If the federal minimum wage had grown atHow a minimum wage of $27 would supercharge the economy
"Imagine you had a worker putting in 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, at 27 bucks an hour," Baker said."That worker's earning $54,000 a year. Imagine our lowest-paid worker — the people cleaning the bathrooms, the people busing tables in restaurants — getting $54,000 a year. If you had two minimum-wage workers as a couple, $108,000 a year would be their family income."
Those families would not only be able to afford to live in the communities where they work, they'd also have money to spend — on meals, on clothes and housewares, on their children, on educational and small business opportunities for themselves. That increased demand would be a boon for local businesses, which would have to hire more workers to deal with the influx of customers.
Baker is clear that simply raising the wage isn't enough to repair the massive inequality that has grown with the diminishing of the minimum wage.
It's only when we ensure that money flows throughout the economy — and is not just hoarded up at the top — that we can address the real damage caused by 50 years of trickle-down economics.Subscribe to push notifications
paulconstant (unpopular opinion) Since most American workers are actually lazy does that mean that we should lower the minimum wage to a dollar an hour? These are the same assholes that can't even manage to keep a shake machine working.
paulconstant Thatd be one expensive cheeseburger 😅😅
paulconstant Minimum wage in Australia is currently at AU$22.33/hour + any additional penalty rates for working overtime &/or weekends/public holidays etc. That equates to ~US$15.25/hour at current AU$ exchange rate. However, the cost of living has significantly increased in Australia, too.
paulconstant sorry I don't work inside, no thanks.
paulconstant Why don't inflation calculators calculate before 1913? There was no inflation before then? The gold standard held down inflation and deflation?
paulconstant 观点：一位经济学家（作者paulconstant）说，如果最低工资与生产率保持同步，美国工人每小时应该挣27美元