Is US Minimum Wage really $7.25?

Originally posted by haarvik
reply to post by metaldemon2000

 

Yep, that and the real estate scam. It's a damn shame that you can buy cheaper than rent. I can remember when it was the other way around. One avenue for you is to look at owner financing. There are a lot of people out there looking to dump property and are willing to be the bank. I did that on a house I owned once.

Not here, people can barely afford their places as it is. I've already tried that plus there are alot of scanners out there who will have you on a rent to own and then up and sell the house on you just before the term comes up. I know tons of people who were screwed by this. But its not a popular method out here.

Most rental places out here are own by big companies and there is alot of corruption in the rental market. Slumlords and whatnot. So many people here breaking building standards bylaws that the city can't even enforce it. I've already discussed this with deferral people on city council. Apparently its a big problem here. The developers owns huge monopoly here and refuse to build new buildings. Only giant houses worth half a million is to please all the mining execs and employees. We went from being one of the cheapest cities in Canada to live to paying what folks in a city like Toronto pay in just three years. Houses that were worth only 80k jumped to 300k practically. Overnight.

minimum wage is a disease. it needs to go. companies would be free to hire more people

min wage is horribly low there really isnt a way to live off of it which is disgusting...i do know that i visited australia once and things were more expensive however i dont think it makes that big a difference of 7.25 to 15.00. if people here got paid 12.00 an hour the workforce would be a much happier people!

I make enough to pay 1 bill a month, rest of the bills, I have too call daddy war bucks.

Originally posted by theovermensch
But in relation to kids working here in Australia it is exploited to a degree by corporations like McDonalds. They employ 16 year olds on a casual basis then they dont call after they turn 18.

Works out ok though because most over 18 wouldnt want to work at McDonalds.

39 year old single mother, without work for about 14 months. I'd KILL to work at mcdonalds. It's INCOME.

Blessed be all,
Here in Holland, the situation is like this:
OH has a full-time job as a forklift operator = minimum wage= € 8.43 an hour before tax
Me, I have a part-time job as a data entry clerk = minimum wage= € 7.50 an hour before tax
Monthly income after taxes = € 1269.86
Rent ( normal house with 3 bedrooms ) = € 503
Healthcare = € 214
Gas/ Electric = € 140
Water = € 40
Accident Insurance = € 5.49
Funeral Insurance = € 27.42
Food = € 350 ( minimum )
Cleaning/Hygiene Products = € 30
Pet food = € 30
Tobacco Products= € 90
Total Expenses = € 1429.91
Minus:
Housing Benefit = € 185
Health Care Benefit = € 135
Child Care Benefit = € 85

Balance = € 244.95 Positive ( this is put into savings account for unexpected expenses )

Namasté

I am going to drive a little bit parallel to the topic but try and cover all the topics here...



Unlike this song I am not....

I am not for sell, but I am underhanded, spiteful. and hold grudges for a long time


Most members here are..

Hardworking
Honest
Good people


I on the other hand will take my enemies out at the first chance I get...



Now for the parallel .... Here is why... I quit on the system way before I left for college... I watched my family bust its arse and friends of the family do the same.... I refuse to Fail... and where all there hard work got them was failure...

Surrounded by crooks and a bloated overhead from government...... Nope every decision I made was correct...

Hearing each of your stories even though I disagree with some of your points ... point blanks pisses me off....

I am bein real on that point... its like watching my mother raise me by herself and working well over 40 hours gaining nothing and going nowhere.... all over again....

It is total BS.... the minimum wage is a total control measure Bull horse hockey crap S....

you cant live on 10556 dollars a year.....

And what are the politicians doing... Arguing over peanuts while they fly to Marthas vinyard, go on vacation to spain, call junk food healthy, cheat on their wives while investigating adultery, or executing men based on faulty science....

Screw cleaning up just DC... how about all of it...

Now that my fire is still hot...

I advise the reading ATS members here on a few items....

1) when renting if you cant get results at the retail level... go up the chain...

Get receipt of the past years rental payments..... total out the amounts... Be prepared to send them to the executive proving you can pay.... See what they can do... perhaps let you pay the deposits in increments....

You'd be surprised what this will accomplish....

2) shop the banks for mortgages the same way...

Contact higher levels of the bank, not taking no for an answer....

Credit score to low... look into re-rigging it.... dispute the charges and call the head of the companies with the original debtor.... Record the conversations... (you may catch a Fair Credit act violation or your country's version)

use the same receipts of rental...

Tell them you want to know if they can beat the other banks interest rate.... or because you are honest ask another bank about what the interest rate is..... and tell the bank you called that the other bank said X percent...



just remember to fight and fight hard.... give no quarter... also remember to record and take names and make records...

Talking to a friend on Steam who is in Aussie and this was our conversation:


ChromaShadows: im reading this post that says aussie min wage is like 15.00 an hour. Ours in the usa is 7.25 an hour but my State personally pays 8.50/hr min wage.
Octavia: Yeah my mom has a pie lady job where she drives around a van and sells pies and she is paid 27 dollars per hour.
ChromaShadows: jesus. ..... that's rich person's money. Like a doctors salary.
Octavia: yeah my dad gets about 2.4K per fortnight, but then again he does work at a bank.
ChromaShadows: wait. 2,400 dollars every two weeks and he works at a BANK? Our tellers get like 9 dollars an hour.
ChromaShadows: or is he higher up in the bank?
Octavia: Yeah he is a bnk manager.


......................... 27 DOLLARS AN HOUR TO DELIVER PIES IN A VAN? ????????????? YOU'D GET MIN WAGE HERE TO DO THAT! WHAT THE...........

more reasons to loathe the USA. There is NO reason we should be paid so cheaply when other countries pay so well.

reply to post by sarra1833


Also check out wally world...

New construction sites.....


Also try some of the beauty supply stores... their market is still growing...

Worst case... hit the daycare centers.... most allow the employees free daycare while they work....

Curious minimum wage systems. Didn't know canada has a regional system. We here have a system based on profession. Those are negociated by unions and if someone works at a job that doesn't have a recommended minimum wage the rule is that it has to be better than the unemployment benefits. Of course we pay our arses sore with taxes too but that's the how our system is.

$7.25? that's horrible.
It's $9.60 here in Alberta, Canada

Not since serfdom has there been a bigger difference in income that there is in the US right now.*

*no actual citations for this, but you know it's true.

Honest to gawd, I really feel like increased technology is to blame.

If a person can have a cheap, no contract smart phone that keeps them texting (or sexting) every minute of every day, why would they be inspired to seek anything more than a Burger King job and living with their mama?

Work ethic is one of the problems in this country.

Originally posted by WickettheRabbit
Not since serfdom has there been a bigger difference in income that there is in the US right now.*

*no actual citations for this, but you know it's true.

Honest to gawd, I really feel like increased technology is to blame.

If a person can have a cheap, no contract smart phone that keeps them texting (or sexting) every minute of every day, why would they be inspired to seek anything more than a Burger King job and living with their mama?

Because many people would like to be more than burger flippers?

reply to post by haarvik


that is the only reason im in a home not an apartment now and we got it for 50% off what they were asking for example my rent back in my state of california was 1430 a month for a 1 bedroom apartment (not small but not large) my mortage here with my decent credit (if your a parent put your kids cell phone bill in there name when you pay it to build them credit) my mortage is only 800 a month in Montana (i know different states but still huge discount) and alot of my friends who normally would not have been able to afford homes have purchassed them due to the deals they were offered so for some its beneficial but like a thread on north dakota said the other day they have more jobs then housing available so its not always so black and white

i guess on the minimum wage issue i know there is a federal min wage but is there not a diffrece between the states as to what they have to set there minimum wage at>? ie ny like 15 and ca 10 does that mean that states can have higher then federal min wage but must not be lower then the federal minimum?

reply to post by theovermensch


You missed the part where each state has its own minimum wage. Here in CA its $8 an hour.

If you calculate the taxes you pay on $15/hr and we pay on $8 an hour, maybe it will make the numbers a little closer.

I just got hired on at a gourmet pizza restaurant (delivery driver) and I'm making $8.25(minimum wage) + tips.

7.25 minimum wage was like 4-5 years ago.

btw I live in Illinois and I can't afford to live on my own. Especially since I have the celiac disease food costs really suck. Everything "gluten free" is super expensive in the store and I've been forced to only eat 2 small meals a day if I'm lucky. I also refuse to go on government food stamps.

next time you're at the store, check out the gluten free stuff. "$8 for a 6" cheese pizza" basically everything is super tiny portion and cost a fortune. I guess I chose the wrong time to incarnate in this world. # my life


I'm probably going to sign up for the military after all this talk about people getting student loans and getting a degree only to find out there are no jobs available... At least in the army I'll get decent meals and further my education. At the moment my self esteem is out the window and the daily expenses are just #ed up. All I can think about is what a # hole my life has become when I know I have the potential to do so much more.

You can get a good apartment for 500 bux a month in Ohio, USA. You can't do that in Australia or Cali, or east coast USA. A lower cost of living is a good thing.

Someone making 50,000 a year in California is borderline poor but someone making 50,000 in Ohio is a comfortable middle class. It all depends on the region.

What it comes down to is a difference in ideology. Australia seems to favor the notion that people are "owed" more than what their worth is work for some reason. America sets the minimum wage at the rate it is as a reflection of our own "your work is worth what its worth not what you feel it is worth" ideology.

You could say both are "lands of opportunity." Australia hands out that opportunity and America works for it would be the difference in the two. I personally would rather work and make an honest living than have the government handing me that living and thereby be indebted to the government for it.

reply to post by Miraj


What is prohibiting any of the people making minimum wage to seek out better paying employment?
2nd line

Okay so let's just raise minimum raise to say, $50 and hour. Fixes everything right? Wrong and here is why.

Everyone making less than $50 an hour get bumped to just $50 an hour (the new current minimum wage) an suddenly there a whole lot more poor people. Because they are making minimum wage. After all everyone still needs to get paid. That loaf of bread that is $2.50 now will become $15 or so, just to adjust to the new cost of labor.

And speaking of cost of labor, businesses that have a hard time making payroll are going to have to lay people off or fire them completely, provided the business itself doesn't go under in the interim.

Back when Minimum Wage was $4.25, I made $12 an hour as a machinist and had more overtime than I knew what to do with. So I was making roughly 3 times minimum wage. Had I kept that job (or wasn't laid off or fired due to the economy) I would be making between $16-$18 per hour today, doing the same job. Which is still more than twice of what minimum wage is but I would have lost money as the cost of living adjusts. And for the record, a loaf of bread was $1 back then.

Point two, those on unemployment or welfare benefits have to also pay these new adjusted prices. So rather than a monthly stipend of $1200 today they would need $9600 a month at the new $50 per hour minimum wage. The people that still have jobs will have little choice but to pay higher taxes for those benefits partly due to the increased cost per month, but also because it is being collected from less people and will have to go towards more.

But if people want to connect the dots further, this chart will explain why there was an economic collapse and exorbitant prices on the gas pumps in 2008. Yep, minimum wage jumped considerably. And do keep an eye on the second column where the rate is compared to 1996 dollars, which was the comparison I was making above...the transition of 1995 to 1996 minimum wage.

So bumping the Federal Minimum Wage right now, would practically destroy what little is left of the economy. ut on January 1, 2012, Ohio State Minimum Wage goes to $7.70 per hour (currently $7.50). This means I will be 20 cent closer to the local minimum wage once again. And I can expect to pay $2.75-$3 for a loaf of bread by February.