[nedro]

Originally Posted by analogbear

I think you missed my point...Just to pay for rent (not food, clothes, commuting, entertainment, beer, travel, consumer electronics, credit accounts, etc), someone has to make $22.00 per hour AFTER TAXES (or a trust-fund/family support)...That shuts out anyone but the wealthy, tradesmen or professionals...No mere wage-earners (retail, stockpersons, cashiers, etc) are making that kind of money...My situation is a bit different, as I own my apartment, but even buying has been priced out of reach for most people...The average apt sale price in Manhattan is now $2.4 Million. Nuts.

No, nobody missed the point.
Instead of arguing for your money, you can go work for it. And nobody is telling you that you have to live in a shitty $3500.00 studio. That would be your choice. And I know it's not you living there. So, how much are the diggs you live in?

[analogbear]

Originally Posted by nedro

No, nobody missed the point.
Instead of arguing for your money, you can go work for it. And nobody is telling you that you have to live in a shitty $3500.00 studio. That would be your choice. And I know it's not you living there. So, how much are the diggs you live in?

WTF does that mean? I work very hard for my money...


As you are not everybody, chill out with the blanket statements...I pay $500 per month for a 2-bedroom, but I own it, with no mortgage. It is now up to around $400K in value.

[ffmedicgerbs]

i have to agree with all that said minimum wage is for people who are pretty much losers (no offence)
im 18, just turned 18 in june and since october i have been working in a bank

i go to college, live at home (for now) but i make more than my sister, mom and uncle, hourly not total pay, .. they work more hours than me.

it really matters on how u apply urself

senate realizes this and the dont want to reward the lazy ****s who dont do n e thing and want the easy way out

thats just my

[Bigdaddy75]

So what was the outcome? What is the minimum wage now in the US?

[TroubledWine]

The last increase on July 24, 2007 was the first of three steps of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. It was signed into law on May 25, 2007 as a rider to the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007. The act will raise the federal minimum wage twice more: to $6.55 per hour on July 24, 2008, and to $7.25 per hour on July 24, 2009. The bill also contains almost $5 billion in tax cuts for small businesses.

[ondablade]

Disappointing to see post after post informed by (mostly right wing) ideology rather than practicalities or heaven forbid care for their fellow man.

If you're poor you're sh1t. This is presumably some kind of relic of the Victorian value system that reckoned that if you were poor or disadvantaged that it was God's will - that you must have done something to deserve it.

In practice of course it was a societal value system defined by those with money and privilege hell bent on hanging on to it by keeping society stable and the scruffs where they belonged. As a member of the club you were required to play by the rules.

A play still used by that same group. But now accepted to the point that even the younger generation starts to ape the attitudes in hope of membership.

Fact is that if you are unlucky enough to find yourself at the bottom of the pile it's damn hard to get out of there - no matter what your capability and potential. You'll get a minimum wage job all right, but that's another story.

Most employers are blind, and most of those that aren't are on the make. You won't get a decent job if your CV profile judged by some simplistic tick the box view does not fit, because fewer and fewer these days can connect well enough with people to follow a gut feeling.

Many won't notice if you bust a gut. Those that do will pocket the value, but usually give nothing back. Those that do a genuinely good job so often attract hostility from fellow workers and will be squeezed out for not being 'team players' or something by a management that would rather do this than rock the boat.

Fact is the US economy is heading for trouble - the old game of avoiding the issue by propping up consumer spending through borrowing enabled by ever lower interest rates is reaching the end of the road.

People are not very productive, but demand everything as of right. Many are acting selfishly, even those that think they are not. Most have got so fat, lazy, deluded and insulated from reality that they can't can't even conceive of facing it and acting accordingly.

Those in power take repeatedly short term unwise actions to prop up their interest, and avoid biting the bullet. Those in jobs are likewise doing their best to screw the man while doing the minimum they can get away with and talking a good show.

Those without jobs who happen to be on the wrong side of the tracks don't in this melee get a look in.

Almost none would wear a leader who actually spoke anything like what needs to be said - we're so screwed up we'll only hear what we want to hear. So we don't get leaders, never mind capable ones.

It's reasonable that all should receive a reasonable minimum wage, but the debate on it is fuelled almost wholly by the above - dressed up in high rhetoric to make it sound half decent. But it's not.

This is why civilisations rise and fall. They rise off work, right circumstances, decent values and the commitment that results from all concerned feeling there's something in it for them. They fall with the vested interests fighting over the remains of the carcase and the entrails.

This is not a plea for any ideology or -ism - that includes leftism, rightism, fundamentalism, religion or anything else. None can compensate for a basically wrong orientation.

It's just a plea that we seek to bring some basic compassion and wisdom into life. That we stop mindlessly spouting the crap we've been fed (even arguing over it), and start genuinely thinking and more importantly acting from the heart based on realities.

How would I act feel or act in that situation? What would it take to help me feel I was being fairly treated? What's a reasonable slice of the pie for me to take given that it's made by the work of others? What's a reasonable contribution by others? What happens if they can't or won't play fair?

Maybe start to see things as they really are and not as our vested interest demands......

[FantasyGod]

Originally Posted by ffmedicgerbs

i have to agree with all that said minimum wage is for people who are pretty much losers (no offence)
im 18, just turned 18 in june and since october i have been working in a bank

i go to college, live at home (for now) but i make more than my sister, mom and uncle, hourly not total pay, .. they work more hours than me.

it really matters on how u apply urself

senate realizes this and the dont want to reward the lazy ****s who dont do n e thing and want the easy way out

thats just my

Why in the hell did you bring back from the dead a thread from 2 years ago? This topic has been swallowed, regurgitated and thoroughly digested.

[slickwill]

Originally Posted by FantasyGod

Why in the hell did you bring back from the dead a thread from 2 years ago?

Wow, chill. The last post was only 8 months before his. You just ressurected this from over a month ago. He's entitled to add his opinion on the matter. At least he didn't start a new thread for it. It's better than the 16 threads we have on the '08.