Paul_Shepherd

Why are you saying get rid of the patron saint days? All i said was the UK doesnt need the cost of another 4 national holidays.....that would cost a lot of needless money.

Wynne is a modern communist (as I said modern communism in my opinion is extreme socialism) of course I am being a little sarcastic here too.

The minimum wage is extreme socialism....$15 an hour, so why would anyone bother to get themselves an education if they're going to get paid that anyway?

Tangram

My wife is barely above minimum wage here in Canada and this post has got me just shaking my head in disbelief.

Paul_Shepherd

The fact that $15 an hour is going to put a lot of small business's out of business or just make everything to the consumer that much more expensive, makes me shake my head too.

Tangram

Well we must differ, in a similar way that I don`t object to paying slightly more tax for services ( NHS etc )

Paul_Shepherd

Yes, there is a balance there somewhere I think, countries like France and Sweden are very highly taxed, but are very well looked after. I am all for the NHS, and other social benefits within reason (no one should suffer from illness or not have a roof over their head just because they don't have the money to pay for it) as long as its not abused, thats where it falls down in many cases.

Jingsamichty

Can you please inform us what the actual cost of a public holiday is? It's long been an open question for me so I look forward to learning of clear evidence that a national day off is a net loss to the country.

Oink

There is an argument that imposing a minimum wage creates artificial rigidity in the labor market, a rigidity that becomes visibly acute when responding to the fluctuations in the business cycle.

Paul_Shepherd

It was an additional 4 days off as far as I was aware, so I would say that would be of significant cost to the United Kingdom.

Im not a bean counter so no I haven't worked out the cost of these extra four holidays, and I don't have any intention either, but you carry on, I have lots of other things to be doing. I just picked that random pledge out of air as he has lots of utterly crazy and unrealistic ideas! Albeit well meaning....Im sure.

Jingsamichty

It's also sadly true that the minimum wage creates an effective maximum wage at the bottom end of the market.

At the upper end though, it is just shameless what is happening to academic salaries in the UK, given that income is derived from political decisions rather than actual qualitative results.

Oink

I agree they are far too low although it does depend on your field and how good you are.

Almost Canadian

Is it not simply the amount that the employer has to pay the employee to stay at home? I agree that there is no net loss to "the country" but there is a cost.

dave_j

You have to ask yourselves why any government would seek to introduce a minimum wage.

The snap answer would be that they hope to attract votes from those who'll benefit, but this may not be true because it also upsets those voters at or above the proposed level. But, I hear you state, if my wage is already at the minimum level then I too can expect a corresponding wage increase to compensate.

Another reason would be that low paid workers are exploited by corporations who rely on state benefits to increase the income of those they exploit to their benefit, and forcing companies to pay workers a living wage places the responsibility for paying wages with employers rather with than the state.

Either way, it cannot be right to employ someone full time and pay them a wage at which they find it impossible to survive and you must ask yourselves why this is allowed. The next time you eat at one of the many fast food outlets, spare a thought for the server behind the till and ask yourselves how it is that they can afford to smile.

Jingsamichty

I don't understand your simplistic point. For every single person in the UK there must be a figure on a normal work day and there must be a figure on a public holiday - otherwise it would be impossible to say that there was a cost to the economy of a public holiday, What are these figures, and why don't people who argue that public holidays cost money produce them?

bats

Several questions

What's a modern communist?

When does socialism become extreme?

Wasn't it just one extra bank holiday, ie one for each country?

Why does education define wage? Aren't there other factors?

Shard

The 'cost' to the economy is the opportunity cost of lost production and (probable) reduced spending. Possible to quantify (using averages) but irrelevant.