Minimum wage should match cost of living!

How much that is would vary based on living location, So there is not, And should not be, A single number.

And I would never advocate giving money to someone for doing nothing. I simply feel that many employees these days are being under-paid for the effort and work they do.

The minimum wage also has an effect on the jobs of people that are paid MORE than minimum wage as well. Lower the minimum wage, And employers will lower the rate of pay for all of their employees, as any that fight this decision could be fired and replaced with less expensive new-hires.

Why are so many people advocating that we race to the bottom as far as paying our employees as little as possible while at the same time expecting them to do the most work possible.

I'm a hard worker, And have been at my current job five years. In those five years, I have had less than a dollar in raises, whereas the cost of my insurance and other benefits has increased. My workload has also increased by a large amount. Personally, If you want the most and best work out of me, You'd better be paying me a decent wage and benefits. Lowering my wages/benefits will just cause me to either look for a better job, Or if none are available, To try and get away with doing the least amount of work for my wages as I can get away with. If employers can get away with it, So can I.

Thank you for your time.

 

Exactly.....and this is what the typical Democrat just doesnt get.

They believe a wave of the Minimum Wage Wand somehow creates wealth.......

http://www.wral.com/golo/blogpost/8248072/

Mcdonalds cancels dollar menu, homeless get angry

....No, they are not willing.......

 

What's the problem with 2-4 minimum wage folks living together to share bills?

 

For me it was the fact that I lived in a studi apartment and barely had enough room for me, and that my landlord had a rule about multiple tenents in one studio.

 

Corps pay off the gov't who write the laws and give incentives for the monopolies to offshore. America is being destroyed, it's ok, say it.

Silicon is way too good with complete sentences to be a minimum wage worker. My guess is that he's works for Romney's campaign.

 

Actually it's more a question...is the owner of macdonalds willing to make only 4 billion instead of 5 billion every year so his workers can make a living wage....

If I had that kinda money I would be willing to take a profit loss to help my employees make a decent wage.

 

Simple question: Do you earn the minimum wage?

 

Well unfortunately that's not how the world works in real life. Favoritism is a natural human instinct. You may see it as a "spit in the face" but most people just accept these things as a fact of life, rather than expecting Government to come in and apply force on your behalf.

 

You know the sad part about that arguement?

The countries that have socialist regulations, like in europe, usuailly have better overall quality of life than americans do......

 

Well shouldnt the owner only make $30,000/yr........so his workers can make a living large wage and have 3 boats and 4 motorcycles?

Why wouldnt you pay them all $100,000/yr you cheap ass?

Do you hate poor people or something?
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Good old Switzerland, who print their own money outside of the world banks, are not part of the EU, and tote guns. The rest of Europe, begging the IMF for funding, watching their own businesses looted without the right to protect themselves or their property, are in flames.

Half way there. All your base are belong to banks.

 

No, My job pays more than the minimum wage, But as I said, Minimum wage workers DO affect my job.

If the minimum wage goes down, My employers could lower my wages as well, Under the guise of 'fairness', But in truth to earn more profits.

Of course, I could look for a new job, But likely all employers would lower their wages if this happened, Thus, All I'm left with is less money.

If employers can be as greedy as they want in trying to get the most profits from their employers while paying the least benefits/wages they can, Why are employees NOT allowed to try and get the most wages/benefits they can from doing the least amount of work?

In a perfect world, Both sides would have to compromise to find a good balance of profits to wages/benefits, But in today's world, The employers simply have too much power for employees to fight, Outside of unions. And we've seen many people's efforts to do away with unions these days.

Why do you want to race to the bottom? Wouldn't it be better to raise as many people to the top as we can?

Thank you for your time.

 

That's all I wanted to know. Everything else was pretty much irrelevant.

You're employer is not going to decrease your wages. If he wanted to he would have done it already. Nothing is stopping him and times are hard.

Minimum wage was a dollar in 1970. The nominal rate for that dollar was about $5 dollars today. Now the minimum wage is $7.50 and the nominal rate for the minimum wage is worth the same amount. It's just that your minimum wage buys less.

By raising the minimum wage, no one makes it to the top. You're still at the same level as before.

 

Shoould the owner make 5 billion a year when his workers can barely afford to live and do 90% of the work?

 

Wow, you sure have a screwed up view of who owns businesses in America. I work for one of the largest corporations in the world, and yet, I'm employed in a small business.

How is this possible?

Franchising.

Most corporations these days are simply a large network of small businesses paying fees to an umbrella organization in return for the benefits of that umbrella organizations brand standards and name.

The sheer ignorance of business by leftists amazes me. 90% of leftist worldview is conspiracy theory based.

You people need to understand: This small group of evil, greedy men you call "the rich" that supposedly owns everything in America, including the Government, DOESN'T (*)(*)(*)(*)ING EXIST.

 

Minimum Wage = Minimum Unemployment


Unemployment Rate Since Democrats Raised the Minimum Wage

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You may be right, Or you may not. My employer already does many practices that may be considered unethical, at the very least. Mandatory overtime work, minimal or no raises. Increases responsibilities without increasing pay, Etc. I think if government regulations about business practices were not around, They would lower wages. After all, What would the employees do? They still have to eat.

The fact is, Cost of pretty much everything is going up, While many employees wages, Such as mine, are remaining stagnant or even dropping. I have to have a roommate, Or I wouldn't be able to afford the few luxuries I have, and it's only a matter of time before the needs take up all my money, leaving me with nothing to have fun on.

It's a depressing thought, Working really hard to just survive, With no future for being able live better in sight. Fortunately, I'm well adjusted enough to where I would never consider illegal acts to make ends meet unless I had really hit the bottom of the barrel, But I believe there are many that will become more violent as their despair and poverty grow.

Thank you for your time.

 

What are you crying about? The first lesson my grand parents taught me is that life is about nothing but hard work and struggling just to survive. There is no "higher plane of existence" for the average worker. You don't have to like it, you just have to do it.

Let them grow violent, and riot. They will get shot with tear gas, stun grenades and bean bags for their trouble. We're not the UK or Greece, we'll crush civil unrest.

 

That is why when I riot I am going to carry my AK47 and shoot anyone who aims their little beanbag gun at me.

 

So you resort to terrorism now against the legitimately elected Government?

 

Mandatory overtime isn't unethical and unlawful, but it's not a federal law either. If he pays you for overtime then it's pretty much fine I suppose. He also can't give you a raise if he can't afford it. He also doesn't have to give you extra pay for more responsibilities but if you want a raise for that that's something you'll have to take up with him.

Nothing he is doing is really illegal but it doesn't suggest that he will decrease your wages if the minimum wage decreased. After all, he could do it right now. Why wait until the minimum wage? All it means is that you're wage will be the same and if a lower skill person who is new to the work force starts working at your job, they will have a lower wage than you.

 

So all life is is struggling and hard work and survival?

So a minimum wage worker is supposed to just live with it? They aren't supposed to do anything in their power to change their fate? What if that kind of life is torture for the person? Should they just die and save us all the trouble of helping them or dealing with them?

I'm not advocating rioting unless ALL other options for improving their situation are taken from them. But If I lived in a world where employers had ALL of the power and used it to raise profits at all costs, Including the quality of life of workers, If I lived in a world where I couldn't petition and elect government officials that would fight for the rights and benefits that would be beneficial to me, If I lived in a world where I was poor and destitute, Living out of garbage cans and sleeping in boxes, Where no one was wanting to help me? Yes, I would steal to live and improve my life.

I don't just want to SURVIVE, I want to LIVE, And I'll do whatever I can or have to to make sure that I LIVE.

Thank you for your time.

 

Walmart forces workers to work overtime and than refuses to pay them the extra money, instead they force them to take extra time on their lunch breaks to make up the overtime hours. They also violate OSHA guidelines alot, and violate religious rights.....One of my coworkers, who was jewish, was fired because the store had a no hat policy and he refused to remove his Yarmulke and for refuseing to work on saturdays because it was the sabbath. He threatened to sue them and they gave him a huge settlement. The only reason they agreed to settle was because he had prove that it was discrimination. There were several christian workers who wore cross necklaces which were a violation of the store's no jewery while working policy, but were left alone.

 

It's not unethical? What if I had plans during that overtime? What if I simply didn't want to work it? It's not like overtime is a job requirement. I don't feel it's fair that I could be fired for not working overtime. Of course, What's fair or not is in the eye of the beholder, But my not working overtime would not hurt the employer NEARLY as much as it would hurt me.

As for raises, There is no asking for raises in my line of work. Raises are based on you performance review, And the largest raise you could get in a year was around .36. I got that raise once, But mostly I got around .14, which is what an average employee would get. Last year I was transferred to a different project in my job, and as a result did not get a raise at all.

What does an employee do if the cost of living increases faster that their raises support? Eventually, The cost of living will be more than they make, Resulting in lower quality of life, Either by doing with less, Or working more.

Eventually, Jobs like this will wear you down. It doesn't matter how hard you work or how friendly you are, Eventually the job will wear you down to nothing. And then, They will fire you to replace you with another employee. Another cog in their machine, Interchangeable.

I'm not a cog. I'm not a horse. I'm a HUMAN BEING. I work hard, And try to do the right thing when a decision presents itself. I deserve to be compensated fairly for the work I do.

Sorry, Just a little angry there, Not at you. It's just something I feel strongly about.

Thank you for your time.

 

If you had plans during your work hours would it be unethical for your boss to keep you their until your work hours are over? What he is doing is not against the law is all I'm saying. I don't know what your job entails but I know there are a lot of industries which require people to work mandatory overtime. If you have a problem with your overtime you should take it up with your boss.

Well a small raise is better than no raise at all. Those cents add up. And if asking for a raise is impossible I don't initially see why that is a problem for you.

The cost of living isn't really going up. Some people believe that cost of goods and services are and when you think about this it seems to be true but when you see that the cost for goods are higher. One thing you have to take into account is inflation but really most goods and services have never been cheaper.

The way to see this is to think about the cost of goods and think about the amount of labor hours it takes to purchase it at the average industrial wage. Like for example back in the day the average home stereo system cost about $400 dollars. Today with that same $400 you an go to any electronics story and get two new Ipod touch which can hold thousands of albums as oppose to the home stereo of the 1960s which could only play one thing at a time.

For curiosity sake, what do you do for work?

Maybe you should try working for yourself. That's what I did and I've never been happier.