In the article "Justice at Work: Minimum Wage Laws and Social Equality” by Brishen Rogers states the following, “This ideal of “social equality” is most commonly associated with republican and communitarian theories of justice, but it is also central to major strands of egalitarian liberalism. Minimum wage laws advance social equality, and do so better than direct transfers, in several ways. They increase workers’ wages, which are a primary measure of the social value of work; they alter workplace power relationships by giving workers rights vis-à-vis employers; and they require employers and consumers to internalize costs of higher wages rather than mediating all distribution through the state.” Even though some people agree with this because …show more content…
So a higher minimum wage is widely seen as increasing the amount that low-income workers are paid, but with little, if any, attention given to the possibility that many of those workers will lose their jobs and even less attention given to reductions in on-the-job training and lower future productivity and earnings for those who keep their jobs.” This is a passage from the article “The Two Moralities of the Minimum Wage” by Dwight R. Lee. This article is important, by not only having it agree with me, but in the matter that this is the major consequences that can occur if the minimum wage is raised. Lee brings up a good point in saying that the ones who want it raised only think for themselves and don’t think about the effects on others and who it can hurt. Some people believe that raising it would help the low income families but it would hurt them because they would have to pay more for taxes and clothing, food, …show more content…
No one wants to be homeless and no one wants to go through hard times because it is an emotional roller coaster, and a huge life changing experience. Even if you have been an employee for a business for a long time, then the minimum wage goes higher, then you could still be fired from your stable job and what would you do then? If you are older, did you save enough for retirement? If not, what would you do if you can’t get a job? This is an occurring problem and because of this some families are unable to support for their families and are not able to buy gifts and celebrate certain occasions like Christmas and birthdays, but this person at first wanted higher minimum wage but did not think about the long term effects. Hardly anyone now a days actually thinks about the long term effects that their decisions have and especially when thinking about the future of the economy, you think people would think harder about making such a life altering decision. Going back to the retirement, some might say that their retirement funds would be higher due to them making more money, however, if things cost more like groceries and taxes, it doesn’t help your fund anymore. The laborer makes more but in return spends more for the items
For the past year I have watched my younger sister struggle to support herself and her now 11 month old baby. She makes more than minimum wage. She has struggled to the point where she was evicted and now lives with me. I have also experienced struggling on low pay. When I was 18 I was kicked out of my family’s house, and I was only making $8 an hour. There were days where I had to choose between paying rent and getting my electricity shut off, just because I couldn’t work enough hours to pay all of my bills. It can be very scary to only make minimum wage and have to support yourself. There are changes that need to be made so that every person can live properly with any job.
Imagine working under poor conditions for over 40 hours a week to afford basic human necessities only to remain nothing more than a cog in a corporal machine seen unworthy of livable wages. While this may seem unrealistic, it proves as reality for many lower class Americans. Minimum wage has seen a drastic decline in relation to the inflation of living costs, an issue addressed in Lew Prince’s, “The American Dream Needs a Fair Minimum Wage”. In the article, Prince, a business owner, states, “... in 1979, the minimum wage was $2.90 -- that would be $9.50, adjusted for inflation in 2014 dollars”. Even with this information, many americans above the poverty level line argue against an increase in wages. Although opinions often
Minimum wage is a topic that has been popping up since the 1980s. From whether we should lower it, or even raise it, but now in the 2000s minimum wage has been the center of attention more than ever. There are two sides to this topic of minimum wage; whether it creates more jobs or does not create jobs. Those who argue that raising minimum wage will create more jobs will have a rebuttal which is that it does not only cause the loss of jobs but that it would make things much worse and vice versa for those arguing raising minimum wage will cause loss of jobs. There will be two authors representing opposite views, Nicholas Johnson supporting minimum wage will not cost jobs with his article “ Evidence Shows Raising Minimum Wage Hasn’t Cost Jobs”
Many people against raising the minimum wage create arguments such as, “it will cause inflation”, or, “ it will result in job loss.” Not only are these arguments terribly untrue, they also cause a sense of panic towards the majority working-class. Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times. For more than 75 years, real GDP per capita has consistently increased, even when the wage has been
"When we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed."
The minimum wage today has a lot of issues; some people say it is not enough to live comfortably. Many agree that there needs to be an increase in minimum wages and by doing that it can help with our issues of poverty. Statistics show that a worker who is full time and earning minimum wage makes only $15,080 a year, which is under the federal poverty line for a family of two. (Gitis, 2013) The problem with that is $15,080 is not a sufficient amount that a person can live and grow on. “A family of two can consist of a mother and son or daughter, father and son or ...
Democracy stresses the equality of all individuals and insists that all men are created equal. Democracy does not persist on an equality of condition for all people or argue that all persons have a right to an equal share of worldly goods. Rather, its concept of equality insists that all are entitled to equality of opportunity and equality before the law. The democratic concept of equality holds that no person should be held back for any such arbitrary reasons as those based on race, color, religion, or gender. This concept of equality holds that each person must be free to develop himself or herself as fully as he or she can or cares to and that each person should be treated as the equal of all other persons by the law. We have come a great distance toward reaching the goal of equality for all in this country, but however close we are we are still at a considerable distance from a genuine universally recognized and respected equality for all. I will go into more details giving more information and making it clear to understand equality and civil rights for all and it affects everyone.
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And poof-he was gone" (Usual Suspects). Today's devil is not a physicla being, but a metaphorical one. That of inequality on a worldwide scale. Although people would like to think that social inequality has been all, but destroyed in modern society it is still featured heavily within our media. Social inequality is the process of society limiting or harming a group’s social status. Prejudice can be based on class, race, and gender. It exists in all levels of media and reality. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hunger Games show classism while The Little Mermaid and Antigone display sexism. Racism can be seen in The Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Black Like Me.
Since the cost of living has gone up drastically, raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do to boost the economy, lift workers morale and productivity, and improve the self sufficiency of potentially millions of American workers. Raising the minimum wage is a vital step in decreasing poverty and giving every family the opportunity to survive and succeed. Even businesses agree raising the minimum wage would give many customers more money to spend in turn increasing sales and higher profits for the companies. Therefore, raising the minimum wage would help and not hurt the economy and it would give many Americans a better livelihood and a more secured life. In today’s society it is very expensive to live in American and even getting by daily is difficult if you are living on minimum wage. Therefore, anyone who thinks the minimum wage should not be raised should try living in
Minimum wage was created as a price floor to protect workers from employers that wanted to provide them with low paying jobs. Cooper explains that “during periods of high unemployment many workers are forced to take lower paying jobs.... because there simply are no other options available to them.” Workers do not have any power during periods of unemployment. Employers can easily abuse their power and they will. Businesses try to make the most amount of money possible, meaning they will pay their workers little to nothing to increase their profit. Thus, the idea of Minimum wage contradicts itself because it is the reason for the high unemployment rate in America. Consequently, forcing workers to take low paying jobs because the supply of jobs is so
The people, who are for raising the minimum wage, are people who think that the reason for poverty is because of the minimum wage not being high enough. The first standard minimum wage is formed under the "Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the nationwide minimum wage was designed to lift millions of American workers out of poverty and to stimulate the economy"(Wittner). Today the people that are in favor of raising minimum wage believe that there should be another "Fair Labor Standards Act" to raise the national minimum wage to ten dollars and seventy-fo...
Americans are not wrong in thinking that increasing the minimum wage will increase low-wage working families’ incomes, and some of these families will rise above the national poverty threshold. While increasing the minimum wage might benefit some American families, it will hurt others. Increasing the minimum wage will eliminate many low wage jobs, which would then result in many people jobless and therefore, a substantial drop in those individuals’ household incomes (“The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income”). . “Raising the country’s minimum wage could boost the incomes of millions of Americans, but it could also potentially cut total employment by hundreds of thousands of workers” (Kurtzleben). An increase in the minimum wage lowers employment, which makes it harder for these workers with minimal skills to find a job. Congress then explains that low income families will actually not bring in any benefits from an increase of the minimum wage (“Would an Increase in the Federal Minimum Wage Help or Hinder Small Business” 2-3). While increasing the minimum wage might raise the standards of living for some low wage workers and families, if the increase in minimum wage reduces employment rates, there is no certain answer on what
Institutions are crucial for our society to be successful because it is a social and academic construction of a community in that institutions help us interact with each other and promote scientific research and findings, regardless of the cultures and values that each individual believes in; without institutions, there would be no order and stability in society. However, in the essay “Rent Seeking and the Making of an Unequal Society” by Joseph Stiglitz, Stiglitz disagrees by arguing that institutions actually prevent scientific research to evolve into scientific discoveries because monopolists and dominant forms such as Microsoft suppress innovation; however, this statement is unconscionable
Many critics claim that that raising minimum wage increases unemployment, especially for unskilled workers, and harms small businesses, including grocery stores and restaurants. The argument declares that companies such as these rely mostly on unskilled workers for labor, and if the minimum wage increases, then their profits and, therefore, hiring would decline, creating a...
Equality is a concept mankind never is able to grasp correctly. Of course humans will always search for different solutions to create fairness, but factors such as human greed, ignorance of mass populations, and even biological aspects stagnates the process of equality. The oldest and most relevant discussion on equality lies with the difference of sex; man versus woman. Initially, men, because of their physical superiority, were given the prospects many women never even dreamt to have. Conversely, as time has progressed, women have fought this unfair treatment with demands of suffrage and similar rights to those of their male equivalents. Greatly enough, this generation has done an exceptional job in the challenge of overcoming sexism and inequality. However, will this search for equality ever end? When can we say we have created an equal race of men and women? The fact of the matter is that it is truly impossible to have equality between the sexes because of predisposed circumstances that are not easily controllable in the slightest bit.