$15 an hour isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Every time i read a post where someone states that $15 an hour(2200 a month) is going to put everyone out of business i think to myself, "$15 an hour is practically nothing". I make $15 an hour right now learning a carpentry trade which really isnt bad for only having 2 years experience, most people wont pay more then 12 unless its a union job. Its really not a lot of money though after car, food, insurances, rent or mortgage, and all of the other added expenses of just trying to stay alive in America these days. If you want to do anything leisurely you probably cant afford it. Its hard to save for new furniture or to really do anything outside of the house because the cost of everything is through the roof these days. So how could paying someone this wage that barely allows them to live a life in the modern world be enough to put people out of business? Im having a hard time understanding the logic here. Is slave labor an absolute necessity to profit from running a business?? Is it because of taxes or insurance or what?

a reply to: onequestion

Its because of national debt to private banking cartels.
We were the collateral on that debt. And our financial servitude is repayment.

Gotta love the bankers, they bankrupt the world and we give them a massive bonus called quantitative easing.
When that happens you know who runs the show. And when that happens and you are allowed to see it in all its glory, then you know that its too late and not a damn thing can be done about it.
Welcome to financial slavery friend. Its the "modern" way, money is God now.
If we had any leisure time we might just be able to wake up to the truth, given the chance to look at the evidence, so cant let that happen.

I hear you. I make about $19-an-hour and my family goes further into debt every month. After all the bills are paid (my wife works full-time, too, at about $11-an-hour) our checking account is pretty much empty. Food and gas often go on the credit card.

Never been able to save anything for very long before some big expense comes along and wipes it out. Not planning to have much of anything once I get too old to work. I'm actually hoping not to live much past the age of 55 (I'm diabetic, so that may help things along).

Once the kids are out of the house and won't be around to stumble upon my corpse, the sooner the better. The stress of living from paycheck to paycheck and being so far in debt that there is no hope of getting out makes an early death very, very appealing.

But hey, that's the name of the game. Some win. Some lose.

a reply to: muchmadness

Its almost like whats the point right?

If you cant live to be an artist or a father or a brother or a whatever then whats the freaking point?

Are you lucky enough to at least be doing something you love?

originally posted by: onequestion
Every time i read a post where someone states that $15 an hour(2200 a month) is going to put everyone out of business i think to myself, "$15 an hour is practically nothing". I make $15 an hour right now learning a carpentry trade which really isnt bad for only having 2 years experience, most people wont pay more then 12 unless its a union job. Its really not a lot of money though after car, food, insurances, rent or mortgage, and all of the other added expenses of just trying to stay alive in America these days. If you want to do anything leisurely you probably cant afford it. Its hard to save for new furniture or to really do anything outside of the house because the cost of everything is through the roof these days. So how could paying someone this wage that barely allows them to live a life in the modern world be enough to put people out of business? Im having a hard time understanding the logic here. Is slave labor an absolute necessity to profit from running a business?? Is it because of taxes or insurance or what?

It is because so many greedy douches want more, how much more....more no matter how much they have.

Walmart hundreds of billions in profits last year, their employees and families fed by taxpayer provided food stamps.

Nobody would even work there if they couldnt eat, cancel food stamps and their pay would sky rocket.

Walmart did a study, if they paid all their regular employees$15 an hour and wanted to keep their current profit margin, they would have to raise prices for sure.

The average customer would have to pay $0.87 more cents per visit......omfg.....$0.87 per visit......that is outrageous......

Greedy pos

originally posted by: muchmadness
Not planning to have much of anything once I get too old to work. I'm actually hoping not to live much past the age of 55 (I'm diabetic, so that may help things along).

The stress of living from paycheck to paycheck and being so far in debt that there is no hope of getting out makes an early death very, very appealing.

But hey, that's the name of the game. Some win. Some lose.

Thats truly sad that you hope not to get far past 55. And whats sadder is that I understand the sentiment.
It really isnt the name of the game that so few win and so many lose. The dice are rigged.

How long will many of us survive on our last paycheck?
I barely see it through to next month.

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: muchmadness

Its almost like whats the point right?

If you cant live to be an artist or a father or a brother or a whatever then whats the freaking point?

Are you lucky enough to at least be doing something you love?

No. Pretty much dread waking up in the morning most of the time, but I bet that's way more common that doing something you love.

a reply to: onequestion

"Is it because of taxes or insurance or what?"

An so much more.

Loss, Theft, Overhead, EI, Holiday Pay, Permits, Licenses...So much more that employees Don't pay.

Employees get a check, go home and that's it. Business owners have a 25 hour job.

Peace

originally posted by: onequestion
Every time i read a post where someone states that $15 an hour(2200 a month) is going to put everyone out of business i think to myself, "$15 an hour is practically nothing". I make $15 an hour right now learning a carpentry trade which really isnt bad for only having 2 years experience, most people wont pay more then 12 unless its a union job. Its really not a lot of money though after car, food, insurances, rent or mortgage, and all of the other added expenses of just trying to stay alive in America these days. If you want to do anything leisurely you probably cant afford it. Its hard to save for new furniture or to really do anything outside of the house because the cost of everything is through the roof these days. So how could paying someone this wage that barely allows them to live a life in the modern world be enough to put people out of business? Im having a hard time understanding the logic here. Is slave labor an absolute necessity to profit from running a business?? Is it because of taxes or insurance or what?

Think of yourself as a business. Your income from your carpentry business is $15 an hour.

Now imagine you wanted to hire somebody to run errands, clean your house, keep track of your bills, and other things to save you time so you can work more hours and make more money.

You might pay somebody $8, and every hour of your time that your helper works, you're free to work for $15 an hour. If you get 10 extra hours a week, you make an extra $70 after paying your worker.

But those extra hours you're earning only $7 an hour, not the full $15 because you have labor costs.

Now what if the government came in and said you had to pay your worker $12 an hour instead of $8 an hour?

Those extra 10 hours of labor you pay for would cost you $120, and you'd make $30. You'd be making $3 an hour for your extra 10 hours of work you labor gives you.

Now imagine your neighbor who's making $25 an hour. You're competing with him for hiring helpers. The government comes in and says you have to pay your helper $15 an hour. Now you're making net $0 for those extra 10 hours of work. But your richer neighbor is still making an extra $10 an hour after paying his helper $15 an hour.

As the cost of having your helper goes up, you can't compete with your neighbor who's already making more money than you.

He gets richer, while you stay stuck, and unable to afford to hire somebody to help you.

That's what happens with small businesses competing with the large box stores. The minimum wage increase is going to make it even harder for them to compete with their larger competitors. They will have to raise prices disproportionately to their larger competitors to keep in business. At some point they won't be able to compete.

Employers pay more than your wages.
Social security
Workmans comp
Insurance premiums
That's just for having you around.

Add in liability insurance
Fire and water insurance
Theft insurance
Heat
Property taxes if they own the building
Toilet paper,,,I wonder sometimes if they are eating the stuff...: )

Hell I paid around 7 grand for accountant and lawyer fees last year.

a reply to: Jamie1

I thought that was a great explanation, simple&
easy for any one to understand.
OP Fifteen dollars an hour isn't much for
any one & if you live alone there is no one to help
you pay for rent & etc. You just live to pay bills &
that's how things seem to be these days.

Cheers
Ektar

Forbes says the average US CEO makes 11.7 million per year. I'm sure they would have no problem paying workers $15/hour or more if they would just be less greedy. Pay the CEO 4 million instead and think how much money would be left over for employes. The problem is greed. www.forbes.com...

a reply to: Jamie1

Your missing a giant part of the equation.....if everyone had more money, you could charge more and would get much more work as more could purchase goods and services again.


This is what happened to our economy, less than half the workers in this country has any disposable income.

No disposable income, no goods or services get purchased....simple concept to understand.

originally posted by: justin366
Forbes says the average US CEO makes 11.7 million per year. I'm sure they would have no problem paying workers $15/hour or more if they would just be less greedy. Pay the CEO 4 million instead and think how much money would be left over for employes. The problem is greed. www.forbes.com...

Hey onequestion, are you working for a company that has a CEO making 11 million a year?

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

No we do construction the CEO isnt really making a lot more, probably closer to 70k.

15 dollars an hour minimum wage would take a lot of burden off of the US taxpayer by forcing corporations to pay for their workers instead of the United States government having to pay for their workers in the form of SNAP benefits and TANF grants.

You should not be able to qualify for government assistance if you work a full time job.

a reply to: onequestion


That bastard! Lol
You see people, not every employer is an evil greedy jerk.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

Oh no not everyone but the bids are the same as they were 25 years ago and the costing of living has skyrocket in the same time period.

originally posted by: Jamie1
That's what happens with small businesses competing with the large box stores. The minimum wage increase is going to make it even harder for them to compete with their larger competitors. They will have to raise prices disproportionately to their larger competitors to keep in business. At some point they won't be able to compete.

That's exactly happens and other than taxing the very rich companies I don't see any way out of this.

We should tax them a lot more and give them penalties when they close down factories to re-open them in another country with cheaper wages to pay...actually, if companies would think ahead they should keep their factories in the USA, because it's gonna be a second world country real soon if this doesn't stop.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

i think onequestion thought you were asking him. I cant find the salary of the CEO for where i work.