Quote:
Originally Posted by Brush Okie
A couple points here
Seattle is very expensive to live in.
Where they got the $15 an hour is not random. In 1968 minimum wage had the highest buying power ever. If minimum wage had kept up with inflation it would now be $15 an hour.
This is a symptom of a larger problem. We have exported our high paying industrial jobs out of this country to China while encouraging illegal worked to come in and cut wages for everyone. Raising the minimum wage is treating the symptom not the disease.
|
I agree. Wages have been affected by forces at an aggregate level outside the average person's power. TR's comments are also correct, for the most part people shouldn't be working "entry" level jobs well into family hood, but the lack of otherwise higher paying jobs is another symptom of our economy. Though still in college my part time job is as a security guard which fortunately for me pays pretty well. I am finishing college while applying for area for the fourth time. Not that a police job is an entitlement, but for every position available there is roughly 10-20 applicants, most of whom in my position either in school or some lower paying security type job. There is simply a lack of higher paying jobs available. One could start their own business, work overtime, etc. but even that is not always available. I see MOST of the people I work with as decent people, fairly competent and hard working. Should their job pay more money so that they can afford a family and the basics? As in raising wages? That to me is the main question. Earners on the high end of the pay scale and corporations will pay tax dollars for benefits for the poor anyhow. Should we cut most or all benefits for a purely
classical economy? Or should we continue to prop up the portion of our society that is consistently underperforming?