Minium Wage/ McD's/ Sense of Entitlement

[ilovemk76]

That sort of defeats the purpose of being someone's spouse.

What a blizzare comment.

My spouse are a team. We work as a team. We function fine whenthe other person is not there ever minute of the day. We plan and execute out plan as a team.

 

[CPT Tripss]

I find it fascinating, but unfortunately not surprising, that those most apt to suggest others "pull themselves up by their own bootstraps" are least familiar with the etymology of the term.

Just as it is physically, as in the actual laws of physics, impossible to pull oneself up by one's own bootstraps, so is it impossible for any one person to claim complete self-credit for their success.

There but for the grace of God go I...

And it's even tougher to do if you are barefoot!

 

[lizabu]

Not always true. My Son graduated this past spring and had 3 job offers in his degree, played the 3 against each other for a higher starting pay. He is in a good major. Most of his friends got jobs too right away. And he has no debt, I paid for his school. He is a good Son and it's the least a parent can do and really is a parents duty to educate their children and guide them into the correct fields of study.

Well la-di-dah...and my parents threw me out of the house the day after I turned 18 and told me they had done their part. And I'm not alone. I know a lot of people who had the same exact thing happen to them. I was on my own at the age of 18 and one day, still 3 months away from graduating high school. No money. No home. No job as being a student was supposed to be my job. It was hard but I managed to land on my feet. I probably could have gone further with a little help. Not everyone makes it. I was lucky.

 

[sunshinehighway]

Well la-di-dah...and my parents threw me out of the house the day after I turned 18 and told me they had done their part. And I'm not alone. I know a lot of people who had the same exact thing happen to them. I was on my own at the age of 18 and one day, still 3 months away from graduating high school. No money. No home. No job as being a student was supposed to be my job. It was hard but I managed to land on my feet. I probably could have gone further with a little help. Not everyone makes it. I was lucky.

Yes. I know several young people in the same position (or close to it). It really seems like there are some people that just have no idea everyone doesn't live like them.

 

[manning]

Well la-di-dah...and my parents threw me out of the house the day after I turned 18 and told me they had done their part. And I'm not alone. I know a lot of people who had the same exact thing happen to them. I was on my own at the age of 18 and one day, still 3 months away from graduating high school. No money. No home. No job as being a student was supposed to be my job. It was hard but I managed to land on my feet. I probably could have gone further with a little help. Not everyone makes it. I was lucky.

And more than likely worked at it.

 

[Robbi]

Great post!! Unfortunately we all know that practically everyone on this board is well off, living in a beautiful home, drive expensive cars, and only stay at the deluxe resorts. People ought to feel fortunate that they haven't made bad decisions that will haunt them the rest of their lives. Some people are so quick to judge others less fortunate than them and they have never experienced poverty or close to it. The children who are born into such circumstances are not to blame and someone needs to help them out. Yes some of my tax dollars go to help people less fortunate than myself and family included. I feel fortunate that I am not the kind of person to judge others because of their economic status and try to help others.

Can't speak for anyone else but when I left my husband in the 1970's my son and I lived on $200/month. Rent was $75, utilities and phone were about $60. I went to college on student loans. I saved all month to take my son to the $1 movie night and to have a pizza. We struggled but we made it. My student loans were paid off 2 years after I graduated.
The poverty level at that time was just under $5000. We made it on half of that.

 

[Albort]

These people should go work @ in n out. I think in n out is the only place that pays fast food workers $15 an hour...

they do deserve that $15 an hour... i probably wont last a full 8 hour shift...

 

[kamik86]

For the ones talking about raises it seems around here that percentage wise those making non-living wages get much better raises.

My husband makes a bit over $10 an hour and is one of the highest paid at his retail job (target) for those that aren't managers. His pay is higher because he started at a much busier store that gave better pay and transferred but they didn't drop his pay, then he got a few raises etc. He doesn't want to go management as he would end up with a slightly better job pay wise but would have to work nights (currently works days Sun-Thurs) and have way more responsibility and he doesn't want to bother (yeah not the biggest on ambition, but since we aren't living on his pay its all good)

I work for an engineering company and make a much higher wage. I believe a bit over $30 an hour if I were to assume a 40 hour work week (salaried though so its often more).

Due to this i know many people on both sides of this. My husband's coworkers most of which are on their own or with spouses/significant others in the same retail type jobs. Many of my coworkers have spouses at the same company or similar types of jobs and then there are a few like me with one of each.

Every year my husband gets a bigger raise then me by percentage and sometimes even hourly. Last year he got 50 cents an hour so around 5%. I got 1.5% which was also just about 50 cents an hour.

So raise wise they aren't doing much worse...

As for living wage. I have noticed that most of his coworkers are doing quite fine for themselves IF they don't have children. They can live (sometimes with roommates or a significant others, a few with parents) pay for their cars (bus system sucks around here) and have a few fun things or nights out.

The ones with kids, and where both have retail type jobs, are the ones that struggle alot more and are always broke. They also tend to be the ones that cause the most problems though, they call out more (both when they are sick and when their kid is sick and sometimes when the babysitter is sick) are less flexible (he is sometimes asked to stay 30 min extra to finish a job and sometimes has to do overnight shifts, many of his coworkers can't do these due to having kids they have to pick up or no one to watch them at night).

So in these discussions in addition to posts I have made before about what it would do to the economy to pay what they are asking. I also have the more philosophical question of if you just want jobs to pay a living wage... a living wage for whom.

Jobs definitely shouldn't be mandated to pay a wage based on what a person NEEDS (actually if that were the case those with children would have even more issues as the job would then make it mandatory to do the overnights and other things that those with children have more problems with to weed out those that would require more pay!!)

So how do you define a living wage? $9 an hour is liveable around here easily if you are willing to have a roomate or live with a significant other. So is that a liveable wage or would it have to pay even more?

 

[Jex]

Not directed at you, but society in general, maybe people shouldn't have kids unless they can pay for their college.

I know my wife and I thought about that before we had a kid. For the record I did have student loans, but that was due to me being told time after time that if I was not going to take school serious on my moms dime maybe I would on my own. I did.

And that is all well and good... if you're fortunate enough to be born into a family that can afford a six-figure outlay for education. But for most, a college education does mean loans. Especially for the children of the working class that everyone here expects to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" and "make good choices". The maximum Pell grant is about $5500/year, and state university tuition and fees are triple that (assuming a commuting student). "Financial aid", even for the very poor, is mostly in the form of large loans. And for low income students to whom even $10K is an unimaginable sum of money, those loans often prove a deterrent to higher education.

 

[mom2rtk]

Not directed at you, but society in general, maybe people shouldn't have kids unless they can pay for their college.

I know my wife and I thought about that before we had a kid. For the record I did have student loans, but that was due to me being told time after time that if I was not going to take school serious on my moms dime maybe I would on my own. I did.

So let me get this straight.

I shouldn't have kids if I can't afford to completely foot the bill for a college education.

But we should double the minimum wage to help out the folks who choose to have kids when they can't afford to feed them?

I just want make sure I'm keeping up here.

 

[Jex]

I'm not saying people shouldn't have them, I'm just not sure its fair to the kids.

Don't get me started on the min wage increase, and no I do not agree with it, it affects everyone negatively. So yea they make more, but then everything they need to buy goes up.

 

[Colleen27]

Not directed at you, but society in general, maybe people shouldn't have kids unless they can pay for their college.

I know my wife and I thought about that before we had a kid. For the record I did have student loans, but that was due to me being told time after time that if I was not going to take school serious on my moms dime maybe I would on my own. I did.

Seriously? The average price of college is on pace to exceed the median household income in the near future. You're really comfortable saying that a huge share of the population, probably half or more, shouldn't have children because they can't reasonably save 100K+ for a college education?

So not only do the working class not deserve a wage they can live on, they also don't deserve to have kids because they can't command a higher wage. Do we really have this little compassion and respect for our fellow man in this country?

 

[runsandjumps]

I am jumping into this thread late obviously but I feel for these workers. I have never made minimum wage but I have been offered $14 an hour for a job in which I previously made $25 with 8 years experience. Do I think people who work in fast food should make the same as me, not really. But I also hated the pay and decided school was better. Here's the caveat....

When I was 17 my mother told me to move out because she wanted to be alone with her new husband.

I did move out and worked full time as I had great experience because I had been working since the age of 15. I paid for ally school supplies and clothes since that age. My mother got ss benefits from my deceased father and that paid for our shelter.

I lucked out only in that I could get a decent paying job due to my good choices at a very young age. You know what makes going to college expensive- when you have to include your parents income because they could "potentially" support you.

This is just a piece of my story but can you imagine what my life would have been like if I Had made different choices. If like my friend who had a family pay I full for her university get pregnant at 18 and drop out, should have been in the reverse huh?!

I suppose I am trying to say that life is what you make it and there is more to anyone's story that simply getting a good education. There is tons of luck involved and decisions are made at a very immature age that have lasting impact.

No one is immune to mistakes.

Ana

 

[kamik86]

Seriously? The average price of college is on pace to exceed the median household income in the near future. You're really comfortable saying that a huge share of the population, probably half or more, shouldn't have children because they can't reasonably save 100K+ for a college education?

So not only do the working class not deserve a wage they can live on, they also don't deserve to have kids because they can't command a higher wage. Do we really have this little compassion and respect for our fellow man in this country?

Although I don't think people need to be able to foot the full college education to be able to afford kids I do think being able to afford to reasonably feed them (including having more then minimum wage jobs) is something everyone should think about. And yes I know that many people had children when they had more money and then lost jobs, but you have to admit there are also many that have kids and have never had more a $10 or less an hour job.

As for the college education part I don't really understand why some are so against loans. I have loans. Glad I do because my parents couldnt have afforded my school on my own. However I didn't take out more to "live on" (and by that I mean go out to eat and buy toys and order pizza that wasn't from the dining hall). Didn't take out loans for spring break, didn't take out extra to go backpacking through Europe before starting work, and didn't take out the full amount while NEVER have a job (in high school, during summers, or in college literally NO work history - which is dumb for multiple reasons) - all things I know people that did. If we want to change loans I would think that the things above should not be allowed. School loans should be capped to the schools "full cost of attendance" that includes living expenses.

 

[lustergirl]

Not directed at you, but society in general, maybe people shouldn't have kids unless they can pay for their college.

I know my wife and I thought about that before we had a kid. For the record I did have student loans, but that was due to me being told time after time that if I was not going to take school serious on my moms dime maybe I would on my own. I did.

Sorry but this is one of the most stupidest things I have on these boards and I have been around for quite some time

 

[lustergirl]

I'm not saying people shouldn't have them, I'm just not sure its fair to the kids.

Don't get me started on the min wage increase, and no I do not agree with it, it affects everyone negatively. So yea they make more, but then everything they need to buy goes up.

I didn't pay for my sons' schooling. How is not fair if you don't pay for their education. God forbid they experience real life and see how it really is.

 

[skatalite]

Sorry but this is one of the most stupidest things I have on these boards and I have been around for quite some time

I think that was just Jex's way of saying, "People should rethink getting pregnant if they can't afford the responsibility."

 

[Jex]

Not at all, I may have not explained myself well. College isn't for everyone anyways, sometimes I wish I would have went to trade school. The poster that posted about being able to afford kids was more in line with what I meant.

While things can happen in life I just feel that as a parent it was a diservice to have a kid if we had not planned for their future. If they decide not to go to college so be it. Maybe she will get a scholarship anyways. My point was more unless something drastic happened in your life that made drastic financial changes is it really fair to bring a child into the world if you can not provide for them?

Of course don't take anything I say personally, I am of the thought that if I had known now what I knew before I was born, such as taxes and having to work I wouldn't have come out in the delivery room.

Seriously? The average price of college is on pace to exceed the median household income in the near future. You're really comfortable saying that a huge share of the population, probably half or more, shouldn't have children because they can't reasonably save 100K+ for a college education?

So not only do the working class not deserve a wage they can live on, they also don't deserve to have kids because they can't command a higher wage. Do we really have this little compassion and respect for our fellow man in this country?

 

[lustergirl]

Not at all, I may have not explained myself well. College isn't for everyone anyways, sometimes I wish I would have went to trade school. The poster that posted about being able to afford kids was more in line with what I meant.

While things can happen in life I just feel that as a parent it was a diservice to have a kid if we had not planned for their future. If they decide not to go to college so be it. Maybe she will get a scholarship anyways. My point was more unless something drastic happened in your life that made drastic financial changes is it really fair to bring a child into the world if you can not provide for them?

Of course don't take anything I say personally, I am of the thought that if I had known now what I knew before I was born, such as taxes and having to work I wouldn't have come out in the delivery room.

Providing basic necessities as food, clothing, and shelter is way different then being able to afford to pay their college education.

 

[Jex]

What's real life for some is not real life for others, why shouldn't you have to pay for it if you could afford it? You had the kid.

I didn't pay for my sons' schooling. How is not fair if you don't pay for their education. God forbid they experience real life and see how it really is.