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I make just under $20/hr and I find that reasonable given age, skills and qualifications, but I cannot afford to live on my own unless I wanted to live paycheck by paycheck with no savings in the city I am. So in a way I feel that I should be making more.
Truth be told everyone needs to be making more money, including minimum wage. But the lower and middle class all need pay raises. We are the groups that has seen stagnant wage growth yet we are seeing record productivity numbers and a giant GDP. That clearly is not getting to us...
As far as the housing argument goes, make these laws:
1) You can only own one property OR your second property being subjected to a huge, huge tax. Something needs to be done to curb people using real estate to grow their finances so people can get shelter which we all agree is a basic need. Many food staples have caps because they are considered needs, why not housing?
2) Only American citizens can OWN (own, you can still rent) land in the United States.
3) Ban services like AirBnB from main residences (exceptions for guest houses or ADUs).
That should fix that real quick. If you can make the tax policy so unfriendly for people who own more than one property, then that opens so much more supply so people don't have to rent for the rest of their life if they don't have to. It also gets foreign billionaires out of our real estate market. Also limit AirBnB to accessory units will still give housing supply without interfering with the rental market in a significant way, though as long as AirBnB exists it will interfere with the housing market.
I always told the kids when they said "Daddy, that's not fair!" I replied, "The fair is in September and it's too far and we're not going again this year."
A guaranteed minimum wage that does not fit market conditions will jack up prices which will result in all wages rising and increasing inflation. So the minimal wage earner ends up in the same hole with steeper sides.
There actually are very few people working at the minimum wage **. If that target is raised then more people will be held to that level than will rise to meet it and that will net out as higher unemployment or lower wages in the bottom tier. We already see more workers held to fewer hours so as to not be covered by minimums.
Mark Twain actually showed in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court that it was the buying power, not the wages that mattered. The Medieval peasants thought that more wages automatically meant better, but the American time traveling guy was trying to explain that even lower pay, if it could buy more, would beat higher pay that couldn't buy as much.
What is frightening is if we do not get it right..we will soon start seeing our beautiful country crumbling like Brazil, Guatemala, and so on....people unable to live in a simple one room apartments. If rent, power, food go up by these alarming amounts, than YES, it is up to these employers to pay a livable wage...it's very scary where we are heading.
Interestingly, one of the places where this is happening is Democrat one-party system California. And you can't blame the Republicans for that one cuz they are pretty insignificant in power in the People's Republic of California!
I am an administrative assistant. I am worth at least $50 per hour. I am also a wife, for that $100 per hour and a mother...you would never be able to pay what I would be worth an hour on that.
Then it would be wise to obtain the education required to transition to the knowledge based economy
You do realize that in a tech based society, with technology changing so rapidly, any knowledge from school or whatever would quickly be outdated. And since training is viewed as a four letter word by many employers, that's going to lead to trouble. So I think the best route out is to actually try and get AWAY from the tech-related jobs. It will be hard to find such a thing that doesn't pay survival or sub-survival wages, but it is worth the risk to try in something that could backfire but could also yield higher returns (especially if you currently have a safety net already to protect you in case it DOES go belly up.)
I can see the frustration with wages being stagnant for so long. With Republicans in office don’t hold your breath. They’re putting their money on Trickle down economy. That means no wage hike anytime soon. Republicans would rather support big business and make sure they don’t pay too much in taxes.
What did Clinton and Obama do about it? Oh yeah, they didn't! It's not just a Republican problem!
You don't know much about robots, do you? OR the business of making pizzas, stocking shelves, or checking people out as a cashier.
That's an easy answer. Because in 1973, people were able to work a job that helped to support them AND pay for their college costs. What minimum wage job begins to touch the cost of a college education today? And believe me, if you want a decent job, you need a college education. Even if that college education isn't going to be needed for that particular job.
I'm sorry, people aren't entitled to live a decent job, be able to afford to put a roof over their head or food on the table? What terrorist country did you come from? And if no one is entitled to anything, then why does everyone think the rich are entitled to so much, even if they did nothing to earn their money?
And please tell me, exactly, how these people who can't even afford to put food on the table working a full time minimum wage job, are supposed to be able to afford to get the skills to move them upward? Haven't you figured it out yet? If you can afford college these days so you can make more money, you're already making so much money you don't need college.
Maybe YOU can tell me how people are supposed to pay for this magical education.
Propaganda? Hell, I LIVED during those times. I was making TWO DOLLARS AN HOUR and was still able to afford a one bedroom apartment, pay the bills, buy food, put money in a checking account and totally support myself. Don't you tell me it was propaganda.
As a matter of fact, when you get the ratio of what I paid for that apartment and what I was paid for minimum wage and apply it to today, you'd have to pay more than $20/hr to get the same ratio.
Take a look at those prices on that McDonald's board. That Quarter Pounder with cheese cost 35% of a $2 minimum wage in the 70s. If a $5 Quarter Pounder with cheese today cost 35% of our minimum wage, that wage would have to be $14.28. The current 2017 minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. That Quarter Pounder with cheese cost 69% of the minimum wage today. And we won't even talk about what rent costs.
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What a lot of people here are forgetting is that the extra money given to minimum wage employees doesn't just vanish into the air. It gets spent, on doctors and dentists and grocery stores and businesses all around the community. We're a capitalistic society, so we NEED to spend money to survive as one. The extra taxes also help our communities. Don't believe me? Just go into any small town where the majority of people have depressed wages and take a look at their infrastructure.
The money has to flow, just like we have to breathe. When we quit breathing, we die. When our money flow starts shutting down in the US, the country starts to die. As you've all seen happening.
All that you've shown that costs have gone up? Have you ever considered that something other than the minimum wage amount might be contributing to it? If so, let's find out what those somethings are and deal with them rather than just addressing the minimum wage straw man.
Saving $100 on a tattoo here and $15 on beer there is not going to pay for a house or a car. No matter how Fox News spins it, that's not how finances work. Somebody making $9/hour is probably bringing home, what, $300/week? That $1200 is not going to cover rent, utilities, gasoline, health insurance, and food for the month in most of the United States. Buying a bag of Doritos or a case of beer or springing for a tattoo twice per year is not what's causing the problem here.
$360/week before taxes. Of course, I live at home and am on Medicaid (though it's a double-edged sword as my disability keeps me from a lot of the minimum wage jobs employers look at, plus my meds costs a fortune without insurance and I have preexisting conditions but still couldn't afford the Obummercare exchanges so I'm stuck on the Medicaid expansion. My meds are my biggest cost problem of being on my own.)
Interestingly, one of the places where this is happening is Democrat one-party system California. And you can't blame the Republicans for that one cuz they are pretty insignificant in power in the People's Republic of California!
Is happening? It's been happening for a long time, when good old Ronnie and Arnold were governors as well. After those two, maybe there's a reason for a Democratic one party system in California.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MongooseHugger
All that you've shown that costs have gone up? Have you ever considered that something other than the minimum wage amount might be contributing to it? If so, let's find out what those somethings are and deal with them rather than just addressing the minimum wage straw man.
Well, no, what I showed was that costs that have gone up, have gone up higher and faster than minimum wage. Let me ask you something: If you were living on minimum wage right now and it was affording you a decent lifestyle, whatever that might be, would you think that in the next 20 years your buying power would stay the same between raising minimum wage and the rising COL?
All you have to do to see that minimum wage hasn't kept pace with the COL is look at where rents are today and see what just happened to Social Security. In a perfect world, my Medicare would have gone up and my Social Security COL raise would have kicked in the same amount. Instead, My Social Security went up about $20 and my Medicare went up over $50. You know, with those two starting points, I could do the math right now and tell you when Medicare will wipe out any Social Security I get. And that's exactly what rising rents, AKA the cost of living, has done to minimum wage.
In fact, minimum wage in this country is going backwards - this is from 2013, but pretty much still applicable:
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