$7 and some change an hour, seems crazy that people are living off of this huh? I did at one point, it was not fun by any means. Ramen noodles, hot dogs and bread were pretty much my entire diet. So of course seeing Obama talking about getting Congress to raise this to $9 seems like a no brainer great idea right? Eh, i disagree.
Quick history on why this logic is sound. Way back when Henry Ford had an idea, if I pay my employees more than I need to for them to get by, they will have more disposable income and be able to actually afford the cars they make therefore increasing sales and profit.
This time frame when such pseudo-altruism was working is not the same culture we have and allowed to diminish to. The average worker doesn't want to support/invest in their company, work hard or plan for the future. Hell the average consumer would support foreign brands & companies if the price was slightly cheaper. Outsourcing isn't a corporate thing, its as American as Apple Pie now. (Whatever that means).
So to me, raising unemployment rate that sharply does 3 things
1) Rewards the many people (not all) who have no ambition to work hard and get a job making more than minimum wage.
2) Alienates everyone who did work hard to get promotions and positions that make $9-10 an hour now who are not receiving that same $4,000 yearly increase in wages.
3) Forces businesses to make a tough decision: raise prices to accommodate higher average wage or lay people off to cut expenses.
Are you going to keep shopping at the same stores if their prices go up noticeably? If so, that's equivalent to you getting a pay cut to support this minimum wage increase. You ok with that?
Are you going to mind if you bring less money home when taxes go up because unemployment rates increased after you shifted to online shops instead of local anymore because prices went up?
We the people have shown businesses far too often that workers are expendable if it means the price is cheaper to the consumer. The only way to fix this is the people, government is not equipped to regulate a fix. You want businesses to hire more people? Shop there more often. Go to the brick and mortar store, not the online shop (even if its the same company). Create a demand for more workers, more managers, more stores and more opportunities for higher wages instead of more handouts of them.
![scaredpatient_620x433[1]](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-VK7SNlC5xkE/UOiBkX5JXsI/AAAAAAAABtE/dSlfOlnWuFI/s1600-h/scaredpatient_620x433%25255B1%25255D%25255B3%25255D.jpg "scaredpatient_620x433[1]")
