(US) Do you support a $15 minimum wage?

[Robert Maxwell]

I think increasing the minimum wage will hurt people. Places like Mcdonalds already have plans for automated ordering systems that will eliminate the need for as many people.

And you think they will hold off on those plans as long as the minimum wage is kept down? Don't kid yourself.

Small businesses will struggle to pay employees that much and will have to hire less.

There are other ways to support small business besides "let them pay people poverty wages."

Personally, I have a bachelors degree and a job that pays a little more than the proposed minimum wage. I still need two incomes to afford rent on a mediocre apartment in this state. If the minimum wage increases from $8.44 to $15, am increase of over 75%, will I get a 75% increase in my pay as well?

Probably not 75%, but you will almost certainly get a significant increase. Minimum wage hikes tend to ripple upward in the pay scale.

Don't you think it's kinda screwed up that you have a degree and don't have any better options than working two low-wage jobs just to survive?

 

[Balok's Decoy]

The situation also isn't as dire in Canada. The minimum wage is already much higher than it is in the US, and Canada has the richest middle class in the world so the inequality problems are slightly lessened. It seems to be more of a total crisis in the US.

Exactly. At the very least I think we should change our laws here so that the minimum wage increases or decreases to adjust with inflation. The minimum wage in the US hasn't kept up with inflation, making minimum wage workers poorer and less able to afford basic necessities.

 

[Mattadd]

Exactly. At the very least I think we should change our laws here so that the minimum wage increases or decreases to adjust with inflation. The minimum wage in the US hasn't kept up with inflation, making minimum wage workers poorer and less able to afford basic necessities.

That would make sense. I don't get why minimum wage isn't automatically tied to inflation.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

That would make sense. I don't get why minimum wage isn't automatically tied to inflation.

Because only teenagers make minimum wage.

 

[Mattadd]

That being said having the same wage province wide doesn't make a lot of sense either. $15/hour still isn't enough to live on in Toronto, but in Blenheim (pop. 4,000) you're golden if you're making $15/hour.

 

[Sophie74656]

And you think they will hold off on those plans as long as the minimum wage is kept down? Don't kid yourself.



There are other ways to support small business besides "let them pay people poverty wages."



Probably not 75%, but you will almost certainly get a significant increase. Minimum wage hikes tend to ripple upward in the pay scale.

Don't you think it's kinda screwed up that you have a degree and don't have any better options than working two low-wage jobs just to survive?

I think it's very screwed up. Two of us each work, have bachelors degrees and are not exactly what I would call comfortable. The state we live in is very expensive. Rent on a mediocre 1 bedroom apartment is averaging $1200, if we wanted to have a child daycare costs even more than that a month. When I was job searching there were many listings for positions that required a degree and several years of experience but were paying less than $15 an hour

 

[Sophie74656]

That being said having the same wage province wide doesn't make a lot of sense either. $15/hour still isn't enough to live on in Toronto, but in Blenheim (pop. 4,000) you're golden if you're making $15/hour.

That is similar in the US. In some states if you make $15 an hour you can easily live on that. Where I live, for one person to live "comfortably" they would have to make much more than that.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Interesting article on cost of living in different areas.

Where I live (Maryland) you need to make over $24/hour to make ends meet.

 

[Sophie74656]

Interesting article on cost of living in different areas.

Where I live (Maryland) you need to make over $24/hour to make ends meet.

Where I live it's over $25...I don't make nearly that much

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Where I live it's over $25...I don't make nearly that much

Me neither. My girlfriend and I make enough together to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Baltimore City but....kinda sorta just barely. If one of us lost our income, we'd be screwed.

 

[Mattadd]

Interesting article on cost of living in different areas.

Where I live (Maryland) you need to make over $24/hour to make ends meet.

That is interesting. So... everybody is making plans to move to Idaho I take it? Lol

 

[Sophie74656]

That is interesting. So... everybody is making plans to move to Idaho I take it? Lol

I'm giving it serious thought. I have dreams of making a living selling my handcrafted items online, in which case I could live in any state as long as I had high speed internet access.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

That is interesting. So... everybody is making plans to move to Idaho I take it? Lol

My gf and I have seriously considered moving to the Southwest. Either Arizona or New Mexico. Beautiful states. Tons of good birdwatching locations. And very low cost of living.

Although to be fair, if I wanted to make more money, I could always go out and get another job, like CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Don't know why I didn't think of that before!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

When I was job searching there were many listings for positions that required a degree and several years of experience but were paying less than $15 an hour

Which is completely absurd. $15 an hour, if you work 40 hours a week, comes out to $31,200 a year, gross. One would obviously take home significantly less than that after various taxes.

That jobs now require college degrees and years of experience to pay you under $30,000 a year is completely outrageous. It's not because the money doesn't exist, but because laws, regulations, and incentive structures are such that investors, especially wealthy investors, get a better a deal and get to keep more money. Corporate profits don't benefit you, they benefit investors. What working people are paid is held down so investors can get more. It's as simple as that.

 

[Mattadd]

Which is completely absurd. $15 an hour, if you work 40 hours a week, comes out to $31,200 a year, gross. One would obviously take home significantly less than that after various taxes.

That jobs now require college degrees and years of experience to pay you under $30,000 a year is completely outrageous. It's not because the money doesn't exist, but because laws, regulations, and incentive structures are such that investors, especially wealthy investors, get a better a deal and get to keep more money. Corporate profits don't benefit you, they benefit investors. What working people are paid is held down so investors can get more. It's as simple as that.

Agreed to all of that, that is absolutely crazy to expect somebody to have a degree and pay them that little. Degrees are expensive as hell already, and I hear they're even more expensive in the US than they are here. How could one ever pay the student loans back?

 

[Sophie74656]

Which is completely absurd. $15 an hour, if you work 40 hours a week, comes out to $31,200 a year, gross. One would obviously take home significantly less than that after various taxes.

That jobs now require college degrees and years of experience to pay you under $30,000 a year is completely outrageous. It's not because the money doesn't exist, but because laws, regulations, and incentive structures are such that investors, especially wealthy investors, get a better a deal and get to keep more money. Corporate profits don't benefit you, they benefit investors. What working people are paid is held down so investors can get more. It's as simple as that.

Completely agreed....which is kind of why I'm against the increase. It's really more of a thought of "what about me, where's my increase?"

 

[Sophie74656]

Agreed to all of that, that is absolutely crazy to expect somebody to have a degree and pay them that little. Degrees are expensive as hell already, and I hear they're even more expensive in the US than they are here. How could one ever pay the student loans back?

Well, I've been out of college since 2005...still chipping away at my loan, and I went to a public university that was fairly innexpensive.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Agreed to all of that, that is absolutely crazy to expect somebody to have a degree and pay them that little. Degrees are expensive as hell already, and I hear they're even more expensive in the US than they are here. How could one ever pay the student loans back?

That's the trick: most people can't pay them back. It's just a constant burden you will have the rest of your life. You can't even discharge them in a bankruptcy.

If we're being honest about what this is, it is older taxpayers lending money to young people at exorbitant interest rates and indebting them basically for life. As if we really think 18 year olds have the maturity and mental capacity to understand what a 20 or 40 year debt really means. We would call that kind of behavior predatory, even fraudulent, in any other context.

We really have to stop pushing university education as the only path to a decent job. It's less true now than ever.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Well, I've been out of college since 2005...still chipping away at my loan, and I went to a public university that was fairly innexpensive.

Same. I went to community college for two years first, then went to a public university for my last two years. I graduated in 2011 and I can't afford to pay my student loan bill every month so my dad pays it. Still have about 10k left on it.

 

[Sophie74656]

Same. I went to community college for two years first, then went to a public university for my last two years. I graduated in 2011 and I can't afford to pay my student loan bill every month so my dad pays it. Still have about 10k left on it.

fortunately with my loan I have called them several times to say that I couldn't afford the payment and they lowered it or when I was out of work even let me skip paying it for 6 months.