Step one in analyzing a situation: do not use anecdotal evidence to try to prove your point when there are wide-ranging statistics that prove otherwise. The fact that you all are harping on this minimum wage argument is foolish for multiple reasons:
(1) On average, your wage is not determined by what you can convince your employer to pay you, to assume that is to assume that the worker has some semblance of bargaining power, they do not. That was the entire basis behind the labor relations act and minimum wage laws, just because it's possible in some isolated circumstances does not mean it is widespread overall. In fact, people who make 6 figures salaries are often stuck within a lockstep salary structure themselves. But even more so, the idea that "unskilled" people are the only ones working at Starbucks, waitressing, etc. is a joke. I thought I dispelled that yesterday, I have no idea why we're still talking about.
Whats your point here? Yes there are peple with all kinds of work backgrounds working at these fast food places. Their wages are determined by WHAT THE EMPLOYER WANTS TO PAY THEM, in line with federal and state labor laws. My point was that thesecorporation are goingt pay the least amount they can in regards to the law. As long as their are indivisuals willing to take those wages, they will not raise them.
(2) the minimum wage has not risen according to inflation, so basically you are all tacitly supporting a status quo that takes advantages of the law to depress individuals.
No the minimum wage has not risen according to inflation. Now as far as the supportingthe status quo part, I dont kno what you mean. If you read my post, you will not see a mesay I support the way it is, I'm simply saying THIS IS THE WAY IT IS.
(3) You take the elitist tone that someone working at Wal-Mart is lesser than you and thus they should not have the opportunity to support a family whatsoever because they are working a job that many others are capable of working, meanwhile you ignore that the entire middle class was built up in the manufacturing sector with people doing jobs we could all be trained to do.
I dont know bout elitist, but someone working at Walmart probably has lesser "earning potential" than a lawyer, doctor, CEO, or many other jobs in our society, wouldnt you agree? Yes everyone hs the same opportunities, but when you make the decision to work at Walmart, yu have consciously placed yourself in a position where your ability to support a family is limited. Walmart did not force you to come work for them. Their job is not to support your family. Their job is to make as much money as legally possible. Im sure in the job ad it doesnt say we will pay you enough to support your family. You're right, the middle class was built up in the manufacturing sector. In 2013 though, you will NOT bea bale to jin the middle class by being cashier or stock boy at Walmart. That may have bee the case decades ago, BUT THOSE DAYS ARE OVER. If Walmart could pay even less they would! Again, I'm not saying I support tis, BUT IT IS WHAT IT IS.
(4) You have this magical belief in the market somehow distributing fairness and paying people what they're worth. Well let's look at China's market or anywhere else we export work too. The baseline for what one can be paid in this country rose due to the minimum wage laws and labor unions. Left to their own devices, employers will pay players nothing.
Yeah you're right.
(5) The idea that someone working at a fast food place does not deserve to be paid a higher wage and that it will cripple the industry is ridiculous. In Las Vegas, as of 2004, hotel housekeepers generally earned $11.95 an hour. That is equivalent to making 46,010 a year in New York City or over 22 dollars per hour. It is because the workers were unionized, and the business was doing so well they decided to be magnamimous. A company like McDonalds could easily afford to do the same thing and adjust wages according to where the person is located. So inactuality, 15 dollars per hour isn't asking for much in comparative terms, and obviously McDonalds would not have to pay that amount to workers in the South and other places. The idea that McDonald's prices would HAVE to go up, by a significant amount is not necessarily true. (I don't have the time to go look up what percentage of their expenses come from employee salaries).
im not married big pun
