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karl marx analysis of a capitalist society
karl marx analysis of a capitalist society
karl marx analysis of a capitalist society
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Karl Marx’ capitalism theory goes hand in hand with the minimum wage issue. Declining wages and growing inequality are the world’s central economic challenges. In modern day America, where the cost of living is constantly on a gradual increase, the question arises: Should the minimum wage be increased? After doing some research, reading works by authors such as: Jordan Weissmann, Jared Bernstein, and Brad Plumer. I have come to the conclusion that, although increasing the minimum wage will have various effects on diverse demographics, increasing the minimum wage will ultimately benefit our nation. How would raising the minimum wage affect employers? On first thought, raising the minimum wage sounds like a no-brainer, but after looking at …show more content…
Although it may seem as if raising the minimum wage will be detrimental to the success of employers, According to Brad Plumer, chief editor for The Washington Post, there are many ways firms can work around this proposition. Plumer states that “There are lots of possible ways that companies can adjust to modest wage hikes besides hiring fewer people,” He proposes ideas for employers such as: cutting back on hours, reducing wages of other high paid workers, raising prices, and settling for fewer profits. In the end, it really comes down to the companies being greedy, and the nation accepting their greed. The ideas proposed by Plumer are high plausible, and would greatly benefit the lower, and middle class of society. The only thing holding employers back from this is that their profit margin will …show more content…
Raising the minimum wage sounds like a great proposal for the lower and middle classes, more money! Why not? Because people lose jobs. According to research conducted by Jared Bernstein, a fair argument presented by those who don’t want the minimum wage increased is that about 500,000 workers would lose their jobs. In actuality, that is about 0.3% of the total employment in the United States, which comes out to about 500,000 out of 16.5 million people who would lose jobs. On the other hand, he states that “It estimates that 16.5 million low-wage workers would directly benefit from the proposed increase to $10.10 by the second half of 2016,” He also states that 900,000 people in the U.S. would be lifted above the poverty line; this can benefit the U.S. internally and externally. Internally people will be more content with their wages and how the economy is working, and externally the U.S. will have 900,000 less people in poverty which will make our country look better as a
More than 4.6 million people live in poverty in the US. A question often raised when talking about minimum wage is, would raising it lower this number? The consensus is, yes, it would. If the federal minimum wage was raised, at lot of peoples’ incomes would grow, not just low wage workers. As employers shifted their pay scales upward, many incomes would grow. According to Jared Bernstein, the former chief economist of the Obama Administration, this isn’t as relevant as the impact is would have on low wage workers. He explains how, although many other people would benefit from an increase in minimum wage, most of the help would go to those who need it. He also notes, “We must be careful not to be wedded to poverty thresholds that are inadequate measures of who needs the help.” If the minimum wage was raised to $10.10 per hour, 2 million people would be lifted out of poverty (US Department of
The minimum wage was, as it should be, a living wage, for working men and women ... who are attempting to provide for their families, feed and clothe their children, heat their homes, [and] pay their mortgages. The cost-of-living inflation adjustment since 1981 would put the minimum wage at $4.79 today, instead of the $4.25 it will reach on April 1, 1991. That is a measure of how far we have failed the test of fairness to the working poor.” (Burkhauser 1)
Currently, in the United States, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 for the past six years; however, in 1938 when it first became a law, it was only $0.25. In the United States the federal minimum wage has been raised 22 times since 1938 by a significant amount due to changes in the economy. Minimum wage was created to help America in poverty and consumer power purchasing, but studies have shown that minimum wage increases do not reduce poverty. By increasing the minimum wage, it “will lift some families out of poverty, while other low-skilled workers may lose their jobs, which reduces their income and drops their families into poverty” (Wilson 4). When increasing minimum wage low-skilled, workers living in poor families,
The arguments for and against the minimum wage have been ongoing. On one hand, it’s simply a supply and demand issue. As prices (or wages) rise, the demand for that product (or labor) decreases—in other words, employers will simply stop or slow down their hiring. If the minimum wage increases too much, then it could even force some smaller firms out of business. Then even more people will be out of work. On the other hand, better paid employees could feel more motivation to increase their productivity. And increase in a company’s productivity could be high enough that, in order to keep up supply, it might need to hire even more employees. In this case, raising the minimum wage has increased employment.
These are just a few of the many awful effects that raising the minimum wage brings. When workers hear a raise in the minimum wage, all they think about is a bigger paycheck and not what will happen to low-skilled workers, the cost of living, and the added stress to unemployment rates. New workers with less skills will have a harder time finding a job. The cost of living is going to hike due to inflation. Unemployment rates will rise due to added stress on businesses. An increase in the minimum wage is great news to a high schooler saving up to buy a new phone, but terrible news to someone trying to raise a family. If the minimum wage continues to increase, these problems will get worse instead of
Small businesses operate with little capital and net profit margin. Opponents argue the increase of the minimum wage affect the small business owners the most because they have a hard time paying employees. The oppositions believe increasing the minimum wage creates a market distortion (“Federal Minimum Wage”). It means the government intervention in raising the minimum wage causes a higher price floor that defines as the minimum price for the employees’ service. Because of a higher price floor, it reduces the employment opportunities and business profit. For instance, according to Mark Wilson’s “The Negative Effects of Minimum Wage Laws”, he writes about a study conducted by Barry Hirsch and his co-authors about the methods of how employers adjust to a newly imposed minimum wage. In their study, employers cushion the impact of the minimum wage increase by “requiring better attendance, insisting that job duties are completed faster, imposing additional task on workers, minimizing hours worked with better scheduling, and terminating poor performers quickly.” In addition, businesses try to push the rising cost to consumers, which result in increased competition from imported goods. This makes them less competitive. The negative side of increasing the minimum wage affects employers, employees, and customers since study suggest every dollar bump to minimum wage workers come from the business owners’ or clients’ pockets; in addition, employers impose more job responsibilities to
In the article “Minimum Wage,” Barbara Mantel explores the views of her opponents who would like to see minimum wage increased, and states ‘that it would lead employers to automate workplaces and reduce job opportunities for the lowest-skilled workers, while doing nothing to reduce poverty or help the economy.’ Supporters of the increase in minimum wage do not realize that while helping some portion of the working-poor, the increase will not help those who fall into the non-working poverty category. One of the arguments of the opponent is to decrease poverty in America. However, increasing minimum wage is not going to do that because the minimum wage was created to make the labor structure fairer, not to alleviate poverty
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
The United States is home to nearly 317 million people to this date, with nearly 50 percent of them working on minimum wage jobs. That’s a lot of people working long hours every day for jobs that do not or barely pay them enough to feed themselves and their families. However, the rise of minimum wage would make plenty of jobs. The current unemployment rate in the U.S is 6.7 percent; the lowest it has been since president Obama took office. Most of this 6.7 percent is made up of teenagers and the middle aged who are looking for a second job to support their families. This is a demographic that would not settle for 7.50 an hour, even for part-time jobs, and the small pay discourages other groups of new workers to stay away from those jobs. Some of thes...
About eight million Americans go to work every day, yet they are still living below the poverty line (Camden and Stern). More than one million of them are retail workers. If the minimum wage was to escalate, 734,075 people would be lifted out of poverty. Also the 769,191 people that are living on or near the poverty line would see their incomes go above it by 150 percent. These workers are struggling to provide basic necessities for their family and themselves. If minimum wage was increased poverty could be reduced. Most families are relying on government assistance to provide things such as food by using an EBT food stamp card and Medicaid because they are making minimum wage. Also if a minimum wage worker is only making $5.15 per hour, it will be impossible trying to afford health insurance. Sometimes the benefits workers receive don’t always cov...
Gitterman, Daniel P. “Remaking A Bargain: The Political Logic Of The Minimum Wage In The United States.” Poverty And Public Policy 5.1 (2013): 3-36. EconLit. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
By raising the minimum wage, it would stimulate the economy in many ways. It would “increase the purchasing power of many workers whose wages would also go up” according to the article Raising the minimum wage: Guide to Critical Analysis. Another way that it would help the economy is that it would decrease the amount of people that would need government welfar...
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...
Minimum wage has been a topic that has divided our nation for a while now. Some say there should be an increase in the minimum wage while others say the should not be. In my Argument today, I will be in support for the raising of the minimum wage. If the minimum wage is to be increased, it will provide low-income family with money to spend. Furthermore, the more people spend, the better the economy so raising the minimum wage will boost our economy. And finally, raising the minimum wage will reduce the gab between the rich and the poor, which is also an issue in our nation.
A sensitive topic for many Americans is their income. Many people’s income relies on minimum wage. In 2012, 3.6 million people received an hourly pay at or below minimum wage. There is an ongoing debate in government as to what the minimum wage should be. Stuck at $7.25, Obama has suggested raising the minimum wage to $9.00. Depending on a person’s perspective, raising minimum wage could be positive or negative. Minimum wage has the ability to change lives, and change the economy. Small businesses and unemployment, teenage demographics, and the cost of civilian goods would be most affected.The only mystery is whether things would change for the better or for the worse.