Where is $7.25/hr (around $16K/year) a living wage? Hell, where is $10/hr ($21-22K/yr) a living wage?Originally Posted by DeaconCav06
And you can’t factor in any government welfare or assistance, because if that’s needed then how is the original wage a living wage?
Yes, but the original argument had to do with workers comp and other benefit costs, which is determined by hours worked.
If the owner is now on the hook for the entire minimum rather than just the difference between what is earned from the minimum and tips you just increased their labor costs 340%.
Hungry
Sorry, I was not clear. I do not think we are currently paying a living wage. My premise is that if the goal is to pay a living wage there is nuance in what that means.
Hungry
Washington state has a $12/hour minimum wage. It's economy was booming before Covid.
Once you get to $12/hour, it only takes a little more than 4 years to get to $15/hour by giving a 5% annually to minimum wage earners.
Why can states that have higher wages, more regulations and other business costs prosper but others can't?
Umm they are already on the hook for the entire minimum. That's always been the law. If it wasn't, why wouldn't every business pay their employees $2.15 and ask for tips?
So, it's not the wages. It's the business owners.
Those who are too stupid to figure it out will go out of business and be replaced by competent people.
I don't think you'll find anybody argue that the cost of living varies in different parts of the country.
However states (especially those with Republican legislatures) keep dragging their feet in supporting their workers, so if they don't actually do their fucking job then the federal government has to come in and use a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel.
Exactly. Just like with Jim Crow. Gay Marriage. Women's Rights. Etc.
Conservatives are naturally regressive and self-interested people. They don't like change, but they don't want to be personally inconvenienced.
There is a reason that Conservative movements are always the long term loser in history. Conservative = wrong side of history.
You can't stop progress.
I would think a woke person like Brasky would use the correct term -Marriage Equality rather than Gay Marriage.
^^ GD Multi-quote.
As to RJ - you're right. Incorrect term, I should have been more inclusive. Not sure why I didn't just say LGBTQ rights.
I like RJ repping California, which is expensive as shit and the perfect example of how state to state variability is a problem. Currently a NC minimum wage is equivalent to a California minimum wage. If North Carolina goes to 15/hr cost of living adjustment says California needs to go to 33/hr if we all want to live fairly.
That’s alarmist language intended to ignore the actual math. We are talking about raising salaries up to $15,000 a year. Somewhere up the organizational chart, it’s not hard to find that $15,000 especially when they can plan five years ahead.
Even in a small town, it’s going to be easier to pay someone $30,000 a year in a town where everyone makes at least $30,000 a year.
Also honestly the minimum wage seems like it’s a compromise like the ACA was. Paying a living wage at a minimum is a great concept that has passed us by and relevant like 20+ years ago. The skill of being a human is no longer an actual skill do to globalization and more importantly technological advancement. Might as well get ahead and be forward thinking and just do universal basic income that covers living.
A minimum wage is a compromise for not having a maximum wage and actually having pretty low tax rates at the highest income levels.
Make all you want and pay a little in taxes as long as you pay people $15/hr. Somehow that’s an impossible deal for too many people.
The same arguments have been used against increasing wages going back to slavery. And the economic peril of workers being able to live has never come to fruition.
Let’s not think about the shitty business owner who can only make a profit through exploitation. Let’s think about all the talent out there who should making more and could do more with that talent if they could just work 40 hours and live a decent life.
Again, raising the minimum wage is not a dollar for dollar increase for business owners. I don't know enough about the ramifications to get into details, but I do know that my mother, who is in her 60s, works about 80 hours a week between prep, cleaning, catering, and actual business hours, and she certainly doesn't make $15 an hour. Part of that is because she takes on too much of the work herself, but also, no one in East Bumfuck,SC is going to pay $18 for a sandwich.
I think that the minimum wage absolutely needs to be raised, and people shouldn't have to work two jobs just to barely keep above water. But I also think that this could cause problems for small individually owned businesses that can't absorb the cost as much as larger chains.
Other than at extremely high end places, no one in CA charges $18 for a sandwich. My friend owns three cheesesteak/hoagie shops. All of which are in beach communities. He pays his workers more than minimum ($12 now), and his very meaty cheesesteaks and hoagies are $7-8. The infamous O'Connell's has tons of options for under $10. The excellent Chinese place (probably five times the size of the sandwich shop) in the same center as the cheesesteak place has lunches from $9-12. Full Dinners are under $20. The excellent family owned Italian place in that center has most dinners under $20.
I would bet most places in CA aren't too far beyond the pricing of places in NC/SC.
Comparing an owner of a business and what they make “an hour” and the wage they pay their employees is nonsensical. Your mom’s true pay includes her equity in the business.
That’s a huge if.
James K. Polk comes to mind. Would you count LBJ?
ETA: pretty sure Andrew Johnson didn’t run either.
Last edited by Ball State Deac; 02-27-2021 at 04:47 PM.
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