How's Your Minimum Wage Doing?

[KJ10]

Glad I'm not the only one that noticed.

[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

How much skill does it take to flip a burger? How much training and schooling is required to pull the fries out and hit them with some salt? Those jobs are for young kids first entering the work force not for someone to stay at for 10 years and raise a family.

No skill, no school required means small wage.

There are a pile of jobs out there that will pay if people are willing to put in the time and effort. We start base at $11.50, we have for a couple years already and if you're worth a damn you'll hit $13 in a month and get fully covered medical in 6 months. We don't have people beating down our door because it's work and they'd have to earn it. We average 3000 hours a year in the wash shed and there is a nice fat bonus check at the end of season for those that make it to the end.

I don't need data, I live in the real world.

We start our apprentices about $15 per hour with medical after 300 hours and pension after 5000 hours and full scale, around $50 per hour total package, after 8000 hours plus graduation and passing the state test.

Is this too much?

P.S. we are hiring cuz it turns out that the market likes top notch labor.

[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by Sarra

There's a huge problem here. You remember those 99% protests? They actually had a point. Well, I mean they originally had a point, before it became a campaign to get as stinky and hoboish as possible.

The point was that people can't live on $6 an hour, even if they work 20 hours a day. Food, rent, clothing, child care, gas bills, etc., it's not possible. When the CEO of a company is making $200 million a month, and the other 5,000 employees are making $6/hr, and are limited to 28 hours a week, it just does not work. You want $6/hr part time to actually WORK for people, so they can actually LIVE on it, then you need to start paying that CEO $50/hr instead of $200 million a month, and you need to cut the cost of literally everything by 70%.

I make close to $15/hr, and I'm contractually required to work full time hours (no less than 35 hrs/week), but with apartments starting at $900 a month for a studio, I cannot afford rent. If I could find a good, clean, safe apartment for $600/month, I'd be happy as hell to rent it, but they just don't exist here.

The cost of goods, services, and housing has gone up, up, and away in the last 10 years, but wages have not moved much. My parents could afford an apartment, a car payment, and school on a part time job, with money left over, and have small or non-existent loans when they finished school. I cannot. At the rate things are going right now, the United States will be a third world country in 100 years, and all of those Freedoms people died for in WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan, will be ****ed in the wind. If you think that letting Louisiana set their minimum wage to $0.10 an hour is a good idea, then by all means, you should move there and live on that yourself. Personally, I would rather not pay $3,000 a month to live in a Card Board Box, but that's what a lot of the people in the US thinks is a good idea, so I have no idea what to say.

Not to mention that employers who pay below a living wage are taking a subsidy from taxpayers.

Walmart and other corporations are the actual welfare queens because so many of their employees qualify for government programs.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Originally Posted by spaceman5280

We start our apprentices about $15 per hour with medical after 300 hours and pension after 5000 hours and full scale, around $50 per hour total package, after 8000 hours plus graduation and passing the state test.

Is this too much?

P.S. we are hiring cuz it turns out that the market likes top notch labor.

We don't require any skills or knowledge to start. We are not paying a higher wage because it is entry level. We pay higher in order to attract workers simple as that.

10 wheeler drivers (no cdl needed) start at $12 and cdl truck drivers start out around $17 but that job is by the load so hourly fluctuates depending on what you're doing. Higher the education or skill set needed the higher the wage. Weird...

[WHITE-TRASH]

Originally Posted by spaceman5280

Not to mention that employers who pay below a living wage are taking a subsidy from taxpayers.

Walmart and other corporations are the actual welfare queens because so many of their employees qualify for government programs.

Walmart is not a career, it is a job.

[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

This post says a whole lot more than you realize. Good job on being a poster child for millenials.

Great point, your generation ruins the economy and blames the victims....

[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

Walmart is not a career, it is a job.

What jobs are careers?

[Sarra]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

This post says a whole lot more than you realize. Good job on being a poster child for millenials.

Well grandpa, I just turned 42 today.

If you think this is fine, then that's fine with me. Just be sure you explain to your great grand children why they can't have nice things when they complain to you about not being able to afford food.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

The minimum wage is a terrible idea. Forcing businesses to pay more does two things, It increases the price on goods while devaluing the dollar.

Only if the business expects to continue to have an otherwise unobtainable profit margin. There is no reason why an established, successful business cannot pay a living wage, other than they don't want to.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Originally Posted by spaceman5280

Great point, your generation ruins the economy and blames the victims....

How you got there from that I don't understand but ok.

Originally Posted by spaceman5280

What jobs are careers?

Anything with the opportunity for advancement and decent pay. I should have said a long term low level walmart position is not a career. There are plenty of positing with walmart that pay well that can be worked for years to come.

Originally Posted by Sarra

Well grandpa, I just turned 42 today.

If you think this is fine, then that's fine with me. Just be sure you explain to your great grand children why they can't have nice things when they complain to you about not being able to afford food.

That's fawking sad. You're older than me and think sucking unemwelfare for a couple years is a perfectly acceptable way to game the system.

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Only if the business expects to continue to have an otherwise unobtainable profit margin. There is no reason why an established, successful business cannot pay a living wage, other than they don't want to.

It's minimum gawdammed wage there aren't a whole lot of people in that position in the grand scheme of things. The wage itself isn't the issue, it's what is tied to it (union wage multiplier) and the fact that the .gov who cannot run any sort of business successfully in the history of its existence telling businesses how to do things.

[The Violator]

Originally Posted by Sarra

Well grandpa, I just turned 42 today.

If you think this is fine, then that's fine with me. Just be sure you explain to your great grand children why they can't have nice things when they complain to you about not being able to afford food.

If you brag about leaching off the system, then piss and moan you cannot make a decent living, thats all you. Imagine for a minute you owned the shit decisions in your life that you do not have enough skills to earn a decent living.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

It's minimum gawdammed wage there aren't a whole lot of people in that position in the grand scheme of things.

True, but if they are anywhere in the gap between the minimum and a living wage, shit still sucks.

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

The wage itself isn't the issue, it's what is tied to it (union wage multiplier) and the fact that the .gov who cannot run any sort of business successfully in the history of its existence telling businesses how to do things.

Union jobs aren't that plentiful across the country.

The government could run a successful business if it wanted to.


It's a strange place we've landed when we blame the people who earn the least for all the troubles in the business world.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

True, but if they are anywhere in the gap between the minimum and a living wage, shit still sucks.



Union jobs aren't that plentiful across the country.

The government could run a successful business if it wanted to.


It's a strange place we've landed when we blame the people who earn the least for all the troubles in the business world.

Personal responsibility seems to be an antiquated ideal these days. If you don't have the skills or knowledge to land a job earning decent money then don't spit out any fawking crotch fruit. It isn't anyone's responsibility to pay for or care for your offspring but yourself. Everyone wants to keep up with the jonses but they don't realize that the jonses are assholes and they bought everything on credit so they are mortgaged up to their eyeballs and barely above water but by gawd they have the latest electronic trinkets, toys and vehicles and all the rest of the worthless crap that morons making minimum wage drool over.


You're right that union jobs are on the decline. But I really don't see the .governor being capable of running a lemonade stand successfully. Too many morons that speak well so people vote for them without realizing they are an empty suit or pants suit depending on whichever gender they choose to be today.

It still happens today but it used to be far more prevalent that a person could start at the bottom and weave their way up even if they had to do some laterals here and there. Now for every success story there are a million stories of leaches suckling on the .gov teet while spitting out a pile of future tax burdens while they either work a nothing job or dont work at all.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

Personal responsibility seems to be an antiquated ideal these days. If you don't have the skills or knowledge to land a job earning decent money then don't spit out any fawking crotch fruit. It isn't anyone's responsibility to pay for or care for your offspring but yourself. Everyone wants to keep up with the jonses but they don't realize that the jonses are assholes and they bought everything on credit so they are mortgaged up to their eyeballs and barely above water but by gawd they have the latest electronic trinkets, toys and vehicles and all the rest of the worthless crap that morons making minimum wage drool over.

It's not that simple though. Life is messy and unpredictable and sometimes it puts you in a bad spot. Sometimes a min wage job is the best opportunity available.

Keeping up with the Joneses is what makes the free market work. Our economy thrives on coveting thy neighbors material crap.

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

You're right that union jobs are on the decline. But I really don't see the .governor being capable of running a lemonade stand successfully. Too many morons that speak well so people vote for them without realizing they are an empty suit or pants suit depending on whichever gender they choose to be today.

.gov was never meant to turn a profit itself, that isn't what it was built to do.

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

It still happens today but it used to be far more prevalent that a person could start at the bottom and weave their way up even if they had to do some laterals here and there. Now for every success story there are a million stories of leaches suckling on the .gov teet while spitting out a pile of future tax burdens while they either work a nothing job or dont work at all.

That is not necessarily the fault of the labor pool though. When national and global chains set up shop and push small, locally owned businesses out of the market, you lose those advancement opportunities. Instead of cultivating talented and valued employees, they're relying on poorly paid and easily replaceable drones.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

It's not that simple though. Life is messy and unpredictable and sometimes it puts you in a bad spot. Sometimes a min wage job is the best opportunity available.

Keeping up with the Joneses is what makes the free market work. Our economy thrives on coveting thy neighbors material crap.



.gov was never meant to turn a profit itself, that isn't what it was built to do.



That is not necessarily the fault of the labor pool though. When national and global chains set up shop and push small, locally owned businesses out of the market, you lose those advancement opportunities. Instead of cultivating talented and valued employees, they're relying on poorly paid and easily replaceable drones.

I'm fully aware that curve balls are a fact of life. I've sold damned near everything I owned at one point in my life in order to stay afloat. I've amassed enough skills and ability in my life that I don't get too excited about things going sideways. I'll always be ok because it's only my wife, myself and our dogs that I'm responsible for. If there were crotch fruit in the mix we'd have been sunk a couple times. That was no mistake on my part. People these days think they have to have kids in their early 20's whether they can afford them or not. That is idiotic and irresponsible on its best day.

I have no problem with wanting all the shiny shit in life so long as you can afford it. I can easily have a brand new truck and all the latest crap but if things go bad I'd be screwed. Damned personal responsibility strikes again.

Who said anything about the .gov running a business for profit? I say they can't run a lemonade stand successfully without being far into the red. Profitability be damned they don't have the ability to do it.


Drones are dime a dozen and easily replaceable. An intelligent and thoughtful employee with initiative will generally be moved up out of the lower ranks.

I don't think it's so much that the minimum wage is too low in that the .gov has done everything they have done to destroy the middle class. The poor (by choice or otherwise) can get benefits to raise them up to the middle and the higher classes can afford cpa's and Lawyers to limit their tax burden while the true middle class pays a crazy high percentage of their wealth in taxes. Dollar for dollar the higher classes pay more for sure but percentage wise I believe the middle class has a bigger burden.

[calcagno45]

Originally Posted by Sarra

There's a huge problem here. You remember those 99% protests? They actually had a point. Well, I mean they originally had a point, before it became a campaign to get as stinky and hoboish as possible.

The point was that people can't live on $6 an hour, even if they work 20 hours a day. Food, rent, clothing, child care, gas bills, etc., it's not possible. When the CEO of a company is making $200 million a month, and the other 5,000 employees are making $6/hr, and are limited to 28 hours a week, it just does not work. You want $6/hr part time to actually WORK for people, so they can actually LIVE on it, then you need to start paying that CEO $50/hr instead of $200 million a month, and you need to cut the cost of literally everything by 70%.

I make close to $15/hr, and I'm contractually required to work full time hours (no less than 35 hrs/week), but with apartments starting at $900 a month for a studio, I cannot afford rent. If I could find a good, clean, safe apartment for $600/month, I'd be happy as hell to rent it, but they just don't exist here.

The cost of goods, services, and housing has gone up, up, and away in the last 10 years, but wages have not moved much. My parents could afford an apartment, a car payment, and school on a part time job, with money left over, and have small or non-existent loans when they finished school. I cannot. At the rate things are going right now, the United States will be a third world country in 100 years, and all of those Freedoms people died for in WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan, will be ****ed in the wind. If you think that letting Louisiana set their minimum wage to $0.10 an hour is a good idea, then by all means, you should move there and live on that yourself. Personally, I would rather not pay $3,000 a month to live in a Card Board Box, but that's what a lot of the people in the US thinks is a good idea, so I have no idea what to say.

What the fawk is wrong with putting in the hard work, starting a business, or moving up because of your smarts and drive to do better and being rewarded by making $200MM? Because not everyone will achieve that, no one should? Instead, the CEO should forfeit 95% of the salary to hire more unnecessary workers to sit around and collect a check? Or "save the world" here? Do you realize while the CEO is making that money, he's also employee many people, paying his taxes, paying business taxes, supporting local vendors, and providing far beyond the simplistic look of the large salary.

I haven't made minimum wage since I was 13 and even then it wasn't for long as the owner of the tire shop saw I busted my arse and made him more money thus rewarding my efforts. Now, 29yr and educated, I still bust my arse daily (in different capacities) to make the owners more money and I'm rewarded for it.

If you make $15/hr and can't afford the $900 apartment, it's called a roommate to help share the expenses. Think smart.


And keep Louisiana out of your mouth. We have enough of a welfare problem, don't need you coming join in.

[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

How you got there from that I don't understand but ok.







Anything with the opportunity for advancement and decent pay. I should have said a long term low level walmart position is not a career. There are plenty of positing with walmart that pay well that can be worked for years to come.







That's fawking sad. You're older than me and think sucking unemwelfare for a couple years is a perfectly acceptable way to game the system.







It's minimum gawdammed wage there aren't a whole lot of people in that position in the grand scheme of things. The wage itself isn't the issue, it's what is tied to it (union wage multiplier) and the fact that the .gov who cannot run any sort of business successfully in the history of its existence telling businesses how to do things.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/min.../2015/home.htm

[WHITE-TRASH]

Originally Posted by spaceman5280

https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/min.../2015/home.htm

3.3% of workers made at or below federal minimum wage. Talk about fighting for the little man.

[spaceman5280]

What some of you are missing is the fact that there are no longer enough "good career" job for all who need them.

Worker productivity has increased exponentially without the equivalent increase in compensation. Where does that productivity go? It goes to shareholder profits which do very little for the overall economy.

I'm very fortunate that I was able to get construction experience when I was young, I tried my own business and I sucked at it, then I individually bargained my wages in different trades and then 5 years ago I finally got smart and joined a union.

The work is identical, yet my compensation more than doubled. I'm in the same market where union and non-union contractors bid the same work, yet somehow the union contractors are able to maintain 25% market share and make a profit while paying middle class wages.

The problem is not lazy people, the problem is ignorant people voting against their own self interest.

[spaceman5280]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

3.3% of workers made at or below federal minimum wage. Talk about fighting for the little man.

Yes, but the part you are missing that minimum wage increases force all wages upward which increases demand in the economy which is how capitalism is maintained.