I've been keeping up with some of the stories and remarks about fast food employees', some of the most underpaid and politically neglected workers in America, demands for a rise in the minimum wage.

The strongest argument I can think of against the raise is the argument for inflation. If people are paid more, products are relatively cheap to buy and become more in demand. As demands increase then the supply decreases and the price goes up on certain products (probably not all of them). Therefore, we have stagnation in wages all over again.

I think, fundamentally, that America's willful abuse of low-wage earners could be resolved with price fixing certain commodities for a fixed period, allow for certain service sector wages to rise in the meantime. Sure, it's socialist economics, but investment banks have been manipulating prices for years, creating income inequality. Besides, this might guarantee some solvency in the markets.

The seeming ambition of low-wage earners to increase the minimum wage is not enough. There are needs for regulatory reforms to be put in place that far exceed the policy reforms in place by Dodd-Frank. Our politicians should be reprimanded for not pushing through regulatory reforms that place caps on corporate raises if workers are not being compensated appropriately for the profits they've made in the company. I do have a belief in honest profit-sharing initiatives that will do better when coupled with a rise in the minimum wage, thus, answering the question about an inevitable rise in inflation.

I have never understood the tipping mentality you guys have... pay low wages to people who bust their arses in service jobs and expect the customer to pick up the slack at their discretion. I dont think it produces good service or good quality overall. That said, I have had some excellent service in the US, but the guys at JAX airport who expected a tip for putting my bag on a conveyer belt after putting a sticker on it was proof to me that the tipping culture does not produce the best results.

We have a fairly high minimum wage in this country, tipping is not expected, and productivity and quality are as high or higher than most other places I have visited. We also have quite strong industrial relations laws and strong social welfare safety nets. We also have a lower overall tax burden than the US (have had since the early 1990's). From my point of view, it's a no brainer.

I agree with you on the tipping, only when actually deserved. Some places add a commiseration fee right onto your bill as a percentage. Fuck that.

The deal with most wage earners is that they work their asses off all day long and get little to show for it. Enough to pay the bills if you're lucky and kiss enough ass but with nothing left over.

Obviously they would want their wages raised because they don't have the luxury of caring about the bigger picture, they just don't have time to worry about it.



 

The US & state governments have pursued an agenda of union busting and demonizing for decades, undercutting all labor with "free trade" agreements, all while leaving the minimum wage static.  It's been a long term devaluation of labor.

Simply greater confirmation that the the US and State governments are not OUR representatives but instead are the lackeys of global corporations.

Local RTD is in the process of hiring up to 200 people, The max wage is $10 ph. I may look into it.

I currently make $50 ph but only sporadically. Be nice to have a real job to attend each day for a change. 

Jon Stewart Hammers Fox's Stuart Varney: You Want to Lecture the Pope on Helping the Poor?!

Have you heard about Walmart setting up donation bins so that some of their workers and the public could contribute food stuffs for their own (Walmart) employees? Not for the unemployed public, but so that their own employees could afford to eat!


Yea I have a full time job, I work at Walmart  ... please feed me.

I know; I thought that was fucked up too ...

For comparison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_country

The US's normalized number (%GDP per capita) is low overall, on par with Vietnam and Bulgaria.

Would be interesting to see a number including state benefits like subsidized/socialized healthcare, for instance and with other normalizations.

I've been slinging food. That is to say, I work for a company that is contracted with a dozen or so local restaurants to deliver food ordered via the Internet. I make four dollars per delivery and tips if any. I know we've had this conversation before about tipping and I know are Australian friend doesn't believe in it. I can tell you that he's not the only Australian that feels that way. I deliver twice a week to the laziest Australian family I've ever met and they don't tip me shit. The other day I drove 16 miles one way to deliver close to $200 worth of food and I got as a tip the coinage and a "God bless you brother".

Fuck you, fuck your God, and fuck your $.83. At the end of the day when you factor in wear and tear on the vehicle insurance gas time I'm losing money. But in consideration that I drive a 20 year old vehicle that still gets 30 miles per gallon I managed to make enough money to go to Baltimore to spend Christmas with my children. And I'm saving the addresses in case I need to burn down some houses.

Excuse the spelling and grammar, I'm posting on an iPhone via voice.

The kids sound like a lively bunch?
I've worked at a few jobs where it actually cost me money, but at least it gets you out of the house.

To clarify my position on tipping, in this country, wages are pretty decent so unless I get blown, I don't tip. It is not required to tip in Australia, but is increasingly expected. I want superlative service for my tip.

However, when I'm in the US, as it is expected because service wages are shit, I usually tip about 15%. That said, if wages for service jobs were increased (with commensurate productivity gains), tipping would not be needed. I felt that a lot of times I was giving people extra money for simply doing their job, and usually the service was pretty fucking average. No incentive to provide excellent service, because the pay is shit, and you may or more than likely may not receive a tip. The myth perpetrated by large corporates in service industries that labour should be virtually free to them has been swallowed hook, line and sinker by the general US population, and labour itself has been devalued to the point that blue collar workers are regarded as almost evil.

We have a motto down here "A fair day's pay for a fair day's work", and that is deeply buried in the national psyche, but we are increasingly and slavishly following the employment trends that are prevalent in the US. It wont be pretty if we get to where you guys are.

I want at least 20% or I ain't rubbing curry on your nuts no more. Cheap fuck.

You know it! And you told me it was honey, not curry. I liked the burn and all, but that kind of misrepresentation means only 10% next time.

.... "just the tip!"
Bahahahahaha!!!!

I actually don't believe in tipping Unless your service was exemplary.
The idea that tipping is required makes no sense.

... I don't if they suck

But shouldn't you pay for the extra service if they suck?

... I'm in the industry; I wouldn't expect people to pay me to suck at my job

Unless you're on your knees....

I actually don't believe in tipping Unless your service was exemplary.
The idea that tipping is required makes no sense.

This is my point, if you get a wage, and you do exactly what you are paid for, why the fuck would I give you more money for doing what you are paid to do? If that wage isnt enough to cover basic living expenses (and I dont mean 60" flat screen TV's or the new Xbox), then there's a structural problem with the system. Increasing the wage of a job will increase prestige of the job, which will increase the quality of the job done (in most cases, there are those who think that having such a job is an entitlement, and so dont care about the quality of their output. Funnily, these people are found out easily enough).

Tipping for basic or mediocre service in the US appears to me to be so ingrained that it expected, even for the most basic service provided. This is not good for anyone.

There is a structural problem with the system.

Herman Cain, when he was president of the National a Restaurant Association, the other powerful NRA lobby, agreed to the last raise in the minimum wage, as long as the wage for servers, bartenders and other tipped workers STAYED AT $2.13 INDEFINITELY. TWO DOLLARS AND THIRTEEN FUCKING CENTS.

Thus assuring slave labor is alive and well in the US. So these people rely on their good service and your generosity. I make $4 per delivery plus tips, but often that equates to $4 for a four hour shift. Glad that I don't work any deeper in the food service industry and that motherfucker was not and never will be president of my country.

Hahahaha I just got back from Food 4 Less, for some reason they don't accept credit cards but do accept Debit cards. Well this was a new checker I haven't seen before (most of the people at the local stores know me because I shop almost daily) Anyway, She told me my total and I asked her in a serious way if they accepted Bitcoin, SHE SAID YES! LOL

I got some weird looks from the others in line.

This Bitcoin situation sounds bizarre to me but to be honest yesterday was the first time in a couple years that I actually used cash for anything. I got $10 cash back on a purchase to use for dos burritos, pollo calienty at the local Taco truck.

The question isn't, "are minimum wage jobs worth twice what they're paid now?", it's "How has inflation already affected the minimum wage?"

The US minimum wage was bumped up to $7.25 in 2009.  I don't know if any of you have been shopping since then, but I remember my girlfriend complaining that she could barely keep the food bill below $100 per week back then.  Now she struggles to keep the shopping below $100 PER TRIP.  We're not eating or using any more now than we were then.  Also, since she works at WalMart, she shops there and she brings home groceries something like 4-5 times a week. THAT is inflation.

Minimum wage was never a comfortable living, but it's becoming more and more like a technicality to say people aren't slaves because they're being paid.  I don't think that counts when minimum wage workers only see 78% of their wages after taxes and many have to pay rent, heat, water and electricity out of their sub-40 hr work weeks.

Looking at the math (I'll post it on request), I'll say inflation has outpaced the minimum wage, not the other way around.  These workers are worth being paid and they just aren't anymore.  Many people work 2 and 3 min wage jobs just to have an apartment to sleep in between work shifts.  They have no free time and certainly no time to "get an education" for a better job.  Work, sleep, work, sleep is NOT life, it's slavery.  Only being paid just enough to pay rent and basic utilities is slavery.  And last I checked, slavery is illegal.

So yes, raise the minimum wage to $15/hr.  Not because the workers are worth twice as much, but because our money is worth half as much.

I think I like this guy.

Fuck yeah!

I think I do too ...