Hello retailers, fast food restaurants, and employers in general. Expect your costs of doing business will soar in 2017.
In over half the nation, population-wise, minimum wages hikes kick in this year.
19 States Will Increase the Minimum Wage at the Start of 2017, with two more states plus Washington D.C. hiking mid-year.
The minimum wage will be increased in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington to start 2017.
Oregon, Washington, D.C., and Maryland will see wage increases in their states later on this year.
Wages will be increased by different amounts in different states, and sometimes by different amounts within those states.
Many business owners, however, oppose increasing the minimum wage on the grounds that in some cases it could make it hard for them to turn a profit.
Some restaurant owners may consider reducing portion sizes or charging for side dishes that were once included in the price of a meal to absorb the increase, Melissa Fleischut, president of the New York State Restaurant Association, told the AP about the decision.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who made raising the minimum wage a central issue of his campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2016, referred to the #Fightfor15 movement on Twitter today, a group that has advocated for a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour on behalf of employees who they argue are underpaid and struggling to survive, saying that “people everywhere” see justice in the movement to achieve higher pay for low wage workers.
Minimum wage hikes will reduce store expansion and increase the push to get rid of workers by automation.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
If $15/hr is such a fix, why not $20 or $25/hr? What too many forget is that the cost of $15/hr does not translate directly to a business owner, as all the other incidental costs that come with any worker will also go up in price.
And this is a reason why robots and automation take over. If a worker costs the owner $50K/year and the robot $30K/year, anyone can do that math.
Why not $100
Why not a guaranteed free money for everyone so people can have as many kids as they want and the entire rest of the world wants to move to the US
Mish
you greedy no good bastard, you think $100/hr is enough to live on ?
Minimum wage should be at least $1,000 an hour. everyone would be prosperous and happy.
I’ll need a million dollars an hour so I can afford to hire you for $1,000 an hour.
too much of a good thing can be bad. 1 million/hr is possibly too much, thinking that $100,000/hr might be the sweet spot for happiness for all
I would settle for 10,000 per hour.
If we are going to “mandate” wages, should we not also “mandate” employment?
It’s the “governmental” problem where once they attempt to control any part of the system, the responses to their interventions create so many other consequences that they find they can’t just control one part, they must control EVERYTHING, or least that is their evolved theory. The problem is, because we are PEOPLE and not MACHINES, we can never be fully programmed and controlled….which is WHY there is such a demand for automation and technology controls. If you are going to control, you must HAVE control. Those committed to control will ultimately have to eliminate us in lieu of machines as they will NEVER fully control US.
Mish,
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What you described is the policy of Sweden and Germany.
Free apartment, free welfare money, permanent residence for life, family re-unification to welfare, no need to study the local language, free healthcare, free dental, free daycare, free schooling, free water, free electricity, free drugs, more money for each additional child through government paid childrens allowances and then Sweden and Germany GUARANTEED as a policy 100% acceptance for every Syrian that comes to Sweden or Germany.
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Then they were surprised that millions wanted to come and demanded that other countries keep their borders open so the people can reach Sweden and Germany and said that there is NO LIMIT how many asylum seekers Germany and Sweden will take…
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The year 2015 was total insanity in Europe and Merkel should have been fired on the spot by German parliament when she first said there is NO LIMIT.
Funny enough liberal Sweden closed their borders before Germany so for a few months after 1.1.2016 people who wanted to go to Sweden had to settle for Germany because Sweden closed their borders and Denmark also closed their borders so people trying to get to Sweden would not stay in Denmark instead.
Merkel was still DEMANDING that Austria and Slovenia must keep their borders open so asylum seekers can reach Germany until Austria and Slovenia told to Merkel that she is crazy and irresponsible fool by closing their borders on the 8th of March 2016 which led to Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia closing their borders within 24 hours and stopping the rush to western europe from Greece.and also stopping 90% of the rush from Turkey to Greece.
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The only thing attracting asylum seekers to greece and italy is possibility of getting through them to welfare paying europe with the most crazy and irresponsible and stupid countries being Germany and Sweden.
What’s your problem? Your are misinformed. Just claim to be a Syrian but first you have to cross the Mediterranean on a nut shell. Good luck. And then the trouble will start. What you are talking about is ancient history – ok 12-18 month ago. Now Western Europe has shut down the borders and they are absolutely right to do so. Let’s send all Syrians to the US – they created all the problems through their foolish policies and no understanding of history again and again.
Please learn to read before commenting.
I was writing about 2015 and early 2016 like you would notice if you would have read what I wrote.
And furthermore there is still way from Greece to welfare europe because EU in it’s total incompetence pushed through burden sharing for 160,000 asylum seekers which would be flown by EU from Greece and Italy to welfare paying europe.
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So EU solution to millions being attracted by welfare europe is to give them flights from greece and italy to welfare europe…total INCOMPETENCE by Juncker and whole EU-commission
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Also despite France and oher neighbors of Italy having increased border controls now the borders have not been completely shut so thousands still get from Italy to welfare paying europe despite thousands being thrown back into Italy.
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The “voluntary” burden sharing should be cancelled completely.
There is now about 10,000 who have been given flights to welfare europe from Italy and Greece by EU but there are still 150,000 places left and these attract still people to europe.
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The EU also had a permanent burden sharing plan as late as May 2016 and July 2016 which would have created a permanent burden sharing system where EU would decide how many asylum seekers each country has to take and once country reaches 150% of this all asylum seekers from then on would be automatically be burden shared.
This would mean that Greece and Italy would reach 150% within months and after that EVERYONE coming would be air-lifted by EU to welfare paying countries and also eastern Europe if the asylum seekers would agree to go.
This would mean tens of millions asylum seekers every year.
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Asylum seekers coming to Europe are NOT asylum seekers, they are welfareseekers as evidenced by them not being happy in Italy and Greece and wanting to get to Germany and Sweden and refusing to go to eastern european countries through the voluntary burden sharing of 160k that Merkel pressured through.
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New Italian trick to getting rid of these asylum seekers is quickly give them asylum with almost 100% acceptance rate and push them north when they have Italian ID entitling them to free movement to european welfare states like Sweden and Germany and even UK despite it being out of Schengen.
When the time comes I’ll join the Skynet Liberation Army.
Humans are just too stupid to last much longer.
But they are so damn entertaining to watch!
I think it is roughly set at 125% of the federal poverty level for a family of 4. But how Bernie knows what 1 person should pay another better than the 2 people involved is a mystery.
Yes, Rush.
I get so tired of people parroting that guy. Do you realize, he was on the radio back in ’93? Saying the same things? And that he wasn’t genuine… the same things he condemned deomocrats for, he excused republicans for.
Look, Mish has his predictions. He might be right. But what with the law of unintended consequences, there is no bad to this side for me (I’m a Virginian). We get to see what happens, and if it works.
Personally, I agree that what is going on is a further looting of the populace through higher taxation and union-taxation. But let’s see.
“saying that “people everywhere” see justice in the movement to achieve higher pay for low wage workers.”
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2 things are obvious.
1) Sanders is clueless
2) Sanders has NEVER run a business
Is this the same Bernie Sanders that thinks Congress deserves $15/hour for starting unnecessary wars, taxing the country to death, and having ethics standards that make mafia members squeemish? That’s the guy dispensing hourly wage advice?
Same worthless a–hole that voted to force Obamacare down OUR throats while exempting his crooked unethical self?
“people everywhere” see justice in the movement to achieve higher pay for low wage workers.”
I see the laws of math and economics. For each action there is a equal and opposite reaction.
Bernie and other socialists pretend that the minimum wage is increased and that’s it. But it doesn’t work that way. Someone loses a job or isn’t hired. A full time job becomes a part time job.
The democrats favorite reaction, profits go down- the rich can afford it. Profits are tied to stock prices however, and a workers 401K drops in value or their public pension fund investments. Oops for the California Teachers Association.
Also there is the reaction of rising prices, which eats up the wage increase. Then $15 an hour isn’t enough.
My momma always said, “Be careful what you wish for; you just may get it!”
The minimum wage and unemployment will be increased in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington to start 2017.
Retailers/restaurants can move to Texas where much of the population is now moving for job opportunities.
That is… until leftists finish taking over Texas too.
Liberalism is a disease of the affluent, like gout. Successful economies eventually self destruct because of the arrogance of their success. We inevitably, in our snobbish way, always attack those policies and actions that created our success.
Humans, like all life forms, represents untold years of evolution, of which humans are unique in seeing their evolution as defect that must be reconciled. To be “progressive” is to reject everything we have ever been for what they believe we can become…for better or worse, with no proof whatsoever that their dreams will EVER come true.
” Successful economies eventually self destruct because of the arrogance of their success. ”
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Rich and powerful ancient Babylon was destroyed by its own false pride.
Babylon knew no enemy could overtly breach the strength of its wall.
Cyrus conquered Babylon by drying up the Euphrates river enabling his troops to covertly enter Babylon by going UNDER the wall.
In Revelation, the end-time evil empire is symbolically called Babylon… the Bible description of its fall, economic.
i think you all miss the point—- higher minimum wage shifts the burden on to the sb owner and takes it off the govt, thus many of these working poor now can no longer qualify for fed /state assistance. they must pay their way on their own. it a politico win win situation to get votes, and lessen costs… fool the people, the wage earner and the business owners and free up the govt from having to step in and pay/subsidize the poor. it’s tax relief for the gov’t. it puts it on all of us once again
mish i’m surprised you don’t see or mention this angle.
SO what about those who lose their jobs due to high minimum wages? Does that not increase entitlement outlays?
Too high minimum wages will destroy companies and jobs through the too high wages and the increase in taxes that increased entitlements to the newly unemployed workers bring on businesses.
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Increasing minimum wage to 15 dollars is as crazy as the french model of only working maximum 35 hours per week by law.
Profit is the stronger incentive (over human interest) with the fractional reserve, debt-based model we currently have. I agree- this will only hasten the push towards automation.
15 dollar minimum wage is totally stupid because it will increase the inflation meaning the people will not benefit from it and it will make businesses automate lots more jobs especially in a low interest rate environment.
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The amount of cutting hours will also increase so people who had their hours cut in order not to trigger obamacare will get their hours further cut by increases in minimum wage meaning the fast food joint will have 2 employees in slow times instead of 3-4 employees.
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The problem is NOT current wages being too low the problem is real estate and rents being too HIGH thanks to Feds low interest rate policies AND also the healthcare is too expensive because of monopoly like structures and behaviors in hospitals and doctors offices and price-couging by drug companies charging americans the most in the world for drugs.
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The health insurance industry is just a small part of the cost problem.
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Furthermore schools are cr*p because teachers unions protect incompetent teachers and colleges and universities lead to debt hell because of the stupid law stopping student debt from being discharged in a bankruptcy and government guarantees to student debt which both enable colleges and universities to teach completely useless subjects.
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If there was responsibility the schools and lenders would eat all the personal bankrupctcies of la-la-la-land students when they can not find a job other than Starbucks after spending 100k on a worthless education so there would be a free market incentive to only provide useful education and free market incentive to loan smaller amounts (so school costs would drop) and a free market incentive to only loan people who have a reasonable likelihood of getting employed in the field they are studying.
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We have high inflation in many areas already but they are concealed by importer consumer goods that are artificially low. In my small business, I have seen significant cost increases in many things, yet my customer base will not accept increased costs as they see imports as an alternative. We pretend we can embrace service businesses as a replacement for manufacturing, but fail to recognize that many service companies SERVE businesses that WILL fail. Rising US prices put even more pressure on US manufacturers that must compete against imports. It is the most apparent of stupidity to believe we can artificially raise minimum wages and not exert pressure on businesses already walking a tightrope. While I do not pay minimum wage, any substantial increase will put competitive pressures on our wages which will force even more of us out of business. We cannot compete globally with cement boots on….but does anyone care? At least until it’s their business or their job going away.
$15 an hours is a MUST. If you think you can live of that – you must be smoking/drinking the far-right poison. If I bring my car for a service, I pay at least $60/h for their efforts – that’s insane.
So, all those people who are currently making less than $15/hr will soon be dead.
Divers weights and measures are bad. We need a gold standard so that people don’t have to constantly try and figure out whether or not they are receiving a fair day’s wage, or whether the bank has inflated it away again. With a gold standard, wages can remain the same, and it will always buy the things people need at the store.
Just as importantly, the pensions and 401ks people earn will always buy them groceries when they get older.
Enough with bankers slowly confiscating people’s wages and pensions.
It’s going to be interesting to watch and see if normal economic theory really works. If it does, we’ll see winners and losers. Winners should be big business, and high end labor, both of which face decreases competition from low-end wages. Losers should be small business, and minimum wage employees, who who will no longer be able to find work and become permanently unemployed. Just as the last rise made handicapped workers permanently unemployed, a significant portion of those now working at minimum wage will now join them.
Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee Andy Puzner says
“I have a 16-year-old son, and I really love him,” …but “there’s no way in the world I’d pay that kid $12 an hour to do something. We’re losing a generation of people because we’ve eliminated jobs that those people normally filled. How do you pay somebody $15 an hour to scoop ice cream? How good could you be at scooping ice cream? It’s just not a job where you could compensate somebody like that.”
Why stop at minimum wages? Why not put a minimum price on everything? Make it illegal to sell gasoline below $3/gallon or chicken below $2/lb. Anything that helps selected segments of society can only be good. Right?
Everyone is asking me to pay them more but I don’t earn more to pay them. So I don’t buy. Almost never go to a restaurant because it’s cheaper, easier and better to eat at home. Even at $15 / hr I wouldn’t expect any quality of service.
I predict fewer fast food outlets. Easiest thing to prepare a hamburger and heat some frozen fries at home.
The only thing minimum wage does is keep morons elected by people who don’t understand their quality of life will not go up with their raise.