View Poll Results: Should the Federal Minimum Wage be Raised?
No, those jobs are for teenagers and 2nd incomes.
64
62.75%
Yes, to about $10/Hr.
18
17.65%
Yes, to about $15/Hr.
16
15.69%
Yes, to $_____/Hr.
4
3.92%
Voters: 102. You may not vote on this poll
Minimum Wage - Should It Be Raised? How Far?
#341
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That having been said, as of today I am officially unemployed, and when I rejoin the workforce in nine days, I will have done so taking more than a 50% pay-cut.
I am nervous as hell about the fact that I have no health insurance at the moment, given the state of my lumbar spine coupled with the fact that I'll be engaging in heavy physical labor over the next week.
And I did this voluntarily.
May the gods / flying spaghetti monster / etc have mercy on my soul...
I am nervous as hell about the fact that I have no health insurance at the moment, given the state of my lumbar spine coupled with the fact that I'll be engaging in heavy physical labor over the next week.
And I did this voluntarily.
May the gods / flying spaghetti monster / etc have mercy on my soul...
How'd that all work out for you?
#347
Boost Pope
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Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
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No pregnancy. I took steps to prevent that a few years ago.
But the minimum wage in San Francisco has officially been raised to $15.
It will be interesting to watch how this plays out over the next year. I'm torn between the half of me that wants to be proven right with a repeat of the Seattle situation, the genuinely benevolent half of me that wants humanity as a whole to improve, and the pragmatic half of me that realizes this is unlikely to occur on the basis of government artificially increasing the cost of labor.
(Yes, my psyche has three halves. You think it's easy being this awesome?)
Also, we have a nun in Studio 2 right now cooking some good-looking stuff on the midday show. Judging by the aroma wafting up into the machine room, she's definitely worth more than $15/hr in the kitchen.
But the minimum wage in San Francisco has officially been raised to $15.
It will be interesting to watch how this plays out over the next year. I'm torn between the half of me that wants to be proven right with a repeat of the Seattle situation, the genuinely benevolent half of me that wants humanity as a whole to improve, and the pragmatic half of me that realizes this is unlikely to occur on the basis of government artificially increasing the cost of labor.
(Yes, my psyche has three halves. You think it's easy being this awesome?)
Also, we have a nun in Studio 2 right now cooking some good-looking stuff on the midday show. Judging by the aroma wafting up into the machine room, she's definitely worth more than $15/hr in the kitchen.
#350
Boost Pope
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This evening on the way home, I heard a story on All Things Considered talking about the minimum-wage, and how it's likely going to be a major issue in the next congress. Here's the full segment: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/68175...cost-of-living
During the segment, the interviewer, Audie Cornish spoke with David Cooper, senior economic analyst for the Economic Policy Institute.
"When the minimum wage was first established, back in the 1930s, it was intended to be a living wage. The problem is that, over the years, we've raised the Federal minimum wage so infrequently and so inadequately that the gap between where it is today and where it would need to be a living wage is enormous."
Er... come again? The US Federal minimum wage was established in 1938, at $0.25 per hour, which is equivalent to $4.78 in inflation-adjusted value. The highest which it has ever been was in 1968, at $1.60 per hour ($11.65 in 2018 dollars.)
Things like this make me wonder whether Mr. Cooper is deliberately lying, or if senior members of the Economic Policy Institute really are that badly misinformed.
During the segment, the interviewer, Audie Cornish spoke with David Cooper, senior economic analyst for the Economic Policy Institute.
"When the minimum wage was first established, back in the 1930s, it was intended to be a living wage. The problem is that, over the years, we've raised the Federal minimum wage so infrequently and so inadequately that the gap between where it is today and where it would need to be a living wage is enormous."
Er... come again? The US Federal minimum wage was established in 1938, at $0.25 per hour, which is equivalent to $4.78 in inflation-adjusted value. The highest which it has ever been was in 1968, at $1.60 per hour ($11.65 in 2018 dollars.)
Things like this make me wonder whether Mr. Cooper is deliberately lying, or if senior members of the Economic Policy Institute really are that badly misinformed.
Last edited by Joe Perez; 01-02-2019 at 08:26 PM.
#351
Boost Pope
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Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
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It's been around 15 years since I've worked in a factory environment (excluding the time in 2010-2011 I spent as an outfitter at the Meyer-Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, as that was a temporary assignment.)
And, to be perfectly honest, I kind of prefer being in a tactical-management role. Eg: I'm #2 in the chain of command. Other people deal with the board of directors and come up with the broad strategy, I figure out how to actually implement it, and then run a team of smart people who make it happen.
This is a comfortable place for me. I get to do lots of fun stuff, but am shielded from much of the corporate politics.
That said, I still feel a certain sense of nostalgia watching people do real things in a real factory.
My intuitive sense is that nobody in this video has an engineering degree, and yet I'm also fairly confident that none of them are earning anything even remotely resembling minimum wage. Largely because they are actually willing to show up every day, sober and on-time, and do quality work:
And, to be perfectly honest, I kind of prefer being in a tactical-management role. Eg: I'm #2 in the chain of command. Other people deal with the board of directors and come up with the broad strategy, I figure out how to actually implement it, and then run a team of smart people who make it happen.
This is a comfortable place for me. I get to do lots of fun stuff, but am shielded from much of the corporate politics.
That said, I still feel a certain sense of nostalgia watching people do real things in a real factory.
My intuitive sense is that nobody in this video has an engineering degree, and yet I'm also fairly confident that none of them are earning anything even remotely resembling minimum wage. Largely because they are actually willing to show up every day, sober and on-time, and do quality work:
#354
My intuitive sense is that nobody in this video has an engineering degree, and yet I'm also fairly confident that none of them are earning anything even remotely resembling minimum wage. Largely because they are actually willing to show up every day, sober and on-time, and do quality work:
#355
Some don't realize how many truly stupid and/or unmotivated people are out there. Everyday I work with people who's entire life career has amounted to a gas station manager making $45k a year. Most of them are decent people, but they still 'don't get them computer things' and drive 20 year old cars that aren't roadworthy.
#358
My intuitive sense is that nobody in this video has an engineering degree, and yet I'm also fairly confident that none of them are earning anything even remotely resembling minimum wage. Largely because they are actually willing to show up every day, sober and on-time, and do quality work:
The European programs do a wonderful job of weeding out the person who “doesn’t get it” yet may have gotten through the initial testing. The US used to have them in industry. At the start of my career, when I had no idea what I wanted to do, I spent 3 years as an apprentice machinist at a US company that was one of the last to abandon the program as too expensive.
The US economy would never embrace the European programs as they would be deemed too “socialist”.
We call them (as a catch all), Community colleges but the programs are really nothing like the full blown European programs.