Raising the minimum wage won't help

[Silver]

unless the cost of living decreases.

[The Grand Nudger]

Sure it would help, in that if the cost of living stayed the same or went up or went down, and we raised to minimum wage to meet it, that would be helpful regardless of whether the cost of living went up or down.

The common counter is some concern about rampant inflation which has never been shown to occur.

[brewer]

unless the cost of living decreases.

Are you referring to your significant other?

[The Grand Nudger]

We could even assume, and not without reason, that the cost of living will never go down, or never go down on average or in aggregate, and it would still be as helpful as it ever would be at any point in that gradual or meteoric rise to match minimum wages with minimum costs of living. We want or need the work done, we need living people to do it.

[Peebothuhlu]

At work.

I disagree.... kind of.

As I read the articles about how some American businesses are having trouble enticing low paid workers back to their low paying employment they seem to be blaming the American Government for making the 'Unemployment benefits' too high.

Dafaq?

Am pretty sure the Yank Gov'mint pays minimum when it can. Which makes one wonder about just how little a worker should 'Feel privileged' to work for.

There ard studies done that show having workers actually 'Have' free money to spend thd economy prospers.

It would seem that the'Flow of money is what keeps an economic system going.

(Two hourse to get this done. Much interrupted thoughts.)

Cheers.

[The Grand Nudger]

American businesses are not having any trouble, at all, enticing low paid workers. That's an assertion contrary to demonstrable fact.

There is no labor shortage. None. It's not a thing.

[Rev. Rye]

Sure it would help, in that if the cost of living stayed the same or went up or went down, and we raised to minimum wage to meet it, that would be helpful regardless of whether the cost of living went up or down.

The common counter is some concern about rampant inflation which has never been shown to occur.

Well, never been shown to occur in connection to raising the minimum wage, anyway.



Admittedly, not having enough money in your reserves to pay for the debt incurred in World War I isn't the same as raising the minimum wage.

[The Grand Nudger]

Ultimately, not having the cash on hand to pay a bill isn't why their currency went topsy turvey either. How many contemporary nations (then or now) have the currency on hand to satisfy all of their debts? Did they all go the way of the weimar?

National debt is not a household budget. The things that are or would seem to be intuitively true of a household budget are not necessarily true of a national debt . Tbt, most households would greatly enjoy those truths of national budgets or debts (or corporate budgets or debt, for that matter) unavailable and/or inapplicable to the individual household.

Even more to the point, a raise in real wages has only ever been shown to correlate with an increase in qol and individual wealth. This is one of those bits of americana that has long been settled, but for reasons of political expediency, is maintained as an open or contrapositive question for use as a wedge. When relatively poor people have more wealth, and specifically poor people - they spend it. This is good for the economy, not bad. The consumer economy relies on people holding and utilizing expendable wealth, after all.

[ignoramus]

If govt debt (more accurately, trying to pay the ever increasing money borrowed just to service the interest payments on said debt) is not important, why bother taxing anyone? Let people have more money to spend and grow the economy?

MMT has always been a flawed theory. There is a cost to everything. The piper always gets paid back in the end. And it is always the consumer that has to pay it.

For what it's worth, we do have raging inflation right now. No need to wait for it. It is a direct effect of money printing. But instead of going into tomatoes bread and milk, people have tripped over themselves buying stocks and houses. Low interest rates are the honey pot for huge borrowing to buy these. Interest rates in the US will be 5-6% by the end of the year. Then the banker clears the table over the next 2-3 years. The biggest wealth transfer in history.

[mascale]

U.S. Total Credit Market Debt Outstanding, (Federal Reserve Data), is $83.0 tril. not just the U. S. Federal portion, about $28.0 tril. People have mortgages and so on. Credit Cards are famous. Corporate obligations are famous. U.S. Personal Income is closer to $20.0 tril. The U.S. Federal financial system is how that becomes relevant.

A federal judge in San Diego created a parallel reasoning aside. California local gun ordinances are temporarily unconstitutional, likely appealed. The 2nd Amendment--the original colonials put really close to Amendment One(?)--creates a right to personal weapons and tools ownership. The subject of matches, however: Never comes up(?). The judge brought up a comparison of The Swiss Army knife to an AK-47 type weapon. George Washington knew nothing about either one, but did Know about Fire, and the the knife-like fire-starters. By 1828 or so, there even matches. Are matches constitutionally protected weapons? Even fireworks are regulated, is an answer source. The little red trucks are not thought unconstitutional, even(?), even though everyone has the right to own matches, light candles, and light fires.

Comparing, what the federal government owes is not usual credit. It is "Debt," but is match-like(?), a kind of tool. It is dependent upon acceptance of the currency: And even that is recently differently backed. Gold and silver have been replaced with U-235 and U-238, some might reason. The currency is accepted, or else(?). The federal debt is statutory. Usual private sector repayment rarely applies. The Federal Treasury keeps it acceptable, (bonds and notes). The debt instruments, (tools, like matches), are paid.

Your debt you repay. Federal debt you do not. No one person pays that debt. No nation of persons even pays it. It is statute-backed, "Fiat Money," now even so-called. When accounts need adjustment, then statutes apply. Clearly. $20.0 tril. Personal Income is hard-pressed to keep up with $65.0 tril. private sector debt. That could not be kept expanding forever. With basis only Personal Income: There is major reduced ability to accept a whole lot more private sector debt. So in waltzed the federal Government, and mostly in this century, staring out.

The banks have, (Or had) more cash than they lend. Interest rates are cheap. They are applied to horrific-level numbers, however. The outcome is way beyond Biblical, even in scope. You can, however deposit and withdraw money at will. You can buy and sell goods and services. The money is safe, and acceptable.

Oops!

Unless you don't have enough(?). There are hunger levels in USA again, and there were Food Lines. Herbert Hoover took a hit, expecting even the American Friends Service Committee to handle it(?). New Deal had to happen. "Minimum Wage" is now being replaced with "Living Wage." Re-read the opening sentences of the paragraph. Statutory Minimum Wage is a problem-response. The funny little red fire trucks are a problem-response. The regulation of the weapons actually protects the well-regulated militias--from the deranged, and from derangement. See now famous January 6, 2021, US Capitol building.

So debt and credit even include differently regulated forms--private and public. State and Local deficits are more akin to private. There are repayment and credit rules. The Federal Deficit has recently been reported to be keeping the market-place of customers: Even all flush with cash. No more food lines, and even lots more of the little Red Trucks can be created.

The need for the financial tool arose. Many will contend, with basis in recent events: That even a lot more Red Trucks will be necessary, where-ever it is that Republicans may win.

One curious asset: Evangelicals are not cheering any new need for an abundance of the new little Red Trucks, even! It may likely make better sense to not go out and vote, and there being no mail-in voting, or early voting, drop-off voting or other expansion.

"Crow, James Crow: Shaken, Not Stirred!
(No Lives Matter: Especially when at prayers!)