Minimum wage = poverty

Many are forgetting the Working Poor out there. Those that make just above the amount to get any assistance whatsoever, that are working 40-60 hours a week and still a paycheck away from being out on the street.

You see these people everyday, your waitress, line cooks, etc. or that guy leaving early in the morning for work and coming home well after dark, only to wake up and do it all over again. the thought of a vacation scares them.

These are the people that deserve better.

Minimum wage = middle class

Poverty = Central America

More in maths:

Minimum wage =/= Livable wage

And as much as minimum wage goes up, so will the price of goods. There is a reason why companies exist today and can provide products for such cheap prices. All those costs will get passed down the chain back to consumers. Getting most retail giant's CEO's to take pay cuts to redistribute amongst low-level employees happens, but is laughable as a proper solution.

The best thing someone can do in today's world is get a solid education, proper skills training and climb a ladder. One shouldn't just expect to graduate from high school (or not at all) and be handed a cushy position and make enough to afford luxuries and a condo. People these days don't understand the concept of WORK FOR A LIVING.

Good god I HATE people who say that! they are complete idiots, and don't know anything about reality. Why should I HAVE to go to collage? and be up to my eye brows in debt, and still may very well end up working at a fast food joint because you are never guaranteed a high paying job after collage? If everyone went to collage, and got careers and all became CEO's and doctors, there would be no one left to do the low level jobs, and society would crumble!! And some people just have no aspirations to go to collage. These people are brain dead.

In my state, earning minimum wage, you would have to work more than 70 hours a week in order to afford a small one bedroom apartment.

I think that if you work a full time job, you should be able to at least make enough to live paycheck to paycheck.

Just like your grammar

Wages to workers contribute to final price yes, but I highly doubt most goods will go up with 10% in price if you increase the wages with 10%.

@chaoscougar1: I take it that offended you? Would only offend you if it was true for you.

You shouldn't talk about grammar if you can't form a sentence yourself burgerflipper. Lol

dick move lol

24 * 7 - 90 = 78... That's the amount of hours you had to do basic necessities like sleeping, eating and transporting yourself around while also attending school, studying AND writing papers.

I think you're remembering it wrong unless you ended up a living corpse with terrible grades.

Or turn it around. 12, almost 13 hours a day, 7 days a week, spent working.

I was including the time spent in college as part of that 90, if you subtract my college hours the total is around 78 hours working, and yes I had plenty of 12+ hour days. My Friday used to be: warehouse job 6-11, work at funcoland 11-7, cook at Friendly's 8:-1. so that was an 18 hour day. My Saturday was similar but without the warehouse and I went into funco a little earlier making for a 14 hour day. So thats 32 hours of work in 2 days, so no I am not remembering it wrong.

@pook99: Sounds rather soul crushing :/

it was, but it also inspired me to make positive changes in my life. The idea of working like that my whole life was not a reality I wanted to live and it lit a fire under my previously lazy and unmotivated ass. I am now a teacher who just finished my masters in school leadership, by this time next year I hope to be a principal or an assistant principal, so while it was tough it helped build character and I use those hard times in my life to explain to kids why school is more important than they realize.

@servomaster: It is not a cheap shot and I did not see it on Fox. It is reality and it happened.

Your biggest mistake in your logic OP, is that market forces do not play a role in wages at all. That the government needs to tell business what to pay. My god do schools not teach economics anymore?

If people don't want to be paid minimum wage, then they won't work at these jobs, but they do but choice.

they're numerous ways to avoid minimum wage:

1. Work a job on overnights and earn a differential

2. Apply to learn a skilled trade (plumber electrician, ect. These jobs are facing a shortage and are extremely well paying)

3. Work for a vending co. (Frito Lay pays $15/hr. to stock chips ffs)

4. Work 2 jobs

5. Get your GED

6. Most jobs, even entry level retail, don't pay minimum wage anyway (When I was in high school I was earning $7.50/hr. starting when minimum wage was $5.15/hr. to sack groceries part time in Iowa for crying out loud)

Adults out of college/high school earning minimum wage simply aren't trying hard enough to earn more. If your employer only offers you minimum wage, you should be able to get a job anywhere else to in that field and get paid more since you already have experience/skills.

Most people earning minimum wage deserve it, and that's the cold hard truth, whether people want to admit it or not.

Oh and to the guy who said "No one here has struggled". B.S. I worked full time (retail) while going to school. I've lived off of near minimum wage for a couple years. You can give a man a fish and he's going to keep asking you for more fish, or you can teach a man to fish.

I prefer teaching a man (meaning mankind aka humanity you SJWs) to fish than enslaving them to government welfare checks and minimum wage.

If you don't want to work hard to get to where you want to go in life, you deserve what you get for the most part.

I was making 7.25 at a grocery store and I was SO CLOSE to getting a vending job with Coca Cola.

The guy at Coke didn't want my boss to think he was stealing his employees. (Because he stocked shelves there)

@magicalclick: they starved...?

On one hand: I think min wage is too low.

On the other: I'm wondering why someone would be content to work a shit service job as an adult. Min wage is not meant for people who have to fully support themselves. It's for stupid kids to get work experience and a few extra bones.

Get some learning. Get a good job. Live happily.

@pyro1245: Minimum wage is lowest wage one can live on not something for high school kids to have a few bones.

Really what bothers me about the entire debate is that the poor is some how being blamed as being the parasite to our country and leading to it's ruination.. No.. The parasite are companies like Walmart, which like some poor, not only abuse the system, they make billions by doing it on the tax payers back.. How the **** is receiving welfare, even if your abusing the system, some how trump the giant elephant in the room with corporations like this? Walmart has created a market in which it SPECIFICALLY takes over an area in keeping wages extremely low, and does everything it can to have the government give welfare to their workers.. This is while they make billions, in which they funnel it into our political system to ensure the environment stays nice for them.. That is the true parasite in the system.. In which the host doesn't realize the harm this parasite is doing, while the host is ensuring this parasite has every opportunity to thrive..

I mean we have a fucking serious political candidate (Carly Fiorina) who is a poster child for this abuse.. In which she took a multi billion dollar tax credit from the government, meant to hire more people, and turned around to fire 14,000 people and use the money to buy shares for her self and major shareholders..

They then funnel said money through our political system to ensure the environment stays that way for their best interests, regardless of the affects of the country.. That is what a true parasite is.. I don't think any one here is going to try to defend the people who abuse the system for the poverty stricken, but individually they have no where near the impact or the cost as what these corporations have done for decades now..

Not to mention how the **** can people be so sanctimonious about judging people on bullshit "they made bad decisions!" "They are lazy!" about receiving welfare to get by.. Meanwhile we had a bank bail out which originally had no strings attached that pretty much gave a big check to the people who purposefully drove the system into the ground and made millions doing it.. Just like Fiorina.. I mean if people are going to demonize the poor and every on welfare.. Fine.. At least have some fucking consistency in going after every one that is abusing the system.

@servomaster: in Mexico, the average wage of a college graduate is 1,000 US or less. My case is more extreme because my job is in my business ( which I started with nothing ), when you own a business you are in the worse position, if the business does well you´re fine, if not then you are in trouble, my average monthly income is less than 1,000 US, I work 80+ hours a week ( let´s take in consideration that I´m not a nobody, I´m a college graduate with 2 masters degrees and a PhD ) and that is enough for me to send 2 kids to a private school, pay the groceries and utilities and have a little extra cash for things like video games. Now you see why people south of the US border are willing to risk everything in order to work in there and now you have a different phenomena, not only the US is being flooded by the classic illegal immigrant but now it´s people like me, college graduates that are the ones emigrating illegally.

@plageus900: Do you have a large family? If not, $30 an hour is great unless you're in a rich part of California or NYC.

Nah its just my girlfriend and I. We live near Portland, Oregon. She works too.

I was just being facetious.

How?

That's a negative
But
Well done on improving with this post!
Not one randomly placed capital letter
Yay! ^.^

Also
Curious
What about my previous post seemed grammatically incorrect?

@chaoscougar1: you really think someone on mobile cares about random capital letters or perfect grammar?

Try using a period for starters if you're going to be a grammar Nazi. Mk big Mac

Alright, use more periods.
Gotcha.
What else?

Mk big Mac?
What's the Mk?

@chaoscougar1: lol why are you grilling* me about it when you're the bringing up grammar.

The way you're typing now sort off fries* your argument.

You seemed offended that I think 24+ yr old burger flippers are failing. Guessing that hit home for you?

Oh
You're one of those* people...
:/

I see we also need to work on your reading comprehension
Please see my second response
nvm
I'll get it for you

You're welcome

Wait, does Chaoscougar really work at a fast-food joint? I don't care, I'm not making fun of him, at least he has a job, but now I'm curious.

I wouldn't know, but chaos seems too bright for that kind of thing. I was pointing at the offensive cheap shot dammitdanbo resorted to.

@GazaAli: Yeah, I was surprised. I wouldn't expect chaos to be doing that for a career, but maybe as a temporary job. But danbo seems to keep on going with this burgerflipper insult. Though I guess Chaos did start it by talking about danbo's grammar.

One of the big issues I hear about from people who want to increase the minimum wage is that the current minimum wage is not enough for people to be able to pay their expenses such as rent, utilities, food, and transportation. But should minimum wage workers have these expenses? If someone is making minimum wage, then - in general - that person should probably live at home with his parents, that would eliminate rent and utilities (or at least reduce the worker's share of the cost of these goods). I know some people need to move away in order to get a job, but I don't think anyone moves away from home to get a minimum wage job, unless they're immigrants moving from their home country to work for minimum wage in the U.S.

FWIW, here are the numbers at the heart of that question.

Link

All this fast food talk is making me hungry.........

On topic
I have not
Bartender while at uni
I now work at a bank ^.^

@chaoscougar1 said:

@GazaAli said:

I wouldn't know, but chaos seems too bright for that kind of thing. I was pointing at the offensive cheap shot dammitdanbo resorted to.

On topic

I have not

Bartender while at uni

I now work at a bank ^.^

And you guys say I can't be nice :3

Who are you to tell people how they should live?

@Serraph105: the minimum wage should have gone up with the times and inflation. Everyone's wage should go up, and that would happen with unions. But US seems to hate unions that fight for the right of workers

The CEO's will find a way to justify it.

I worked two jobs with the same union and have seen more raises as a non-unionized truck driver than I ever did on the "schedule" with the union.

And for fucks sake, raises should be based on merit and work ethic, not how long you've come into work.

well then your unions are useless and there should be done something about them. I agree with merit, but you also need a living wage, which the current us minimum wage isn't

A livable wage is earned, not given.

while i agree, how do you determine relative contribution of a low skill position where there are little changes for differentiation among workers? who kisses the most ass?

I think the best way to illustrate what I mean would be the difference between an employee who volunteers to clean the washroom, and the other who needs to be told to go and clean the washroom.

No it's not, that is bullshit right there. You need to be able to provide even with a minimum wage, US is behind on that

Minimum wage jobs aren't meant to be career jobs to raise families on.

If so then competition is lacking.

Is there a comparison somewhere that shows minimum wages compared to taxes/income taxes taken out plus living expenses? I mean some countries have higher minimum wages. But, they also have higher taxes and cost of living expenses.