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Old 09-05-2014, 11:00 PM
 
1,259 posts, read 828,478 times
Reputation: 142

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Of course she can. "Never underestimate your opponent"



Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceece View Post
Don't need phones, don't need transport...??? WTF??

I don't often insult people on CD but I really want to insult you. I won't, but I want to. You talk like an ignorant child though.

You have such a myopic view on life you honestly think everyone can just jump on a subway and get to work "just like that" or something? Everywhere in the US? SERIOUSLY?

No. You can't be that stupid.
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Old 09-06-2014, 12:54 AM
 
Location: USA
6,230 posts, read 6,922,180 times
Reputation: 10784
So when in history did fast food and retail pay a solid middle class wage?

Yes you can survive working minimum wage full time. Keyword: Survive. I've done it. The thing is you can't be having kids if you plan on working minimum wage the rest of your life.

There are burger chains that pay $15 an hour. But of course these are more gourmet places and don't serve the kind of cheap garbage McDonalds does.

Just remember the wages reflect the kind of profit margins these business deals with. In McDonalds case, low profit margin. If you want to earn a high wage you need to go into an industry that has a higher rate of profit and return on investment. Of course this usually always requires a college education or trade skills.
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Old 09-06-2014, 01:14 AM
 
Location: Long Island
32,816 posts, read 19,478,139 times
Reputation: 9618
oh the meme of 'livable wage'


please define livable wage

do you mean livable wage in Mississippi?

do you mean livable wage in NYC

do you mean livable wage as a single person who shares (roommates)

do you mean a loner single person

do you mean as a supporter of a family of 6



the thing liberals cant figure out (lack of mentality) is that one size does not fit all


$6/ hr is livable in MS......were you might need $20/hr to live in NYC




btw the median household income for the ENTIRE USA is 52k.....quite livable

less than 1% of workers make min wage or 'near' min wage
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Old 09-06-2014, 01:31 AM
 
41,110 posts, read 25,727,707 times
Reputation: 13868
Quote:
Originally Posted by workingclasshero View Post
oh the meme of 'livable wage'

please define livable wage

do you mean livable wage in Mississippi?
do you mean livable wage in NYC
do you mean livable wage as a single person who shares (roommates)
do you mean a loner single person
do you mean as a supporter of a family of 6

the thing liberals cant figure out (lack of mentality) is that one size does not fit all

$6/ hr is livable in MS......were you might need $20/hr to live in NYC

btw the median household income for the ENTIRE USA is 52k.....quite livable
less than 1% of workers make min wage or 'near' min wage
Yep, just like they don't know the difference between high income and true wealth allowing Obama to really pulled one over on them. Obama and other Democrats must still be laughing their asses off at their ignorance.
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Old 09-06-2014, 03:58 AM
 
78 posts, read 63,249 times
Reputation: 133
Quote:
Originally Posted by ambient View Post
What do you think ends up happening when your full-time low-wage service worker can't make ends meet.....
What NEEDS to happen is common sense. What follows next, if one is smart and using common sense, is that person who's not making enough money to support themselves (not to mention any kids or spouses) starts brainstorming career plans that pay a lot more money. Through skills, training, and/or education. Whatever it takes in whatever field they choose. Ringing up french fries and flipping burgers is a great job for the teenager's first job while they are in school and living with mom/pop. They make min wage. That's what those jobs are designed for. They were never designed to support a family of 4, pay a mortgage, buy groceries, pay utilities, pay for car insurance/health insurance, make new car payments, go on a cruise once a year, your kids' college tuition.

Education yourself. Go to a trade school. Learn new skills. Go to college and get a practical degree you can actually use in a competitive job market.

Be smart. Don't expect sympathy for having low goals and no money. Do not whine. Do something about it. Who wants to be a cashier at McDonald's for 40 years.

And most companies (big name companies, i.e., McDonalds) have a specific career path within the corporation for moving up, promoting up into upper management careers that pay very well. It's available to all employees and anyone who has a burning desire goes for it. If you are content to stagnate in your jobs, you are getting paid what your marketable value is....somewhere around min wage.

People are paid what their services are worth in the job market. The more complex and highly trained your abilities, knowledge, education and skills are, the more you are worth in the business world.

It's about taking responsibility for your own situations and being a grown up.

If you choose to remain at such a low skilled career level, then you will remain in poverty. It's up to you.

If you want more, then do what it takes to GET more. But you have to work for it and be worth it to the person who will pay you.

And by the way, "office workers" work their butts off (most of them), work at least 40 hours a week, commute another 10 hours a week (most of them), deal with customers/clients all the time and work hard mentally. that's the difference. It's is their brains working hard, not their body. IN general. It's not easy to work in an office climate successfully and it requires experience, social knowledge, maturity, and whatever skill is involved in their industry. Higher level of responsibility too. Naturally it pays more than taking orders at Burger King.

bust out of the burger bizz if you aren't financially happy. Complaining about this is annoying and just angers people. Help yourself or be lazy.

The only thing min wage needs to satisfy is that is does need to keep up with inflation in proportion (ratio) with all other salaries and expenses.
If life is 25% more expensive this year than is was 10 years ago, every other industry and level of work has gone up in salary, going to the store has gone way up, rent has gone way up (for everyone)....everything has spiked over the last ten years, then mw needs to PROPORTIONATELY go up along with everything else. But one still will have the same problems if their min wage goes higher than the proportion demands. If Judy Smith, the office worker makes $500 more p/month today than she did in 2004, gas has doubled in price, real estate has spiked 25% since 2004, etc etc. then YES. MW needs to go up a bit to match the rest of the world. But you still won't be able the pay the increased rentQ!!!!

Last edited by suebee123; 09-06-2014 at 04:08 AM..
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Old 09-06-2014, 04:25 AM
Status: "Smartened up and walked away!" (set 24 days ago)
 
11,776 posts, read 5,789,903 times
Reputation: 14198
The only thing these protesters are going to do is protest themselves right out of a job. Europe wanted higher pay for it's "service employees" this is what they got McDonald's orders 7,000 touchscreen kiosks to replace cashiers - Neowin. They are already using them in the US at the McDonalds attached to corporate headquarters and will be coming to your area soon!!

We just came back from visiting my son - we found many cafeteria style restaurants and were surprised that some casino buffets no longer have a hostess to seat you nor a waiter / waitress. The cashier gives you your table number and tells you where it is, you pour your own beverages and the waiters / waitresses now are the bus boys. Keep crying about a living wage and you'll next be crying about losing your job.

I didn't get a degree which requires continued education for licensing and 30 yrs experience to work for a couple dollars more than McDonald's cashiers if this wage hike goes through. They're actually lucky they have jobs at all.
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Old 09-06-2014, 05:23 AM
 
1,259 posts, read 828,478 times
Reputation: 142
Ok, ignorants. Learn from the classic, a known socialist and Obama supporter, Adam Smith:

Smith: Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapters 8-9 | Library of Economics and Liberty

"A man must always live by his work, and his wages must at least be sufficient to maintain him. They must even upon most occasions be somewhat more; otherwise it would be impossible for him to bring up a family, and the race of such workmen could not last beyond the first generation"

"Servants, labourers and workmen of different kinds, make up the far greater part of every great political society. But what improves the circumstances of the greater part can never be regarded as an inconveniency to the whole. No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, cloath and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, cloathed and lodged".

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book 1, Chapter 8
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Old 09-06-2014, 05:39 AM
 
6,073 posts, read 4,749,948 times
Reputation: 2635
question. if we double the salary of these failures, then shouldn't my salary double? after all, I have a skill. if my salary does not double, I am not fine with these failures only making like $10 an hour less than me. some punk brat 16 year old taking out the trash doesn't belong in the same stratosphere as me.
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Old 09-06-2014, 06:02 AM
 
Location: Dallas
31,290 posts, read 20,735,123 times
Reputation: 9325
Quote:
Originally Posted by katestar View Post
What is wrong with these people that ring up your coffee to be paid a wage that can afford them a place to live not in the ghetto, food on the table, utilities, a decent vehicle, entertainment and some money to put away. .
Nothing is wrong with people getting paid a wage high enough to live on. Who said anything was wrong with that. If Starbucks decides to pay it's service workers $50,000 per year, I have no problem with that.
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Old 09-06-2014, 06:06 AM
 
Location: NE Ohio
30,419 posts, read 20,301,605 times
Reputation: 8958
Quote:
Originally Posted by katestar View Post
I've worked in retail and food service and honestly it's not an easy peasy job. It might not require a lot of complex skills or an abundance of brain cells, but it's strenuous on the body, plus it involves working with customers, who can be really a pain in the a$$ a lot of times. On top of that you are usually required to work nights, weekends, holidays etc.

The argument I keep seeing is that these jobs are a step up to something better. However, my counter argument is (1) not everyone is management or trade school material what have you. And (2), looking at the job reports and trends, we are creating a lot of service/retail jobs and not too many skilled jobs. Imagine every retail/service employee went to trade school, will there be jobs for them all?

What is wrong with these people that ring up your coffee to be paid a wage that can afford them a place to live not in the ghetto, food on the table, utilities, a decent vehicle, entertainment and some money to put away. Why do these people have to work 2 or 3 part-time min-wage jobs, just to scrape by. Yes it's not rocket science, but it's still work. Honest work at that. I can tell you that I don't work as hard in my "cushy" office job as I did when I was serving tables in college. At least in the office I don't deal with customers, I can take a break when I want, go online etc.

Here's my math. Average McD's employee makes $7.62/hr (I saw on the news this morning). Lets say this person works 40 hours and then makes $304.80/week or $15,240/year (50 weeks). Taxes would be roughly $400 on this income, single. Expenses might look like this (I'm in Florida):

Rent/bills: $500/mos -$6000 for the year
Cell phone: $50/mos - $600 year
Health Insurance: $200/mos - $2400/yr
Car insurance: $50/mos - $600/yr
Clothes: $300/yr
Food: $100/mos - $300/yr
Gas: $80/mos - $960/yr
Car maintenance: $500/yr
Total: $11,660

This leaves roughly $280/mos for savings/entertainment. Maybe I'm missing some expenses, but these are mine. There is no way to raise a child on this income. Even if it's two earners, most of the expenses double and rent goes up for a bigger place. What if there is an emergency or you need to pay your insurance deductible, there is no thing left. Even upping this person's wage to just $12/hr would give them some room for emergencies/savings etc.

What I'm getting at is, are these peoples not deserving of vacations, children, savings, not having to scrape by. I mean they are putting in 40 hours of labor as well. And to the argument that they can't even get your order right - my argument is there is probably not a lot of motivation. I know I would put in more effort not to get the order wrong and not to get fired if I was making $12/hr vs. $7. Maybe not start out at $12/hr, but after a year or so employment and having proved yourself, why not make $12/hr? There are companies out there that pay these wages and still turn decent profits.
Your first mistake is thinking that what is an entry level position is a career position. It is not. No one should think that they ought to be able remain in the same position for life, and expect to be paid enough to support a wife and raise a family. It isn't the responsibility of an employer to pay you enough to meet your needs and wants. It is your responsibility to advance your knowledge and skills so that you can obtain a better job and earn more money. This process never ends for as long as you work.

Here is a bit of reality for you:
Quote:
The fact is that fast food work offers an opportunity for advancement to those who embrace hard work and are willing to learn. McDonald’s boasts of the substantial portion of their franchisees who began as entry level workers. And In-N-Out promotes from
within, and pays its store managers, virtually all of whom began as entry level workers, richly. Restaurant industry gossip suggests well into six figures, in fact.
Blog: Fast food strikers: meet your replacement robot
Your second mistake is thinking that it should pay better simply because it is hard work and involves "working with customers."
It may be "hard work" (very subjective), but the labor pool is huge, and, as you acknowledged, it doesn't require special skills.

As for "working with customers," bagging a "Happy Meal" and "ringing up your coffee" is not exactly "working with customers."

In much of retailing, you are not even a "sales person." You don't "work with customers."

Those who work in upscale retailing who are expected to sell, do make more, often earn a commission on their sales, and those jobs are career paths to higher positions (my wife started out working the floor, was advanced continually over the years and eventually became General Manager of her store).
Your view of work and wages is all wrong. The laws of supply and demand play an important roll in everything, including labor and wages. If government mandates higher pay for low skill jobs where the labor pool is inexhaustible, the result will be more and more automation, eliminating those jobs.
Blog: Fast food strikers: meet your replacement robot
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