Monday, November 4, 2013

The $15.00/hr. Minimum Wage: An Unrealistic Dream That Will Be Denied

Memo to all the relatively unskilled front-line workers in the U.S.:
Hopes for a  $15.00/hr. federal minimum wage won't win out.
The reasons are many, but I will list just a few:

(1) Unskilled work doesn't have the power to demand such
high wages here, perhaps nowhere. The fact of large families
struggling to exist on $7.25/hr. wages is very sad, but whose
obligation is it to provide a "living" wage for these families?
I  had only one child, knowing how uncertain economies,
even ours, can be; I too held a number of modestly-paying jobs.
There is no "right" to have five or more children, particularly
when would-be parents don't possess high-level skill sets.
   
(2)  Prices at fast-food restaurants would go up exponentially,
putting many of them out of business, as they could no longer
profitably compete. Most jobs at McDonald's, Burger King,
et al. aren't really designed for a lifetime career unless workers
earn significant promotions. Many such employees are high
school and college students, spouses with employed partners,
and Social Security/pension recipients. Employers might solve
their problem with terminations, making miserable those who
remain.

(3)  A more controversial reality centers on wage competition
between the highly skilled (degree holders or technically
trained) and those with negligible or modest abilities. Why
would anyone pay a low-level worker what a skilled employee
earns who finished college and has firm computer capabilities,
for example? It will not happen.

Poor people or the young starting  out can't "have it
all" unless they inherit, have rich parents, win the lottery, etc.
What should happen is simple: step by step, build that larger
life. Swimming carelessly through one's existence, then
expecting everybody else to pick up the pieces for you
isn't smart or fair. Want a big family? Make sure you can
pay for it. In the meantime:

Please realize there will be no national, $15 an hour
minimum wage. Set your sights on something you can
personally accomplish-- such "dreams" won't be denied.

12 comments:

  1. Another winner blog Lady Amber!

    In our BRAVE new world today I feel we all need to be more realistic regarding many things. Even those graduating from higher learning institutions. It is a NEW world order. Lots of new challenges.

    Being a bachelor has it's benefits. Circumstances could change for the better OR FOR THE WORSE fast! We all need to remember that. Happy autumn.

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  2. As Columbo would say ( Just one more thing. Then proceed with ten more.) The average guy and doll out here better understand something. If many HIGHER learning grads are not exactly always able to get and keep positions in their fields, If these College ones are in THE VARIOUS SUPPORT groups deep. LIVE WITH IN OUR MEANS. Remember THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER on the other side of the fence UNTIL AN ON looker has to mow, care for it , etc!

    ONLY THE ELITE ( excuse this vulgar word I must use Lady Amber MINORITY THE ELITE MINORITY! I feel God made all of us MAJOR creations. The ELITE are the ones truly on top in many ways , NOT EVEN JOE OR JOANNE College ones.

    We could become OPENLY HORRIBLY BARBERIk RIOTING in the streets etc at the drop of a hat. We need all of us more education, life learning , common sense, MORALS, PURPOSE, etc I feel.


    I feel a deep UNREST RASHNESS growing by the second out here. GOD HELP US!!

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    1. Mr. N, I also feel a vague, as well as a specific, unease, like when a storm is coming but hasn't yet arrived. Interestingly, A Seattle suburb called Sea-Tac (after the large local airport) HAS passed a $15.00/hr. minimum wage. But again, this is not federal law.
      Best Wishes!

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  3. Yes Lady Amber. The feeling is sort of like this. Once in the old neighborhood when Me and my people were 2 months away from being able to get out of that place. I was home sick with flu. I was expecting an important letter regarding some out of town land my kin and I owned plus a letter from a nice real woman. I felt as many police would say very hinky. Like SATAN was on my back. I felt IL when I stood up so I laid back on the sofa OR COUCH as we used to say in the black neighborhood. Any how 2 minuted later my DAD ( The late VERY MUCH ALIVE THEN Robert B like in BIG APPLE Nixon. heard medium explosions! NO THEY WERE WE realized GUN SHOTS!! If I or DAD would have gone o that enclosed porch and or opened the door to same to get look for mail in our mail box WE MAY HAVE GOTTEN SHOT OR KILLED. Some punks were firing wildly at each oter A FEW ROUNDS 32.s came through the front porch walls near door.

    Some national bad stuff went down. A vacant house near us was torched. THE SAME feelings I got the days before and on the day when HORROR WENT DOWN Lady A I DEEPLY FEEL THOSE SAME INTENSE AND GROWING FEELINGS NOW! So I know you know what I mean.

    How ironic ,I wonder WHEN the sollar will finally be worth nothing?I wonder when it will take a days wages for a loaf of bread like the word of GOD describes in revelations? I know some will think I am crazy. Fine. We will all see. Thank you Lady Amber.Live, love, learn and stay alert. Be Amber.. Avoid control~

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  4. Maybe $15.00 an hour is unrealistic, but the minimum wage does need to be raised.

    Amber, back when you and I were kids, the vast majority of McJobs were held by high-schoolers. That also applied to part-time jobs at super-markets and morning paper routes. I held such jobs in high school and they were abundant.

    But those were the good ol' days! Many of those jobs are now held by primary wage-earners. The burger-flipping 24-year-old with one kid --- maybe two --- didn't craft our nation's public policies, many of which have given them grief.

    Overall, families are much smaller than they used to be. The Duggar Family with their 19 kids is an aberration. (Incidentally, the Duggars endorsed Ken Cuccinelli for Guv in Virginia).

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    1. I stand by what I wrote, as I am a frequent McDonald's customer, observe the employees and engage with them, here in my village as well as elsewhere, have been for decades. As to the example you gave, I covered that too--if you can barely support just yourself, why would you have a family at that stage?--Just because you want one, just because others have one? I don't think that is morally or practically correct, not realistic, not responsible. There are still far too many families having three or more offspring, setting into motion increased, unsuccessful competition, insufficient educational settings and opportunities, etc. You quoted the Duggars, to me, an abomination, and an exaggeration (by you). Back to the burger flipper--he or she should be sure to engage in the community, politically and otherwise--so as to have some influence on what ends up being policy affecting them and everyone else.

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    2. ...but I admire your sympathetic sensitivities, which won't steer you far wrong, and haven't, obviously, so far.

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  5. Dan. Back in the sixties when my sisters and brother were kids it was still as you describe. I also feel life was simpler and people could make ends meet. People were more civil. REMEMBER JOB and other types of security. ALL gone now.less than twenty grand was the price of a nice home in the close knit nicer Chicago neighborhoods then. That is a small condo down payment now. Or a fore closed price on a BADLY damaged by the former owners home or condo now.

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    1. I recall those days too, Lester. The tenor of the times was different: slower-paced, with more of a sense of community.

      The Social Contract was still respected.

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  6. In regard to "what oughta be", I don't disagree with your statements. Some families are waiting longer before they start having kids, but unfortunately far too many are not.

    There may not be one easy panacea, but it does seem to me that a strong network of social services can be helpful. Yet such vital agencies continue to be defunded: by the states because many are in dire financial straits, and by Congress because it's chock full of ideologues who simply hate government and are doing their utmost to cripple it.

    Once these folks are in a family way, they're trapped. Some have help from extended families, but many are on their own.

    By the way, how did I exaggerate in regard to the Duggars? I'm puzzled. My understanding is that they really do have 19 kids and are unrelentingly proud of it, too.

    All that said, I do appreciate your compliment. I believe that we're both heartfelt in our beliefs and doing the best we can to express them.

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    1. An extreme example= an exaggeration, in my view, but yes, you were correct. The Duggars disgust me: all they can see is what they want, never mind the harsh reality of ever-tighter competition for jobs, good schools, affordable housing, etc., specifically due to too many of us. Technology has only a limited efficacy over time to save us; proper practice is our true salvation...and now China is relaxing its one child policy.--Brother! How stupid IS Homo Sapiens, anyway? I'm calling us Homo Fecundis, as the sapient part is, I feel, highly undeserved.

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    2. The basic problem is simple: strangers do not matter to many of us, especially those run up to riches types, like the Koch Bros.and their Tea Party acolytes. We humans on this Earth are still "of the tribe", and it shows, to all our detriment.

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