Poor couple moving to Big Island (Hilo: neighborhood, calculator, subsidized)

[Robin Rossi]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

The state of Hawaii is already foundering under the weight of the local welfare recipients. No need to encourage more of them to move to Hawaii with their hands stretched out.

There is always Quartzite. Great for rock collecting.

[McFrostyJ]

Originally Posted by Robin Rossi

There is always Quartzite. Great for rock collecting.

Jeffington, ever heard this quote?
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
- Albert Einstein

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Dang it, McFrosty, I can't give you any more rep points!!

[mdand3boys]

Every time a new WalMart opens, they have thousands of applications for the (usually) 200-300 jobs. If WalMart is that terrible of a place to work for, why do so many want to work there?

Besides, most WalMarts do not hire at minimum wage anyway - they pay more than that (they do in Hilo). Local (Hawaii) McDonalds tend to start around $9 an hour. Target in Hilo advertised $12 to $18 an hour when they opened up last year. The market dictates whether or not an employer needs to pay more. If the people don't like the pay, they are free to quit and look elsewhere.

Does anyone really believe that those small businesses that everyone goes on and on about, are paying more than minimum wage? That they offer any benefits that WalMart doesn't?

[hotzcatz]

I heard lately that 80% of Walmart employees are on food stamps. Probably because most of their employees are on less than forty hour work weeks, but I'm just speculating. I don't know anything about Walmart, I don't shop there. I really doubt a family can move over from the mainland and support a household on one Walmart job. But, again, I'm just speculating.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by mdand3boys

Every time a new WalMart opens, they have thousands of applications for the (usually) 200-300 jobs. If WalMart is that terrible of a place to work for, why do so many want to work there?

That just speaks to the depth of the unemployment issue. People will take almost anything when they have had nothing for long enough. By almost all accounts, WalMart is a hideous company to work for.

Besides, most WalMarts do not hire at minimum wage anyway - they pay more than that (they do in Hilo). Local (Hawaii) McDonalds tend to start around $9 an hour.

The difference between minimum wage and $9/hr is inconsequential when you are talking about two rates that are so far below a livable wage. That's barely adequate pay for a teenager who still lives at home. When you combine it with a 20 hour cap on your schedule so they don't have to pay for health insurance, it's pathetic.

Target in Hilo advertised $12 to $18 an hour when they opened up last year. The market dictates whether or not an employer needs to pay more. If the people don't like the pay, they are free to quit and look elsewhere.

When an economy is thriving and jobs are plentiful that's true, but when jobs are scarce and there is effectively nowhere else to look, people will tolerate a lot that they don't like.

The jobs offered at the $18 end were for managers with previous experience, and typically they would each be responsible for the work of maybe 20 of the $12 folks. And neither end of that scale reaches what is calculated as a Livable Wage on the MIT scale for a single parent with one child in Hilo: $21.37*

Does anyone really believe that those small businesses that everyone goes on and on about, are paying more than minimum wage? That they offer any benefits that WalMart doesn't?

You mean the small businesses that get put out of business when WalMart moves into a community? Yes, numerous studies have shown that WalMart drives down average wages when they move into town. It's not even a question at this point.

And the hard fact that 80% of their employees receive some kind of government assistance should be proof enough to any thinking taxpayer that their business model is ripping us all off.

*http://livingwage.mit.edu/places/1500114650

[KauaiHiker]

Great post, OpenD, correcting the inaccuracies about WalMart.

[CyberCity]

This Forbes article from last week adds insight [my bolds]:

For years, Wal-Mart—and other large retail operators—have been piling up huge profits by controlling their labor costs through paying employees sub-poverty level wages. As a result, it has long been left to the taxpayer to provide healthcare and other subsidized benefits to the many Wal-Mart employees who are dependent on Medicaid, food stamp programs and subsidized housing in order to keep their families from going under.

A report released last week by the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, estimates that the cost of Wal-Mart’s failure to adequately pay its employees could total about $5,815 per employee each and every year of employment.

Interestingly, the federal law imposes a penalty on companies with more than 50 employees who do not provide health insurance to an employee working over 30 hours per week. The feds also penalize a company when its workers buy their own healthcare coverage on an exchange and receives a government subsidy to do so.

However,

However, there is no penalty imposed by the federal government on a company when a company’s workers become eligible for Medicaid....The result is that companies like Wal-Mart are actually encouraged by the federal policy to pay their workers even smaller sums without providing healthcare benefits so that even more of their workers will qualify for Medicaid.

[Robin Rossi]

Originally Posted by McFrostyJ

Jeffington, ever heard this quote?
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
- Albert Einstein

I can't speak for Jeffington, since he is neither me, nor a current membe, but I have heard of the expression, and offer your trollish repeated references to me as somebody else to be a perfect example of such insanity.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Robin Rossi

I can't speak for Jeffington, since he is neither me, nor a current membe, but I have heard of the expression, and offer your trollish repeated references to me as somebody else to be a perfect example of such insanity.

When JungJohann discovered that Jeffington and Robin Rossi was one and the same person, you finally admitted that it was true, and even bragged a little that the admins wouldn't do anything about it, even though the Jeffington account had been previously banned and the TOS prohibits multiple accounts. Remember?