So...?
 

You’re worried about golf fees going up? How about, instead of worrying about paying a little more for a worthless leisure activity which, I expect, will not affect you at all, worrying about someone being paid a living wage? How about thinking about someone working a full time job making less than $350 a week before taxes? How does that person pay for shelter, food, clothes, children etc? They aren’t worried about green fees or having their lawn look pretty. Paying someone a living wage isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity for a country that possesses as much wealth as the United States. I, for one, refuse to have any sympathy for someone who’s more worried about the amount they pay for green fees...

dittos, same as Corrupticut

In Florida kids can get free tuition through Bright Future scholarships which are paid for through lottery sale proceeds. So they can get a free college education AND gain valuable job experience (customer service, cash handling, working under pressure/deadlines) because the entry level restaurant/retail jobs are so plentiful in this state.

And you continue to whine on.

A government program to improve roads and infrastructure would give many people a living wage and be a good long-term investment. I will believe it when I see it. People should push for that.

Maybe retail prices will go up, maybe they won't. The assumptions that all financial relationships are linear and inflexible is not a very good one. First, lets assume that in a P&L or income statement, the minimum wage worker is in COGS, cost of goods sold. so without any changes in revenue or pricing, margins go down. Now margins change all the time for various supply chain and other costs. from margins SG&A costs are spent. Now to maintain the same operating income on a lower margin, some SG&A costs are unaffordable. . . or maybe the owner will accept a lower operating income even after everyone else maintains the same pay.

So every company and owners are different, some may increase prices because they feel entitled to a certain level of income, some may not, however, the business world decisions are never one dimensional and a guarantee. But I will say if you look at the data over the last 50 years, the minimum wage was not indexed to inflation, as a previous poster personally demonstrated.

So everyone on a salary and receiving social security received an inflationary raise, which means that their purchasing power remained the same, didn't increase, didn't decrease. Your ability to increase your wages comes from promotions or increased skills or higher demand for your skill. Minimum wage did not get that increase anfor nually many years, so business and everyone else enjoyed the increased profits or the reduced inflationary effect. . .

However, when the spread gets very wide, there is a reversion to the mean, and this increase is an example of that, bringing the relationship back in line, or closer to in line with the intent of the rate, entry level employment or unskilled labor

But not all jobs can be replaced by machines, there will be some. . . but lets not let schadenfreude be the rule of the forum. its an opportunity for the entry level or for the working class who has no opportunity to increase skills to earn a bit more at the expense of business income margins, and the business will adjust. . . how, not sure, everyone is different. The salaried class and retired class gained while they didn't at different times in the past, the world isn't linear or constantly fair but we aren't all victims all the time either. . .

finance guy

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Too often people only see the side that sounds nice and do not understand that there is also a downside. This will be great for minimum wage earners but there will be a price to pay for small business and there will be job losses as well. Also as Kenswing mentioned some minimum wage earners will lose their federal assistance. Also people who now make 15.00 per hour will demand an increase and rightfully so. It’s never that simple.

Agree

The community will have fewer food and retail options as businesses either shut down or move out. I wish we could at least decide this minimum wage thing based on county rather than enforce this across the entire state.

Got to love Australia!

Compared to Midwest Florida is my NJ.

All else being equal...when expenses go up there has to be increased revenue from incremental new business added, or price increase to you and me OR reduction of expenses (get rid of people).

And I am sure that everybody who is for the ongoing increasing of the minimum wage have no problems with prices being increased (:1rotfl:).

Let's mark our calendars and see how long it takes before the $15 minimum is just not enough to live on.

A ridiculous concept driven by politicians.

Doesn’t go fully into practice till 2026; by then it will be equivalent to $10 hour

All true points, but the worst of all will be the TRUE minimum wage people (not retired people, teens, and others only working for "extras" in their lives) whose wages will be raised to $15 per hour, they are the real losers in this. Others will some how be able to absorb it, but this will only push that class of workers even further down and out of the lower end of the "middle class". It's a shame, a healthy thriving country is one that EXPANDS the "middle class". It will hurt everyone a little, it will hurt the lowest paid among us the hardest. It's sad. I did notice an extremely wealthy Florida resident, one who has pushed so many "progressive" ideas about drug legalization, and others was a powerful force behind this. It was obviously the desire of the majority of Floridians, so, I guess those of us who think it will do more damage than good will just have to wait and see !

I don't really disagree with you, but I believe it is not the retirees who will suffer most, but the working families who work for minimum wage. EVERYTHING will now be further from their grasp, from a new car to a meal out to a simple ice cream cone. I agree it will be hard on fixed income retirees, but most (I am not saying ALL, just most) retirees have SS and some other source of income, and many have TWO SS checks coming in, others have savings, 401K, various pensions, and for some they have their minimum wage job AND a SS check coming in. Again, I AGREE it is tough on retirees, but not as tough as it will be on these poor folks trying to raise a family and have some decent quality of life at a minimum wage job that will now go to $15 an hour and make quality of life even more difficult for them. At $13 an hour perhaps they could treat their children to a $2.50 ice cream cone once in awhile, when those cones go to $3.50 ? Well, figure it out, $1.00 increase is 40%, but the $15 an hour is not going to be a 40% increase in wages for our lowest paid workers. What if a simple hot dog also goes to $3.50, a $1.25 soda goes to $1.50 and so on for every item they have to put in their shopping baskets.