Minimum Wage
 

I'm surprised that no one is talking about this.

I think that the minimum wage is ridiculous. With the minimum wage that low for almsot a decade, it seems that the buying power has become less. Look at you tuition for those of you that attend college. With tuition and textbooks prices going up, it seems that it's difficult to pay for all of that. For instance, my school's tuition is over $2600 for in-state students and almost $7900 for out of state students. And on top of that you have to have room and board, gas and food money, etc. Student Loans are being cut, forcing manys' dreams to get a college degree to end. A college degree is essential. There are some people that do well fiancially without it, but the key words are some people.

I'm disgusted at the minimum wage right now, while Congress have approve a pay raise year after year. It's is robbery. It is robbing many students and poor people.

Many people would say that we should work hard to get more money. But sometimes, hard work does not always pay off.

All I've got to say it that when I have kids, I will start a savings account for college the day after they are born, because you never know what will happen.

Minimum wage is a sham. The increase gets passed on to the consumer insuring that the gap maintains.

P.S. – I worked four years before I went to college.

Every time minimum wage gets increased, businesses die. There's no reason the gov't should be forcing it on people. If people are willing to work for $1/hour, let them. If they aren't, then you gotta pay more. If there is discrimination occurring, let the gov't step in to regulate. But, otherwise, STAY OUT OF MY MONEY.

Kevlar has it. If you can't take minimum wage, work before college. It's easier to get a higher paying full-time job than a part-time one. Personally, I think 18 year olds are too young to start college anyway. Let them work for a few years and then start school. Of course, this country is not equipped to accomodate that...sadly.

Can you explain your position on why 18 year olds are too young to start college? That just seems ridiculous to me.

Thanks for the platitudes . . . do these statements really mean anything?

Let's discuss the reality of the 'free market' - few people live at minimum wage as it is, and those who do are generally in areas with a ridiculously low cost of living. Employers will pay what they need to in order to attract employees, and "living wage" laws most likely foist the problem onto the backs of the lower middle class - it's not really the grand "top-down" or "bottom-up" ideal that people envision, and it's essentially partial socialism without any sort of reasonable utility.

The cost is NOT taken from the top of the chain - it's imparted on the rest of it, which affects the bottom rungs more than anything.

Yes, they do. Go to the grocery store, and see the ridiculous prices. The highest price for a gallon of milk is over $3. A movie ticket is expensive. It's $8here in many theaters. Many seniors can't afford prescription drugs, becasue of being paid low wages. They are given a choice between medicene and food. You can guess which they chose. In my state, thousands of people were cut from TennCare and many have to find other ways to pay. That's were the decision comes to for many poor people about medicene. That's exactly what I'm talking about the buying power becoming less.

Did we not learn from Hurricane Katrina? It seems that the Republicans have not learned from it. All the Republicans care about it the rich. I'm not saying that they don't give to the poor. It's just that they want to get greedy.

It's true that many people are paid more that the minimum wage, but the income still put them below the poverty line.

Looking back many moons later, I now realize that a teenager with no life experience charted my career path. I think this accounts for part of the quarterlife crisis many in our generation are facing.

I don't about you all, but I bet a lot of people wouldn't even be going to college if they could make a decent salary at McDonalds. I think most people go to college to try and earn a better salary for when they're older and the low pay at unskilled jobs gives that incentive. Higher skilled jobs will make more money.
Lately though it seems like the prices of everything has shot through the roof on gas, groceries to toiletries.

Thanks for the generalizations and attacks on Republicans. They do a whole lot to help the argument.

I'm with Kevlar and the others that raising minimum wage isn't going to do much, except hurt small and medium-sized business owners. Do we raise the minimum wages, help the small number who live off of these, but in return doom the small businesses that hire these people? Doesn't make sense to me.

- Worked at least part time through high school, full-time in college, and did it for minimum wage at points (which at the time was less than $7 per hour).

Why do we even care about people making minimum wage? Who really cares? Where I live, in OKC, where a 2000 sq. ft. house goes for around $150,000 (ridiculously low cost of living), I know of absolutely no one who makes minimum wage other than teenagers.

Also, why would a grown person be making minimum wage? Perhaps because they made poor career decisions, or money wasn't and isn't important to them? We all have choices to make in life, and if your choices lead you to a job where you make $5.25/hr, then either you're mentally challenged, or you're just lazy. In the former case, you may qualify for governmental assistance. In the later case, why should any of us be responsible for paying for others who are simply lazy?

Rollergirl, I'm not sure that it's true that "all Republicans only care about the rich." In fact, that's BS and you know it. Republicans, however, tend to be conservative. Generally, conservatives do not think that as a society we ought to reward those who do not endeavor to make themselves useful to society. It's not that most of us hate the poor, it's that we believe that the poor have the power if they so choose to take advantage of the multitude of social and religious programs in order to make themselves worth more to society than $5.25/hr.

This is a valid point, but I don't think that working for a few years after high school and then going to college is going to make it better. I'm not sure what would.

I know you don't understand, but most of this paragraph actually supports what KSig RC is saying. If you raise min. wage, that $3 gallon of milk is suddenly going to be $5, and that $8 movie is going to be $12. Now, not only are the people who were making $5.15 struggling, but the people who are making $7 are now stuggling too.

...or that throwing money at a situation will make it better.

Honestly I think minimum wage jobs are for people in high school or college and shouldn't be looked at as a "career."