Jeff Stahler for February 07, 2021

All Federal elected politicians should only be paid the federal minimum wage and no benefits.

Republicans have refused to allow the federal minimum wage to rise for 12 years.

When nobody’s watching they’ll approve an increase for their own pay.

A minimal minimum wage just costs the taxpayers even more. Places like Walmart and McDonalds actively assist their employees in applying for any government program available to low-income persons and their families: SNAP, energy assistance, subsidized housing, Medicaid, etc. These companies save (or is that earn?) billions in revenue while the government keeps paying out. And the Republicans continue slash funding for these programs. Their “ tough luck, pal” attitude is what is killing this country with the elitist attitude that government is meant to support the wealthy and not all of its citizens.

Put a tax on Wall Street.

When I was working in 1965, the minim wage was $1.25. Since then, the cost of things have gone up about 15 times. Therefore minimum wage should be $18.75 an hour.

I could buy a gallon of gas for 20 cents. So I would have to work for about 3 hours and 12 minutes to fill up a 20 gallon tank.

Today 20 gallons of gas costs $45 and at the Federal Rate of $7.25 I would have to work 5 hours and 31 minutes.

Please not that since gasoline is not $3.00 per gallon that this is a very conservative computation.

If we were to use a gallon of gasoline as the standard then the minimum wage should be $14.00 an hour.

I remember seeing a cartoon when I was in grade school back in the 1950s. It addressed the issue of economic disparity in the third world.

It showed a high topped, sombrero with a crowd of people around the rim and one or two people sitting on the crown.

This is what America is becoming today. Every time Congress (and in particular the GOP) passes a tax cut for “the American Worker” it’s usually temporary and enriches the wealthy even more.

We have become a nation of anti-Robin Hoods, We steal from the poor and give to the rich.

Banana Republics usually don’t have stable governments. Is this our ambition for America? Which is more important: saving 5 cents on a Big Mac or supporting a growing population of people living in poverty? I know the GOP answer to this one.

Plato suggested that public officials not be allowed to own personal property, money, or anything of value. All their basic needs would be paid for by the state and no more. That way, the only people who would go into public office would be those dedicated to the good of the polis.

Getting really tired of subsidizing the low wages of employers with my tax dollars. Pay a living wage, so I don’t have to pay for food, housing, and healthcare of your employees!

Then all we will have is millionaires in the House and Senate. Ooops all we have us millionaires.

bribes for votes is capitalism and politics a it’s best./s

All the above provides an fairly accurate outline of the current state of the country. Unfortunately it also is a review of the state of the country for the last 70 plus years. Wish it weren’t so, but it is. Don’t know what it would take to change it.

Say an intelligent, thoughtful person decides to run for office and gets on the slate. Takes so much money to run for office, then more to maintain oneself while there, I think it must overwhelm any average person. Then there is the sniping, the carping, the outright attacks on one’s character, family history, etc, both during and after a successful run.

That same intelligent, thoughtful person probably might determine that the little good that one person could do would be so easily steam-rollered by vested interests and venal legislators that there is no way one could survive with one’s honor and sense of worth intact. Those qualities are the traits one can call one’s own and are worth preserving. It’s a hard choice.

Congress:“WHUUT?”

There are Repubs now saying that they could agree to a higher minimum wage but “not during a pandemic”. Sounds like their typical excuse for not talking about gun control after yet another school shooting.

Raising the minimum wage during the pandemic puts more money in the pockets of people that will actually SPEND that money.

makes you wonder are you jealous or did you rethink not becoming a politician

That’s the thing, when it was first argued minimum wage should be $15 an hour, that has gone far enough into the past where now $20 would be more appropriate. Funny that. Those of us making more than that, many of us are making at least $20 less an hour than we should be. But common, how many yachts for CEO’s is really enough? Want to do something that improves more than the stock market, pay the people who actually drive the economy by buying things.

Oddly, some employers think that exploiting their workers creates high productivity and loyalty…

Many economists point to the minimum wage peak in 1968, which was $1.60, or $11.90 in today’s money. Not a few score miles south of here are Maquiladora factories manufacturing goods for import into the U.S. and employing workers making an average of 70 pesos per day – which is about $8.50, or a dollar and a dime an hour.

Obviously, it’s kinda hard to compete with that kind of thing, here in the states. It’s a different world, so near and yet so far away. The valuda of currency is one thing, the intrinsic worth of labor to our social and economic stability something else. We can play with numbers and debate endlessly and do nothing, or look for and execute solutions that are equitable while protecting our labor force.

IMO, when a raise in minimum wage is enacted, it should be done in phases, with the ability of individual states to make adjustments for local conditions.

I think  that Stahler’s making a joke about minimum vs  minimal … but if that was his intention, I don’t get it.

…

Unless maybe it’s a comment about the current state of the rules about wages being in flux, in which case he’s overstating the case: An executive order cannot change minimum wages except for federal workers, most of whom already make much more than any proposed minimum; and even if he gets a bill through congress, it won’t have much effect until after the courts are through with it…

I actually have seen job postings explicitly state they are paying minimum wage. Unless there are offsetting chances for tips, bonuses, profit-sharing, or exceptional perks, those are not considered to be “living” wages without some form of subsidy. Subsidies such as living with parents, local aid, food stamps, welfare, etc., in which case other people are shouldering the difference.

Conservatives decry “socialism”, but if people are forced to work without sufficient compensations for their services, how else do they survive?

Or is the whole “conservative” idea to work them like rental mules until their health deteriorates or skills become obsolete, and then kick them to the curb for “someone else” to take care of? i.e., “Disposable Labor”?

My friend complained that unions were ruining the country, that union workers were paid too much. He couldn’t grasp that maybe non-union workers might be paid too little.

Minimal Wage.

Take the Minimum Wage and divide the country.