Nebraska minimum wage

[Ratt Mhule]

I never venture into this section of the board anymore ever since I got upset at the Dude for calling God a "magical sky fairy" But I wanted to start a debate, so here it goes. So I had one of my buddies girlfriend post about this on facebook the day after the election and it got pretty heated with some folks. She was against raising the minimum wage and it pissed some of her facebook friends off. I wanted to hear everyones opinion on this that lives in Nebraska. Are you happy, upset, indifferent? Do you think big companies will lay people off? Are you upset because you have a college degree and now burger flippers will make close to what you are? Will the prices of goods/services increase to combat the raise in wages?

[EbylHusker]

It's a good thing the measure passed. It won't cost people jobs (in fact, higher wages tend to reduce employee turnover, which actually ends up being good for the business). Anyone with any kind of real college degree that isn't making over minimum wage has other issues to worry about. I'm sure there are people out there, but they need to take a hard look at their life if it bothers them. As for increasing costs, yes there would most likely be an increase in costs passed on to the consumer at places that rely on minimum wage labor (such as McDonald's). However, labor costs at most places like that make up a small fraction of their total costs, which means any price increases would pretty small. I think McDonald's type places have something like a 15%-20% labor cost, if memory serves. People often forget that in places where mimimum wage labor is used, labor rarely makes up much of the cost passed on to consumers.

[tschu]

Fully support it being passed.

[Abdullah the Butcher]

Fully support it being passed.

 

I agree, wages are far below what they should be if it followed inflation.

 

The minimum wage of $1.60 an hour in 1968 would be $10.90 today when adjusted for inflation [see the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index inflation calculator.]

[strigori]

The min wage going up is a good thing. If you look at who is doing the most crying about it, it is not the small businessmen. They don't tend to pay min wage to very many employees in the first place. Now Walmart, Kroger, Hy-Vee, McDonalds, Burger King are the ones taking the hit. And I don't feel sorry for them one bit. Anyone who claims to dislike Government assistance should be all in favor of it also. The giant companies are getting away with tax payer subsidies on their wages by paying min wage(which no one can live on) and, in many cases like Walmart, encouraging their min wage workers to apply for assistance. I am sick of subsidizing greedy companies who are too cheap to pay their workers a wage they can live on.

[HSKR]

Fully support it being passed.

 

Not only did I support it but I voted for it as well. The reason it passed in Nebraska was because it was a modest and reasonable increase. That's how we do things in the Cornhusker State. For those companies like fast food restaurants and big box stores, it won't affect them too much since automation will eliminate most of those jobs anyway in the next decade or so.

[Hingle McCringleberry]

The min wage going up is a good thing. If you look at who is doing the most crying about it, it is not the small businessmen. They don't tend to pay min wage to very many employees in the first place. Now Walmart, Kroger, Hy-Vee, McDonalds, Burger King are the ones taking the hit. And I don't feel sorry for them one bit. Anyone who claims to dislike Government assistance should be all in favor of it also. The giant companies are getting away with tax payer subsidies on their wages by paying min wage(which no one can live on) and, in many cases like Walmart, encouraging their min wage workers to apply for assistance. I am sick of subsidizing greedy companies who are too cheap to pay their workers a wage they can live on.

 

 

Meh those jobs are on life support anyway. Jack in the Box has kiosks for ordering, McD's and the rest will follow suit as well. As for Walmart, and those large companies, self check out and switching from the bar code to RFID will do away with most of those jobs as well.