The working stiff just can’t get a break.
Do you know what it’s like to live on minimum wage? Probably not. Most of us fat cats don’t. We live our good lives, eating what we want, having heat when we want, knowing little about what happens in the world outside…the poor world. Yes, if you’re making minimum wage and supporting a family, you’re poor buddy.
Guys, the federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour. $5.15. That’s $206 a week. That’s $10,712 annually. You can’t live on that, can you? I made about $13,000 a year in the 1980s, when I was sharing a tiny apartment with a friend and paying $300 a month in rent.
While CEOs and the top executives at major corporations, or even smaller profitable small businesses, decide if they should add another wing to their mansions, the issue of raising the minimum wage by $2.10, about the cost of a carton of milk, should be pretty straight forward.
So why has the Senate attached a bunch of tax breaks for businesses to the minimum wage bill?
My mom, who is a Greek-Turk, would say, “den drepesai yavrum”, translated, “aren’t you ashamed of yourself my dear”.
Either they endorse a hike in the wage or not. Do the poor saps deserve it? If the answer is yes, then do it already.
February 4th, 2007 at 1:20 am
calif min wage as of January 1, 2007 is $7.50 was $6.75. any place you live in calif is more expensive than 90% of the places in the rest of the union. 40 hours a week is $300, a years wages is $15,600. yes, it is more than federal wages, but it is still poverty level. at $3 a gallon for the cheapest milk, it makes for a very tight grocery budget for a family of four. and that does not take into account the cost of child care while you are work……….. or health insurance. or gas at $2.70 a gallon.
yes, the people that make 15,000 a month can afford luxeries like food and heat and gas for thier hummers. the rest of us work hard and get little.
February 5th, 2007 at 8:42 am
amen sista!!
February 6th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
I never quite got the concept that if businesses had to pay people a living wage, businesses would shrivel up and die. the funniest argument seems to be that heads of households earning minimum wage make up only a relatively small percentage of the population, so an increase isn’t needed. so if you’re part of the 20 percent that falls into that category, tough luck for ya, i guess. that’s a positive message.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
You know Rtown, we should always call it a “living wage” not “minimum wage”. People don’t want to look at it that way but it is about paying enough money so people can survive in this society. Thanks!
February 8th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
geez. i dont know where to start with this one. the reason for the tax breaks , is that 80-90 percent of new businesses fail within the first year. why should a person take a risk on a business if they have to lay out dental, medical, business insurance . and try to lever it up on a larger scale for that extra 2 dollars, if there is not incentive for small business owners on the back end. the people that are starting new businesses my dear , are not the people building new wings on their mansions.. they are struggling also. these small business owners because of all these extra costs have to find their extra money from banks and venture capitalists, and hedge funds .. who ARE the people building wings on their mansions
….. they need a return on their investment in order for it to be worth the risk in investment, because of the high rate of bankruptcies within the first yr..
this is why there should be NO minimum wage AT ALL. let adam smith’s free hand rule and let the free market decide what the going rate is for a mc donalds burger flipper or a taco bell bus boy… i bet the wage would be HIGHER than it is now, and therefore eat into the corporate executives pay packages.. so everyone would be happy.
especially u liberals.. how about that nancy pelosi , the champion of the poor asking for a 50 seater plane to be able to take her back and forth to california. with her family and extended family and friends. and her billionaire husband.. instead of the normal g 5 luxury plane that congress wants to give her.
lastly , your mom is a turk armenian who speaks greek , and is a christian.. she was never born in greece, her parents were not born in greece.. nor does she think of herself as one .
with love,
u know who……
February 16th, 2007 at 9:55 am
i don’t know where to begin either…
if only we could rely on the good nature of human beings and have no minimum wage. that would mean business owners would just pay a fair wage, because they thought it was the right thing to do. alas, not even minimum wage is a fair wage but business owners still doesn’t want to pay that much.
and if you paid attention you would know that denny hastert used the luxury plane as well..even your buddy tony snow came to pelosi’ defense on this. so put a sock in it!
as for my mom, i think you should speak with her.