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Government regulation is a killer and a massive cost increase in many areas of society, so no argument there.
That said, you have to give up things.
For instance, I took some time off to study while my wife worked in the past. She made what would equate to both of us working full time minimum wage jobs. We rented very cheap by picking smaller and affordable apartments (it was tight and miserable, but... it served its purpose), didn't have TV, only had minimal internet for my study, created food plans where we were able to live dirt cheap and still eat well, no cell phones, had only liability on our vehicle, owned our vehicle did a catastrophic healthcare plan (10K deductible, only covered major illness and accident), had renters insurance and life insurance (limited to specific need), etc...
It wasn't the best of times, but it allowed me to fast track through some study.
Point is, it can be done, but people often don't like the requirements of making it work. They don't like being without all the things we went without. That is, they have unrealistic views as to what it is possible.
How do you know? How do you know that other people with modest incomes aren't scrimping and saving? The answer is that you don't know. You're just assuming.
Let's remember, that a worker is bled by countless taxes, levies, and overhead expenses.
And when he goes to buy the equivalent of his own labor, he's stuck paying those same costs hidden in the retail price. It's not unusual to spend 4 to 8 times as much as one earns to hire oneself. And, no, it's not the "greedy" employers' fault.
Workers are victims of a massive scam to skim him over and over. So, too, are the employers. Why else would they "vote" against socialism and hire "undocumented" labor?
If government was barred from meddling, and all taxes and fees and administrative overhead were removed from the equation, there would be more equitable trade in labor and production.
And let's not forget inflation and the devaluation of the money token ("dollar bill").
Shopsmith Mark V woodworking system
1950 - $169.50
1980 - $799.99 (370% increase)
2010 - $2999.99 (275% increase)
2012 - $3379.00 (12% increase)
2013 - $3679.00 (9% increase)
(differential increase)
Overall price increase : 2,064 %
Or a corresponding 95% drop in buying power of the "dollar bill" from 1950-2013.
And I don't know about anyone else, but the only time in my life that I've made minimum wage was when I was fifteen years old and working part time at Burger King.
If you're stuck for more than a few months at minimum wage, I got news for you - it's not the system that's flawed - it's YOU. Your work and your skills are apparently not in high demand, or are not of good quality, or you're underemployed and seriously need to get out and find a better job. Don't tell me you can't do that - if you truly can't, then maybe your skills really ARE only worth minimum wage and you need to embark on a quest of self improvement.
Get real. Only 5 percent of American workers make minimum wage. That means 95 PERCENT of Americans make more than minimum wage. If you're not in that 95 percent, the problem probably lies with you.
Only 5.2 percent of workers in the US make minimum wage. To hear our Fearless Leader talk, you'd think that half the workforce was making $7 an hour.
... and CEO pay takes up a very small fraction of the profits of a business. People talk like CEOs are taking everything. The profits of a company belong to the INVESTORS (owners), not the workers.
Exactly. They should have TWO minimum wage jobs and work at least 16 hours a day and pull in a $30K. Between the two jobs they should get enough experience to command higher pay somewhere so that they can work less hours for the same net daily pay.
If someone has the work ethic required to work two full time jobs, they won't be making minimum wage for very long.
Even if you do the right thing and manage to get away unscathed in a bad economy, if people get hungry, they stop caring about what you did right and will resolve to a violent revolt!
So you either give in to their demands or you defend yourself.
...Or become that charismatic leader that I talked about earlier and convince the people to live on a lower standard of living.
Jimmy Carter tried that by wearing a sweater in the White House and carrying his own bags when getting off AirForce One.
The thing I'm most glad of--the crackpot armchair business and political "experts" here on CD get it wrong just about every time.
The truth is that 66% of the employers who pay low wages (under $10/hour) are large employers with over 100 employees--it's not mom and pop businesses who will go under if they have to go up a couple of bucks in hourly rates. In fact, most mom and pop businesses don't pay low or minimum wages to begin with. They know their employees, they know if they pay more they get better workers, and they understand that good employees help them make more money. The cost of acquiring and retaining decent employees is built into their plan.
The National Employment Law Project took a look at wages in this county last summer--particularly the largest 50 employers who pay low (under $10/hour) wages. They found that most had completely recovered from the recession--92% were profitable, and 78% have been profitable for the last three years. The top executive compensation at those companies averaged 9.4M. They've returned $174.8 billion in dividends and share buybacks over the last 5 years.
The truth is that 26% of all people employed in this country work at low wage jobs ($10/hour. Minimum wage is $7.25/hour) and most of them work for major corporations that are seeing profits well above their pre-recession profits. Those jobs are almost entirely centered in areas like food service, retail, accommodations like hotels, entertainment and administrative services. It's a complete and total MYTH that those large employers will cut back hiring if the minimum wage is increased by $1.75 an hour to keep up with inflation.
We have a mixed capitalist economy, where some regulation is appropriate. The reason we have a minimum wage is because some employers, especially large, impersonal ones, are all about their personal profits without having a sense of responsibility--they don't care about what's fair. It's the same concept that leads some employers to truck in undocumented workers and pay them $1 an hour, or to cheat environment regs and dump hazardous materials in our water if they can get away with it. The honor system doesn't work, so we have to have rules that people follow, or else we live in chaos. That's what distinguishes us from third world countries.
Raising the minimum wage isn't a government handout--it's making employers be accountable to the communities we live in. Most already are--the main groups that have to worry about this are the people paying the very lowest wages but still making a big profit. If wages are low and people need government handout, your tax dollars are directly subsidizing businesses--YOU are paying the difference in wages vs. the company pulling in the profits and the high executive compensation. I don't know about you, but I work for a living, and I pay more in taxes than most people earn. I'm not happy about footing the bill for foodstamps because some greedy a**hat doesn't want to pay entry level workers what they are actually worth to their business. You either pay corporate welfare, or you pay welfare to individuals if business don't pull their own weight. I think the country has a better use for my tax dollars, like fixing the freaking roads and making broadband service universal--OR PAYING DOWN THE NATIONAL DEBT.
... and CEO pay takes up a very small fraction of the profits of a business. People talk like CEOs are taking everything. The profits of a company belong to the INVESTORS (owners), not the workers.
I would like to see a law passed where the ceo of a major corporation (measured by size of the company based on total earnings perhaps) would have to give all employees a bonus commensurate with their own if hey take one. CEO bonuses in this country have gotten obscene.
Do you know why the minimum wage law was enacted? During the Depression employers were paying people a loaf of bread or a bowl of soup for a days work and they were getting takers. That's how desperate a LOT of Americans were during that time. And there were people to exploit that. You can argue forever about what a minimum wage should be. It has been proven beyond any doubt that, in this country at least, a minimum wage law is needed.
Great stuff...I like the history lesson abut how things were and why things came to be, and the common sense statement at the end:
Employers are simply not able to handle the power. Workers are simply unable to go "somewhere else" or to "start their own business, if they don't like it" or any other pithy put down the Conservatives are likely to come back with.
The thing I'm most glad of--the crackpot armchair business and political "experts" here on CD get it wrong just about every time.
The truth is that 66% of the employers who pay low wages (under $10/hour) are large employers with over 100 employees--it's not mom and pop businesses who will go under if they have to go up a couple of bucks in hourly rates. In fact, most mom and pop businesses don't pay low or minimum wages to begin with. They know their employees, they know if they pay more they get better workers, and they understand that good employees help them make more money. The cost of acquiring and retaining decent employees is built into their plan.
The National Employment Law Project took a look at wages in this county last summer--particularly the largest 50 employers who pay low (under $10/hour) wages. They found that most had completely recovered from the recession--92% were profitable, and 78% have been profitable for the last three years. The top executive compensation at those companies averaged 9.4M. They've returned $174.8 billion in dividends and share buybacks over the last 5 years.
The truth is that 26% of all people employed in this country work at low wage jobs ($10/hour. Minimum wage is $7.25/hour) and most of them work for major corporations that are seeing profits well above their pre-recession profits. Those jobs are almost entirely centered in areas like food service, retail, accommodations like hotels, entertainment and administrative services. It's a complete and total MYTH that those large employers will cut back hiring if the minimum wage is increased by $1.75 an hour to keep up with inflation.
We have a mixed capitalist economy, where some regulation is appropriate. The reason we have a minimum wage is because some employers, especially large, impersonal ones, are all about their personal profits without having a sense of responsibility--they don't care about what's fair. It's the same concept that leads some employers to truck in undocumented workers and pay them $1 an hour, or to cheat environment regs and dump hazardous materials in our water if they can get away with it. The honor system doesn't work, so we have to have rules that people follow, or else we live in chaos. That's what distinguishes us from third world countries.
Raising the minimum wage isn't a government handout--it's making employers be accountable to the communities we live in. Most already are--the main groups that have to worry about this are the people paying the very lowest wages but still making a big profit. If wages are low and people need government handout, your tax dollars are directly subsidizing businesses--YOU are paying the difference in wages vs. the company pulling in the profits and the high executive compensation. I don't know about you, but I work for a living, and I pay more in taxes than most people earn. I'm not happy about footing the bill for foodstamps because some greedy a**hat doesn't want to pay entry level workers what they are actually worth to their business. You either pay corporate welfare, or you pay welfare to individuals if business don't pull their own weight
Wow. I can't rep you enough for this. This is a fierce, righteous post! Thanks...
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