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people living in the districts of Ka'u and Puna would be hit the hardest
Aren't those also the districts with the most miles of "private" roads?
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news...skepticism
Note that the list of road projects that will be funded includes Saddle Road (which I thought was a State highway) and Kipimana Street (which is entirely within the Shipman Business Park).
Similarly:
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news...ving-ahead
This project fronts the "new" 4000-foot section of Komohana which "only" cost $4.9M. How nice that our public money can pay for these improvements that allow private development!
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They should not be raising the taxes on anything until they raise the minimum raise back up to a living wage.
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If the minimum wage doubles, how much more will things cost and how many people on the low end of the job market, will lose their jobs?
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If the minimum wage doubles... how many people on the low end of the job market, will lose their jobs?
Is that what you think will happen?
Do you imagine we will drive into Hilo and see every fast food restaurant and most of the retail stores shuttered because the owners won't pay their workers a few dollars more?
Or do you think business owners keep extra people on staff at minimum wage out of the kindness of their hearts, who they'll only let go if forced to pay the remaining workers a couple bucks more?
“We do this thing not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.”
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For starters, those fast food chain restaurants pay above minimum wage already. So does Walmart, Target, Home Depot, all the big grocery stores... plus, automation is already coming to the fast food job market.
Why does someone in one of those jobs not bother to get a better job? What makes them decide to not better their situation?
Do you think those smaller store owners will simply decide to keep people hired on and take a pay cut for themselves? You do realize that when ever a employee's wages go up, the amount of taxes the business pays on those wages, also rises? You claim to own a business - are you going to take a cut in your pay in order to pay your employees that much more or would you cut staff/hours?
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are you going to take a cut in your pay in order to pay your employees that much more or would you cut staff/hours?
I would take a temporary cut in pay.
Here's why. Business owners have money invested in their stores, hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. A large portion of their expenses are fixed, rent, utilities, and inventory. They need workers to move product to pay for those fixed expenses. Otherwise they will lose their investment. Better to take a temporary reduction in pay or profits.
Then, the businesses which are poorly run, the few that might not be able to function if they pay their workers a dollar more, may go out of business. The remaining businesses will survive. They will adjust their prices accordingly and will return to their previous level of profit, and the owners will pay themselves as much as they always did.
“We do this thing not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.”
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the few that might not be able to function if they pay their workers a dollar more, may go out of business.
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Misleading. The goal isn't about raising wages a dollar more. $8 to $15, along with he extra tax burden to the business, is a doubling of the cost.
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Misleading... is a doubling of the cost.
It doesn't matter if it's $1, $10, or even $100 an hour more. What matters is that it's the same for all businesses. They will all pay more, and adjust their prices accordingly.
Now if your argument would be, if all businesses raise wages AND prices, do their workers really come out ahead? Then I'd agree that there's no point in raising minimum wage. Paying workers a minimum wage of $15 an hour when their food, rent, transportation, etc. ends up costing them twice as much as they pay now, is no different than earning $7.50 an hour today.
“We do this thing not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.”
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if all businesses raise wages AND prices, do their workers really come out ahead?
No.
Now consider: there is no requirement to grant a raise to anyone who doesn't make minimum wage; those people simply lose buying power.
As an extra added bonus: workers who enjoy a higher minimum wage are also requesting fewer hours, because they don't want to earn so much that they become ineligible for benefits.
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The experience I have had that whenever I got a raise in pay, it threw me into the next withholding tax bracket, so I actually came home with less!
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