Kristen Hastings

Alison Fernley
English 1010 17, November, 2013

Annotated Bibliography I chose to write about the recent battles to raise the federal minimum wage. I chose this topic
because as a server I fall into the large category of people that dont make enough money. Seeing how I have to rely on the $2.13 an hour minimum wage for servers it doesnt add up as fast as you would think when youre also being taxed at the same time. Living on a serving wage to help pay for school has defiantly shown me the importance of a college education. I also would like to see the effects of not raising the wage and how it effects the current people who we consider to be struggling. Whatever road we take I think we face consequences either way that have positive and negative out comes.
Cayson, Leah. "Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers Stagnant for Decades." Decatur Daily. Decatur Daily, 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.decaturdaily.com/news/local/article_cfeed9f2-3f82-11e3-95eb0019bb30f31a.html>. This article talks about the long overdue changes of minimum wage to tipped being changed. By Federal law tipped workers must be paid tips plus an hourly rate of a minimum $2.13 an hour, but as majority of that goes to taxes dont expect a pay check in this business say Marry waitress and bartender. Even after congress raised the regular minimum wage two different time the amount for tipped works hasnt been changed in over 17 years. But why do

servers really not have any money? Is it because we dont ever make it? Money management is also looked at as being one of the problems servers face if you make $100 in tips in one night and spend it all because its easy cash then it seems like you arent making any money as a server. Bu if you take all of the money you made that week and divide it up by your hours servers make decent money. This article receives its credibility by showing current real life examples. With stories form individuals workers already living on tips it shows how the minimum $2.13 an hour on tipped wages isnt even close to enough. With other creditable sources such as the U.S. department of labor, as well as facts form David cooper and economic analyst at the economic policy institute in Washington DC. As a server I run into all of these problems myself. I have been in the serving business for 2 years, and on a very rare occasion do I see a pay check. Even when I see one from managing hours ($8.00 an hour) majority of it still gets taxed and I never see it. Managing money is a defiant problem Ive noticed not just in myself but in the other servers I work with. It turns into oh no big deal Ill pick up an extra shift or Ill just stay later at work and instead of living paycheck to paycheck I start living shift to shift.

Greenhouse, Stteven, and Kirck Johnson. "In Washington State, Home of Highest Minimum Wage, a City Aims Higher." The New York times. The New York times, 13 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/us/in-washington-state-home-of-highest-minimum-wagea-city-aims-higher.html?_r=0>. Greenhouse and Johnson describe perfectly many reason of what would happen if the minimum wage rates are raised. Washington State already has one of the highest minimum wages in the country at $9.19 but with voters pushing for the rate to be raised to $15.00 an hour this could be viewed as a

dangerous ripple effect for other states. If one state has it then all 50 states will have to have it too. Even though this would have short term benefits it would lead to problems in the end. By rising it this high we are forcing the business to adapt, they will do so by cutting coast and employees and creating more economical problems in the end. In this article we see the credibility not only from the facts and information given but also from who the publisher of the source is. By having your information publish by a credible source such as the New York Times it give you a well know name to back up your information. In addition to a good publisher this article also has multiple real life stories and examples to back up the opinions he puts out. Looking at the current benefits of $15.00 an hour sounds pretty amazing but when I sit down and think about the chain effect this would case a jump this high sounds scary. Do I think the rate needs to be raised? Absolutely. But by jumping up this high and doing so this fast we are a risk of losing jobs, jobs being harder to find, and at worst everyday living expenses going up. If the minimum wage goes up and the cost of living goes up with it was there any point in a raise.

Alana Semuels November. "Tuesday's Election One of Many Attempts to Raise Minimum Wage." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 04 Nov. 2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-minimum-wage-races20131104,0,669226.story?track=rss>. In this recent article Alana Samuels argues that voters in SeaTac might be causing the biggest up roar about minimum wage being raised to $15 an hour for hotel and airport workers. But these wont be the only the voters hitting the polls this Tuesday. Through many states we are starting to see people become frustrated that the minimum wage bill is going nowhere. However New Jersey voters being the closest to any progress, they will vote on changing minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 this week. But a $1.00 an hour change is not the biggest one we are seeing voters in all different states are pushing for

more money each hour. In Seattle they are pushing for $15.00 an hour, Maryland $10.00, as well as the U.S. house and senate have put forth a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.00 an hour.

From my point of Alana Samuels receives credibility through her evidence. She gives multiple examples of different states and what they want the wage to change to. In addition to this she also gives good examples of federal efforts (good and bad) to pass this bill through. From my personal point of view, one of the most important parts of an article is the facts and how your present them. I think this article also has a ton of credibility because it shows very recent examples of voters taking a stand. SeaTac has been one of the most well-known efforts to raise the minimum wage. In addition to this is also give the background information on other states, new federal regulation and the stats and numbers. I feel this article was a very thought out and worded very well, I feel she was a very reliable source. In my personal view of the dollar amount I fell that raising the wage to high could be dangerous, as could not raising the wage at all. Thinking about what is considered a sustainable living amount changes depending on where you live and who you ask. If you skimp by on the bare needed you could live on a lower wage but if you have a nice car and a nice house it changes where you are forced to put that money. Another large factor I think has to be taking into consideration in children. If $10 an hour is hardly enough for 2 in a 1 bedroom apartment. Then a sustainable living amount for a single mom and 2 kids need at least double that. Where do we find the happy medium of what a good living wage is and what you need to get from working hard? In other words there are so many different contributing factors that we have to look at before we decide to raise the minimum wage.

Pitawanich, Christine. "Potential Minimum Wage Increase In Washington State Spurs Debate." KOBI-TV NBC 5 / KOTI-TV NBC 2. NBC, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.

<http://www.kobi5.com/component/zoo/item/potential-minimum-wage-increase-spursdebate.html>. In this article published by NBC it talks about how the SeaTac campaign is gaining a large amount of publicity and arguments are starting to change over to the fast food industries as well. The people arguing against this are companies such as Walmart and McDonalds. Companies that are paying the least and cater to the average person without experience. It finishes to talk about the impact on small business. If we jump from $10.00 to $15.00 in one bill that large of an impact is going to hurt small business dramatically. These small owned and even (big business) will have to make up for this money by passing the prices onto the consumers or cutting down on employees. This article has the credibility not only from good sources and statistics but also from the publisher. The writer himself standing on his own may not be known as the most creatable source on the internet but because it was published by NBC and they have backed all of the information from the writer. In addition to the Information being backed by NBC the writer has creditable sources as part of the facts. Using facts from southern Oregon University and small business owners he achieves creatable information and name. In my view I feel like raising the wage to high will have a positive impact on the people when we first start out. I feel like as we get further and further into the increase we are going to start to see the companies passing the raise onto the customers. In the end the cost of living is going to balance back out. If we dont see coast being passed back on to the customers (or in addition to) I think we will see the job market suffer. If Companies are required to pay each employees $15.00 an hour instead of $7.25 they are going to take that back out of the number of employees. Employees numbers will cut in half and getting a job will become much harder.

Wilson, Mark. "The Negative Effects of Minimum Wage Laws." Downsizing the Federal Government. CATO, Sept. 2012. Web. 04 Nov. 2013. <http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/labor/negative-effects-minimum-wage-laws>.
Here we view the negative effects of raising the minimum wage, published by the CATO Institute. CATO talks largely here about how the companies are going to absorb this coast. And that there is no such thing as a free lunch. When there is a coast to be taking in someone has to take it in a 90 percent of the time the business are expected to absorb this coast. The way they do this is by cutting down on employees. From the business owners point of view, the net earnings arent questionable to change, and they will just adjust around the cost to keep their income the same. This article shows why majority of the Academic evidence point to negative effect of raising the minimum wage. The credibility here falls again with the name and how we recognize different originations and the work they publish. With CATO being a think tank it is recognized as being an extremely creatable source. As a research group at CATO you are finding your top scholars who get together to prove and to show why what they have published is correct or incorrect. There is no profit for them they are there simply for the research and the knowledge. What I see as being the biggest problem with raising the minimum wage is, jumping too high to fast. Even though it may have been almost 20 years since the minimum wage has been raised our small business owners and large companies cant be expected to double employees pay with the blink of any eye. These things we cant just pushed under the rug they take time. We need to look at finding a way to raise the minimum wage at a more manageable rate.

Johnson, Petter. "Raising Rate Has a Ripple Effect: Dime Increase in Minimum Wage Draws

Support, Criticism." Great Falls Tribune. Greatfalls Tribune, 3 Nov. 2013. Web. 04 Nov. 2013.<http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20131103/BUSINESS/311030014/Raisin g-rate-has-ripple-effect-Dime-increase-minimum-wage-draws-support-criticism>.

The Great Falls Tribune shows examples and argues that the minimum wage increase will have ripple effects over time. This article talks more about how the small increase of 10 cents an hour is a little help but still not enough to live on to make any one happy. The chief of the labor and industries department say Id love to see $9.00 or $11.00 raise but the economy just could support that.
The Great Falls Tribune has credibility because of the facts and it brings up with its point of view. The evidence it uses to back up its point of view increase the credibility by having things such as real situation and stories, from people who are just trying to get buy. The Montana department chief of labor and industries also deserves a fair amount as she is the one who dose all the dirty work. When it comes down to it the biggest issue is going to be if the economy can support a large raise or not. A raise of up to $15 like in Seattle is going to have large negative effect on the economy there. And no raise is going to have just a negative of effect on the economy. We need to find the happy medium of where the economy can handle it and enough of a raise to help the average person live but not so much that we overdo it. When I first thought about this subject and I started my research I thought yes we should raise it why not? From my personally point of view I was only looking at the fact that I would get raise and not thinking about the fact the milk does to. What would be the point of doing that? If we are going to make a change in the federal minimum wage it is going to have to come slow, but not to slow that its not enough

and not to fast that its kills out economy. I have changed my point of view after doing my research not to for or against raising the minimum wage, but on the fence of a small raise.