yeah, right!
I am on the government dole right now (disability).
1. I hate it!
2. because of my disability, its far harder to get work.
3. oh, and I get about $9,048 a year.
4. medicare and medicaid are a freaking joke.
5. nutrition assistance benefits? if you call $100 a month a benefit (and they keep trying to dime and nickel me down more).
6. I have about $3,000 in unpaid medical debt that isn't covered and I still have to pay on it for the next 72 months.
7. AND I am one step above homeless here.
Oh yeah, because I have been unable to acquire employment (a lot of HR people think that hiring the blind would be more expensive even when it's not) I find myself month the 75% of those who end up not working.
I had some skills once, but I have been out of the market too long and it's expensive as hell to go back to school. Hell, at this point, I would take one of those H1-B positions just to have more income than I do now (3x as much, really).
-eric
Home office of the Technomage Guild
On Dec 12, 2016, at 5:59 PM, Keith Smith wrote:
>
> You've convinced me. I need to let the government take care of things. It would be much easier. They tax me just a few bucks more and I quit giving - I come out ahead. I'm done.
>
>
> On 2016-12-12 13:14, Steve Litt wrote:
>> 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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> --
> Keith Smith
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