenses the businesses should reduce or cancel, to pay this extra money with no increase in productivity resulting from it.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/17/budget-office-wage-boost-would-cost-firms-15b/?intcmp=latestnews

Budget office: Wage boost would cost firms $15B

Published April 17, 2014
Associated Press

A Senate Democratic bill gradually increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 hourly would require private businesses to spend $15 billion more in salaries when it takes full effect in 2017, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday.

The Senate is expected to begin debating the election-year Democratic measure when lawmakers return from a spring recess in two weeks. Republicans seem likely to muster enough votes to block it, and there is no evidence yet that Democrats are willing to broker a compromise.

The minimum wage is currently $7.25 hourly. The bill by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would increase the minimum in three steps, reaching $10.10 two-and-a-half years after the bill becomes law.

The budget office also estimated that the measure would force state and local governments to pay workers $1 billion more in 2017 than they would otherwise be required. Those governments paid $840 billion in salaries in 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The federal government would incur just $2 million in added wage costs for the entire decade ending in 2024. That's because it has fewer than 4,000 workers earning less than $10.10 hourly, the budget office said.

But the Democratic bill would cost the government $5 billion in lost revenue over the coming decade.

DragonStryk72
04-17-2014, 10:02 PM
Sigh... They still don't get it. A min wage hike will not hurt the rich, it'll hurt the poor. Here's how: When the min wage goes up, places such as apartments and real estate offices re-figure their rent/sale prices based around the minimum wage and what scale they wish to be advertising to.

Then we have supermarkets, where the majority of employees make the minimum wage, and thus, hiking the wage brings up the costs of goods sold. Then you have managers' and union wages, which are generally "Min wage+X". So really, min wage hikes at this point are going to hurt more than they'll help. Yeah, there'll be a couple of months there where people are a little bit ahead, but that goes away as the cost of doing business goes up.

The big corporations won't even feel the pinch. Instead, it's the mom-and-pops that are going to have to face up to it. We'll lose a number of them, the locations of which will most likely get eaten up by one of the chain stores of the area, and we'll be right back here down the road.

If they really wanted to affect a meaningful change, they could go put limiter caps on the percent of profit made in rents and leases on housing and other properties. Like, for Low-Income area housing, you can make up to 50% profit (so let's say you have a property that costs 800 after all expenses, you could get 1200 for it, giving you 400 in profit), Middle 100%, and Upper 200%, and Luxury 300%. Now, mind you, not saying this is a great idea, but it would at least actually help the poor, as opposed to this.

And they're not ignorant of this, they know it won't really do anything. That's why they're doing it, because they can go after votes. If the bill succeeds, they get votes for the successful raise to the min wage they pushed through, and if it fails, they get to piss and moan about greedy Republican obstruction.

fj1200
04-18-2014, 03:48 AM
Sigh... They still don't get it. A min wage hike will not hurt the rich, it'll hurt the poor. Here's how: When the min wage goes up, places such as apartments and real estate offices re-figure their rent/sale prices based around the minimum wage and what scale they wish to be advertising to.

Cost-push inflation? I don't think so. It'll suck for the poor but not due to that IMO. It's the continuing shift from labor intensive jobs towards capital intensive jobs that reduce their overall opportunities in the long run.


If they really wanted to affect a meaningful change, they could go put limiter caps on the percent of profit made in rents and leases on housing and other properties. Like, for Low-Income area housing, you can make up to 50% profit (so let's say you have a property that costs 800 after all expenses, you could get 1200 for it, giving you 400 in profit), Middle 100%, and Upper 200%, and Luxury 300%. Now, mind you, not saying this is a great idea, but it would at least actually help the poor, as opposed to this.

:no: Rent control is bad mmkay. Under your scheme above why would anyone go into the low income housing area when they can have much larger margins serving the higher income?


As in the case of other price ceilings, rent control causes shortages, diminution in the quality of the product, and queues. But rent control differs from other such schemes. With price controls on gasoline, the waiting lines worked on a first-come-first-served basis. With rent control, because the law places sitting tenants first in the queue, many of them benefit.
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentControl.html

DragonStryk72
04-18-2014, 10:54 AM
Cost-push inflation? I don't think so. It'll suck for the poor but not due to that IMO. It's the continuing shift from labor intensive jobs towards capital intensive jobs that reduce their overall opportunities in the long run.

It almost has to, fj. I mean, every wage goes up, so how can the cost not go up? Businesses certainly aren't going to just suck it up.

:no: Rent control is bad mmkay. Under your scheme above why would anyone go into the low income housing area when they can have much larger margins serving the higher income?


http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentControl.html

Never said it was good, and in fact said it wasn't a great idea, but it would still be closer to a change that would actually help than what they're pulling.

fj1200
04-18-2014, 11:23 AM
It almost has to, fj. I mean, every wage goes up, so how can the cost not go up? Businesses certainly aren't going to just suck it up.

Inflation is a monetary phenomena IMO. It will effect margins but if the quantity of money doesn't go up there isn't any more money to chase fewer goods. Dated but:

Inflation: The Cost-Push Myth

Never said it was good, and in fact said it wasn't a great idea, but it would still be closer to a change that would actually help than what they're pulling.

It's short-term help at best and long-term "help" at worst. Rent control in NYC? Around since WWII and still going strong. Last I checked we (capitalism) won... or so I thought. :eek: