Kentucky Votes Forum

Introduced in the Senate on January 2, 2007

Click here to view bill details.

We've been over this in another thread. Raising the minimum wage is both unnecessary, and damaging to the economy. http://www.kentuckyvotes.org/Comment.aspx?ID=28885&ActionID=204651

If not the government, via the minimum wage, who will raise wages? CEOs, business owners. Wal-Mart, which pays just over minimum wage just so they can say that they don't have minimum wage workers. There not going to do it. Hell, they still have to help their workers get government assistance to make ends meet. A raise in minimum means a raise in wages just above minimum and so on. Who in the hell are these evil people who would deny Americans a living wage?

Minimum wage is for those jobs that are temporary or for a student while in school. It is not for the career minded bread winners of our country. Therefore there is no need to raise the minimum wage to keep up with the economy. Mommy and Daddy will take care of those needs. I also realise that there ARE some folks that work minimum jobs as bread winners. Let's give them money to go to school so that they can land a job that pays enough. education is the true answer to poverty. Peace to all. DJS

It time to stop playing politics with the usa mininum wage and give all workers who are earning a wage on the usa mininum wage a fair and living wage.We need a automatic increase in the usa federal mininum wage by at least $2.00- dollars per hour every 04-years every time we elect a usa president into office.We need a automatic increase in the usa federal mininum wage every 04-years until we see and get a usa federal mininum wage that pays all workers and wage earners a hourly pay wage of at least $12.00- to $14.00- dollars per hour.It is always the republicans in office and the republican party who are always and i mean always against raising the usa mininum wage wage that will help the poor / low-income /less-fortunate and homeless.I have always seen republicans do everything they can to take money away from the poor and the people who need it the most , and at the same time they do everything they can to give more money to the rich / wealthy and the special interests ( that the way it looks and seems to me ).

We've been over this in another thread. It won't help to simply increase minimum wage. The economy will counteract any minimum wage increase. We've seen this already in the increase in prices in restaurants in the Northern Kentucky area. Prices are already going up here because Ohio's minimum wage has gone up, and many of the restaurants here are Ohio-based, or have Ohio-based suppliers. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070331/BIZ01/703310334/-1/all Pay special attention to "Taking It Away". Empirical data that shows that minimum wage increases have already pushed the prices of food up to where this guy, who was making more than the old minimum wage, but less than the new minimum wage, has been hurt already by the increase. As I've stated in response to other legislation, minimum wage increases hurt the low wage worker, not help. The money comes from somewhere. Where do you think it comes from? A tree? The heavens? It comes from all of us, in the form of increased prices. Do you expect businesses to absorb that cost? Then you're mistaken. The costs are passed through to the consumer.

How can anyone say and even sugguest that raising the usa mininum hurts the poor / low income / less fortunate , that is nothing but nonsense.We always hear the republicans talk up the fear and hate campaigns when it comes to raising the usa mininum wage.We all know that some people will lose there jobs on a temp basics , but in the long haul the working poor are much better off because of the opportunity of making a much higher hourly pay scale rate.We always hear the same old tune over and over again from the republican party when it comes to any chance of raising the usa mininum wage that will help the poor and low income and less fortunate.I always see republicans in elected office doing everything they can to help the rich and wealthy and special interests , while at the same time they do everything they can to hurt and take away money and income away from the poor / low-income / less fortunate / homeless.I am let to see any strong efforts by any republicans to do anything that will help the poor and low income over the rich and wealthy and special interests. [ i always see the republican party doing everything they can to help the rich and wealthy , while at the same time doing everything they can to hurt the poor/less-fortunate/low-income/homeless ].I could be mistaken but that the way it looks to me.

A mininum wage increase will always help the lives of the people who need a pay wage increase hike the most , the lifes of the poor / low income / less fortunate / homeless.

First, since some association with Republicans and Minimum Wage is being made, I'd like to again reiterate that I'm not a Republican. On that same topic, Republicans have abandoned those principles, and if you look at the votes on the bill that did pass the KY House and Senate, with a veto-proof margin I might add, you'll see that yes, some Republicans voted against it. Other Republicans did vote for the increase, and without their votes, it would not have been a veto-proof majority. Second, to the somewhat unrelated point of Republicans "doing everything they can to help the rich and wealthy and special interests", they are a bought and paid-for political party, I agree. But if you think the Democratic Party is any different, you just haven't looked deep enough. Who is against the deportation of illegal immigrants, who take jobs away from Americans because they work, under the table, for half of minimum wage? And I'm not really for deportation, or a complete blocking of immigration. But the situation is out of control, and neither party serves our interests to resolve the issue. Next, let's look at the statement, "We all know that some people will lose there jobs on a temp basics , but in the long haul the working poor are much better off because of the opportunity of making a much higher hourly pay scale rate." How ridiculous is it to intentionally harm some lower-wage workers to (allegedly) benefit other lower-wage workers? Those positions don't come back over time, they go overseas, or over the border, where the Mexican labor and Chinese labor is far cheaper. And the quality of these goods is lower. Our goods used to be of higher quality, and therefore could compete with cheaper, lower-quality goods, because in the long-run, American goods generally lasted longer. But the American public only seems to care about quantity, not quality (see also: WalMart), and therefore the US continues to lose out. And I don't blame WalMart. They're bringing a product to the consumer, the consumer obviously wants to buy, based on WalMart's sales numbers. Even if the jobs do come back over time, is it fair to intentionally cause families harm every few years (or every 2 years, as you have proposed in the past), leading to instability in the home? The value of a dollar used to based on something real. It used to be based on how much Gold and Silver we had in the Federal Reserve. So at one time, including when minimum wage was enacted in the United States, minimum wage could have actually had an effect. Because there was a finite amount of money, giving more to the bottom meant that those above them -- whether way above, or just above -- had to give up some of their money to acheive this, economically. However, today the value of a dollar is based upon the "value of the economy". The simple calculation here is to divide the number of dollars in circulation into the "value" of the economy, and you get the value of a dollar. The US government now just prints money to cover shortfalls in the treasury, caused by any number of factors. This directly causes inflation -- the value of a dollar goes down when more is added to circulation. The federal government quit reporting the number of dollars in circulation as of March 2006. Which likely means we're already in for a period of massive inflation anyway, I guess we might as well pile-on. Also, the increase will increase the wages of between 9% and 16% of Americans (I wish I could find numbers specific to Kentucky. For the sake of this discussion, we'll assume the national average applies to Kentucky). However, since we know, from other discussions, that 4% make minimum wage, that means between 5% and 12% are getting a raise, but less than those making less. So basically, you've taken between 5% and 12% of Kentuckians and put them back on the bottom of the wage scale. Meanwhile, those making $8/hr aren't going to see a raise, and they'll be very close to the new bottom as well, where they were ahead by quite a bit. I'll wrap this up with a link to more supporting analysis of minimum wage. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901812.html Not surprisingly, WalMart supports minimum wage increases. Since it hurts smaller business the most, and smaller businesses are their primary competition, it won't be a big deal to them. And their goods are, for the most part, not made in this country.

I am a college student and have worked for minimum wage many years. I can honestly say a raise would help me. If I get a two dollar raise at work. I highly doubt the gas prices will go up two dollars. There may be some gradual increase in prices, but not a majoy jump. Buisnesses are always increasing their prices anyway, so at least this way I will have a little more money in my pocket. I doubt my car payment will go up, my medical bills that I owe or my student loans. Much of the working poor has debts like those and a minimum wage increase could really help them with those type of monthly bills. Someone had previously said in the forum that minimum wage jobs are for those who are students or temp jobs. Well I dont know where you are from, but with only a high school degree, sometimes it can be hard to get a good job, especially in small towns with limited buisness, such as mine. If someone feels it is a bad idea to raise minimum wage, money is obviously not one of their main concerns.Lastly. mommy and daddy are not always the best people with money and it I would have finacially depended on my parents, I might not have made it that far.

I am a college student and have worked for minimum wage many years. I can honestly say a raise would help me. If I get a two dollar raise at work. I highly doubt the gas prices will go up two dollars. There may be some gradual increase in prices, but not a majoy jump. Buisnesses are always increasing their prices anyway, so at least this way I will have a little more money in my pocket. I doubt my car payment will go up, my medical bills that I owe or my student loans. Much of the working poor has debts like those and a minimum wage increase could really help them with those type of monthly bills. Someone had previously said in the forum that minimum wage jobs are for those who are students or temp jobs. Well I dont know where you are from, but with only a high school degree, sometimes it can be hard to get a good job, especially in small towns with limited buisness, such as mine. If someone feels it is a bad idea to raise minimum wage, money is obviously not one of their main concerns.Lastly. mommy and daddy are not always the best people with money and it I would have finacially depended on my parents, I might not have made it that far.

What Jobs??????? Several decent paying jobs are leaving, automotive supply companies are down and laying off, and this IS Kentucky - not exactly a huge business hub in this country. Some people that work minimum wage jobs as bread winners do so because that's all there is available at the time they need an income. Yes, it's true that raising the minimum wage may increase other costs, but minimum wage has not changed in years and other costs already have even without a wage increase (IE. Gas, Milk, Utilities, etc). I feel that when the cost of living increases, minimum wage should also increase.

I just want to say that the user newmark has made some excellent points regarding min wage.

It needs to go up by the $2.00 more an hour. Families are going without basic needs because min. wage is to low. Gas is now over $3.08 and if you work 40 hours a week 1 day of your check is gone just to fill up your gas tank.

Have you stopped and looked at how the cost of living has increased since the minimum wage increase? This doesn't help people in poverty at all. The cost of milk has risen to almost $4 per gallon, detergent at Wal-Mart has risen astronomically, a loaf of bread is almost $2. After the July 1st increase this year, watch the prices rise again.