Stop Raising The Minimum Wage & Stop Whining

OK, today the minimum wage was raised 12 percent or 70 cents to now $6.55 an hour and people are still whining. I'm hearing stories of people who earn minimum wage and raising six kids and I'm frustrated. Minimum wage was not meant for people wanting to raise a family and people need to think before popping out six kids. Instead of being good in bed they need to get an education so they can get better wages. Everyone is whining to the government to do more and I'm losing hope for America and the irresponsible politicians and citizens.

"I'm slowly getting by," says Stepney, who contributes $350 to her sister's monthly rent. The rest of her paycheck goes to buying groceries, at $25 to $100 a week.

Source

What is her sister doing Can she not better herself to get a job and help out her sister who's paying her rent?

That's right. The minimum wage should be more three times what it is today. At that level, you would make almost $40,000 a year. Not an outstanding amount given all the other costs and the likelihood that you would not be in a job with health care and a pension (that's another issue). But, beginning to be in the realm of respectable.

Source

Here's Johnathon Tasini talking about how it should be increased three times fold so that minimum wage workers bring home 40,000 a year. Now what about the people who make over a little more than minimum wage? Do they get a break? NO! They will end up paying for the higher cost of food and other commodities that go up because of the increase. This is hurting everyone who has gotten off their butts and did something in their life to make better wages. I don't know what to say about America and the dependency it has on it's government.

I would really like an education on what this means in America and what is in store down the line. I know that next year it will go up to $ 7.25 an hour and I'm thinking to myself? What about the ones who have done good and gotten an education or training to get their job only to see others who don't deserve it get a raise. It's unfair to the middle class folks who work their butts off to make it too! Now that gas and food prices are rising the poor get a raise while us getting by become poor.

Give me some opinions members, I'm trying to stay calm about this and I know that not everyone is in the same situation when it comes to minimum wage, but to try to raise a family on it is absurd and safe sex should be practiced until they can afford a family.

Wage and Hour Division

Originally posted by Solarskye
Give me some opinions members, I'm trying to stay calm about this and I know that not everyone is in the same situation when it comes to minimum wage, but to try to raise a family on it is absurd and safe sex should be practiced until they can afford a family.

Wage and Hour Division

starred and flagged! my only opinion would be DON'T stay calm about this.

Every time they raise minimun wage, people loose there jobs.

Why?

Ask the small business owner who is struggling to pay their employees in the first place!

reply to post by Solarskye


........ at $5.85 working 40hrs a week, a person can expect to earn $234 a week, or $936 a month, a total of $11,223 a year.

This falls below the US Standard for Poverty.

Average rent in a run down ghetto area in town in the US is around $550 a month.

$386 left over......
Assuming this person owns a car, the car payments and insurance (as the state forces people to buy corporate insurance........) would be about $150 (assuming it's a POS car and they don't owe much on it.. of course, car breaks down they are out of a job...)

$236 left....

Average 80-100 a WEEK on food..

Oh snap. Can't eat.

maybe roman noodles. But i though, in America, we where better then that.

Inflation is around 15% or hirer depending on the source, and the minimum wage has only recently risen since Clinton era?

Disgusting.

It should reside around $7-$8 an hour, depending on the cost of living in the city you live. Perhaps Solar, you have never seen with your own eyes the squalor some people live in ... not homeless people... but people with families and children who sleep on the floor of a one room flat because the minimum wage is all they can earn.

first off I will say I make a good working wage in skilled labor. I don't understand why when minimum wage goes up I see no increase in pay. When I first started in my position I made four times minimum wage, Now I make less than three times minimum wage. All I have seen from this [and I think most middle class Americans will agree] is an increase in prices for everything and less buying power for my dollar. In other words not only am I not getting any more money for my skills said money is buying less and less. Yes I am fortunate to make what I do, and am grateful, but all this does is make the rest rest of us poorer and poorer. Unfortunately there has to be an underclass. However I am fast approaching it myself through no fault of my own. I have an education and a good job, but I am finding it more and more difficult to get by.

respectfully
reluctantpawn

Originally posted by reluctantpawn
first off I will say I make a good working wage in skilled labor. I don't understand why when minimum wage goes up I see no increase in pay. When I first started in my position I made four times minimum wage, Now I make less than three times minimum wage. All I have seen from this [and I think most middle class Americans will agree] is an increase in prices for everything and less buying power for my dollar. In other words not only am I not getting any more money for my skills said money is buying less and less. Yes I am fortunate to make what I do, and am grateful, but all this does is make the rest rest of us poorer and poorer. Unfortunately there has to be an underclass. However I am fast approaching it myself through no fault of my own. I have an education and a good job, but I am finding it more and more difficult to get by.

respectfully
reluctantpawn

Ok, if everyones pay increased proportionatly to the increase of minimum wage, then prices at the store would have to increase as well. So you are back to where you started but the dollar is worth LESS.

Anyone who gives their time working for another deserves a living wage. If you run a business and can't afford to pay your employees a living wage then you shouldn't have that business in my opinion. You are basically nothing but a slave driver, keeping people down so that you can earn a good living for yourself.

Bottom line is wages need to go up across the board. The reason they don't is the same reason that nothing else ever gets done that benefits America as a whole. Profits. Almost all decisions made by our goverment are made in the name of making corporations more profits. Profit overides everything and keeps our elected officials from doing the right thing for the American people.

Originally posted by reluctantpawn
Yes I am fortunate to make what I do, and am grateful, but all this does is make the rest rest of us poorer and poorer. Unfortunately there has to be an underclass. However I am fast approaching it myself through no fault of my own. I have an education and a good job, but I am finding it more and more difficult to get by.

respectfully
reluctantpawn

I feel the same and want to know where the over minimum wage increase is? I feel for the people who are working hard at minimum wage, but if that's all you can do then adjust and don't have a bunch of kids you can't support. Or do better. America is about opportunity and not about baby sitting our citizens.

reply to post by Solarskye


i can only speak for myself, i make between 14 and 15 dollars an hour, maybe more depending on incentives, i wont say exactly how much i make, isnt there a law against doing so?

i first bought my house and had one child, easily made it by, that was at about 9 dollars an hour full time. but now with the cost of virtually EVERYTHING going up, its a little harder now, not to mention it seems the entire town i live in is slowly shutting down. not to make a sob story here, but i can see how it would be difficult at minimum wage, and remember not everyone at min. wage has 6 kids, i actually agree with your position on that.

point being, have a place in your heart for the people that are making min. wage, and ARE trying to better themselves, myself, i always try to better myself, i had no experience starting out, i only had my g.e.d. ( good enough diploma)......but now im a part of management, so it can be done.

completely agreed, if you make minimum wage, dont pop out six kids please.

EDIT: i read through the entire page and it seems i said everything you already did

[edit on 24-7-2008 by pureevil81]

So your telling the toilet scrubbers to stop complaining?

Haha what a joke. This thread is utterly pointless.

Why dont you rich folks stop complaining? You have everything yet you still have to open your mouth and talk bad on those who have nothing.

You deserve to clean toilets for a living buddy, then you will see the Truth of reality for once.

reply to post by pureevil81


That I have to agree with. People should not be allowed to have or keep children if they cannot provide them with a decent standard of living. That siad, once they can support the family again they should be given their children back. Would be good for all involved.

I am sure that most folks who are against the minimum wage increases are also against social programs for the poor. One just begets the other. Want less social programs, raise the minimum wage.

Originally posted by Solarskye

"I'm slowly getting by," says Stepney, who contributes $350 to her sister's monthly rent. The rest of her paycheck goes to buying groceries, at $25 to $100 a week.

Source

What is her sister doing

Can she not better herself to get a job and help out her sister who's paying her rent?

Here's what it says in the article just before what you quoted:

Barbara Stepney, a 57-year-old grandmother in Baltimore, makes $7.15 an hour working in the laundry of a Comfort Inn. She says she can't afford health insurance, a car, or her own apartment.

So, she is paying half of her sister's rent because she is living with her sister. It is called having a roommate, I think.

if things werent so over priced and ridiculously capitlized on

minimum wage could be any level

cost of living, bills, interest, rent, car, etc

all of these things make huge profits

if things hat set prices i think wed be better off, granted i understand if food stock was hurt by weather etc and things went up a bit

but rent keeps going up and bus fares, and tvs and etc etc

it keeps going up

i remember making 4.05 an hour and thought that was pretty good and gas was 87 cents at the time

we are built on capitalism and we will die from capitalism

granted i see myself a socialist but i think socialism has guidelines like working harder than someone else or someone sitting on their ass

it cant always be exactly equal but it would certainly help humanity as a whole, that anyone can agree upon

reply to post by muzzleflash


I've been there and done that and I helped myself get the training and education I needed to do better. I'm not knocking the poor because I'm not far from it. I'm not close to rich at all money wise but my family and us holding together and helping each other out is where I'm rich. Instead of raising minimum wage and spending outragious amounts of money on politics and war, it should be spent on programs that get people out of the hole and into a job like hydraulics, electricians, computers etc...

I love thios person's analogy,if a person has 6 kids and making minimum wage,how on earth is this person going to get the time,or the money to further their education? some are stuck in a situation would you rather they stop working altogether and collect welfare,I was an employer I was proud to pay a good wage,see your employees happy,drive reliable vehicles and able to care for their families,I think one should walk in another man's shoes before he makes thoughtless remarks IMO

Originally posted by Rockpuck
Average 80-100 a WEEK on food..

Oh snap. Can't eat.

maybe roman noodles. But i though, in America, we where better then that.

Not to split hair here, but for a long time I managed on under $7 a day and wasn't starving. Sure enough I didn't buy much ice cream or highly processed food or McD, but food was adequate.

based on your budget, that leaves about $50 per week on discretionary spending.

Minimum wage was not meant for people wanting to raise a family ...

What is it about minimum wage that drives people so crazy?

Minimum wage - the lowest reasonable amount ANY person legally employed should be expected to accept.

This means protection from the business-minded folks who see the employee as a 'regrettable necessity' and a 'drain of the profit margin'. These are the folks who would run sweat-shops if they could get away with it. It is because of the profiteering nature of 'business' that such laws HAD to be enacted. Does anyone here remember any historical points about what 'labor' was like before the 'minimum wage' and other labor laws HAD to be enacted. People, in the name of 'business' would work their employee into the grave, children were taken out of school to provide 'cheap' labor, employees worked in death traps with little or no regard for safety (that costs money).

Guess what? If you can't muster a business plan that works without having your employees one step away from welfare, try to make your family work for you for the same wage..., see how long that flies!

By the way, the term 'minimum wage' is another meme produced by the ever present 'business - MBA - mentality' - it is supposed to be 'Minimum Living Wage'. One is supposed to be able to survive (make a living) and be a contributing tax-payer in society by being employed. YOU try it at minimum wage, and see how far you get. It is BECAUSE of our business-friendly government officials that the meager wage amount is allowed - the result: that we (tax payers) have have to pay for ALL these damn entitlement programs - get it?

reply to post by Maxmars


Excellent point, IMHO.

Bobbing up and (mostly) down around poverty line doesn't seem right...

I could still agree with OP on the following: you can't plan a family on minimum wage.



[edit on 24-7-2008 by buddhasystem]

reply to post by disgustedbyhumanity


Really? and where would we put all these children? Overflowd an already taxed cas?
Break up families just because people lack the empathy to take care of those less fortunate then them?
Then you have to hire a fleet of social workers, rent buildings, and pay foster families a lot of money to take care of these children.
OR, you can raise the minimum wage so people can earn a living and *GASP* keep families together.

Bad stuff happens to good people. And they shouldn't be thrown away.

That is what seperates humans from the rest of the animals, the ability to take care of our own.

I dont' believe in enabling businesses to make a profit at the expense of people. Wal-mart loves working this system. Make the states pay the healthcare and welfare, why they bank major profits.

And you can't say that if you make such and such, you can make it. The cost of living is not the same across the board.

In my area, a crappy 2 bedroom apt STARTS at 1200 a month. Try getting a place to live on meager salary, much less afford anything else.

The cost of an education isn't straight across the board either. And it not affordable and accessible by everybody.

So how is someone supposed to pay for childcare while they work and go to school?

The average childcare in my area for one child is 350.00 per week.

so many here are against a government that divides us, treats us like chattle, has no regard for human life, and everything is at their benefit. yet they turn around and want to treat members of our society with the same exact attitude.

You can judge a quality of society in how about they treat their poor. And many here still exhibit a dog eat dog mentality.

And they must be fortunate to not have to know how to scrape out an existence.
I hope you never have to know how it is to do so, but I am sure that if you are ever in that spot, you would want help too.

I love this statement, "don't have children you can't take care of"
what if they could? what if a spouse runs out on them? what if they were widowed? or costly and lengthy illness strikes the family.

It must be so nice to live in such a cut and dry, black and white world.

When so many people run around saying "I, I, I, why should I have too....? Why shouldn't I get?.... Why not me?...

Don't be surprised when the next generations say I,I,I and end up showing no regard for their fellow man and toss this generation to the curb for their own benefit.

[edit on 24-7-2008 by nixie_nox]

reply to post by nixie_nox


all good points here, i cant really disagree with any of them.

great post