Minimum wage is already “livable”

[Lisa558]

Thanks to people like Bernie and Walmart employees raising hell. "Market forces" my ass, Scrooge. Admit it: If you could pay people less, you would.

Btw, minimum wage is $7.25/hr. Not $7.50.

Me personally? I paid above the minimum wage for my lowest level employee, because the ones I could get at the actual minimum weren’t worth a bucket of warm spit. That’s market forces in action.

 

[Grumblenuts]

So what?

If it's only 3% there's no need to raise it.

And no one is getting exploited because they agree to work for a person for the wage offered.

If a person has no ambition and wants to do nothing but push a broom for 30 years why should he keep getting higher and higher salaries?

Gee, inflation?

 

[colfax_m]

What you don’t get is that everyone is allowed to ask for more. But if their skills and contribution don’t warrant it, they won’t get it.

I ran a business, with my highest paid $70,000 (equivalent to $100,000 in today’s dollars) and my lowest paid around $9 (now equivalent to $12j. She was a high school kid who worked part-time doing basic work - running envelopes through the franking machine, xeroxing and collating copies, etc. If she came in and said she wanted a raise, I’d tell her no. If she didn’t like it and quit, I’d just hire another high school kid. People who can do jobs like that are a dime a dozen.

How is it determined whether their skills and contribution warrant it?

It's based on whether you're capable of finding another person who is willing to do the same job for the lower wage. These days, that's far from a guarantee.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Me personally? I paid above the minimum wage for my lowest level employee, because the ones I could get at the actual minimum weren’t worth a bucket of warm spit. That’s market forces in action.

Hey, no shit. But if you could pay them less.. you would.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

P.S. I‘d be OK with increasing it to $10. All jobs around here pay a minimum of $15 anyway.

Why have a minimum wage at all if everyone makes more than that?

 

[colfax_m]

Paying an unskilled worker with no experience $15 an hour to bag fries
is paying them more than the value they add.

How do you know?

 

[rightwinger]

An endless supply of government dollars has allowed colleges to
increase tuition well beyond 3 months of minimum wage.

That's the government's fault, not the fault of the employers.

it is more than just the cost of college that has lagged well behind minimum wage
Cars, gas, food, housing, healthcare have all escalated in price while minimum wage has been frozen for 12 years

 

[Juicin]

I keep hearing the left say that minimum wage, which is what the lowest 2% of Americans earn, needs to be increased to where it provides a “livable“ wage. The disconnect comes in what is considered livable - even for teens who barely squeaked through high school and have no job skills beyond that which can be taught to a middle schooler in half a day.

The left considers “livable” to be a middle class existence - a decent one-bedroom apartment, a car, a vacation. Where they miss is that is the level to which people should ASPIRE, and the desire to do so is what incentivizes one to get some vocational training (at a minimum).

To me, “livable” is how every member of my family lived when we were first starting out: either renting a room in someone’s house, or sharing a two- or three-bedroom apartment with others. I considered myself “living” doing that - I took the subway to work, did my job, bought groceries, and other basics.

And THAT is the lifestyle of someone right out of college, earning starting wages, or of a new high school graduate who has no real job skills to offer. In the case of the former, it will be temporary; in the case of the latter, it is rarely permanent as most people acquire job skills with experience.

Minimum wage is 2 gallons of gas...?

The fuck are you smoking? lol

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I do not belive anyone thinks someone working the drive thru at a fast food joint should be able to afford a 3500 square foot home with a couple of SUV's, college tuition and orthodontic bills.

Also, how many people live in a 3500 sqft home? I live in a 4 bedroom, 4 bath full walkout basement and it is less than 3000 sqft.

The YMCA only has 4 bedrooms? Wow!

 

[rightwinger]

Paying an unskilled worker with no experience $15 an hour to bag fries
is paying them more than the value they add.

In the 12 years since minimum wage was last increased, the price of those fries has more than doubled

 

[Blues Man]

Gee, inflation?

Anyone can make more than 7.25 an hour.

If you're over the age of 18 and can only get a job that pays 7.25 an hour it's your own fault.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

How do you know?

Because I understand economics.

 

[Lisa558]

Hey, no shit. But if you could pay them less.. you would.

I just said that I had an option to pay less, but paid more because I wanted a better quality. So I COULD have paid less….my choice.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

it is more than just the cost of college that has lagged well behind minimum wage
Cars, gas, food, housing, healthcare have all escalated in price while minimum wage has been frozen for 12 years

And less than 3% of workers earn minimum wage.

 

[colfax_m]

Because I understand economics.

LOL. To know that, you'd have to understand the balance sheet of the establishment you're talking about. How much revenue does the fry bagger create?

Your making shit up. Straight up talking out your ass.

 

[Lisa558]

Why have a minimum wage at all if everyone makes more than that?

It’s marker forces. Paying minimum around here gets you the worst type of employee. So the marker dictates a higher wage.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

In the 12 years since minimum wage was last increased, the price of those fries has more than doubled

And the valued added still isn't worth $15/hour.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

LOL. To know that, you'd have to understand the balance sheet of the establishment you're talking about. How much revenue does the fry bagger create?

Your making shit up. Straight up talking out your ass.

Please enlighten me.
How much value does the fry bagger add?

 

[colfax_m]

Please enlighten me.
How much value does the fry bagger add?

The last time I went to a fast food restaurant, the bill came to about $10. You telling me that an employee can't contribute more than that in an hour?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

The last time I went to a fast food restaurant, the bill came to about $10. You telling me that an employee can't contribute more than that in an hour?

I'm saying some unskilled workers don't add that much value in an hour.