Minimum Wage Increase

[Nyoibo]

One of the problems of a capitalist society is that it's set up so that to make money, you need money in the first place, my mother had a well paying job, around $60k+ a year, but the combination of a mortgage and, bills and every day expenses meant she was going backwards if anything unexpected happened, when she finally got her inheritance and got rid of them she now has opportunities to make what could be basically termed as "shitloads" of money, the only reason she has those opportunities is from having around $500k+ in equity and liquid assets

[Gravekeeper]

Capitalism is fine, corporatism not so much.

[Racket_Man]

Originally Posted by Fuzzykitten99
Instead of wasting time and energy complaining about them, why not spend more energy getting yourself to their income level, if that is what you really want?

Because not everyone can become rich through hard work. It just doesn't happen. I busted my ass at my minimum wage job for 6 years, and when I finally left, I was still making less than $8 an hour. I could barely afford food and gas, let alone bills. This wasn't a company that "couldn't afford" to pay me more, either. It's a HUGE company that is known world-wide, and one way they keep their profits is by paying their employees the absolute barest minimum they can by law.

I'm sorry your business isn't doing well. Many small businesses don't. It takes a lot of work and money to get a business to the point where it turns a profit, and many businesses just can't sustain themselves long enough to do that. If you can't afford employees, then you can't afford employees. For the businesses that can (like Wal-Mart, Disney, etc), they CAN afford to give their employees decent wages and healthcare - they just don't want to because it will cut into their profits.

and I DID do EXACTLY what FuzzyKitten suggested. back in the day I DID obtain not one but TWO degrees so I could "move up". BUt you know what????? Yes I DID INDEED make more money (sometimes not all that much more) BUT I got 6 months of 6 and 7 day weeks, I got stress out the ass, I had to get involved in the stuipid and illogical office polictics and manuvering, I got laid off for no real good reason, I got to be that "throw away employee" that we all know about and I did NOT like it.

I actually like doing what I am doing now for a LOT less pay and prestige. YES I am a lowly pizza delivery driver, BUT I can make enough money after all expenses (sometimes sometimes not) to actually do things. YES it would be nice if the company quit lying to itself and actually CARE about it employees AND equidabily compensate them for their services.

[Seifer]

and I DID do EXACTLY what FuzzyKitten suggested. back in the day I DID obtain not one but TWO degrees so I could "move up". BUt you know what????? Yes I DID INDEED make more money (sometimes not all that much more) BUT I got 6 months of 6 and 7 day weeks, I got stress out the ass, I had to get involved in the stuipid and illogical office polictics and manuvering, I got laid off for no real good reason, I got to be that "throw away employee" that we all know about and I did NOT like it.

Oh, you mean you didn't become the CEO of a company through hard work and dedication? Imagine that.

[mikoyan29]

Oh, you mean you didn't become the CEO of a company through hard work and dedication? Imagine that.

I'm sure that can happen in the right companies but it seems like too many companies these days prefer to go outside and hire the latest hotness than promote from within. I'm sure it happens but the last company I remember to have CEO that rose through the ranks was Ford. i think it was the guy before Bill Ford Jr. and he started as an engineer at Ford England and worked his way up.

But as Gravekeeper said before...yes the economy has grown in the past 30 years but most of that went to the people at the top.

[Seifer]

I'm sure that can happen in the right companies but it seems like too many companies these days prefer to go outside and hire the latest hotness than promote from within.

I'm sure it can too, it's just insanely rare. It's like someone working their way up from being homeless to being a senator. It's extremely difficult to start from point A and get to point B without luck, money, or both. You can be the best worker in a company, but that doesn't mean you'll be rewarded for it.

This idea that people making minimum wage "just aren't working hard enough" is irritating. Someone working minimum wage at McDonald's, busting their ass for 10 hours straight, works a lot harder than a CEO who plays golf 3 days a week and sits at a desk passing off his/her work to other people. Just look at some of those bank CEOs who were politely asked to leave and given upwards of 5 million dollars for their trouble.

I'd sure love to run a company into the ground and then be given a kiss on the cheek and a friendly wave good-bye.