The Debate Over Minimum Wage - 940 Words

The debate on raising the minimum wage has been discussed in detail in Congress for the past eighteen months. But as of late, writer William Finnegan suggests, it is â€Å"among the many urgent issues that it [Congress] certainly won’t address.† Though this issue is important, Congress seems to be putting off making any real decision in regards to raising the minimum wage. The bill to raise minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 and hour over a two year period had been thrown around for months, but it does not seem to be passing. Ronald Reagan once said in 1980, â€Å"The minimum wage has caused more misery and unemployment than anything since the Great Depression.† This fact may still hold true today as Americans see the effects the debate over minimum wage is having. According to the National Association of Manufacturers the national minimum wage â€Å"constitute[d] a step in the direction of communism, bolshevism, fascism, and Nazism.† These negative views of minimum wage also believe that it will, in the end, only destroy the economy, doom American freedom, take jobs, and only hurt the people it is supposed to be helping. On the other hand, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said after introducing the minimum wage in 1933 that â€Å"No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.† He further clarified that by living wages he meant more than the bare minimum needed to scrape by, but â€Å"the wages ofShow MoreRelatedThe Debate Over The Minimum Wage Debate1737 Words   |  7 Pagesduring Carnegie’s time and would mark the very beginning of long and difficult process to achieve worker’s rights that still continue to this day. The minimum wage debate is without a doubt part of these negotiations and has taken the spotlight in recent years. There are two sides to the minimum wage debate: the employees fighting for higher wages who would like to earn enough to keep food on the table for their family, and the employer who is doing what they can to keep costs low and ensure thatRead MoreThe Debate Over T he Federal Minimum Wage2149 Words   |  9 PagesOver the past few years the debate over the raise of the federal minimum wage of the current $7.25 has been argued by both sides, whether it should be raised or not. With both side, the affirmative and negative making strong arguments for their side. We will take a look at how each side frames their issues as how well their counterpart can refute those claims. The affirmative would like to propose the raise of the federal minimum wage to $12.00 by the year 2020; this is the standard that most statesRead MoreEssay on The Debate over Raising the Minimum Wage1502 Words   |  7 PagesThe federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 an hour by Congress in 2009, something that has been carried out only a handful of times since the establishment of the wage in the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. Even with this modest rise in income, the minimum wage today does not provide for a decent standard of living. It has failed to keep pace with th e wage growth of an average American worker. The minimum wage was intended provide a minimum standard of living; to aid in alleviating povertyRead MoreEffects of Increasing Minimum Wage794 Words   |  3 Pagesa federal minimum wage is a good one. The idea is to protect low and unskilled workers and allow workers to earn a living wage. The recent debate on the floor, though, is whether or not to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour up to $10.10. President Barack Obama made this proposal during his annual State of the Union Address, and after this there were many hot debates about it. The debates focused not only on the pro side and the con side of increasing the minimum wage, but alsoRead MoreEffects of Increasing Minimum Wage Essay988 Words   |  4 Pagesidea of having a federal minimum wage is a good one. The idea is to protect low and unskilled workers from discrimination and allow all workers to earn a living wage. The recent debate on the floor, though, is whether or not to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour up to $10.10 per hour. President Barack Obama made this proposal during his annual State of the Union Address on January 28, and following this there were many hot debates about it. The debates focused not only on the advantagesRead MoreMinimum Wage Argument Jack Page 2/26/13 One of the hot topics recently in this country is the600 Words   |  3 PagesMinimum Wage Argument Jack Page 2/26/13 One of the hot topics recently in this country is the question, and debate, of should minimum wage be raised? With both sides wildly arguing about raising the minimum wage being good or bad, and the truth behind whether it will do more good than harm to this country. The question still remains with should it be raised? For supporters of the wage being raised they are excited for what the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors stated. â€Å"White House’s CouncilRead MoreMinimum Wage Should Be Legal1435 Words   |  6 PagesMinimum wage is currently a very heavily debated topic. Many are in favor of raising the current national minimum wage of $7.25 to a more livable wage; suggestions for this increase are anywhere between $9-15 per hour. While the minimum wage has been raised several times throughout the years, it has not been kept proportional to raises in inflation which has led to a decrease in the amount of goods that people are able to buy with those wages, in turn making their economic lives more difficult. ThoseRead MoreThe Issue Of The Minimum Wage1514 Words   |  7 Pages6-8 pages The issue of the minimum wage has recently come to the forefront of the debate on social policy. There is much disagreement over the wisdom of an increase in the minimum wage in the current fragile economic recovery. Some argue that a dramatic increase is what is needed in order to lift the standard of living for those in the bottom of the economic pyramid. Economists reason that the basic principle of supply and demand mandates than an increase in the wage would result in the loss ofRead MoreThe Minimum Wage Debacle1320 Words   |  6 PagesThe Minimum Wage Debacle â€Å"I could be easily replaced by someone tomorrow for less money.† What a dispiriting statement. I was told this from a coworker in October of last year. This coworker has worked for the same grocery store for over twenty years. His remark caused me to formulate many questions about the ethics of business. More specifically though is the question of how this can be a bigger problem than I had originally thought. I have worked many low end jobs, and have seen firstRead MoreMinimum Wage Of The United States Of America And Australia1031 Words   |  5 Pagesvarious countries see growth in their economy, there has also been significant differences in the wages set to employees in different countries. The lowest wages set by the law that are fixed to a particular amount which is also defined to be the price floor below which workers shall not sell their labor, has its own effects. The minimum wage law came into force as a matter of social justice amongst the low-wage wo rkers, also to reduce exploitation and see that workers can afford the standard basic living