Explain to us Libs, what is a living wage?

[Soggy in NOLA]

They are looking for the ONE job they WANT to work at. I am very sure all of those college grads would never consider baby sitting, housekeeping or picking fields.

My sons friends are all recent college graduates and they ARE working jobs in childcare, bar tending and lawn maintenance

None are paying a living wage

Good for them.


And if they want more money.... get a second job.

Good grief.. what the hell kinda degrees did they get?

 

[bucs90]

What happens when employers build Widgets and don't pay a wage their employees can support their families on?

The taxpayer steps in and subsidizes food, housing and healthcare for that family. Employer gets to profit off of cheap widgets.....taxpayers make up the difference

Ah. So.....how about we tell employers we'll give you a tax break, and in exchange pay your employees more, and thus the gov't wont have to subsidize stuff.


BUT......then morons like you would be bitching about "TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH' because the widget factory owner earns $250,000 a year.

 

[JRK]

Ok, then give me the number.

It's dependent on your local cost of living, but for example, I would imagine $10 an hour could work where I live.

Not ind NYC or San Francisco... you're talking at LEAST $50K or better. Why would I pay anyone $50k to work a fryer?

there are many in my home town making it on 10-14 an hour
probably 80%
that is why i am 1000 miles from there working, for now

 

[Mr.Nick]

If it takes 15.00 an hour to have a "living" wage, well I really dont have an issue with that except that really all your doing is raising the cost to build a widget, or grow a widget to a point in which the 8.00 an hour becomes 15.00 an hour it seems to me
What is a living wage?

A wage based on supply and demand....

The problem is the unions don't subscribe to supply and demand - they only make demands...

That fucks with the price of goods and services - which in short fucks with the guy working at McDonalds...

The real problem is that capitalism is being dictated by labor unions and government...

You think capitalists don't want to pay a living wage??? why the hell would they not want to??? the more money you have the more you will spend and that spending makes them rich...

Also lets not forget regional standard of living - it costs a lot more to live in Chicago then say bumblefuck Wisconsin...

 

[kwc57]

If minimum wage is something that you shouldn't be able to live on, then what are you supposed to do when the only job you have pays minimum wage? Getting a second job isn't exactly something you can quickly acquire in this economy.

Well that begs the question, why are you working a minimum wage job?

If someone is working a full time minimum wage job, they probably don't have a college degree.

So, at the very least, it would be reasonable to pay them enough that they could afford to work and go to college at the same time. We have grants that are available to help out with this, but unfortunately, there has been talk of ending them.

If that happens, we're going to have a lot more people on welfare than before.

Are we talking an 18 year old senior in high school or a 30 year old man with a wife and kid? In an earlier post I talked about the choices we make in life. No 30 year old man with a family should be working a minimum wage job. A guy who lost his job and is doing it temporarily to have some cash flow until he finds a job that pays more for his skill set is one thing. If he has been working minimum wages jobs since he was a kid, he has made some really poor choices along the road of life. That is what I don't get when everyone keeps talking about minimum wage jobs should be a living wage. No, they shouldn't. Minimum wage jobs are entry level jobs to get your feet wet in the workplace, get some experience and move up. It isn't a stopping point.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

It's dependent on your local cost of living, but for example, I would imagine $10 an hour could work where I live.

Not ind NYC or San Francisco... you're talking at LEAST $50K or better. Why would I pay anyone $50k to work a fryer?

there are many in my home town making it on 10-14 an hour
probably 80%
that is why i am 1000 miles from there working, for now

That's why I left NYC in 1993. It just wasn't worth it.

 

[bucs90]

Throw your arms up in the air and demand that you be paid $45,000/yr to work a french fry machine.

I could be wrong here, but I don't think anyone has suggested a living wage needs to be that high.

27-29 a year with some help on insurance should do it
That is 13-14 an hour and you pay 30-40% of you ins.
@ 8.00 16640 per year. you can make it, with a room mate etc...

Sure you can. 2 friends rooming together would be 32K a year. That covers rent/food.

But, they MIGHT have to do without an Iphone, without a vacation to Florida on spring break, without a new car (GASP may have to drive used car) and just might, MIGHT have to have a fridge without beer and junk food, but rather just buy what is necessary. And they just might, MIGHT, have to deal with basic cable rather than HDTV.

Rough life, I know.

 

[Utilitarian]

Well that begs the question, why are you working a minimum wage job?

If someone is working a full time minimum wage job, they probably don't have a college degree.

So, at the very least, it would be reasonable to pay them enough that they could afford to work and go to college at the same time. We have grants that are available to help out with this, but unfortunately, there has been talk of ending them.

If that happens, we're going to have a lot more people on welfare than before.

Sure, if the job is worth that much. Otherwise, not so much. That's not my responsibility. If I have 10 people wiling to do it for $7.50/hr, why would I pay you $10? That's stupid. Do you go to Wal-Mart and offer to pay more than sticker?

Well, that's where illegal labor comes in. The minimum wage as a whole is somewhat futile anyway, since a lot of the work that pays it is farmed out to illegals.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

If someone is working a full time minimum wage job, they probably don't have a college degree.

So, at the very least, it would be reasonable to pay them enough that they could afford to work and go to college at the same time. We have grants that are available to help out with this, but unfortunately, there has been talk of ending them.

If that happens, we're going to have a lot more people on welfare than before.

Sure, if the job is worth that much. Otherwise, not so much. That's not my responsibility. If I have 10 people wiling to do it for $7.50/hr, why would I pay you $10? That's stupid. Do you go to Wal-Mart and offer to pay more than sticker?

Well, that's where illegal labor comes in. The minimum wage as a whole is somewhat futile anyway, since a lot of the work that pays it is farmed out to illegals.

Oh, indeed... that is a problem.

 

[JRK]

What happens when employers build Widgets and don't pay a wage their employees can support their families on?

The taxpayer steps in and subsidizes food, housing and healthcare for that family. Employer gets to profit off of cheap widgets.....taxpayers make up the difference

Ah. So.....how about we tell employers we'll give you a tax break, and in exchange pay your employees more, and thus the gov't wont have to subsidize stuff.


BUT......then morons like you would be bitching about "TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH' because the widget factory owner earns $250,000 a year.

Business owners cannot make a good profit without good help. The thing I like about a 9-9-9 type program is that the 50-100k a year worker would get the most benefit and it would do the economy so much
Cash on hand from 91-11, were talking about 130-140,000 difference in my bring home. Thats jobs people and may even be a living wage in that kind of cash

 

[Utilitarian]

Ok, then give me the number.

It's dependent on your local cost of living, but for example, I would imagine $10 an hour could work where I live.

Not ind NYC or San Francisco... you're talking at LEAST $50K or better. Why would I pay anyone $50k to work a fryer?

To be honest, I'm not sure how the poor survive in those places. I can definitely see why they tend to get out of there when possible.

 

[syrenn]

Sure you can. 2 friends rooming together would be 32K a year. That covers rent/food.

But, they MIGHT have to do without an Iphone, without a vacation to Florida on spring break, without a new car (GASP may have to drive used car) and just might, MIGHT have to have a fridge without beer and junk food, but rather just buy what is necessary. And they just might, MIGHT, have to deal with basic cable rather than HDTV.

Rough life, I know.

And there in lays the problem..... all of that is what they consider NEEDS. Must haves... that are not luxury options...

There is no understanding of needs over WANTS.

 

[bucs90]

What happens when employers build Widgets and don't pay a wage their employees can support their families on?

The taxpayer steps in and subsidizes food, housing and healthcare for that family. Employer gets to profit off of cheap widgets.....taxpayers make up the difference

Ah. So.....how about we tell employers we'll give you a tax break, and in exchange pay your employees more, and thus the gov't wont have to subsidize stuff.


BUT......then morons like you would be bitching about "TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH' because the widget factory owner earns $250,000 a year.

Business owners cannot make a good profit without good help. The thing I like about a 9-9-9 type program is that the 50-100k a year worker would get the most benefit and it would do the economy so much
Cash on hand from 91-11, were talking about 130-140,000 difference in my bring home. Thats jobs people and may even be a living wage in that kind of cash

Yep. And biz owners can't hire good help if their taxes go up.

 

[kwc57]

of Americans are looking for ONE job...

You want them to find two?

They are looking for the ONE job they WANT to work at. I am very sure all of those college grads would never consider baby sitting, housekeeping or picking fields.

My sons friends are all recent college graduates and they ARE working jobs in childcare, bar tending and lawn maintenance

None are paying a living wage

My son knows college graduates in his field of study who have jobs waiting for them when they graduated, some making 6 figures. It depends on what you study. If you seek an engineering degree in fire protection and safety technology like my son instead of a phd in medieval literature like my neice, you'll make a pretty nice living. My neice has been a Starbucks barista and a child care worker. Obce she gets a phd, she will have to wait for some old white haired professor at some obscure college to die before she can get a job. Until then, low paying jobs. Choices, choices, choices. You have to live with them.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

It's dependent on your local cost of living, but for example, I would imagine $10 an hour could work where I live.

Not ind NYC or San Francisco... you're talking at LEAST $50K or better. Why would I pay anyone $50k to work a fryer?

To be honest, I'm not sure how the poor survive in those places. I can definitely see why they tend to get out of there when possible.

They live miles away like in Hayward, CA, or Trenton, NJ, with 4 roommates, and commute for two hours.

Yes, it sucks. Liek I said, it's why I left NYC years ago.... just wasn't worth it.

 

[bucs90]

Sure you can. 2 friends rooming together would be 32K a year. That covers rent/food.

But, they MIGHT have to do without an Iphone, without a vacation to Florida on spring break, without a new car (GASP may have to drive used car) and just might, MIGHT have to have a fridge without beer and junk food, but rather just buy what is necessary. And they just might, MIGHT, have to deal with basic cable rather than HDTV.

Rough life, I know.

And there in lays the problem..... all of that is what they consider NEEDS. Must haves... that are not luxury options...

There is no understanding of needs over WANTS.

Exactly.

The majority of yuppy liberals who are bitching about health insurance............could probably purchase their own individual plan for about what they are paying a month for that iphone they are blogging from.

 

[Utilitarian]

Well that begs the question, why are you working a minimum wage job?

If someone is working a full time minimum wage job, they probably don't have a college degree.

So, at the very least, it would be reasonable to pay them enough that they could afford to work and go to college at the same time. We have grants that are available to help out with this, but unfortunately, there has been talk of ending them.

If that happens, we're going to have a lot more people on welfare than before.

Are we talking an 18 year old senior in high school or a 30 year old man with a wife and kid? In an earlier post I talked about the choices we make in life. No 30 year old man with a family should be working a minimum wage job. A guy who lost his job and is doing it temporarily to have some cash flow until he finds a job that pays more for his skill set is one thing. If he has been working minimum wages jobs since he was a kid, he has made some really poor choices along the road of life. That is what I don't get when everyone keeps talking about minimum wage jobs should be a living wage. No, they shouldn't. Minimum wage jobs are entry level jobs to get your feet wet in the workplace, get some experience and move up. It isn't a stopping point.

A certain amount of accountability is vital in every society, but shit happens.

There are 30 year olds working minimum wage jobs. Sometimes people make dumb decisions. They pay for it by working a job like that, but my point is that paying them just a tad more isn't a bad thing.

The comment was made earlier that if a living wage was the same as minimum wage, there would be no motivation to move up, but that's not true for about 95% of the population. Almost no one wants to work that kind of job for the long term, even if they can live off of it.

 

[syrenn]

It's dependent on your local cost of living, but for example, I would imagine $10 an hour could work where I live.

Not ind NYC or San Francisco... you're talking at LEAST $50K or better. Why would I pay anyone $50k to work a fryer?

To be honest, I'm not sure how the poor survive in those places. I can definitely see why they tend to get out of there when possible.

I will tell you how...

entitlement programs.
nanny state mentality
the idea that the world owes them a lifestyle


Some of us however, do it the old fashioned way, we work for what we have.

 

[LoneLaugher]

I wonder if the nutters here would do me a favor and list their top five choices for a place to live and raise a family. Anywhere in the world?



I'd also like to know why they think that a person making who makes $8 per hour today and is willing to pay $2.00 for a hamburger will, if his pay is raised to $20 per hour, be willing to pay $4.00 for the same hamburger tomorrow? Will the the increased labor cost that the restaurant faces necessarily double the price of the burger? Hmmmmm?

 

[Utilitarian]

Not ind NYC or San Francisco... you're talking at LEAST $50K or better. Why would I pay anyone $50k to work a fryer?

To be honest, I'm not sure how the poor survive in those places. I can definitely see why they tend to get out of there when possible.

I will tell you how...

entitlement programs.
nanny state mentality
the idea that the world owes them a lifestyle


Some of us however, do it the old fashioned way, we work for what we have.

Sure, some people live off of the state, but most entitlement recipients are temporary.

The ones who choose to live off of the state would probably just commit crime if welfare didn't exist. Some still do while on the system as well.

Either way, most economists accept that around 3% of the population is unemployable anyway.