Yeah, I can see the prosperity all around me. Especially in the empty storefronts and behind each foreclosure sign… .
Basic, unskilled labor is only worth so much. It does not care how high or low the cost of living is, you only get the wage your employer is willing to trade you for a specified period of time performing tasks for them. . .
Except it’s not clear to me that increasing the minimum wage is the right thing to do. Like the article linked above about Australia said, increasing the minimum wage made the companies get rid of employees. So whether it’s a net positive (fewer employees but each making a living wage) or a net negative (more people out of work) is not clear. Did the people that got put out of work find other living wage jobs? We don’t know. That same article also mentioned prices were raised which again is not clear if it’s a win (employees make a living wage) vs a lose (higher cost of food = living wage no longer a living wage)
I don’t know which is correct. If you have some links to data to decide one way or the other I’d be happy to read them
Given the way that wealth is distributed in the United States I don’t think our economic problems can be properly ascribed to “people at the bottom being paid too much.”
Birth control isn’t an answer to unplanned pregnancies is the gist of what I think your saying. That seems to be a view shared by the republicans.
I think we differ in that I think if contraception isn’t available, and you aren’t trying to conceive, then sexual intercourse should be avoided. You seem to think this is a nasty hateful thing I’m saying to discriminate against poor people.
I also think that people who can’t provide for their children financially should avoid having them, even at the cost of not having sex, if birth control isn’t available.
I think everyone can use birth control. Its not that hard. Its worth the time and energy to do correctly.
People who had planned well, and became impoverished are a different story… because they already have kids. So I don’t address that because its not my point.
I finally think all children’s welfare should be insured… Our ability to do that sucks. Lots and lots of children are in poverty in the US, and get inadequate care.
Thats about it.
Ah but weren’t you the one who told me rising minimum wages were key to a robust economy ???
[quote=“Salgak, post:270, topic:12700, full:true”]
Ah but weren’t you the one who told me rising minimum wages were key to a robust economy ???[/quote]
Rising minimum wages do help the economy because people at the bottom actually spend the money they make. “Trickle down” theory is unsupported nonsense.
When you or I find ourselves with an extra $10K we might splurge on something nice for ourselves. When Warren Buffet or the Koch Brothers find themselves with an extra $10K it’s an infinitesimal blip on a spreadsheet.
The cost of 300 calories of fruits and vegetables is about the same as 3000 calories of cheap processed foods composed largely fat, sugar and salt.
At least 1 in 8 hospitalizations are due to complications of diabetes. 1/2 of those are paid for with medicare.
Our food system can’t get nutritious foods to people affordably, and it contributes to obesity… a counter-intuitive symptom of malnutrition. Same with type II diabetes… which is becoming a childhood disease.
Cheap processed foods which are subsidized by the government to be so cheap, contribute to rising costs of healthcare, as well as overburden the healthcare system, by making their consumers ill.
There’s also a sad tendency for movements like the local food movement, and the organic food movement to price out poor people. I think of these as food for the rich programs. Its good for small farmers and wealthy consumers… while people without the means to afford this awesome stuff get to eat junk.
You don’t think McDonald’s could do something about that? I mean, they have somewhat uniform decor, uniforms, and standards… why not standard labor practices? If they made it a company mandate, they could get franchisees to come into line. I don’t think it would be that hard, honestly.
I think the push for local/organic was meant to drive down prices, but you’re right… I’m not sure it’s working that way. When people complain about the diets of the poor, they don’t realize it’s often what they can afford. LIkewise, if you’re working several jobs to make ends meet, it’s harder to do things like have a garden or raise chickens.
Ending subsides would help, but it’s not the only problem. There needs to be a pretty radical set of solutions to the food problem.
On McD franchisees, recent news here in London, UK was that franchise holders in good locations are clearing $300k profit a year - clean profit. After they pay everybody.
JK Rowling’s country, i.e. the UK.
In’n’Out Burger, a Southern California-based chain with stores all over the western US, pays all new hires a minimum of $10.50/hr.
Full-timers get a full benefits package, part-timers get access to various group insurance plans and a retirement plan. Everyone gets vacation time. Everyone gets paid for holidays when the store is closed (part-time pro-rated).
And no one works for starting pay ten years after they’re hired.
The result?
]
An In-n-Out Double/Double is a better burger than a Big Mac.
Costs less than a Big Mac, too.
“If we didn’t abuse our employees we couldn’t sell you a cheap burger” is nonsense.
Living wages make for happy employees. Happy employees can result in lower labor costs due to lowered turnover, reduced training time, and better job performance, Not to mention higher profits due to improved customer satisfaction.
Living wages can make for better - and less expensive! - burgers.
Visit an In-n-Out and see for yourself.
That’s going to be confusing when they spread to Canada. Double Double here means two sugars, two creams in Tim Hortons’ coffee. Not that Ontario is a worker’s paradise or anything, but minimum wage here is $10.25/hour, everyone is paid for holidays even if you don’t work the holiday. If you do work it, you get paid for the holiday plus 1.5x your wage when you work on it. Everyone gets at least 2 weeks paid vacation time. Labour laws in Canada could use some improving, but labour laws in the US suck sweaty donkey balls.
Wow… that’s not chump change. I assume British McDonalds employees get more than Americans?
There isn’t any out east here, sadly.
Yes but not everyone is down with “the Napoleon way.”
I thought they got minimum wage.
Which is about $10 ph.
Looks like $9.20 per hour, Big Mac costs around $4.62. Nice numbers - you can earn 2 Big Macs an hour. 80 a week. Pay the rent in Big Macs!
I’m going to bet that poverty in the UK = low income in the US, and poverty in the US = something that the UK doesn’t let happen to people… as in letting people starve or die of treatable illness if they can’t afford to pay for care.
Are there 1.5 million homeless children in the UK? Are there 15 million kids without enough food in the UK? That’s the numbers in the US.
Are there homeless people wandering the streets in the UK? Sleeping under door stoops and under bridges? Are lots of those homeless people under 18? That’s what its like in the US.
Most the kids from orphanages and foster homes in the US end up in prison, homeless, or dead within one year of aging out of the system at age 18. In the US. I don’t know what happens in the UK.
We turned out all our mentally ill in the 70s from state run institutions, and now just let them wander around homeless and hungry too. That’s the US. I’ve got no idea what they do in the UK.
You know, I supposed I could have looked that shit up, but I’m doing comps next week, so… yeah. Thanks!
I guess how does that translate to cost of living… Also, if I was a landlord, I would not except big macs as rent. I’d want a nice high end burger… Home made, with organic, grass-fed beef. And homemade chips. Yeah, that’s right, homemade for rent.
