As an owner and operator of a manufacturing company, I can't help but be baffled by the Democrats policies.
Bernie and Hillary's plan to raise minimum wages to $15.00 an hour and their call for increasing taxes on corporations hurt the very people they say they are trying to help.

Businesses are already under pressure from so many regulations and requirements that making a profit is hard to do in this "global" environment.
Every year it is harder for my company to stay afloat, never mind make a good profit!

What most don't realize about wages is that an employer has to also pay a percentage of the FDIC taxes,SS taxes, state taxes etc for every employee on top of their "salary". So as their wage increases, so does the cost of the share of taxes an employer has to pay.

So how does increasing minimum wage hurt the poor?
By increasing the cost of labor, an employer has to either cut jobs(unemployment goes up) or increase the price of his or her goods or services to maintain a profit.

Now in a perfect world, that extra cost of a product or service could be absorbed into the market place because everyone is making more money with the higher minimum wage.
It would basically be a zero sum result, so why even do it?
But the ones that are already poor, living on social security, welfare, disability or a fixed income, those higher prices drive their cost of living even higher.

Corporate taxes, this is the biggest burden on the POOR!
Democrats love to tout "We need to tax corporations so they pay their fair share!"
I know there are nefarious Dems who really do want a socialist country, but I think most Dems just don't realize how these "corporate taxes" really hurt the most vulnerable poor people they are trying to help.

As an example, I'll use a corporation that makes food since we all need food(but this is true in every industry).

If the government tells Tyson Foods they have to pay an extra 10 million in taxes this year, what do you think that company will do?
Will they tell the members of the board they can't buy that sailboat or take a cut in pay?
Hell no, they will either cut jobs or raise the prices of their goods, or a combination of the two to pay the extra taxes.

Rich people will hardly notice the higher cost of the food, middle income will struggle a little more but the ones already finding it difficult to feed their family will be hit the hardest!

Now I used a simple example. I know there are those who don't really grasp economics who will say that some of these companies who make billions of dollars in "profit" can pay more.
The companies that report these "billions in profits" are not really making that money for "themselves".
Those "profits" are passed on by way of stocks and bonds to share holders who risk their investment and hopefully see a good dividend or rise in stock prices. These include a lot of normal folk who have 401k's and retirement plans. These are not really "corporate profits" but "shared profits".

In the end, higher minimum wages which some could argue is good for the working class(if not for the risk of higher unemployment)but devastating to the poor on a fixed income.

Corporate taxes may help the rich and working class with better roads, infrastructure and expanding the bloated government but it is devastating to the the non-worker and the poor.

Why do you think the poverty level keeps getting higher and higher over the last 8 years?
It's no accident.
Corporate taxes are like a flat tax on all consumers, the poor being the less likely to afford it!

So if the Democrats really want to help the poor, get out of the way and let competition, not taxes, regulate the cost of goods.
JMO

Can the Dems/Progressives afford popcorn for this thread now? Or are we going to need another inititive or program so they can have snacks, as they cut their noses off to spite taxpayer faces? .....Cheeze line to popcorn line to South American trash can line.

There are many theories on why poverty rises

along with how the rich get richer at the same time,,.,

what part of corporations dont pay taxes is it that no one gets


corporations pass the cost of doing business on to the customer


taxes are a cost of doing business

thus raising taxes on corporations is in effect raising taxes on you



but hey what do i know

It's not about helping people.

It's simply a means to help devalue the currency.

The more devalued our currency the less we owe.

The less we owe the more we can borrow.

Raising the minimum wage will increase the costs of everything.

Starbucks raised their wages and said they would not pass the costs on however, they did.

The arguments here and elsewhere claiming that minimum wages kill business are false, but beside the point.

Setting minimum wages is a bandaid. Not a fix for economic distortions.

The problem is, that capitalism itself, because it is conducted based on human beings following human nature, does NOT balance itself as the idealists would like to pretend.

If you pay attention, you will find that yes, SOMETIMES the simple existence of competition makes everyone do better. But it's actually a very rare occurrence, because people do NOT naturally choose the most honorable and intelligent way to respond to competition.

The natural human response, is quick-fixes. That includes minimum wages, to try to quick-fix the fact that private enterprises have artificially distorted the markets with government help, in order to artificially drive wages down.

Wages had to BE driven down, at least according to advocates of free markets and most opponents of minimum wages, because competitors were getting away with paying THEIR people less.

But the thing is, those competitors didn't have our cost of living. So their customer base wont DECLINE because they have low wages.

Our customer base HAS declined tremendously because of the "quick fix" of private industry to outsource everything overseas, combining the fall in shipping costs from the use of container ships, with the elimination of all trade barriers that certain politicians in the government championed.

The natural result is products that our people can less and less afford to buy, while foreigners get rich, and heads of foreign investment interests here get richer and richer.

It's all about American customers.

Maybe what we need instead of either lower taxes on those people investing overseas, OR artificially higher wages here, is to tie tax breaks for American companies directly to how much they raise worker pay, and how many jobs they hire American for.

Just a suggestion, based on capitalism.

I can tell you that if the minimum wage goes up to $15.00 an hour like Bernie and Hillary want, I will let 2 employees go the next day, maybe even 3. These are people that are not critical but help take some of the load off others.
This will happen in countless businesses across the country.
Maybe if you actually employed someone instead of listening to the liberal pundits you would understand how economics work.

Great. You are the only employer in your area. How much are you paying now? Are you incapable of changing anything about your way of doing business at all, to adjust for higher labor costs? If the cost of materials goes up, you fire people as well?

right,blame something that has never existed anywhere on this Earth!
Nice Strawman to hide and justify Government-Interference!

If costs go up, regardless of reason, labor,taxes,insurance,regulations etc., that cost is transferred to the consumer if possible(can product remain competitive in market place?)if cost of product is too high you have to cut labor. I have been in business 18 years and most company's as is mine are already running a "lean manufacturing" environment to stay competitive. Having Government set artificial wages hurts business as well as consumers and specially individuals who don't get these large minimum wage increases like those on fixed incomes.
FYI I pay a lot higher then minimum wage, like most businesses it is hard to find good, competent workers and that is and should be how the wages are based on, availability and experience.
Another big factor you are overlooking is that different states have different cost of living.
Someone in say Florida can live fairly reasonable on 12 an hour yet someone in NYC would probably need at least 18 an hour just to survive.
Minimum wages if needed should be set by states and their set of circumstances not by the Feds.

The thing is, everything is connected in finances. If wages RISE, then the ability of customers to BUY THINGS rises. If the ability of customers to BUY THINGS rises, then the ability to SELL THEM rises.

It wont be JUST your employees getting more money, it will be everyone getting more money, and that will eventually result in the proverbial boats all rising on a rising tide.

That's the thing about this kind of discussion, which is commonly overlooked, and which you are overlooking as well.

The economy isn't a closed, localized system. It's completely interactive. The only reason why some people think that lowering taxes on JUST the already rich, and paying for it by reducing wages or increasing wage earner cost of living will help the overall economy, is because they don't recognize the full extent of that interactive nature on it.

As I said earlier, I am NOT an advocate for simple minimum wage hikes. But since the economy is already being distorted by a lot of other manipulations, it MIGHT be necessary to get that segment moving again.

So far, the great increases in productivity we've seen since the 1970s have mostly gone into the pockets of the top earners. The cost of living has drifted upward at the same time, but wages have not. That is why the real functional middle class has been shrinking.

SOMETHING needs to be done, and so far, termination of regulations hasn't helped, and nor have upper crust tax cuts.

Very good point. Corporations Do Not pay that corporate tax, it is just a cost of business like buying equip and has to be calculated in the cost to provide a product. The BUYER pays that 39% tax. Neither side will ever explain that scam to the American public!!
Trump wants to lower it to 15% which would be a good place to start. How about 0% corporate tax the the money as a result could be used to hire more and expand the business.
The 39% tax rate might as well be added to federal and state taxes. It is just a shell game with them, just like fees are nothing more than taxes with a different name.
Very few understand nor think about it so our dumb *** politicians keep pulling the wool over the publics eye and we allow it through ignorance. .................................

I agree about the shell game. Particularly the problem with taxes. No matter where you take them out, the costs will be the same, and the money will have to come from SOMEWHERE.

Frankly, if you think about it, especially since business DO pass all taxes on to consumers, we really ought to go the other way. Have 100% of taxes be paid by businesses, charging EVERYONE WHO DOES BUSINESS OR SELLS PRODUCTS HERE pay them.

That would have two benefits at least: efficiency (instead of a huge IRS, wasting time chasing millions of individuals, there could be a much smaller agency monitoring buying and selling, and taking taxes in directly), and the cost of all the government work that all businesses depend on to be able to function, would be seen by those businesses, on their monthly databases.

And just think of the BILLIONS of dollars all the businesses would save, not having to calculate the taxes of all their employees and vendors, as they do now.

Yet, if the cost of doing business rises as a result of a minimum-wage increase, then the price of things will also rise, thereby making it harder for the poorest people to buy things.

if the prices rise in connection with the minimum wage rise, than those making that increased minimum wage can still pay the prices

If prices go up, then the the minimum-wage increase has been rendered meaningless.

Meanwhile, those people dependent on SSDI are at a loss until Uncle Sam decides to increase what they receive monthly.

Then why raise the minimum wage in the first place?

Because it is easier for politicians to do that than it is for them to deal with the things that drive up the cost of business.

One name, Jerry Brown, comes to mind.