$15 Dollar per hour minimum wage your Thoughts?

[MoreCoffee]

No. I live in Orlando, Florida. Before that, Atlanta, Georgia and before that, Norway in the middle of nowhere

The $15/hour minimum wage rate is applicable to Los Angeles, CA. It isn't as far as I know, a general proposition for the entire USA. The discussion in this thread has been about the LA proposal for a $15/hour rate.

 

[Sir Robbins]

The $15/hour minimum wage rate is applicable to Los Angeles, CA. It isn't as far as I know, a general proposition for the entire USA. The discussion in this thread has been about the LA proposal for a $15/hour rate.

Oh I see. I didn't know it was for California. I guess that makes more sense. I did not read the beginning of the thread. My bad on this. I hope it does not go nationwide

 

[OldFashionGal]

Sounds exactly like that generalization stuff that you were upset with me for mentioning before.



Perhaps the slip-up in your thinking is that you have given all the blame for a ruined economy to there not being enough welfare (and/or to "some" people who don't agree with you about the matter), when it's really the policies of the administration that have kept people unemployed or underemployed for so long.

I am going to clarify this for anyone that has read my comments before moving on. I do NOT blame our economy on there not being enough welfare. Not sure how that was come up with unless by my not wanting cuts to seniors, veterans benefits and wanting the wealthy to pay their share of taxes by not having loop holes, if someone thinks that means I want more Welfare then I can understand that accusation. Do I want help for those that can't work? Yes. But still I do not blame our economy on not having more help for them. Even with my wanting food stamps for those that are poor would not mean I am blaming the economy on them not getting more! I could write some things I do believe has lead to our economy where it is now but as I wrote I don't like discussing politics except for those things I believe strongly in I will jump in LOL such as NO cuts to seniors or veterans benefits, NO loop holes for the wealthy, NO bail outs to Wall Street! And yes, I do believe the min. wage should be higher. Most other issues I will leave for others to debate especially since comments can so easily be misunderstood or taken out of context or both.

 

[Albion]

I am going to clarify this for anyone that has read my comments before moving on. I do NOT blame our economy on there not being enough welfare.

No one said that you do.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Oh I see. I didn't know it was for California. I guess that makes more sense. I did not read the beginning of the thread. My bad on this. I hope it does not go nationwide

Why? Wouldn't you like a pay raise to $15/hour which would be $1/hour more than your post said you currently receive.

 

[kiwimac]

The more money earned, the more money that can be injected back into the economy. Wage increases almost always spur growth.

 

[GoingByzantine]

What irks me is fast food workers demanding $15 wages. I spent 2 years laboring at a tourist park, I led more tours then I can count, I spent hours cleaning, I inhaled dust that irritated my lungs while my hands blistered crafting brooms by hand, I drove a truck, I lifted heavy crates, I tended to animals, I catered, I started and tended to fires, I worked long hours and I did it all for only $6 an hour. That is right, in the United States any "seasonal" attraction can legally pay their employees below minimum wage. All the work I put in, and then I see people whining because they don't get paid more to stand inside an air conditioned building and flip burgers and work a cash register. Sure the customers can be nasty in the fast food business, but they can be nasty in any business.

There are scientists in the United States who don't even make $15 an hour, there are law enforcement officers who don't even make $15. Its ridiculous a McDonalds worker feels entitled to that amount of pay when you look at all the other workers out there who deal with so much more and also don't make that kind of money.

As an aside, I loved my job, and I loved the people and the community. If fast food workers hate their job, then they should find something they enjoy and own it.

 

[KitKatMatt]

they don't get paid more to stand inside an air conditioned building and flip burgers and work a cash register.

Working in fast food I:

Routinely lifted heavy boxes.
Spent hours cleaning.
Had to go from the terribly hot kitchen (yes, even with AC) into the incredibly cold freezer multiple times a day (which makes people wonderfully sick!)
Came in on days I was supposed to be off with at most 10 minutes notice.
Worked two shifts in a row because we were understaffed (no notice on those, just a surprise shift).
Got sick from the cleaning materials we used which hurt my throat and also burned my hands.
Had to use cooking appliances I knew nothing about and wasn't trained for (yay, grease burns!)
And of course had to deal with crap customers, vomiting children, a constantly backing up sewer system, and was NEVER ALLOWED TO SIT even on my break (which is SUPER FUN when you have worked 16 hours!).

Don't freaking sit there and act like working in fast food is easy. It's demeaning, exhausting work.

You should have been paid much more for your job, and I should have been paid more for my job. There is a severe problem with this country and the way it treats its employees. Our labor is much more valuable than what we're being paid for.

 

[GoingByzantine]

You don't see any activists fighting for us below the minimum wage workers. I am sorry if I was insensitive and overlooked the struggles in your industry, but there are people who have it worse, and you don't see a bunch of liberal college kids waving signs and speaking out for us. Our struggles fall of deaf ears.

Again I am sorry if I misrepresented your work and industry, but it could be much worse.

 

[MoreCoffee]

So much resentment that others may receive $15/hour! Goodness me.

 

[KitKatMatt]

Thank you for the apology.

I am against paying people below minimum wage (in addition to being for a hike in the minimum wage in the first place). Most everyone I know is against paying any employee below minimum. I have many friends and family members employed in the restaurant industry who are stuck living for tips because of a loophole that allows employers to pay tipped servers a "different" minimum wage (which is much lower than even the one we have now), and it's an awful abuse of labor.

It's wrong, and it needs to be stopped. If a business cannot afford to pay their employees a living wage, then they're not successful enough to keep their doors open.

It "can be worse", but it should never be worse in the first place.

 

[GoingByzantine]

Thank you for the apology.

I am against paying people below minimum wage (in addition to being for a hike in the minimum wage in the first place). Most everyone I know is against paying any employee below minimum. I have many friends and family members employed in the restaurant industry who are stuck living for tips because of a loophole that allows employers to pay tipped servers a "different" minimum wage (which is much lower than even the one we have now), and it's an awful abuse of labor.

It's wrong, and it needs to be stopped. If a business cannot afford to pay their employees a living wage, then they're not successful enough to keep their doors open.

It "can be worse", but it should never be worse in the first place.

Thank you, and again I am sorry.

I am on prescription pills, and not myself.

 

[KitKatMatt]

Thank you, and again I am sorry.

I am on prescription pills, and not myself.

It's no problem. I'm sorry if I came out of nowhere, it's an emotional topic.

This post was actually a reminder that I need to take my medicine, so thank you for that!

 

[Texas101]

Here is where $15/Hour is headed. No vacation time needed, no healthcare insurance, no workman's compensation costs, never calls in sick or hung over, and never has an attitude problem.

 

[Texas101]

This is so misunderstood. Most people are not against the wealthy having their money honestly! What most people are against is when they get out of paying their share of taxes with loop holes that many times ends up with them paying zero taxes! While the middle class has to pay their taxes. So many people yell no hand outs to seniors or the disabled, those working jobs if they don't make enough money too bad! But so many of them don't mind the hand outs to the most wealthy. Hand outs, loop holes, subsidies for the wealthy is what I am against and it is what a lot of others is against. I'm not religious but I always think of the story about the rich man and just imagine if that story is true what would happen today if Jesus told so many of the billionaires and millionaires to sell all they have and give to the poor??? Just asking Jesus must had thought that was morally right??

Don't forget in the US the bottom 50% pay no taxes. This means the biggest tax loophole is for the lower 50% of wage earners.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Here is where $15/Hour is headed. No vacation time needed, no healthcare insurance, no workman's compensation costs, never calls in sick or hung over, and never has an attitude problem.


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If you truly believe that the only way to keep people employed is to pay them less than is needed to live then how far will such logic go? Shall slavery be reintroduced so that slaves can be fed by their masters and housed by them but receive no pay? That would surely be cheaper than $15/hour in Los Angeles Ca today. But when it comes down to it machines may be cheaper still and then even slavery would not keep people in employment. So this argument that one needs to keep the minimum wage rate down in order the preserve employment is hollow. It gives the semblance of reason but entirely lacks its substance.

Paying people a living wage is a moral duty that cannot be shirked on the excuse that by paying less one keeps the poor in work. That's a sham that even the poor see through and since the poor and middle classes outnumber ten to one the wealthy who advance such arguments one can only expect social unrest and troubled times if it is perused for much longer.

 

[OldFashionGal]

Don't forget in the US the bottom 50% pay no taxes. This means the biggest tax loophole is for the lower 50% of wage earners.

I'm sorry but while I believe those making millions and billions of dollars should NOT have loop holes to keep them from paying taxes, and while I do not agree to hand outs in the form of bail outs for Wall Street, but I also don't believe in taxing the lowest wage earners in this country. I come from a wealthy family and while my dad enjoyed his tax breaks he never once thought the poorer people should have to pay them. Some things I am just glad I take after him.

 

[MoreCoffee]

I'm sorry but while I believe those making millions and billions of dollars should NOT have loop holes to keep them from paying taxes, and while I do not agree to hand outs in the form of bail outs for Wall Street, but I also don't believe in taxing the lowest wage earners in this country. I come from a wealthy family and while my dad enjoyed his tax breaks he never once thought the poorer people should have to pay them. Some things I am just glad I take after him.

The bottom 50% may not pay federal income taxes but they surely pay sales taxes and land taxes if they own a property and if they don't then they pay land taxes through rent and they pay taxes on numerous other services, such as road tolls, license fees, government fees for school books and other necessary school supplies. It is only those who must survive on charity and welfare who would be free from school costs. So the idea that the bottom 50% pay no taxes is untrue. It is one of the many untruths told in debates about taxation and minimum wage rates.

 

[OldFashionGal]

The bottom 50% may not pay federal income taxes but they surely pay sales taxes and land taxes if they own a property and if they don't then they pay land taxes through rent and they pay taxes on numerous other services, such a road tolls, license fees, government fees for school books and other necessary school supplies. It is only those who must survive on charity and welfare who would be free from school costs. So the idea that the bottom 50% pay no taxes is untrue. It is one of the many untruths told in debates about taxation and minimum wage rates.

Thanks MoreCoffee you are so right!! I have a lot of brain fog LOL from a lot of physical problems and sometimes I just don't get all my thoughts out that I should

 

[K9_Trainer]

No. It's going to cause inflation to skyrocket.

I think the issue is culture and society. The vast majority of the minimum wage, unskilled jobs were not intended for people to try and make a career out of or living off of. They used to be primarily for students and teenagers...A way for high schoolers to get some spending money, and for college students to save for tuition while they got an education for their long term career goal. Now we have people trying to support a family with those jobs, and trying to make a living off them. And there's no way even a college student could make enough money working over summer at one of those jobs to pay for their tuition and stuff. Everything is messed up.

I'm not totally sure what the solution is, but I don't think raising minimum wage is it. If somebody with no education, no training is making $15/hr doing unskilled labor....That's going to have serious implications for the people that DO have training and education and experience making that much at a skilled labor job. I'm not a socialist....I don't think we should all get payed the same amount when some of us have really invested in our careers, and when we have different levels of experience and skill. But at the same time, it's obviously a problem when we have people trying to support a family of 5 with a mcdonald's paycheck.