Ed Milliband promotes living wage as labours next big thing

prowla

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

Hmmmmm.......

Think about it..............

How can everyone be paid AT LEAST the average wage?
EVERYONE would need to be paid the same, no-one could earn more

Your post belies your chosen name...

(It was a joke, a conundrum, an impossibility...:))

Loughton_Monkey

prowla wrote: »

Your post belies your chosen name...

(It was a joke, a conundrum, an impossibility...:))

I must pretend to be pedantic. Totally against my nature....

But ISLT was talking about everyone receiving at least the average.

Technically, that's possible by the simple devise of paying every single person the same salary. This, I believe, was how China was under Mao.

It's paying above the average that would be impossible.

N1AK

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

No need for this comment.

I was polite and I believe that the remark was fair and accurate. The things you are suggesting aren't unlikely etc they are false/impossible. You CAN'T make food noticeably cheaper by decreasing UK wages; the majority of low cost products in the UK aren't UK produced so removing imports would increase cost of living regardless of UK wages. These are facts and they are directly opposed to what you are suggesting.

I'm all for discussing alternative, outside the box ideas, but it doesn't mean I'm willing to pretend the economical equivalent of chopping off an arm to get rid of a bad tattoo (which actually has the advantage of working, while still being stupid).

IveSeenTheLight wrote: »

This argument to me simplistically just pushes inflation higher.

Inflation would only happen if you increase wage costs for equivalent work. If you train someone currently earning £6.20ph to box jeans in the UK so they can build precision built components for £12.00 (and the boxing job went to someone in China) then their is no inflationary pressure on the UK. In fact UK income would increase and the cost of the boxed goods would decrease at the same time.

You can't have a wealthy economy (relative to others) based on doing work everyone else could do easily.[/QUOTE]

paso11

BobQ wrote: »

We speak of £7.20 an hour as a living wage and many people say its unafforable. The minimum wage in Australia is about £10/hr. How can they afford it?

They have a resource boom and little debt.

We dont.

michaels

I have a great idea - lets pay everyone more and then we will all be richer and happier. We will all be able to afford Iphone 5s and brand new BMWs. You lot are silly for not thinking of it sooner.

Vote for me in 2 years time.

And another thing, Free Lunch for everyone!

Rochdale_Pioneers

We have a basic.problem in this country of wages being flat for a decade and the price of goods increasing sharply. The minimum wage was brought in to shore up the very low wages at the bottom.of the scale. The right screamed about how it would increase unemployment yet we saw record levels of employment and low rates of unemployment off the back of its introduction.

But with the cost of living being what it is the minimum wage isn't enough to live on so now we have massive in work benefits paid out to millions- the taxpayer sustaining a low wage economy where companies pay little wages or taxes and bank their ever increasing profits.

So how do you pay for a living wage? It pays for itself as every additional pound paid in salary is a pound not required from tax credits. People at the bottom tend to spend every penny they earn to survive, so the cash is pumped back into the economy instead of taken out of it.

Nor is this a left vs right issue. Any good capitalist knows you need to pay your workers enough for them to be able to buy your products or services. And its been implemented in London by that well known trot reactionary Boris Johnson.

ILW

paso11 wrote: »

They have a resource boom and little debt.

We dont.

And a pretty strict policy of not allowing low skilled immigrants into the country.

Zero_Sum

BobQ wrote: »

We speak of £7.20 an hour as a living wage and many people say its unafforable. The minimum wage in Australia is about £10/hr. How can they afford it?

Is it not just that high due to the strength of their currency against ours? As I believe it is currently something like £6 or £7 for a pint of beer in the pubs over there.

jamespir

seems a good idea cause the nmw at moment is dire and with constant fuel heating and food rising costs is completly unlivable on and that could be a reason why some think that benefit are the best option

Thrugelmir

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

We have a basic.problem in this country of wages being flat for a decade and the price of goods increasing sharply.

Global economy. Something we have to adjust to. With around 2.5 billion more people seeking employment in China and India alone.

The old ways are out of date. We cannot afford to subsidise by handing out ever increasing amounts in benefits.

Starting point has to be an increase in productivity. Then wages can be increased in real terms.