Higher minumum wage won't help renters

[InRareForm]

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/05/25/no-relief-in-sight-for-minimum-wage-renters

[Nbadan]

There are only renters and owners...what I don't get is why home prices are rising at different rates in different parts of the country.....for instance my property in TX is red hot a 30% rise in 3 years according to the tax man....but other land investments in other attractive areas of the country have either stayed well below former market highs or have failed to rise entirely....my guess is that investors aren't buying the real expensive luxuary land and homes, but affordable 200K homes....

[CosmicCowboy]

There are only renters and owners...what I don't get is why home prices are rising at different rates in different parts of the country.....for instance my property in TX is red hot a 30% rise in 3 years according to the tax man....but other land investments in other attractive areas of the country have either stayed well below former market highs or have failed to rise entirely....my guess is that investors aren't buying the real expensive luxuary land and homes, but affordable 200K homes....

It really comes down to demand. I'm friends with a realtor and Texas is actually having bidding wars on some houses from people that plan to own and occupy them...

[boutons_deux]

Housing's new crisis: Half your income for rent

There are now 9 million more renters than there were just a decade ago, the biggest jump in renters on record, and they are paying more for rent than ever before.

Of the nation's now 43 million families and individuals who rent, 1 in 5 are considered "cost-burdened," or paying more than 30 percent of their incomes on rent, according to a new study by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Others pay half their incomes.

"The crisis in the number of renters paying excessive amounts of their income for housing continues, because the market has been unable to meet the need for housing that is within the financial reach of many families and individuals with lower incomes. These affordability challenges also are increasingly afflicting moderate-income households," said Chris Herbert, managing director of the center.

Adding to the crisis, the number of "severely" cost-burdened renters, those paying more than half their incomes on rent, went from 7.5 million to 11.4 million in the last decade. This, as renter incomes have declined 9 percent since 2001.

Add it up, and 49 percent of renters are cost-burdened, 26 percent severely so.

Demand has clearly outstripped supply, despite a recent boom in apartment construction and a 35 percent jump in the number of single-family rental homes since the housing crash. Multifamily apartment starts are up.

Rental occupancy is at the highest level in 30 years, and monthly rent rates are at record highs — and still rising at a sizable 3.5 percent annually. While there is a wide swath of single-family rental homes and smaller multifamily buildings in the suburbs, much of the recent multifamily construction has been large, luxury buildings in urban centers. Upper-income renters are finding what they need, but low- to middle-income families are struggling.

Homeownership is now at the lowest level in half a century, and some expect it could go significantly lower. Household formation is expected to continue its slow rise, but almost entirely on renter households, not owner households.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/09/housings-new-crisis-half-your-income-for-rent.html

Dammit, those moochers/takers/Welfare_Queens have it too damn easy.

Let's cut public assistance and kill Fed minimum wage.

[DMX7]

I believe minimum wage workers absolutely deserve a raise, but let's not pretend that it's a solution instead of what it is (i.e., the least we can do).

[CosmicCowboy]

I believe minimum wage workers absolutely deserve a raise, but let's not pretend that it's a solution instead of what it is (i.e., the least we can do).

Hardly anyone pays minimum wage in Texas because of the demand for labor.

[DMX7]

Hardly anyone pays minimum wage in Texas because of the demand for labor.

I would raise it to $10 which I think would have an impact, but like I said, it's no solution.

[CosmicCowboy]

I would raise it to $10 which I think would have an impact, but like I said, it's no solution.

That's what almost everyone is already paying. I know Bill Miller puts that on their signs when they are looking for help.

[boutons_deux]

That's what almost everyone is already paying. I know Bill Miller puts that on their signs when they are looking for help.

I see frequently "we're hiring" signs on junk food, "casual dining" places, burger, chicken joints.

Lots of churn, and no commitment, engagement in any direction between employer, employee, food, client. "commodified", generic banality, detachment in all directions.

Federal minimum must be $25/hour by 2025, starting with $15/hr immediately, indexed to inflation (which one?), and metro region CoL.

[101A]

I see frequently "we're hiring" signs on junk food, "casual dining" places, burger, chicken joints.

Lots of churn, and no commitment, engagement in any direction between employer, employee, food, client. "commodified", generic banality, detachment in all directions.

Federal minimum must be $25/hour by 2025, starting with $15/hr immediately, indexed to inflation (which one?), and metro region CoL.

No chance of a feedback loop there.

[DMX7]

That's what almost everyone is already paying. I know Bill Miller puts that on their signs when they are looking for help.

Bill Miller is not almost everyone. :wakeup

[DMX7]

I see frequently "we're hiring" signs on junk food, "casual dining" places, burger, chicken joints.

Lots of churn, and no commitment, engagement in any direction between employer, employee, food, client. "commodified", generic banality, detachment in all directions.

Federal minimum must be $25/hour by 2025, starting with $15/hr immediately, indexed to inflation (which one?), and metro region CoL.

You do understand that $15/hr federal minimum wage isn't going to double the purchasing power of someone making current federal minimum wage, right? Prices will go up, people will be laid-off, and you will disincentive the people who paid for training/education to get a $15-18/hr type job and now can work at McDonald's with no training/education for approximately the same amount.

[CosmicCowboy]

Bill Miller is not almost everyone. :wakeup

You would probably know better than I do. I know I start mildly skilled guys at $17.

[DMX7]

You would probably know better than I do. I know I start mildly skilled guys at $17.

Yes, I know most things better than you do. I don't have experience in the minimum wage job market myself, but I look into wage trends of the industries in which I make investments, and I can tell you that there are plenty of jobs not paying $10/hr in Texas.

[boutons_deux]

You do understand that $15/hr federal minimum wage isn't going to double the purchasing power of someone making current federal minimum wage, right? Prices will go up, people will be laid-off, and you will disincentive the people who paid for training/education to get a $15-18/hr type job and now can work at McDonald's with no training/education for approximately the same amount.

decades-long studies have shown that the increase in minimum was had on average no effect on unemployment rates. The bigger factor was the state of economy.

You do realize that all these low-wage, exploitive employers are being subsidized by taxpayers picking up the public assistance their employees need to have liveable income?

Incomes have been suppressed for 45 years, as BigCrop mgmt, BigFinance, capitalists loot the economy. Time for "pay" back.

[DMX7]

decades-long studies have shown that the increase in minimum was had on average no effect on unemployment rates. The bigger factor was the state of economy.


They don't show the effect of an immediate doubling of the minimum wage because it's never happened on this scale.



You do realize that all these low-wage, exploitative employers are being subsidized by taxpayers picking up the public assistance their employees need to have liveable income?

Incomes have been suppressed for 45 years, as BigCrop mgmt, BigFinance, capitalists loot the economy. Time for "pay" back.

I agree, and there should be an increase in the minimum wage but not a doubling of it. There are too many negative effects of such a sharp increase.

[z0sa]

You do understand that $15/hr federal minimum wage isn't going to double the purchasing power of someone making current federal minimum wage, right? Prices will go up, people will be laid-off, and you will disincentive the people who paid for training/education to get a $15-18/hr type job and now can work at McDonald's with no training/education for approximately the same amount.

Categorically false. All data points to the $15 minimum wage increase being nt just necessary, but common sense. And just like the OP's article states, If wages had kept up with inflation and the cost of living nationally across the past half century, it should be $20 or more.

When you are 20 trillion in debt yet have over 50 million on food stamps, such things become obvious. Businesses need to pay their workers enough that they dont rely on the government for the basics, or their owners dont need to be in business. The end.

[DMX7]

Categorically false. All data points to the $15 minimum wage increase being nt just necessary, but common sense. And just like the OP's article states, If wages had kept up with inflation and the cost of living nationally across the past half century, it should be $20 or more.


Increasing the minimum wage is almost instantly going to cause more inflation.



When you are 20 trillion in debt yet have over 50 million on food stamps, such things become obvious. Businesses need to pay their workers enough that they dont rely on the government for the basics, or their owners dont need to be in business. The end.

Completely agree. Some business can't afford it though. Do I think Wal-Mart should be paying close to $12 or $13? Absolutely.

[boutons_deux]

"If wages had kept up with inflation and the cost of living nationally across the past half century"

how about minimum wage and median household income keeping up with GDP these last 45 years?

[DMX7]

"If wages had kept up with inflation and the cost of living nationally across the past half century"

how about minimum wage and median household income keeping up with GDP these last 45 years?




How about all wages keeping up with GDP?

[z0sa]

Increasing the minimum wage is almost instantly going to cause more inflation.

It will also instantly disqualify millions from collecting food stamps. But the laws themselves should be changed so that it will automatically be adjusted for inflation and the cost of living. If business and property owners want to raise prices so that the working class gets fucked again, the minimum wage will simply go up the next year.




Completely agree. Some business can't afford it though. Do I think Wal-Mart should be paying close to $12 or $13? Absolutely.

Our biggest corporations should be paying the highest wages because they can afford to scale back much more readily than small businesses. Wal mart though is perhaps the least ethical conventional business in american history though.

[boutons_deux]

"Increasing the minimum wage is almost instantly going to cause more inflation."

link? conventional wisdom, common sense, and Repug/BigCorp LIES don't count

"It will also instantly disqualify millions from collecting food stamps."

Shifting the cost of public assistance from all taxpayers to poverty-wage employers and their clients.

[z0sa]

"Increasing the minimum wage is almost instantly going to cause more inflation."

link? conventional wisdom, common sense, and Repug/BigCorp LIES don't count

"It will also instantly disqualify millions from collecting food stamps."

Shifting the cost of public assistance from all taxpayers to poverty-wage employers and their clients.






Thats the point. All these right wing idiots who dont want wage increases should have no problem with paying taxes towards food stamps.

Me, I say raise that minimum wage sky high and knock out all the food stamp holders we can. A successful America will never be one where working people are artificially elevated above poverty via government subsidies.

[Spurminator]

I'm all for raising the federal minimum wage but $15 would create ghost towns out of small communities. There has to be consideration for local standards of living.

[z0sa]

I'm all for raising the federal minimum wage but $15 would create ghost towns out of small communities. There has to be consideration for local standards of living.

There has been a mass exodus to big cities since the industrial revolution. It is what it is. Nonetheless any increase at the federal level should be gradual and the laws altered so it is automatically adjusting for inflation.

[boutons_deux]

I'm all for raising the federal minimum wage but $15 would create ghost towns out of small communities. There has to be consideration for local standards of living.

Federal minimum wage, the basic across the entire nation. Federal minimum + CoL upward adjustment per metro region.

Attacking rural poverty (aka, the location of the Repug base) is a side effect of raising the Federal minimum.

If rurals love Repugs so much, and hate the Feds so much, they should be happy to go along with Repug idea of killing the minimum wage completely, and enjoy the poor asses "right-to-work-for-less" jobs.

btw, there was a report out recently, in UK IIRC, that showed people who grow up in rural areas then move to urban areas retain a lifelong disadvantage in pay. Why would that be true in UK, but not in USA? It's probably true in USA, too.

[DMX7]

I'm all for raising the federal minimum wage but $15 would create ghost towns out of small communities. There has to be consideration for local standards of living.

That's one of the reasons I support Hillary's approach which is the raise the federal minimum wage to $10-12 per hour and encourage certain cities where the cost of living is high to raise it even more on a local level.

[Spurminator]

Attacking rural poverty (aka, the location of the Repug base) is a side effect of raising the Federal minimum.

If rurals love Repugs so much, and hate the Feds so much, they should be happy to go along with Repug idea of killing the minimum wage completely, and enjoy the poor asses "right-to-work-for-less" jobs.


It won't attack rural poverty, it will quicken and solidify it. There's no reason the local grocer in a town of 3,000 people should have to pay his baggers $15K an hour.

[Nbadan]

I'm all for raising the federal minimum wage but $15 would create ghost towns out of small communities. There has to be consideration for local standards of living.

Have you been to most small towns recently.....NAFTA and other bad trade deals already 'made those ghost towns'

[Nbadan]

That's one of the reasons I support Hillary's approach which is the raise the federal minimum wage to $10-12 per hour and encourage certain cities where the cost of living is high to raise it even more on a local level.

I think that natural demand and supply is almost at $10 an hour already....what a $10-12 law would do is force retailers like Walmart and Target to pay their employees a little bit better...passing those costs on to consumers of course...

[Nbadan]

But wages are local, $12 an hour will go a lot further in some parts of the country than others..

[Spurminator]

Have you been to most small towns recently.....NAFTA and other bad trade deals already 'made those ghost towns'
Plenty have survived and I see no urgent need to kill the rest of them off.

[TeyshaBlue]

I grew up in a small town. Its doing fine.

[TeyshaBlue]

The recent surge to $50/bbl is certainly a boon.

[ducks]

Min wage is for 15-20 year old to learn to work and responsibility
Not pay house bills and raise s family
Do not get people pregnant If u make min wage

[Wild Cobra]

Breeders don't care. They are irresponsible to have a babies. Then they expect more of my tax dollar for their irresponsibilitty.

I'm sick of these pathetic individuals.