What's a living wage?

blueandwhite

unsung said:

I'm just saying it's possible. Instead of complaining about things he chose to work hard and put his time him.

He never went to college either.

Winning the lottery is also possible and just as improbable. There are hardworking people who struggle throughout their adult lives, just as there are people who have fortune fall in their lap at every turn. I will never begrudge somebody who works hard for earning enough money to put food on the table or pay the rent. The idea that we should continue to scrape away the wages of the working poor doesn't sit right with me.

brianlux

blueandwhite said:

unsung said:

I'm just saying it's possible. Instead of complaining about things he chose to work hard and put his time him.

He never went to college either.

Winning the lottery is also possible and just as improbable. There are hardworking people who struggle throughout their adult lives, just as there are people who have fortune fall in their lap at every turn. I will never begrudge somebody who works hard for earning enough money to put food on the table or pay the rent. The idea that we should continue to scrape away the wages of the working poor doesn't sit right with me.

Well said, blueandwhite.

And sorry, unsung- I do enjoy a good story now and then about the underdog making his or her way to the top. We watched the movie "The Greatest Game Ever Played" which is about 20-year-old Francis Ouimet winning the the 1913 US Open. (Very good movie even though I have big issues with golf here in the west- chemicals dumped on the land, water shortages, etc.- but that's another thread). Ouimet came from a poor family and until that event, poor people were not allowed to compete in it. It's an inspiring story and a good reminder to work hard and strive for one's best. But it's also a bit of a fluke as are all Horacio Alger type stories. Even though Ouimet worked hard and deserved where he got to he also had some very fortunate breaks. For every success story like this there are thousands of others in which people don't get breaks and can't fight their way out and many of these people are slaving away at jobs where they don't make enough money to live decently. I know I've said this before but I really do recommend reading Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed. It explains what I'm trying to say in great detail.

lukin2006

Big Box Mart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKv6RcXa2UI

PJ_Soul

unsung said:

oceaninmyeyes said:

and for the coffee drinkers

I know a corporate executive of a Fortune 100 company that started there as a janitor.

Maybe these people could apply themselves more to get a better position instead of just bitching about how much the boss makes.

What a load of shit. What, do you think that everyone who applied themselves can become powerful millionaires??? There aren't that many positions like that to go around, FYI.
Sorry, but this bullshit elitist attitude about people's worth to society and their assumed failure if they're not rich and powerful really pisses me off. It's so ridiculously mindless.

unsung

What's mindless is believing a dishwasher or fry guy deserves $15/hr.

gimmesometruth27

unsung said:

oceaninmyeyes said:

and for the coffee drinkers

I know a corporate executive of a Fortune 100 company that started there as a janitor.

Maybe these people could apply themselves more to get a better position instead of just bitching about how much the boss makes.

you know the EXCEPTION to the rule. period.

gimmesometruth27

unsung said:

What's mindless is believing a dishwasher or fry guy deserves $15/hr.

does he deserve any less than the guy who mans the grill at in and our burger, who start out at $11 an hour??

gimmesometruth27

PJ_Soul said:

unsung said:

oceaninmyeyes said:

and for the coffee drinkers

I know a corporate executive of a Fortune 100 company that started there as a janitor.

Maybe these people could apply themselves more to get a better position instead of just bitching about how much the boss makes.

What a load of shit. What, do you think that everyone who applied themselves can become powerful millionaires??? There aren't that many positions like that to go around, FYI.
Sorry, but this bullshit elitist attitude about people's worth to society and their assumed failure if they're not rich and powerful really pisses me off. It's so ridiculously mindless.

you should not be upset. these are the same people who feel that certain laws do not apply to them, and that they abide only by the ones that they agree with. see cliven bundy and those that support him.

unsung

gimmesometruth27 said:

unsung said:

What's mindless is believing a dishwasher or fry guy deserves $15/hr.

does he deserve any less than the guy who mans the grill at in and our burger, who start out at $11 an hour??

It isn't about deserving.

What's stopping them from working for In and Out? Not much.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

Unsung...

Seriously, man.

Do you actually have a problem with having a more equitable system where fat cats do not sit on mounds of wealth while so many toil for so little?

Instead of making $17.6 million a year... how about a guy makes $2 million a year? Would that be so tragic?

Your janitor reference is enough to placate some people with ideas of the 'American Dream', but in reality... it's so far from the truth that suggesting it is ridiculous.

Have a little more compassion for those not born into privilege because, my friend, that is the reality.

unsung

It has nothing to do with being born into privilege. Some of you are appearing to claim that everyone deserves to be equally paid and I'm saying they don't. However if restaurant A paid $8/hr and restaurant B paid $11/hr then the logical solution is to go work at B.

There are people out that that don't earn the $8/hr, my example being the girl who used her sleeve as a snot rag. I also believe that if someone really wanted to make more money they certainly have that option. Granted becoming a high power executive is rare, but did that fact stop that guy? No, it didn't. He worked hard to get to that level.

There's already an over abundance of unskilled workers in this country and with the potential of 11 million+ more being granted citizenship there's not going to be enough busboy jobs to go around. Then what? Are they going to try to force McDonalds to build more stores so there's enough burger flipper jobs for all of these deserving people? Because really that isn't much different on the ridiculousness scale than demanding $15/hr.

unsung

And no I don't believe anyone necessarily deserves $20M a year, but like I'm against a minimum wage I'm also against a maximum.

Don't like their policies? Don't patronize their business unless the policies are changed.

PJ_Soul

unsung said:

It has nothing to do with being born into privilege. Some of you are appearing to claim that everyone deserves to be equally paid and I'm saying they don't. However if restaurant A paid $8/hr and restaurant B paid $11/hr then the logical solution is to go work at B.

There are people out that that don't earn the $8/hr, my example being the girl who used her sleeve as a snot rag. I also believe that if someone really wanted to make more money they certainly have that option. Granted becoming a high power executive is rare, but did that fact stop that guy? No, it didn't. He worked hard to get to that level.

There's already an over abundance of unskilled workers in this country and with the potential of 11 million+ more being granted citizenship there's not going to be enough busboy jobs to go around. Then what? Are they going to try to force McDonalds to build more stores so there's enough burger flipper jobs for all of these deserving people? Because really that isn't much different on the ridiculousness scale than demanding $15/hr.

No one's ever said that everyone deserves to be equally paid.

lukin2006

Swiss Voters Reject Plan For World's Highest Minimum Wage

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/18/swiss-reject-worlds-highest-minimum-wage-25-dollars_n_5348176.html?ir=Canada

catefrances

unsung said:

Eh, I'm against a minimum wage, and I don't see how someone who can't survive on min wage will find $1400 a year before taxes to be the amount that brings them above the line.

Min wage is that for a reason, they have no skills, why do they deserve to be paid so much when all they can do is wash dishes?

whose dishes are they washing? is it someone who cant be naffed to cook their own meals at home so they have someone else do it and therefore someone else must wash those dirty dishes??? you cant just say oh they have zero skills so they deserve nothing more than puny wages. without restaurants people would have to cook their own meals and wash their own dishes. do you not think people should be paid so that we all can enjoy the convenience of someone else cooking our meals.. or in this case washing the dishes you used to eat the meal cooked for you? are you okay with the people making it possible for you to eat that meal cooked for you and washing those dishes basically being paid slave wages? are you okay with people going without so that you can eat out? how can you be against minimum wage?