Oklahoma bans minimum wage

[ThanosIsKing]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...ushpmg00000013

GOP Governor of Oklahoma Mary Fallin has banned businesses across the state from establishing mandatory minimum wage and employee benefits, including vacation and sick leave days.

This is another shot against the honest worker in America. Governor Fallin's actions are against everything that America stands for. It seems like she has taken the lead in trying to get her state to resemble a third-world country where the only people that have any sort of money are her and her corporate friends. It makes me sick that she's doing this out of a misguided thinking that it makes things "fair" for businesses. What about being fair to the employees?

[s_stabeler]

let me clarify something: what the law bans is increases in the minimum wage, or establishing mandatory benefits. Previously, people could vote to raise it. basically, this is taking power from the voters.

[crashhelmet]

To clarify even further, this law bans cities and counties from establishing their own laws about minimum wage and employer benefits, leaving everything universal across the State.

They claim this is to keep more populous cities/counties from raising their minimum wage and mandatory benefits to draw more workers and residents from others, or be used to force smaller businesses out.

[Sleepwalker]

the FUCK.

That is all, this is just to pad my word count.

[HYHYBT]

Seems in principle a lot like whichever state it was that passed a law against cities' having stricter discrimination protections than the state did.

[gremcint]

*inhale* WHY? what possible justification can these politicians have for these acts other than we hate the poor. The states has basically decided it wants to have slaves again but it knows it has to do it bit by bit.

[KabeRinnaul]

*inhale* WHY? what possible justification can these politicians have for these acts other than we hate the poor. The states has basically decided it wants to have slaves again but it knows it has to do it bit by bit.

Having had numerous arguments with people who hold these sort of beliefs, allow me to explain.

Essentially, they believe the free market system should be allowed to drive wages, because they don't understand that a free market only functions when the buyer and seller can operate on equal ground. The problem is that labor is a buyer's market, to a ludicrous degree. No matter how low they make their wages, there will always be someone willing to take that job, because something is always better than nothing.

They think that by abolishing minimum wages, employers will be able to pay what jobs are "actually worth", giving more valuable workers high pay and hiring more low-pay workers. That means there are more people making money, even if they're making less, and a higher incentive to work hard and earn pay increases.

Glenn Beck has made an abysmally stupid argument on this topic, so I'll just let him illustrate the other issues they have: Click for "statistics without context make an argument".

These people also believe that raising wages will inevitably and near-instantly result in layoffs and higher prices, because they seem to think that Cost of Goods Sold is somehow directly proportional to payroll. For a debunking of those ideas, find a GK post in pretty much any minimum wage thread. He does it better than I can.

[crashhelmet]

They are not abolishing minimum wages. They can't do that. The Federal Minimum Wage Law(s) will trump any law the State tries to pass trying to do that.

This new law prevents a smaller, local government from passing their own laws with their own minimum wage.

For example, Midwest City, a suburb of Oklahoma City, cannot pass a law changing their minimum wage in an effort to control their economy.

This law makes minimum wage equal across the entire State.

[KabeRinnaul]

They are not abolishing minimum wages. They can't do that. The Federal Minimum Wage Law(s) will trump any law the State tries to pass trying to do that.

I understand that. I wasn't commenting on this law in particular, I was just trying to explain how, in my experience, minimum wage opponents thought.

[gremcint]

Oh yes the free market, the thing that has never worked but people are convinced is the magic state of being where things work. The problem is you shouldn't pay what the job is worth but the what the people are worth, every job needs to be filled and there's no reason that someone working 40 hours shouldn't be able to support themselves but unfortunately the wrong people are in charge.

[Kristev]

But it is also a clear attack on the right of the citizenry to decide how they want to live.