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$15 now... and when that still doesn't get people their cell phones, fast food, tattoos, lottery tickets, alcohol, car, and entertainment (Yes. Those are luxuries; they are not cultural entitlements contrary to how we've been brainwashed.) they will demand more.
Actually those items are not the biggest expenses (despite the headlines of the $1000 iPhone ) the big ones are housing and transportation. True, some regions are blessed with good rail transit, which cuts down on the latter. But if you look closely, the only jurisdictions which have passed a $15.00 minimum wage at some time in the future have the highest housing costs. A city where you can still rent something for $300 a month obviously won't pass it.
Last edited by pvande55; 11-26-2017 at 06:06 AM..
Reason: Add line
I used to be a minimum wage supporter but really if people don't want the wage bad enough they shouldn't take the job. I would never work for under $15/hour or at least the prospect of it. $9/hour was a good wage back in 1991 maybe for factory work. It's a joke what places pay but that's why I work somewhere I made $23/hour.
I used to be a minimum wage supporter but really if people don't want the wage bad enough they shouldn't take the job. I would never work for under $15/hour or at least the prospect of it. $9/hour was a good wage back in 1991 maybe for factory work. It's a joke what places pay but that's why I work somewhere I made $23/hour.
And if that place closed down or you were laid off, what would you do? Would you refuse to apply at places like grocery stores and fast food restaurants because you were holding out for another $20/hr job? How would you pay your bills?
This whole “I used to believe in a higher minimum wage when I made very little money but now I make more so screw those chumps” mentality is what’s wrong with our country.
I haven't seen anyone paying the bare minimum wage ($7.25 an hour here) ina long time. Even fast food in my area will start you out at $12-$13 an hour, because they cannot even get the teenagers out of bed to work for minimum wage. Hobby Lobby has a sign posted up on the door offering $15 to start. This is not even a high COL area.
This is the free market at work dictating wages. If the local Amazon warehouse offers $15 to start, why work at McDick's for minimum wage? The manager at McDick's has to compete for talent, and will have to pay accordingly.
You know, I was thinking the same thing. I'm not in a high wage/COL region either, but it seems like $10/hour has become the de-facto minimum entry-level wage around here. Our city government announced a higher minimum wage for full-time direct-hire city workers a few years ago, adjusted annually. I think it's $13.75, last time I checked. And municipal government isn't known for paying generous wages.
I Googled Labor Department stats for what percentage of workers are at federal minimum wage or less, and it says 2.7% for 2016. For 2015, it was 3.3%. In 1979, the first year it was measured, it was 13.4%.
You are the product of your ideals. Because of your liberal, teet suckling, socialist, nanny state perspectives you expect someone else to shoulder the burden of training. In essence, you're allowing your company to handicap you.
Did 5 years years of college not provide a little common sense? Has it ever occurred to you to get your own forklift training to raise your stock value?
Actually those items are not the biggest expenses (despite the headlines of the $1000 iPhone ) the big ones are housing and transportation.
Yautzee; that was my point. All of those items I listed are luxuries. If more min wage earners were willing to sacrifice the luxuries they would have more money to spend on necessities like housing and transportation. Simple math.
If minimum wage was raised by $5 (which is about 50% what it is now), what about all those who are making $15 an hour now with college degrees in entry level specialized positions? They won't get a $7.50/hour raise. They will be making the same as those in positions that do not require special skills or education. Is this fair? I'm very open to hearing differing opinions without getting into an argument.
Well here's a thought. The people who work the jobs that are seeking $15 an hour by/large will never see advancement beyond that and also working jobs that most upwardly mobile/better educated individuals wouldn't be caught dead in. So the appropriate response seems to deprive people of a decent life because you got your slice of the pie and feel they aren't worthy? Mirror time is all I have to say...
Yautzee; that was my point. All of those items I listed are luxuries. If more min wage earners were willing to sacrifice the luxuries they would have more money to spend on necessities like housing and transportation. Simple math.
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.
It's six of one and half dozen of the other. I think people would carry on more if suddenly their homes' resale values depreciated by half. Raising the minimum wage affects corporations (and small business owners/entrepreneurs, too). Squashing home values affects individuals. When the economy tanked in 2008, home values plummeted and foreclosures spiked. When Seattle raised the minimum wage, employment wasn't really affected.
Since we've had a minimum wage for many, many years and since previously, that minimum wage was worth much more (in today's dollars) than our current minimum wage, it makes more sense to me to raise that to keep up with inflation. I do agree that the housing prices are astronomical, though, and rising very quickly. My own home has gone up about 25% in value since we purchased it three years ago. Good for me, not so good for someone who wasn't ready to buy three years ago but is now.
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