The Minimum Wage Debate By Rex Huppkes

Rex Huppke, a writer for the Chicago tribune,writes about how raising the minimum wage may not be as positive to the society and economy as Americans are lead to believe. After interviewing many specialist and professors concerning this subject, he concludes that despite what other newspapers are saying raising the minimum wage could damage the economy. As an effect of what the media is saying this article was written to inform the public of the real cost of raising minimum wage.

In 2001, author Barbra Ehrenreich embarked on a mission to explore the lives of low income workers by becoming one herself, a project that would eventually become Serving in Florida. Ehrenreich began her quest by procuring housing that she could afford with the minimum wage, an arduous task that required a compromise between between long commutes and manageable cost. Her search for employment was no less troublesome. Despite an abundance of help wanted ads, after three days and two dozen applications, she had not been granted one interview.

Rex Huppke, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, deftly discusses the pros and cons of raising the minimum wage in the last of a two-week series in “In the Minimum Wage Debate, Both Sides Make Valid Points”. Although I am for raising the minimum wage, Huppke’s presentation of the opposite argument does make one think beyond the gut reading that everyone deserves more money. Huppke’s argument that a large number of minimum wage earners are student of the elderly leads me to believe that a tier of wages would take care of the issue. For example, anyone working less than 35 hours a week would be paid at a certain rate; with full time getting an increase. I am not concerned by the argument that a higher minimum wage leads to lay-offs or price increases when most products sold in America are manufactured by cheap foreign labor. There is already a huge profit margin that could sustain such an increase. Rather than give discounts on goods and services, thus preventing employees from exercising the right to shop, stay or eat wherever the employee chooses, these employers trap workers into giving back the very money they have “slaved” for.

In “The Minimum Wage: To Raise or Not To Raise?” Mike Patton who is the author of the article begins to discuss the issues with raising the minimum wage. The author states “Just like when the horse and buggy gave way to the automobile, restaurants serves, cashiers, and others would be replaced by technology” (3).In other words The author feels that if the minimum wage is raised than technology will began to take over the human jobs and replace jobs such as restaurants serves, cashiers, drivers, and even teacher. I agree with the Mike Patton because the coast of raising the minimum wage goes beyond payment it effects the economy such as taxes, schooling fees, and housing. Some people believe that supply and demand comes into play, if the demand is high the supply will be low which will cause a price increase.

Rex Huppke, a writer for the Chicago tribune,writes about how raising the minimum wage may not be as positive as the society and economy as Americans are lead to believe. After interviewing many specialist and professors concerning this subject, he concludes that despite what other newspapers are saying raising the minimum wage could damage the economy. As an effect of what the media are saying this article was written to inform the public of the real cost of raising the minimum wage.

Ira Knight, who is an author of article “Let’s Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage”, expresses an opinion that increasing the minimum wage would help all struggling workers and at the same time improve U.S economy. On the other side, Janice Steele in her article “Keep the Minimum Wage Where It Is” argues that raising the minimum wage would have bad effects on workers, consumers and small businesses. Ira Knight’s article seems to be the stronger of the two positions because her arguments are based on several recent studies, and last but not least, she had a personal experience with the minimum wage job.

The authors would like for the American people to rethink why they are so in favor of a raise in the minimum wage. They point out that while a raise sounds good in theory there is no evidence that it will help us raise anyone out of poverty. They also argue throughout the article that the differing political parties are in fact maneuvering us, the voters, to whom they would like for us to vote for by playing on our desire for more money. Finally they suggest that there are other methods to help the American people then raising the minimum wage.

Barbara Mantel “Minimum Wage” According to Barbara Mantel she point out that nearly 47 million Americans, or 15 percent live in poverty according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many opponents argue that raising the minimum wage will help many low-wage workers from middle class household who are employed part time many supports say many of those household who are struggling financially and would be group as poor if it was not for the government assistances. Further, many workers who are making minimum wage are employed in the food-services industry than any other according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, many advocated imply that raising the federal minimum wage would help the low-come families by decreasing poverty rate and increase

In America and countries around the world, we face a universal problem: poverty. Among many options, a widespread solution for this problem is the implementation of a minimum wage. Aside from the US, countries such as Luxembourg, Belgium, and Ireland all have set minimum wages(Petroff). Minimum wage was first established during the Great Depression when President John F.Kennedy was striving to help the economy and lift many Americans out of poverty(Day). At the time, the minimum wage was $0.25 an hour, which corresponds to about $3.98 an hour in today’s money(Minimum Wage). Since then, the minimum wage has steadily increased to today’s $7.25 an hour. With the fluctuating economy, people’s views and opinions on the subject have swayed every which way throughout the years, with minimum wages rising and falling over different cities, states and countries. The imminent truth is that people simply need more money, with around 60% of the population already in poverty (Dunkelberg). Often times, people are very liberal with this issue and suggest that America raise the minimum wage drastically to $15.00 an hour. The face of the proposition is a pretty one, suggesting that everyone gets more money, so how could one say no? While increasing the minimum wage has had some small benefits, especially from an employee’s perspective, the success of this idea proves to be a facade on the face of the future

In announcing his proposal to increase the minimum wage, the president argued that doing so would alleviate poverty. The president is certainly correct to turn his attention to the poor, many of whom have been suffering for years in a tough economy. And it is clearly desirable for households that engage in full-time work not to live in poverty. But increasing the minimum wage would

Over the past few years the debate over the raise of the federal minimum wage of the current $7.25 has been argued by both sides, whether it should be raised or not. With both side, the affirmative and negative making strong arguments for their side. We will take a look at how each side frames their issues as how well their counterpart can refute those claims. The affirmative would like to propose the raise of the federal minimum wage to $12.00 by the year 2020; this is the standard that most states are going with. For example, California being one of the most recent to change their federal minimum wage to $12.00 by the year 2020. The negative would like to stay with the current federal minimum wage of $7.25, in other words defend the status quo. We will look at all the major arguments the affirmative and negative side have and in the end go with the best option for the majority. Aristotle’s three fundamental concepts will help determine what decision should be made after each side of the public state their case. Aristotle’s three fundamental concepts are truth and probable truth, Ethos (Credibility), Pathos (Emotional Appeal), Logos (Logic), and his final concept, it’s all about the audience. So what exactly is the minimum wage and what is its purpose? Minimum wage is the minimum an employer has to pay an unskilled worker based on the regulations set forth by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that was originally established in 1938 according to the United States

In the United States alone, the amount of people in poverty is 14.5%. That equates to 45.3 million people in 2013. In a country like America, one of the world’s superpowers, it’s embarrassing to admit. But the main issue is to fix issues like these with the minimum wage and welfare. The minimum wage applies to workers who got a job whether because they were in school or because they had not gone to college and had no other option. Most of the country lives off as minimum wage workers as only 1% of the world’s population has a college degree. Minimum wage needs to be adjusted to modern inflation. But the minimum wage allegedly does not affect poverty at all says a large demographic and does not need to be adjusted. The minimum wage makes up a lot of the country and should be adjusted or modified to today’s standard of living.

Huppke believes the minimum wage should be raised somewhat, but not as drastically as many Americans call for. He also believes that other actions should be taken, besides changes to the minimum wage, to lower the poverty rate in America. The fact that he acknowledges that the issue of minimum wage is “really complicated”, and that there may not be a simple answer separates his position from that of other authors (page 146).

The national minimum wage was introduced in the UK in April 1999 by the Labour government. Essentially it formed a major part of their manifesto as it convinced the average population that Labour were beneficial for everybody. However, they would argue against classical economics and suggest there are wide spread benefits to be gained. The main argument is that the NMW would alleviate poverty across the country.

The minimum wage has arguably become the most controversial topic regarding our economy today, as it influences one of the largest classes of people within the United States, the working class. Federally, the minimum wage has not been raised in eight years, so it has stayed at $7.25 per hour for all non-exempt workers (U.S. DoL). The opinions on this topic are typically split across a progressive-conservative line, with progressives being in favor of a raise from $7.25, and conservatives wanting to stay at the current rate. This can be seen when looking at the typical progressive stances from states and municipalities that raise the minimum wage for businesses operating within their jurisdiction, since the higher rate among all levels of