Treasury Secretary Nominee Likes $7.25 an hour minimum wage

[Fantine]

Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake." It looks like Treasury nominee, billionaire Scott Bessent, has modernized it to "Let them eat at food pantries and soup kitchens."

MSN

For everyone who thought Trump would usher in prosperity, this is what's being ushered in.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) questioned Bessent on the issue, highlighting that over 22 million American workers earn less than $15 an hour, with nearly 40 million earning under $17. Sanders criticized the stagnant federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour—which has not increased since 2009—and asked if Bessent would support efforts to raise it to a living wage. Bessent's simple reply of, "No sir," as he laced his fingers together ended the exchange.

Once again, everyday Americans get lost in the shuffle.

 

[Vambram]

How would raising the Federal minimum wage per hour effect the 50 states in America already have minimum wages above the federal minimum wage?

 

[Fantine]

15 states have $7.25 minimum wages, including Texas. 5 states have no minimum wage guarantee at all, but must comply with the federal minimum wage law of $7.25.

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According to Sen. Sanders, 22 million people earn under $15 an hour, 40 million under $17 an hour. While they might make more than $7.25 an hour, they are not making enough to keep body and soul together.

 

[CtC]

It is important to remember that "how much you earn per hour" is less important than "how much you can buy with what you earn." Buying power is ultimately what is important. One problem with minimum wage (especially high minimums) is that it forces business to be restrained in their hiring practices. This means, most often, less people employed overall.

Every time that prices increase (inflation) people call for an increase in the minimum wage. Every time minimum wage increases, businesses increase prices.

Instead of focusing on the downstream effects of bad decisions, focus on the bad decisions...
for instance:

spending money that is not in the budget (in the USA, this is almost always remedied by printing more money, which causes inflation)
giving money away instead of putting it towards the goods and services that are needed
fraud
waste
and, of course, abuse.

Eliminate the bad decisions, fraud, waste, and abuse, and prices come down. At some point, minimum wage because useless; actually, counter-productive.

(if you listen to politicians, they will gleefully leave out the real issues, so that you focus on their spin, which enables them to make bad decisions)

 

[Fantine]

No one is talking about restricting the bonuses for billionaire hedge fund managers like Bessent, who has a net worth of $1 billion.

Trump has said: "Concluding his statement, Trump vowed that together, he and Bessent would “make America rich again, prosperous again, affordable again, and, most importantly, great again.”'

Sounds kind of hypocritical to me if the only way they think America can be prosperous, rich, and affordable is by having 22 million underpaid serfs toiling for the rest of us. Not to mention that a lot of those underpaid serfs put all their hopes and dreams up in the election booth based on false and broken promises.

 

[CtC]

No one is talking about restricting the bonuses for billionaire hedge fund managers like Bessent, who has a net worth of $1 billion.

Trump has said: "Concluding his statement, Trump vowed that together, he and Bessent would “make America rich again, prosperous again, affordable again, and, most importantly, great again.”'

Sounds kind of hypocritical to me if the only way they think America can be prosperous, rich, and affordable is by having 22 million underpaid serfs toiling for the rest of us. Not to mention that a lot of those underpaid serfs put all their hopes and dreams up in the election booth based on false and broken promises.

You make some very good points. It is imperative that more people step up to SERVE in government, so that the ballot has as many good options as possible. Further, if you want to prevent hedge fund managers from becoming millionaires and billionaires, compete. The more successful you are, the more opportunity you have to empower everyone around you.

 

[JSRG]

Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake."

Actually, that quote is almost certainly apocryphal.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake." It looks like Treasury nominee, billionaire Scott Bessent, has modernized it to "Let them eat at food pantries and soup kitchens."

MSN

For everyone who thought Trump would usher in prosperity, this is what's being ushered in.

Once again, everyday Americans get lost in the shuffle.

You don't get rich giving all your money to the people who work for you.

 

[Pommer]

Eliminate the bad decisions, fraud, waste, and abuse, and prices come down. At some point, minimum wage because useless; actually, counter-productive.

Prices cannot “come down”; they can stay the same for a while but if we get into a deflationary period it could signal the end of our happy little experiment.

 

[Richard T]

It is important to remember that "how much you earn per hour" is less important than "how much you can buy with what you earn." Buying power is ultimately what is important. One problem with minimum wage (especially high minimums) is that it forces business to be restrained in their hiring practices. This means, most often, less people employed overall.

Every time that prices increase (inflation) people call for an increase in the minimum wage. Every time minimum wage increases, businesses increase prices.

Instead of focusing on the downstream effects of bad decisions, focus on the bad decisions...
for instance:

spending money that is not in the budget (in the USA, this is almost always remedied by printing more money, which causes inflation)
giving money away instead of putting it towards the goods and services that are needed
fraud
waste
and, of course, abuse.

Eliminate the bad decisions, fraud, waste, and abuse, and prices come down. At some point, minimum wage because useless; actually, counter-productive.

(if you listen to politicians, they will gleefully leave out the real issues, so that you focus on their spin, which enables them to make bad decisions)

Your assessment of inflation is excellent in that quantitative easing and huge deficit spending are the culprits for inflation. However, it is a stretch to suggest that Federal min wage workers are pushing inflation. There are about a million workers in the USA at the Federal minimum wage. Characteristics of minimum wage workers, 2022 That seems incredible to me because in most places employers could never find workers at the Federal Min wage because it is a below market wage. As to the one million, I have to think that a modest increase in the Fed. min wage is justified and would not hurt those frugal employers who do use it. I doubt 50 cents an hour puts any business at risk. More likely the productivity of the worker could make up for that difference. If not, the business is so much on the margin that it might be better to shut down anyway.

 

[RileyG]

No one, absolutely no one, can survive on $7.25 full time unless they had several roommates and no children.

It's poverty level!

 

[RileyG]

Actually, that quote is almost certainly apocryphal.

Correct.

 

[Richard T]

No one, absolutely no one, can survive on $7.25 full time unless they had several roommates and no children.

It's poverty level!

It was a few years back but in my state if you had a single min wage earner in a family of 4, their effective wage was 17.50 an hour if they got most of the benefits that were available to them from the government. This included SNAP, HUD subsidies for rent based on income, energy, internet and phone assistance. TANF benefit can be as much as 60% of the poverty line, but the minimum is 11%. https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/policy-basics-an-introduction-to-tanf. Not too mention medicaid and other health subsidies, earned income credits etc.
So of course many min wage workers are subsidized by the government. I'm sure some of these programs are not the most efficient but I do think raising min wage is better then more welfare.

 

[Fantine]

It's often says that taxpayers subsidize low-paid workers and allow businesses to get away with paying them peanuts.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

It's often says that taxpayers subsidize low-paid workers and allow businesses to get away with paying them peanuts.

Wal-Mart comes to mind.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Where are all the folks crowing about "slavery"?

 

[RileyG]

Where are all the folks crowing about "slavery"?

Minimum wage jobs can be seen as a form of slavery.

And no, those jobs aren’t just for high school students and those who want to supplement their income.

Who will be there during school hours and extra curricular activities?

They need adults.

 

[RileyG]

Wal-Mart comes to mind.

I know a woman, who has two sons (her oldest son came out as transgender but that’s a different topic) from two different fathers who was an employee of Wal-Mart. She was let go and worked at the Waffle House.

Her oldest son was a year ahead of me and her youngest son was a year younger than me. During childbirth, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her younger son’s neck which caused him to lose oxygen to his brain. He had severe intellectual disability and at 17 had a mind of a third grader.

Growing up, she was employed at the local grocery store. She later left and found a job at house cleaning in the hospital.

She eventually met a man online, got married, was scammed, and moved to Texas.

She still lives with her special needs son who I think is 28? June of 1996, I think. I was born in October 1995.

Those low income jobs would have never supported her family.

 

[JSRG]

No one, absolutely no one, can survive on $7.25 full time unless they had several roommates and no children.

It's poverty level!

I expect few if any jobs are actually paying $7.25/hour. Inflation has rendered the federal minimum wage essentially irrelevant, and thus there is effectively no minimum wage, federally at least (some states have higher minimum wage laws).

But once they're on the books, it's incredibly hard to get rid of a minimum wage law. So if someone thinks there shouldn't be a minimum wage--and I have seem some economics arguments that it's better not to have one that seem reasonable to me--the way to do that is to just never raise the minimum wage and have the law become obsolete naturally.

 

[RileyG]

I expect few if any jobs are actually paying $7.25/hour. Inflation has rendered the federal minimum wage essentially irrelevant, and thus there is effectively no minimum wage, federally at least (some states have higher minimum wage laws).

But once they're on the books, it's incredibly hard to get rid of a minimum wage law. So if someone thinks there shouldn't be a minimum wage--and I have seem some economics arguments that it's better not to have one that seem reasonable to me--the way to do that is to just never raise the minimum wage and have the law become obsolete naturally.

I agree. Most minimum wages throughout the United States are above $7.25.

In my state it is currently $12.