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I wish there was a website that let people understand the challenges in meeting $50 or $100 or $200 per hour in business overhead costs, including wages.
Way too many people don't understand that a person's salary is only part of the labor cost to a company.
I beat it on the first try. Some hard choices to make, like shooting your dog (which only cost .25, vs the $50 they quote you for putting it to sleep), But I digress.
Luckily I was smart enough to train in a career that will always be around, and always pay fairly decent. If you have no education, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Whose intent? Your statement implies that there is a central economic planner who creates jobs for specific people and circumstances. That's not the case. People who spend their lives flipping burgers or doing something menial for Walmart do so because they can't find anything better.
Let's be real here for a moment, shall we? Some people are not able to do anything other than menial labor. There used to be a lot of good paying jobs for these people, so long as they were willing to show up to work on time and work hard while they were there. Those jobs left with NAFTA. That's the problem.
The only job left that pays a decent wage that is available to a person of good character who is able to work hard, but who may not be particularly bright or skilled, is truck driving -- and I hear that lawmakers are working on getting Mexican trucks on U.S. highways, so that job will soon go away too.
So what choices do the menial labor crowd have? They can flip burgers, go on welfare or make do with very, very little. Personally, the solution I like to America's labor problem is that we start paying menial laborers more -- if that means that people at the top of the economic pyramid get less of the profits so that people at the bottom get more -- great! History shows that societies with less disparibty between the rich and everyone else are more stable, prosperous and enjoyable to live in.
There are still plenty of low skilled jobs that pay well. My one friend waits tables in a family restaurant and raises 2 kids with no aide. You probably are not going to be able to do much if you choose to just work 40 hours at a 9 dollar an hour job sure. But if you take a second job,apply for FASFA and go to school, you will move up. Those who can do....those who don't whine.
I wish there was a website that let people understand the challenges in meeting $50 or $100 or $200 per hour in business overhead costs, including wages.
I think people assume that the profits a company makes are so vast that they can afford to raise wages just because. Most places profit margins are not really that high...walmart for example is like 3.6 percent this year. They also forget that these are not private companies, and our owned by stockholders, who demand the company make more money.
LOL, I was in that situation, a couple of times. I easily made it through the month, trust me, Ramen is my friend.
People who haven't had live it, probably need to play the game a few times, for those of us who have dealt with it, it's simple.
I survived 18 months with 2 children and a mortgage without a full time job, working temp and multiple part time jobs. One week I worked 4 part times jobs, a total of 60 plus hours, but enough money to pay medical bills food and everything else required.
Lost my brother during that time, and could not afford to go to his funeral, so yea, I know what it's like, I have lived it. It's not easy, but it can be done if your smart.
There are still plenty of low skilled jobs that pay well. My one friend waits tables in a family restaurant and raises 2 kids with no aide. You probably are not going to be able to do much if you choose to just work 40 hours at a 9 dollar an hour job sure. But if you take a second job,apply for FASFA and go to school, you will move up. Those who can do....those who don't whine.
Not in an area where many illegals are being brought in. Illegals will snatch up the jobs that pay $9 a hour in some places and eagerly accept $5 or $6 an hour.
In fact where I live $9 is considered very decent wages.
Yeah..I "lucked" into a job as a systems programmer with a top corporation.
Had nothing to do with my BS degree and hard work to maintain a near 4.0 GPA or the 8 years I put into the military to get that GI Bill to afford to go to college. That didn't count eh ? "pure luck".
If you believe that I got several oceanfront condo's in the mid west you might be interested in
You know that once those burger flippers start making $15-20 per hour then all wages across the spectrum will go up.
Will all companies across the board just absorb that triple increase in salary for all their workers ? No. Instead the cost of the goods you buy will increase to cover it. Where does that leave you but back where you started.
Happy, I'm not an economist, and I don't pretend to be one. I know that we can't just raise minimum wage to $20 an hour and be done with it. I know that the cost of goods would go up if you raised wages; however, if you think McDonald's will be able to charge $12 for a burger, you're kidding yourself. McDonald's might like to do so, so the people at the top of the burger racket can continue to get the same salary, but at the end of the day, prices are determined by market forces. There's only so much people are willing to pay for a fast food burger before they decide -- eh, maybe cooking up a burger at home isn't so bad after all.
Burger profiteers will then have a choice to make. Do they continue to do business for less profit at the top (so that people at the bottom make more) or do they fold altogether. I assure you, if they choose the latter, there are plenty of people who will step in to fill the gap. Making a $300,000 a year profit as opposed to a $900,000 a year one doesn't strike many as a horrible calamity. Plenty of capable people will be happy to be a Burger executive for that salary.
I know that I am correct that burger flippers can be paid more because I have ample evidence from history to support this. Factory jobs used to be paid starvation wages. Anytime some "lib" or "commie" or whatever they called people who cared about menial laborers in the 1800s suggested factory workers should be paid more, the robber barons begged poor. They couldn't possibly afford to be in business if all of their employees were paid enough to secure the basic necessities of life. Well, they were wrong. Of course, their lifestyles were not quite so lavish, but they did just fine and were comfortably compensated for what they did in the days when factory workers were making a nice chunk of change for doing what they did.
I don't know all the ends and outs of how to get to where I want to go, happy, but I can clearly state my goal:
Every person who is willing to work reliably and consistently for 40 to 50 hours a week should make enough money to pay for life's necessities: food, shelter, clothing and transportation for a single person. Any two people who are willing to work reliably and consistently for a combined 80 to 100 hours a week should make enough money to support life's necessities for a reasonably sized family.
I think that if everyone demanded that our politicians support legislation that works toward this goal, we could get there relatively easily. The Walton children might not do as well as they do today, but Joe Walmart worker will do a good deal better.
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. People are paid based on the need of their jobs and the relative skill level involved.
