- Joined
- Oct 14, 2015
- Messages
- 64,362
- Reaction score
- 62,920
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Other
All this hoopla over "$15.00/hr LIVING WAGE!!!" and "Business will quit hiring!!" and "Just get more skills get paid more!!" it all misses the point. It's not about the wage. Not really.
It's about the choices made with the money you have. You can't live off 8.50 an hour? Why? 12.50 an hour? Why? What are your life choices and priorities that made such an amount "unlivable?"
Stop, before you say anything about it's not fair poor people can't... SHUT IT. That line holds no weight with me. LIFE, isn't fair, deal with it.
Now, back to my point, you can in fact survive off 8.50 an hour, 10, 12, 14 an hour. You can make this work for you. But you have to make smart choices, yes you will end up making some sacrifices but that, that is life. All this "Living wage" crap says to me really is "We shouldn't have to make smart choices, we should get what we want!" To which all those talking about the costs to businesses are making the wrong points:
"Great, you claim you need $15/hr because you just can't live off current min-wage. Is there some magical property about a few more dollars that's going to make you suddenly moneywise, sacrifice to achieve your wants and live a better life? Or will you just increase the amount of bad choices and now that you've gotten more you'll instead of making right choices just demand more and more...?"
Cause really, that's what this is about, responsibility. 15hr is a nice income, I won't lie. But is it the income that's the problem or the choices and priorities that are the true problem?
This is a perfect example of the fundamental mistake conservatives make when discussing the minimum wage. It's not about morality. It's not about whether someone deserves the wage. It's about the economy.
I am not going to address $15 specifically. (I also choose to ignore the malicious slanders by fiscal conservatives regarding people on welfare with "flat screen TVs and xBoxes" - same old dirty "welfare queen" lie).
A sub-living minimum wage such as presently exists makes it impossible to survive on one full-time job. People with two full-time jobs at minimum wage still struggle to put food on the table. This means that they draw on the safety net. (Your opinion of the safety net is irrelevant here). This is why companies like McDonald's actively urge their employees to take advantage of all possible safety net programs. This means that you are paying the portion of their wages the business has avoided paying, thanks to the sub-living minimum wage.
This means you are subsidizing businesses with your tax dollars.
A living minimum wage forces businesses to pay the full cost of producing the products they sell. The products will cost a little more (but as we see with Europe, minimum wage employers like McDonald’s barely charge more), but only the customers of that business will pay for the labor. Taxpayers will no longer pay for products they don’t consume.
Further, persons making minimum wage spend all of their income. If they have more income, they will spend it. (They may even be able to save some, reducing later safety net reliance). This will stimulate the economy in a way that Obama’s stimulus did not.
The politicians have you fooled. They talk about the immorality of being poor and virtues of individual responsibility, while actually forcing you to provide welfare to corporations.