I am going to try to keep my thoughts on this organized, as there are many facets to the problem. The first problem is that minimum wage does not discriminate between teenagers who are looking to bring in a little income to cover expenses and give them freedom, and the adults who are trying to take care of their family. For the sake of arguments, I am going to IGNORE the teens who do not need to make a living wage. For teens who are simply going to school and wanting some extra money, I think that the $7/hr is sufficient. In fact, I really don't even hear them the ones vocalizing anyway. So, from this point forward ... I am simply talking about the individuals who are needing to support their family.
My Stance
My stance on the fight is that minimum wage should EQUAL living wage. Regardless of where you live. The most vocal of the fights that I am seeing online take place in New York. New York has a much higher cost of living than where I live in Kansas. I think the living wage should be higher. When you pay people a living wage, you will immediately reduce the number of people who have to turn to the government for cash assistance, food stamps, and so forth. This is another fight that I hear many people complain about. I also believe that people who work in a skilled position (requiring higher degrees) should be paid more than $15/hr. When you are looking at skilled jobs, you need to not only be able to live, but you need to make enough to pay off the debt you accrued by getting the skills necessary. I am personally SICK of corporate greed and companies who do not value their employees. Most of the companies that are fighting this are making BILLIONS at the expense of their employees.
Argument #1 - People Need to "Better" Themselves
I hate this statement. Really, truly, HATE it. This stance puts you in a position where you are talking down to others. You have absolutely NO idea what they have been through or why they are doing the work they are. Secondly, you are going under the assumption that they do not like their job to start with. I personally believe in the stance of "someone's got to do it." People want to eat out ... someone's got to flip the burgers and act as supervisor. People need janitors ... someone's got to do it. Those people aren't any less than you are!
The other assumption you are making is that they are not skilled. The economy began to fail in 2008. The corporations failed to run their businesses in a manner that could sustain them and began to go belly up ... and fast. People lost jobs ... SKILLED people lost jobs. You know what happens when you are out of the workforce for a while? You have a heck of a time getting back IN to the workforce. People don't want to hire you because you are OVER qualified and others don't want to hire you because you have been out for too long.
It is also being shown that going to college is not benefiting people the way it is expected to. People cannot find jobs when they get out of college ... even in high demand areas. My husband is extremely lucky to have gotten a job when he did!
Argument #2: Don't have kids if you can't afford them
Another ignorant statement that I severely dislike. I hear this ... a LOT. Guess what people, there are 2 HUGE complications with this statement!
- People may have had the children when they COULD afford them and then lost their jobs.
- You cannot regulate sex or removal of the uterus. These are the only 2 ways to guarantee no babies.
"I think something we need to remember is that we ALL receive government assistance, it just isn't criticized and critiqued like welfare because it isn't as obvious and out there. Using myself as an example, as a person who is considered middle class/ upper middle class I receive child tax credits, free speech for my daughter through the school system (a value of about $360/month), Parents As Teachers for my toddler, public schooling for my kindergartener, I take advantage of local child development checks, a playroom and item checkout, public library, shall I go on? Yet I'm certain no one is critiquing how I spend the tax credits or making sure that, since I don't pay for my daughters speech, I am not using any of that $360 a month that I'm saving toward entertainment, alcohol, etc. And heck, I am a stay at home mom! If I was working we could afford private speech therapy, yet not once has anyone suggested that I stop "abusing the system" and get a job to pay for private speech therapy rather than using the free, high quality services provided for me.
The fact is that the abuse you see is only because you are looking for it and because abuse stands out. You don't note the mom who goes through the checkout with fruit and milk and pays with SNAP, but you are going to catalog every single bag of chips purchased. The research and statistics are clear- welfare is largely used legally. If you truly believe the majority is abusive of it then you have been lied to."
Argument #3: $15/hr is so much more than I made flipping burgers
I'm sorry ... should we pay you the same amount that your parents were paid? How about your grandparents? Really, this is such a stupid argument. You paid less than $1/gallon for gasoline. You also paid less than $2 for a gallon of milk. I am not following your logic at all!
Let's break down the $15/hr so that you can see what people would be paid. Let's assume that the people who are wanting a raise increase are working full-time and trying to support their families. Let's assume they are working the only job they can due to circumstances.
$15/hr x 40/hrs/wk = $600/wk
$600/wk x 52/wks/yr = $31,200
Yup ... that's living the high life right there. $31,200 GROSS ... that isn't take home! Now, here in Kansas, I could see the wages being $13/hr because that would be roughly $27,000/yr. Is it too much to ask to be able to cover your bills and living expenses? Even if you take kids out of the equation, $15,000/yr is not going to be enough to survive.
So, sorry this is a long post ... I try to keep my posts much shorter but this is such a hard fight. I think it will be one that is going to take a process of a few years to get better. In the beginning, I couldn't understand and that was such a jump in my mind. It wasn't until I took a step back and really broke it down that it made sense. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Feel free to jump on my Facebook post about the minimum wage AND Brownback's welfare cuts. All I ask is to keep your language clean!
I am in total agreement with so many of your sentiments, especially the ones that pertain to those who were at least 'somewhat' well off, and in a position to afford kids, before the economy went to Hell in a hand basket. And on the fact that we all do benefit from government services in some way or another, though I would have used 'driving on roads' as the example, and I would have also pointed out that none of this was 'free' as it was all paid for by ALL of our tax dollars. For even those living in poverty do in fact pay taxes. They pay sales tax on items they buy in stores. They pay vehicle registration taxes. And lest we forget that many of the people left in financial ruin paid a lot more in to the tax system BEFORE the economic disaster of 2008, and certainly did not get any 'equitable ROI' on that investment of their tax dollars, despite the 'notion' that people should have an 'equitable tax burden.'
ReplyDeleteAll that said, there is much more to be considered than merely the raising of the minimum wage.
For one thing it is not McDonald's 'fault' that the economy left so many people 'jobless.' Why should McDonald's have to bear the burden of paying the price for the mistakes that Wall Street made?
We haven't even begun to consider the effects of raising wages as they pertain to costs of goods and services going up, and number of jobs available going down...
But there is our real problem.
We are far too dependent, yes, I used the word 'dependent,' on 'jobs' to provide for us.
Why do we 'need' so many 'jobs'? Why do we pursue a life of depending on someone else to pay us enough to 'live,' regardless of our life choices, skill set and an economy we can never control...?
Why do we not 'create our own jobs?' Our own income streams?
This is where we need to start focusing.