Colorado Minimum Wage To Drop As Living costs Fall

[SAMSON123]

DAMN!!...It seems america will go to no lengths to destroy its population. Where in america is living cost falling??? Around the world the minimum wage is TWICE what america pays its citizens. Minimum wage in america is NOT nearly enough for even a single person to live off of. You certainly can not rent or buy an apartment..even a studio at that wage, and forget about getting a house. Even food in america would eat up a large portion of your salary if you made only minimum wage. WOW even working 60 hours per week would fetch you a little over 400 dollars before the taxes were taken out. Clearing 400 per week (leave taxes in) would only net a person 1600 per month. Now start subtracting rent, food, utilities, transportation, phone, cable, internet... FUGHEDDAHBOUTIT!!!!!

Colorado minimum wage to drop as living costs fall
AP

     
By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press Writer – Tue Oct 13, 1:26 pm ET

DENVER – Colorado will become the first state to reduce its minimum wage because of a falling cost of living.

The state Department of Labor and Employment ordered the wage down to $7.24 from $7.28. That's lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, so most minimum wage workers would lose only 3 cents an hour.

Colorado is one of 10 states where the minimum wage is tied to inflation. The indexing is thought to protect low-wage workers from having flat wages as the cost of living goes up.

But because Colorado's provision allows wage declines, the minimum wage will drop because of a falling consumer price index. It will be the first decrease in any state since the federal minimum wage law was passed in 1938.

"We can't see that there would be any other option" except lowering the wage, department spokesman Bill Thoennes said Tuesday. He said there will still be a public hearing on the question in early November, though the drop appears inevitable. The lower wage will take effect Jan. 1.

Advocacy groups for the poor have been warning of the wage drop since August, when the consumer price index for the Denver area was released. The index fell 0.6 percent between the middle of 2008 and the middle of 2009, mostly as a result of falling fuel prices.

Other states with adjustable minimum wages have seen their consumer price indexes fall, such as Ohio. But Colorado is one of the few states where the law is interpreted to mean the wage can fall. Other states are planning to keep wages flat.

In Florida, deflation would reduce the minimum wage to $7.21, but the state's minimum wage already matches the federal wage, so Florida workers' paychecks won't change.

Other states with minimum wages that rise with inflation are Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

Colorado voters approved an adjustable minimum wage in 2006. Supporters of that amendment said they did not intend for wages to fall, but the provision allowing it to fall was crucial to its passage. They have pointed out employers of the estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Coloradans making minimum wage are free to leave wages flat.

Ben Hanna, Colorado organizer for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, said the difference is small but significant for poor workers.

"I can't imagine many employers would see this as an opportunity to lower wages," Hanna said in August.

___

[MM2K]

That's a GOOD thing. More people will probably be employed. One of the big reasons that the teen unemployement rate is 25% is because the national minimum wage went up a couple of months ago. Among black teens the unemployment rate is 50%. All the minimum wage does is kill jobs for young low skilled workers. Nothing more. It is a blight on our economy and should be done away with.

[SAMSON123]

That's a GOOD thing. More people will probably be employed. One of the big reasons that the teen unemployement rate is 25% is because the national minimum wage went up a couple of months ago. Among black teens the unemployment rate is 50%. All the minimum wage does is kill jobs for young low skilled workers. Nothing more. It is a blight on our economy and should be done away with.

Doing away with minimum wage would result in the same abuse/usurpation seen in other countries. The reason there is a minimum wage is due to the abuses that were so prevelant in america, prior to minimum wages people were in constant poverty even though they were working all the time. The minimum wage in america is TOO LOW and needs to be raised considerably to what the rest of the world calls a LIVING WAGE.

These unemployment statistics you posted are wrong. Unemployment of teens in america is 25% THAT INCLUDES ALL RACES. The figure you posted of African American teens being at 50 percent, conveniently leaves out the fact that the only African American teens considered were the ones who dropped out of school!!! Using the same technique with whites will produce the same results...A DRASTICALLY HIGHER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE.

To see the change in purchasing power of money and wages look here http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

Minimum wages of the years in america
http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/chart.htm

[GigantorX]

And just how many workers currently make the "minimum wage"?....2.2 million.  You aren't supposed to be able to support your family by working at McDonalds or stocking shelves at the Krogers, anyone can do those jobs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31800709/

[MM2K]

Doing away with minimum wage would result in the same abuse/usurpation seen in other countries. The reason there is a minimum wage is due to the abuses that were so prevelant in america, prior to minimum wages people were in constant poverty even though they were working all the time. The minimum wage in america is TOO LOW and needs to be raised considerably to what the rest of the world calls a LIVING WAGE.

These unemployment statistics you posted are wrong. Unemployment of teens in america is 25% THAT INCLUDES ALL RACES. The figure you posted of African American teens being at 50 percent, conveniently leaves out the fact that the only African American teens considered were the ones who dropped out of school!!! Using the same technique with whites will produce the same results...A DRASTICALLY HIGHER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE.

To see the change in purchasing power of money and wages look here http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

Minimum wages of the years in america
http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/chart.htm

Employers cant "abuse you or exploit" you unless you allow it. If you think you are worth more than what you are making, then go find another company that will pay you more. If you cant that means you arent worth more than you are making. And those companies who are employing people in third world countries are paying those people far more than what they were making before those companies invested in there. The market would not allow you to pay less than a worker is worth. If you add value to a product, you will be paid for it. The point is that the teen unemployment rate is the highest it has been in decades.
You cant just create money. People's purchasing power was going up before the minimum wage was put in place. The minimum wage cant raise your purchasing power if you dont have a job. Before the minimum wage was put in place, blacks were actually higher employed than whites.

[Eyeball Chambers]

Employers cant "abuse you or exploit" you unless you allow it.

Amen Johnson!

[MM2K]

[gcb]

Employers cant "abuse you or exploit" you unless you allow it. If you think you are worth more than what you are making, then go find another company that will pay you more. If you cant that means you arent worth more than you are making. And those companies who are employing people in third world countries are paying those people far more than what they were making before those companies invested in there. The market would not allow you to pay less than a worker is worth. If you add value to a product, you will be paid for it. The point is that the teen unemployment rate is the highest it has been in decades.
You cant just create money. People's purchasing power was going up before the minimum wage was put in place. The minimum wage cant raise your purchasing power if you dont have a job. Before the minimum wage was put in place, blacks were actually higher employed than whites.

Umm, I really don't know what to say, delusional is one word - the market does not determine right or wrong. Just because you can get away with paying someone fuck all for what they are doing doesn't make it right.