Exactly my point. A $17/hr minimum wage in Arkansas would correct that while still allowing small businesses to employ workers. $25/hr would ensure it remains a corporate-controlled state.
What… would actually make much more sense would be to index the minimum wage to some other, per state metric.
A fraction of median income, some formula that actually does a good job of estimating a minimum standard of living…
But, that will never happen, because … well basically half of voters and half state legislatures fundamentally either do not understand how to, or believe in laying a foundational safety net layer for society.
The income and CoL disparities within the US are… basically as wild as the differences between EU member states, but our governance systems are… well, pretty much fundamentally broken at this point.
So that’s what the states are supposed to do with their own minimum wage. The federal minimum wage is not the one we should be challenging for livable wages unless the wage is unlivable everywhere. States absolutely should be setting their own minimum wage to keep people out of poverty in their state. For example, the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25/hr, but NY state minimum wage is $16.50/hr.
An adjustable minimum wage would increase the wealth gap. Companies would not be providing cost of living increases along with performance increases, keeping more people near the bottom.
We need our government to regulate prices on essential goods and/or subsidize them through taxation to keep them from inflating faster than wages increase. Nordic nations employ mixed-economics for this and it’s quite successful.
Exactly my point. A $17/hr minimum wage in Arkansas would correct that while still allowing small businesses to employ workers. $25/hr would ensure it remains a corporate-controlled state.
I get that.
What… would actually make much more sense would be to index the minimum wage to some other, per state metric.
A fraction of median income, some formula that actually does a good job of estimating a minimum standard of living…
But, that will never happen, because … well basically half of voters and half state legislatures fundamentally either do not understand how to, or believe in laying a foundational safety net layer for society.
The income and CoL disparities within the US are… basically as wild as the differences between EU member states, but our governance systems are… well, pretty much fundamentally broken at this point.
So that’s what the states are supposed to do with their own minimum wage. The federal minimum wage is not the one we should be challenging for livable wages unless the wage is unlivable everywhere. States absolutely should be setting their own minimum wage to keep people out of poverty in their state. For example, the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25/hr, but NY state minimum wage is $16.50/hr.
An adjustable minimum wage would increase the wealth gap. Companies would not be providing cost of living increases along with performance increases, keeping more people near the bottom.
We need our government to regulate prices on essential goods and/or subsidize them through taxation to keep them from inflating faster than wages increase. Nordic nations employ mixed-economics for this and it’s quite successful.