Argumentative Essay: Increase In Minimum Wage

"According to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office report, increasing the minimum wage to $9 would lift 300,000 people out of poverty, and an increase to $10.10 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty.” Currently the federal minimum wage is $7.25. The government should raise the minimum wage to $9.25 per hour. We need to raise the minimum wage to the point where the lowest paid worker can afford their basic needs. Raising the minimum wage would strengthen the workforce and the economy.

The poverty levels in America are a major problem. The cost of things like rent and education have risen dramatically in the recent years, making it difficult not only to live, but also to become a skilled worker with a lot to offer companies. Unfortunately, minimum wage has not kept up with rapidly rising prices. People working on minimum wage cannot support themselves, much less a family. Many think that the problem can be easily solved with a raise in federal minimum wage, but those people fail to understand the many trade-offs that would accompany. Not only would a minimum wage raise to 15$ have a major effect on employers costs and the cost of goods, but it would also cause a major rise in unemployment(Gitis and Holtz-Eakin). A raise in minimum wage would not only fail to move the lower class out of poverty, but would have adverse effects on the majority of them.

Although America is known as the richest country in the world, 43 million of its citizens are in poverty. Unfortunately, some of them work full time, yet are still in poverty due to the low minimum wage (“Should We Raise”). In 1928, the first federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevent workers from being underpaid. Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 (Smith). The age old debate of whether or not to raise it is still going on in the US. The federal minimum wage should be increased to keep up with inflation, help support the poor, and stimulate the economy.

Everyone thinks that raising the current minimum wage to $15, then it will reduce poverty and help everyone as a whole. What everyone does not realize is that if that happens, then poverty might actually get worse and more problems occur. The whole point to raise the minimum wage is to give the workers more money so that they may live a little easier. The problem with this plan is that by raising the minimum wage companies will have to pay them more. They will start to increase the cost of their product or service to compensate for the increased pay. This makes raising the minimum wage completely useless. What is best right now is to keep the minimum wage as it is. For now it is neither doing harm or doing any good. It’s a good neutral for the time being.

In a recent speech from President Obama he said he would like to see minimum wage be increased to $10.10 an hour by the end of his term as president in 2017. This increase would be a federal increase in which every state would have to follow and pay their workers a minimum of $10.10 an hour. This pay increase is meant to help people with lower paying jobs such as janitors, elderly, cooks, and anyone else you makes minimum wage. This will be very hard for many companies to achieve and will make them either go out of business or have to cut workers to make up the difference.

The current federal minimum wage is low and must become an active wage so many of the Americans living in poverty can support their families. It should be increase to about $15 an hour to establish equal pay for women as well. It’s inacceptable that women earn less than men for performing the same work. Bernie Sanders said, that boosting the federal minimum wage would generate 85,000 new jobs and increase the take-home pay of Americans by some $35 billion. Sanders also noted that nearly 90 percent of Americans who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage are adults over the age of 20. United States workers should not be living in poverty because the minimum wage right now is low for workers, who are working to educate their children and giving them a better life.

People do not enjoy talking about taxes because they are too political, confusing, and depressing. It is no secret that the American tax code is a mess and something many economists describe as too broken to fix. Despite this, politicians have never stopped from trying to “fix” the code, yet they have had very little success. The U.S. Government’s tax code currently comprises “more than 67,000 pages of complexities” (Boortz, Linder, & Woodall 14). The Americans for Fair Taxation (AFFT) was founded in 1995 with one goal: create the simplest and best tax reform plan that would work in the modern market and economy. The AFFT’s best solution was a bill which they promptly called the FairTax.

Imagine a single mother who has has the task of taking care of multiple children, all on a minimum wage budget. This mother’s mind is overwhelmed with worries. Will she be able to pay next month's rent? WIll she be able to put food on the table for all of her children. The single mother lives each and every day with this anxiety, and even with government assistance: Is it enough to live comfortably?

Minimum wage has caused controversy throughout history between the two parties in government, the Democrats and Republicans, debating if they should increase minimum wage or not. Minimum wage was first established during 1938 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Sessions). The first act to enforce employers to pay its employees is the Fair Labor Standards Act which followed the Social Security Act (Sessions). Minimum wage started as twenty-five (25) cents per hour which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it was at that time (Sessions). The United States tended to raise the minimum wage when the standard of living changed. Since 1938, two other amendments were created to increase minimum wage laws even more. By 1961, minimum wage raised to $1.15 with another increase in 1963 (wages). Since the 1963 wage change, minimum wage created a trend of increasing yearly or every other year (Wages). From 2007 to 2009 minimum wage increased each year making the current minimum wage $7.25 (wages). Sine minimum wage has been established, Congress has increased minimum wage twenty-two times (22) (). Since minimum wage is supposed to change when the standard of living changes, then why hasn’t the United States government changed it since 2009?

Looking at taxes they do two things: first the taxation is the public taking resources from the private. Second: Taxation is is the division of the economic pie between the private and the public shares(Wright and Rogers). People can get there income from various sources such as earning a wage from a job or investments, winning a lottery, or owning their own business. When people who are working for a living earning a wage part of that earnings is taken out in the form of taxes. To the workers earning this money to them it is private property but there is also the obligation for them to pay taxes on services and goods they may use. Some also view it as a violation of one 's freedom and liberty and feel that these taxes can be unjustified when they do not approve of what these taxes are used for. Everyone in this country should be

Taxes are one of the many ways that American politicians display their greed. Many politicians believe that the greatest way to fix the country’s economy is by taxing the rich less and the middle class more. This does make sense in some way considering that

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

The minimum wage debate has been a hot topic over the past year, especially with the Presidential Election. This is a divisive topic that people rarely agree upon. There are essentially two sides you can take when it comes to this argument. Either people are for minimum wage or are against raising, or even having, a minimum wage. Proponents of the minimum wage are typically politicians who are lobbying for the vote of the people who feel that a minimum wage is critical to their wellbeing, and those who sympathize with people who earn “minimum wage”. Minimum wage is destroying America’s free market economy and someone needs to take action and find a better solution to this problem. Without anyone acting on this problem now, it can potentially be worse in the long run. Raising the minimum wage in the United States will do more harm than good to society because of the long-term effects.

A foreigner may be appalled by the multi-billion dollar salaries of America’s top business leaders after being informed that full time workers at the bottom level struggle to afford basic necessities. The federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.35, has been proven inadequate to support those who rely on it, as millions of minimum wage earners are limited to subpar housing, poor medical care, and cheap, unhealthy food, despite working one or more full time jobs. The federal minimum wage should be increased because it is not adjusted to modern economic conditions, would benefit the economy, and would substantially decrease the number of Americans living in poverty.

One proposal for the lowering of taxes in the United States is Herman Cain’s 999 Plan. Herman Cain is a republican politician running for president in the year 2012. The 999 Plan is a tax reform plan that would change personal income tax, national sales tax, and corporate sales tax all to nine percent. (Astor) The argument for the plan is that it would strengthen the economy and create jobs because it would lower taxes by 26 percent on businesses, therefore giving them incentive to start hiring, therefore creating new jobs for Americans. Currently the United States Unemployment rate is at 9.1 percent. Also corporations would be more willing to bring their profits home due to the lower