On Mon, 12 Dec 2016 09:32:39 -0700
Keith Smith <
techlists@phpcoderusa.com> wrote:
> I was thinking about this over the weekend. Here is what I came up
> with. Raise the minimum wage to $15/hr and ensure all other parts of
> the economy will stay in check, such as no loss of jobs and no
> inflation.
If I had the power to do this type of thing, I think I could raise the
minimum wage to $12/hr without serious side effects like those you
mention.
>
> Then make sure I'm the guy at U-Haul that takes care of the rental
> returns. Give my wife the same job. My wife and I would work that
> job until we are 70. I'd love that. No stress, no hassle, no
> leaning new technology. I could BBQ more often. Camp more often and
> just enjoy life. I'm all for it. Can you arrange it?
I think so. Obviously you and your wife would need to live very
frugally, but BBQ and camping are pretty cheap. Also, it's obvious that
I couldn't guarantee you U-Haul exactly, but some form of
rental/leasing paperwork for $12/hr.
>
> Here is the down side. I would not be forced to grow, learn and
> contribute.
This is true. You could continue to live just like you always did, and
contribute nothing. Because you wouldn't be forced to do so. You also
would not be forced NOT to, and I have a feeling you and your wife
would grow, learn and contribute, outside of your profession. Because
that's who you are. It's even possible that, freed from the monthly
scrabble to meet the budget, you might grow, learn and contribute more.
> As a Christian I believe God has given each of us unique
> talents and skills.
This is obvious from simple observation.
> These talents and skills are for us to make a
> living and for making the community better. God requires that of us,
> not the government.
Yes. And I think God takes the broader perspective that improving the
community needn't be linked to how you get your food. Jesus' major
contribution wasn't carpentry/construction/crafting. His day job gave
him the time and ability to persue his real talent.
There's no telling the benefit of a $12/hr minimum wage's release of
creativity among the masses. Perhaps, as a whole, our gifts of talent
and skill would be magnified by a $12/hr minimum wage.
>
> By messing with the market's equilibrium, you mess with a God made
> system. Man is fallible and government is even more fallible.
Well yeah, but remember, God gave us brains sufficient to mess with
systems. Brains sufficient to wipe out smallpox. Smallpox was made by
God but apparently not endorsed by God. We messed with God's system
when we cured Polio and Leprosy. Could it be that God is testing us so
that we pick the right God given systems to mess with?
>
> In the above $15/hr example my wife who is a nurse would quit her job
> and I would quit struggling with technology. My wife and I would lose
> our desire to find what we are good at and we would lose our desire
> to use our God given talent to better our community.
Or, perhaps, with her basic needs met, your wife would start a nursing
system for those locked out of our healthcare system. Perhaps you would
put aside programming, and do that one thing you always really wanted
to do, and do it well enough to benefit society.
>
> Struggle is good.
That's true, as any history book shows.
> Struggle creates change.
That's not only true but obvious.
> What I see is some want
> to make things perfect. I say let us feel the pain, let us struggle
> so we are strong.
Me too, although I'd characterize it more as desire than pain. The most
successful people weren't those in real, unending pain. They were
people who envisioned something better, and followed their desire to
follow through.
> I keep hearing about all these stats and how my
> experience is anecdotal, that my total life experience and watching
> those around me is anecdotal. I must be some kind of freak. I must
> not have live an American life.
Nobody said that. Your life story is fairly typical of your age.
Statistics take into account the people born later.
>
> Remember failure is a good thing. History is full of failure that led
> to success. Failure is a great teacher. Once we stop failing we
> stop being successful.
Yes.
>
> It is up to us the people not the government. Government should only
> be in place to protect the rights of the people and minimum wage is
> not a right. Owning a home is not a right. Health insurance is not
> a right. Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness are rights.
Let me ask you this: If the minimum wage were repealed (as suggested 20
or so posts ago), and for some professions pay goes down to the point
where shelter is unaffordable, to what degree can a born-poor person
pursue happiness sleeping all night in the rain and snow, then working
for enough money to afford a loaf of bread and a few hot dogs? Now
contemplate the degree of happiness pursuit accorded to which a person
whose parents put him through college to get a decent job that yields
food, clothing and shelter. Did our constitution really mean degrees of
happiness pursuit should be based in great part on accident of birth?
Can we not make a few additional tweaks to more fully implement life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
> Now having said that it is up to each of us to help make our
> community better by helping those in our community do better or to
> help them up when they have fallen.
Yes! I'm proud to have received many emails from readers of my books,
thanking me for improving their careers. I've always believed on a
personal level that if I'm not part of the solution, I'm part of the
problem.
>
> It is you and I that are failing and we make it worse by delegating
> our responsibilities to the government.
You sure you're failing? Looks like you're doing just fine to me. Far
as I know I'm not failing. I'm not looking to the government to pull
*me* up, I'm looking to the government to pull up those who are
temporarily down.
>
> We need to take responsibility. Don't like businesses that pay low
> wages, don't buy their goods and services. I'll bet not one of you
> that support raising the minimum wage will stop buying Walmart.
You're right. I buy almost nothing at Walmart because of how they treat
their employees, how they dump their employees' welfare on the state,
and how they put local businesses out of business. I understand that
some of my "made in America" policies will mean I pay $2000 for a
computer that costs me $500 right now, and that's well worth the cost
to me. But of course I'm not going to be paying $2K while everyone else
is continuing the problem by buying the $500 foreign computer. This is
one place where government regulation is needed.
>
> I will stand up against injustice with you, however YOU must be
> willing to stand up and pay the price.
Truer words have never been spoken.
> If not do not ask me to
> sacrifice.
I envision very little sacrifice on your part if the minimum wage is
raised to $12/hr.
SteveT
Steve Litt
December 2016 featured book: Rapid Learning for the 21st Century
http://www.troubleshooters.com/rl21
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