What I am hearing Steve, is every job should pay a living wage. Am I
correct?
I'm old and grey. I worked a few part-time, minimum wage jobs, when I
was in high school and while attending college at a point in my youth
when I was trying to find my myself. I never thought of those jobs as a
job I would work at long term or after getting a little older.
I've always thought, with rare exception that minimum wage jobs are
starter jobs. AND I have always thought that one needs to feel the pain
to better themselves.
I know this might seem a little harsh, however I think if someone finds
them self in a minimum wage job at 30 or older, without a plan to
progress, then they have no one to blame but them self. Again, I know
there is exceptions. So lets say my prior statements apply to
non-students, retirees, and about 80% of what is left. That leaves some
room for the exceptions.
I'm thinking I read that Seattle Washington min wage caused restaurants
to go out of business and minimum wage workers were laid off.
It is not clear what your point is about hiring your own private army.
Is it that minimum wage will cause increase in crime? Or the the purple
squirrels want to reduce government to the point you have to pack an
AR-15.
I think I read some place that the incarcerated tend to be have above
average intelligence. We will always have car thieves and burglars no
matter how good the economy and the number of opportunities.
Those construction guys were channelling their energy in the wrong way.
I would venture to say that all of us have been down on our luck at some
point in our lives and we did not resort to stealing. We worked hard to
get out of hard luck ville.
When I was a kid we shopped our neighbor's store and some worked for our
neighbor. The money stayed local. Walmart replace main street - low
paid workers who are subsidized by tax payers.
This is all crony capitalism. If we were to remove all the unnatural
influences on the market and allow the market to find it's true
equilibrium then all of this would take care of itself.
When I was down on my luck, I did not blame anyone but myself. I don't
buy that we owe anyone a living wage nor is that an excuse for the the
break down of society.
Ponder this for a minute. Around a hundred and fifty years ago (my time
might be off) people where loading all they had in a wagon and
travelling West to settle a plot of land given them by the gov. I would
imagine that was quite a hardship. I'm sure some lost all and some even
lost their lives. This is the spirit this land was built on. I can go
on and on with examples.
In the end Gov cannot create jobs, all they can do is destroy the
economy by getting too involved. If we do not let nature take it's
course then we will always have a less than optimal economy.
On 2016-12-08 13:23, Steve Litt wrote:
> On Wed, 7 Dec 2016 12:56:16 -0700
> Vara La Fey <varalafey@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I sympathize on what a friend calls "the purple squirrel syndrome".
>>
>> Min wage laws make everything worse. Look at CA. Everyone's expenses
>> go up, so everyone lays off or tightens budgets.
>
> Oh, come on, not that tired crap again!
>
> You like not having to spend money to hire your own private army? You
> like not having your car broken into or stolen once a month? You like
> not having to tote an AR-15 everywhere you go because there's war on
> the streets?
>
> If you like those things, you'd better make sure life doesn't get too
> miserable for too many, because insurrection follows. And one great way
> to limit misery is to pay a wage that puts a roof over the head and
> food on the table, and that's the job of a minimum wage.
>
> I know, I know, you purple squirrels whip out your elasticity curves to
> claim that unemployment goes up with a minimum wage, creating even more
> misery. What is more likely, especially given the last 4 decades'
> suppression of unions, is that repeal of the minimum wage sends the pay
> of convenience store clerks and construction laborers down to $2.00/hr.
> Back in 2003 I had a buddy who worked construction, and he said several
> of his coworkers did contruction by day and robbed houses by night.
> Imagine how much such "moonlighting" would increase if workers got only
> $16.00 for a full day shift's work, when their part of the rent is
> $400.
>
> A full time job that can't keep a person fed and out of the rain isn't
> a job at all. Morally it shouldn't be legal, and practically allowing
> such jobs brings societal breakdown.
>
> SteveT
>
> Steve Litt
> November 2016 featured book: Quit Joblessness: Start Your Own Business
> http://www.troubleshooters.com/startbiz
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Keith Smith
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