Comments on: Why not a $100 minimum wage?

By: Eric S. Harris

Eric S. Harris — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 13:54:15 +0000

Hondo: Importing people into the United States became illegal in 1808, as soon as such a ban was permitted by the U.S. Constitution. Either you don’t know what “importing” means, or your thinking is very sloppy, or your ability to express what you have thought is very very bad.

Regardless of the reason for your misstatement, it puts the rest of what you wrote in doubt. How badly you screwed up the rest of your post I don’t know, as I quit reading once it became clear you had nothing worth reading in it. That took one sentence.

Yes, I am being harsh. It appears you need to be told in no uncertain terms you’ve got a lot of work to do.

I hope you find someone who can help you with that work, someone with more patience than me. Good luck.

By: Aubrey

Aubrey — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 06:40:08 +0000

^^^^^^ That. Just like the original inventor of monopoly explained to his children. Rent is too high and wages too low. There doesn’t seem to be a sensible middle ground between plain rent and full equity anywhere I can find. The principals of basic human decency which were in practice and the legitimate opposition to most unions and a minimum wage efforts are eroded today. Whatever you can convince someone to do for you, irregardless of whether their family will be okay, irregardless of whether you’ve got a marriageable proposal is considered morally justified by the majority of the powers that be. It’s a part of the professional lexicon and it isn’t earnestly working out for too many. In some cases, it’s that wages are too low. Non-productive “tasking” is abound without real growth. On the other hand, some professions have become slushy and lush where they ought not so be. Real estate agents are a prime example of adding perceived value and extracting maximum currency from contracts for things that haven’t actually been increased or have conversely, in some clearly sensible cases, actually depreciated. Labor in America does not starve because the various taxes are too high. They starve a. because there is no food. (Great depression, WWII rationing) b. because there aren’t jobs (great depression/recent financial debacle). Capitalists may say the same of capital. Businesses don’t starve because there aren’t services to provide and things to produce. They “starve” because they can’t find new markets for working models (saturation), or because innovators on a cashflow (rent) basis, are unable to build capital to grow new ideas into free markets.

By: SkippingDog

SkippingDog — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:39:14 +0000

In the United States, the federal minimum wage was specifically targeted at ensuring the working poor a wage level above minimum poverty assistance programs then available in the 1930’s. It was also designed to drive low tech, sweatshop factories out of business, particularly in the South where such operations made the modern factory conditions of China, Cambodia, and Indonesia look like a NASA laboratory.

Opponents of the minimum wage are always going to cite the low wages paid in other countries as economic competition we should somehow participate in here. The problem with that approach is that third-world scale wages won’t feed or house a person, much less a family, in this country. If you really believe the best social program is a job, that approach only works if the jobs available pay wages that will feed and house their workers. The minimum wage moves us in that direction, even if it is an imperfect tool.

By: doug

doug — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:14:12 +0000

personal drive to move up comes from within a person.
you cannot give it someone expecting them to thrive and be successful.
you cannot buy it. granted you may get inspired and motivated, but you still have to follow through with your goal.
just like how some homeless people choose to be homeless, yet San Fran is now going to be offering them free cell phones.

the road to hell is paved with the best intentions.

By: us citizen

us citizen — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:40:50 +0000

If you raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to whatever……..then you have to raise the $10 an hr person, the $20 hr per person all the way up the line…..otherwise this knocks everyone else down to a lower level pay scale. Which is not right because they have earned their way up the ladder. This then adds to the cost of the service or product for everyone……so exactly how does this benefit anyone! There are meant to be jobs that are for entrance level and for part timers. If you havent moved on after a while, then it is your problem, not the employers.

By: Hondo

Hondo — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:10:35 +0000

Why is Obama importing millions of legal and illegal dirt poor 3rd world refugees to take the jobs of young black men. Fast food jobs were a starting point for many in my generation. McDonalds, Burger King, ect, were a starting, short time job for so many young people in Amerika. Now at Burger King you see middle aged Mexicans Ladies who rarely speak english,( bless their hearts for at least working) working there for decades. They refuse to learn english and are perfectly happy to stay at their position for years. I know, I’ve worked with them.
At Home Depot I pushed shopping carts as my first job there with several Mexicans who were hard working family men. Great guys. I went to cashier collage and moved up the ladder and into an inside cashier job where my high school spanish was greatly needed. I have since moved on to another career but, 10 years later, when I go to the same Home Depot, I see the same guys pushing shopping carts outside in the 100 degree summer weather. God knows, they are hard workers, but if they tried just a little to master english, they could get inside, better paying jobs. I don’t know why they won’t learn english. They aren’t lazy.
But they are taking good paying jobs from young black men who need a first job. Jobs that were meant to be short term, entry level jobs for young people, are being held down for a decade or more by aliens. That is where Chicago comes in. I think that is part of the crime problem. There are no jobs for young americans anymore. We are importing people to take our youth’s jobs.
Hondo….