Minimum wage, good or bad?

[sweeps]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

Hi all. First time poster!

Just want to note that there are exception to the minimum wage rule, at least in the U.S. According to the DOL:

Various minimum wage exceptions apply under specific circumstances to workers with disabilities, full-time students, youth under age 20 in their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment, tipped employees and student-learners.

So this would cover some of the ethical issues that were brought up.

[niki_the_tiger]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

I read all of your replies, my thoughts on it,

Only minimum wage jobs or close to it in the northeast part of the united states, is in Retail.
Everything else is probbably atleast 2 or 3 dollars above it.

I'm a little bit more northeast than you and most jobs around this area are minimum wage or barely above it... and not just in retail. :S

[dolfinrose]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

In Tacoma, Washington min wage is $7.35 an hour

[Dingoluv4eva]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

I'm a little bit more northeast than you and most jobs around this area are minimum wage or barely above it... and not just in retail. :S

I am a spoiled city slicker lol

[PRICEPLUS]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

Minimum wage might be decent in an area where housing costs as well as other costs are low. In urban and suburban areas costs are very high. Minimum wage might work two counties north of here but in the area I live in it is just not doable!

[Bruce Wayne]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

Bruce, you're just not being realistic. Not eveyrone lives in a metropolitan area where public transporation can take the place of a car.

Many young and sexually active women truly do not believe THEY will become pregnant. But of course they do. Young men do crazy things because they really don't have a sense of their own mortality. It's the same principle at work. We all learn by making mistakes.

Minimum wage is not a handout, but a safety net and as such, should be preserved for those less fortunate than ourselves in terms of intelligence, wealth or capability.

Yeah I know, I was just responding to the example given. I really wish people took more responsibility for their own lives. I mean we're incredibly lucky to even be here, get a grip guys and stop making excuses for your own mess.

There are millions of people outside Britain and America that would go through a damn site more to even get a job yet we complain about things so much. Appreciate how lucky you are and stop messing things up. If you do mess things up then you don't get my sympathy.

[VJW]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

Bruce,

I wish people had that attitude concerning Corporate America and Corporate Multinationals, instead of targeting struggling working people.

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[Bruce Wayne]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

I don't agree that corporations should receive welfare either

[VJW]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

IMO and I doubt many will agree, minimum wage is making things worse.

That would be news to the 8 million or so workers who benefited from past increases in the Federal Minimum Wage.

Stop asking the govt to decide what you are worth!

So we should leave that up to Corporate America, where ‘voluntary’ is a dirty word ? That’s what we witnessed over the past five calendar years, with poverty rising every year and wages declining every year.

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[VJW]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

But in retail, usually u have the high school kids, working part time in the afternoon, or the old granny working full time in the morning.

Actually, overall, according to the Labor Department, about two-thirds of those earning the Federal Minimum Wage are adult women who bring home at least half the income in their household.

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[VJW]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

I wouldn't begrudge minimum wage to anyone. It's never lifted anyone out of poverty.

Well, you would be interested to know that between 1993 and 2000, with the expansion of the EITC and two increases in the Federal Minimum Wage, more than 7 million people were lifted out of poverty, which is why we witnessed the largest six-year drop in poverty in 30 years, not seen since 1964-1970, after the enactment of the Great Society initiatives.

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[VJW]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

I don't agree that corporations should receive welfare either

I notice you left out the plight of the struggling working people, which reinforces the other half of my point.

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[Bruce Wayne]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

If people want to give money and support to struggling people then they should be free to do so. They shouldn't be forced to do so.

[PrincessPerky]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

So is that really the first job of the 65 year old grandma? or was she dummped out of a decent job cause the employer couldn't afford to give her a raise when he had to pay the young pup the same amount as her?

And BTW, no you don't need the cell phone, or the expensive christmas presents, or most of that. You just need food and shelter. And try carpooling, bet she isn't the only one working.

[Fern]

Re: Minimum wage, good or bad?

Look, like anyone else, i don't take kindly to having my tax dollars support someone who is "lazy" or otherwise undeserving of the money. But therein lies the problem, because it's very easy to cast judgement and declare that poor people are that way because they're "lazy" or "stupid." People who grow up on in the inner city often do not have the same access to a good education and other opportunities, and that sets the stage for a mediocre or worse lifestyle. As i think someone else here implied, many poor people are single parents, namely, single mothers trying to raise children without a father/husband around. You can cast judgement again and just say, don't have sex and you won't get into trouble, but it's just not realistic to expect that preaching abstinence is the solution. (Birth contro? Yes!) But poverty in America is not all about heroin addicts and alcoholics.

I guess what i just wanted to say is, it's very hard to know the real circumstances behind someone's poverty. Many people are in that situation through a combination of bad luck and lack of opportunity and these are people who should be receiving help from us.