"The minimum wage was never intended to fund a household!"
I checked the two most common sources of talking points- The Bible and The Constitution, and could not find anything about the intent of the minimum wage. I really doubt that Congress in 1938 invented the minimum wage "for teenagers" or had any admonitions about it not ever being intended for a career either. I think they were just saying that this (I think it was 25 cents per hour) was the least amount one could pay a non-farm working person. Twenty five cents. We've added a whopping seven (7) dollars to that! WOW!
Your grandfather managed to get by on 25 cents an hour and YOUR whiney ass complains about getting TWENTY NINE TIMES THAT!!!!
I'm surprised that no one has seriously used the grandfather defense of corporate thrift but, they have come close. It could have been grandfathered in.... They do cite that, before a communist minimum wage law ruined the country, our forebears negotiated their own pay. By this though, they mean that they got whatever the bossman was paying. Don't kid yourself. It's teapublican's jobs to kid you. Many of them- ironically- do it for free! How 'bout that!?
I've been reading that Australia is enjoying a robust economy and that their minimum wage is $15 an hour. By the way, worrywarts, a Big Mac is only about 40 cents more expensive in Oz than here despite doubling the worker pay to make one. It can be done!
Ya know what can't be done in Australia? You can't get a job at Walmart. Because of the minimum wage being $15 an hour, no Walmart. Remember when Washington DC raised their local minimum to $12.50? Walmart balked at opening two stores and convinced the whore of a mayor to veto the bill. I only say he's a whore because surely they paid him to do this. I doubt the guy is a slut who did it for free. Anyway, the mayoral whore thought it would be a "job-killer" so, he vetoed it. And, DC got it's Walmarts. Profits were saved! Could you imagine the Mayor of Sydney lowering the minimum wage just to get a Walmart in town? Damn communists...
So, of course, it can be done. Internet idiots argue that prices will go up if the minimum goes up. Well, prices have gone up while wages have stagnated over the last 30 years so...maybe labor costs aren't the reason after all...
The minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation either. Most experts agree that it should be about $15 an hour. Well, shit- you can't just double something like that because Congress forgot regular raises for the people they (allegedly) represent so, you've got to ease into it. Cooler heads are asking it be bumped up to $9 an hour. The problem with that is conservatives think that is "too much"! In fact, every minimum wage since 1938 has been fought as "too much". For a lot of them, that there is a minimum is offensive. Never mind wanting to raise it, they want NO minimum wage! They argue that you shouldn't want it either because it (and Unions) are holding you back. You can negotiate your own wage and do better than a minimum or the maximum that a Union could get you... They want to pay you more- they just want it to be on their terms... Just give them a chance....
They really expect you to believe that. Worse, I think they believe it makes sense.
If the best a McDonalds worker could hope for, working off the Dollar Wage Menu, because others were willing to work for this, was one dollar, would the price of a Big Mac drop in relation to that payroll savings? Would the price of anything?
Well, of course not. Here's how business works: Charge as much as you can, as cheaply as you can. That's it. That's capitalism. We had slavery in this country for over 200 years! When people wanted to put an end that, we decided to kill each other in a war! After the initial investment of purchasing an employee, you just had to feed them enough that they survive and, that was it. That's pretty simple labor costs. And though it takes time, you could actually grow your own labor force....
People are still bitter about that historical labor development to this day.
But, we've come a long way, baby, since slavery. We now pay people. We just try to pay them as little as possible. Not quite slavery but, you can see it from there.
16 comments:
Sounds like these McDonald's workers just didn't plan well enough. Now they expect to be paid a living wage??? What kind of career is that? Didn't they want to be more? Wasn't college affordable and weren't loans available? How hard were they trying? Were their parents just complete losers? Can't anyone be ANYTHING or move ANYWHERE and make more money? I hope they don't have kids!
And who eats out at fast food places? Sheesh, that's a business that isn't going anywhere so why choose it? It's like becoming a massage therapist and expecting to make a living!
Planning, people! If you're lucky maybe you can go to school to become a state worker who pretends to send their kid to private school. Who gives a fuck about the riff raff that can't afford to send their kids to private school. They didn't try hard enough so why should we care? Those people and schools are to be laughed at and mocked. I guess we can expect to see them at McDonald's soon, and not in the drive-thru line with the other state workers shoving fries down their greasy gullet. They'll be working hard and making very little while feeding the Beast, just like they are now.
There's another fast food strike coming this week. This is good. It's not just them but Walmart, Home Depot and all the other exploited workers, present and future. Some people don't understand that, when you don't speak up for others, no one will speak up for you! And that especially means state workers whom are also targets of conservatives whether they know it or not.
Oh, the state workers will start caring when it's their salaries, jobs and pensions that the conservatives decide to cut, but they'll still blame it on the Democrats because it makes them feel special and part of the club to do so. Belonging trumps everything. Topix has shown us that.
I see another of your terribly egregious posts was deleted from the Junket's thread.
"Excellent talking points!
However, not everything should be operated for profit. Education is one and it's ironic that stupid people often think it should be a for profit proposition.
I guess the only kids that would suffer under such a system would be the children of McDonalds workers who can't afford a good education for their kids because they chose not to apply themselves in life. Well, no doubt the powers that be will find a place for them in for-profit prisons.
There's no way a society could benefit from an educated population, right? I mean- we lost GAZILLIONS on decades of public schools! What were we thinking!"
That post was against TOS! Just look at how off topic it was and filled to the brim with personal attacks, like mentioning someone's family. Looks like the flag-wavers are going Commie on us again. Figures!
Yes, Sublime acts like he put himself through college on his part time job. What a shmuck. He mentioned that his father is a lawyer. The apple didn't fall far from that "privileged" tree. It's a lot easier to obtain a high earning professional position when your daddy is steering your ship - using his fraternity, business connections and money to get you through college. Hardly the school of hard knocks.
You'd think having a 'special needs' child would have softened his edges. You know, working towards a compassionate future that will look kindly towards children like his. But hell no. His money will protect the kid just like his daddies money protected him.
Smart? hardly. Just privileged and to dumb to know it
Go to any Red State and ask anyone there if they'd like a raise up to $15/hr and I am sure you'll get a majority approval rating! They just want to make sure it's done when a Republican is in office.
Interesting thoughts here about that initial minimum wage bill and who it targeted and who it is now intended for.
As my father used to say, 'The only thing a working man has to sell is his labour. He has the right to ask as much for it as he can!'
We tried that for a few decades, Sue. Labor cuts into profits! We've had thirty years of Reagan's "Trickle Down Economics" and maybe 30 more years of that and we'll see some progress....
I watched a video about how it literally costs pennies to ship cotton grown here, to Bangledesh and Columbia to be made into tee shirts, by people making less than $3 a day. People like to think that Unions killed manufacturing here. IDK if we can beat $3 a day here. I think the powers that be might like to give us a shot at trying though.
this one is making the webs. Comes from Bill Maher under the heading
Exposing Facts to the Misinformed Viewers of Fox news
This is the question the right has to answer. Do you want smaller government with less handouts or do you want a low minimum wage, because you cannot have both. If Colonel Sanders isn't going to pay the lady behind the counter enough to live on, then Uncle Sam has to. And I for one am getting a little tired of helping highly profitable companies pay their workers.
I would add the guest workers brought here to pluck the (Tyson's) chickens. Import a country while your own are on aid. Yah, thats the answer. Then bitch and moan when they don't leave.
People are adhering to old scripts that are no longer relevant....
Sadly, the right thinks they can have both a small government with no handouts and a low (or no) minimum wage. They want to have their cake and to eat it too. I recently saw a breakdown of the average person's taxes and what amount goes to what. I don't have the link but, it was literal change going to welfare for the poor and @ $4,000 a year going to picking up the slack of the corporations who DO NOT pay. So, just like a C list actress on an infomercial might detail, you can feed less fortunate folks for pennies a day- right here in the US of A. Literal pennies a day.
I suspect these complainers don't really care about the pennies v. dollars because they opt to see the corporations as makers rather than the takers they are because of the perceptions. They think they are getting something for those thousands paid to corporations and nothing from the pennies.
What they are getting is to pay thousands every year to support faceless corporations. They are the recipients of the burden of being penny 'wise' and pound foolish. That corporate welfare will never go away. That's just not how that works. They might even know that. They just see the savings of pennies as a 'victory'. The only victory they can attain. Ironically, it's a handout from their masters for voting the way they're told. They get to feel superior to someone else. Whoopee.
byline: Deer Whisperer/Luke
Ask state workers in Ohio and particularly in Wisconsin about their concerns as Republican governors were elected. In Wisconsin, a recall election unfortunately failed.
I think Indiana state workers had a bit of a bumpy go of it when "My Man Mitch" Daniels was governor. If I remember correctly, their cursory, limited right for union representation and collective bargaining was eliminated. Raises were frozen for several years, yadayadayada.
Daniels was somewhat more sophisticated about it in contrast to the abrasiveness of Kasich (OH) and Walker.
hmmm... part of the reCaptcha challenge is "ssubmini" !
"ssubmini". There's probably a joke in there about that being what Sub calls his penis but, i'm afraid, that might be true though because I think he posted that once or twice.
byline: Deer Whisperer/Luke
While posting on BRG thread this evening, I was listening to PBS Newshour. They covered yesterday' minimum wage rallies, with focus on the D.C. one.
Also, the D.C. council voted in $11.50/hour minimum. Some adjacent Maryland suburbs approved similar raises.
* when reCAPTHCHA went to 2 words, sometimes one of them is VERY difficult to figure out.
captcha is a bit of a pain but, it thwarts the spambots.
I can understand that people think suddenly doubling the minimum is crazy. But, the $15 figure is what most economists should be the current rate based on the cost of living. Tied into worker productivity and corporate profits, I think they're talking $21 an hour.
So, $11.50 is a great compromise, it would seem. However, we're talking about republicans who have been fighting EVERY minimum wage hike since they got butthurt over the initial setting of the minimum. They've cried about $.25 in the past. This is why it hasn't kept pace. And, again, you get those that want to eliminate the minimum entirely and welcome an America that is more competitive with Bangledesh.
Re Australian minimum wage.
At present the Aus. min.wage for adults (21 and over) is $16.37 an hour. Some people are employed on a casual basis. They may get full time work, but are not paid sick days or holidays so their minimum hourly rate is $20.30.
Under 21's are paid a percentage of the adult rate. Under 16 get $6.03 rising to $16.00 for a 20 yr old.
These minimums are reviewed and adjusted every 12 months.
I enjoy reading your blog, Fer. Keep up the good work.
IrishGhost
Thank you very much, Irish! That sounds like a very fair, sensible pay rate for all. Our teapublicans will still hate it though, just because....
The rate here is not going to double. We'll catch up to where you folks are now, in 20 years or so. They've brawled over $.25 in the past....
Byline: Deer Whisperer/Luke
On Monday or the weekend, I learned:
In the late 70s approaching the 80s, the top 10% of the U.S. money-earners had 30% of the aggregated wealth.
Right about now, the top 10% of us has accumulated 50% of the total wealth.
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