I am a little behind on the $15/hr thing"

[redhawk23]

Obviously college has it's purpose. If you're going to be a doctor/lawyer/engineer, we want you to know what you're doing. But a degree in English Lit? Photography? Art History? Philosophy? (no offense to anyone with those degrees). But what in the hell are you getting from that that is worth $80-100k? If you ask yourself that question about your major, and don't have a logistically well thought answer, don't go.


]

There are many jobs that simply require a college degree essentially as proof that you can reliably commit to doing the work. In that case, why not study something that interests you while seeking practical experience through internships?

Also its a matter that for many graduate programs, you can more or less study whatever you want as an undergrad. Many colleges don't really have "pre-law" or what have you. I knew many philosophy majors who were on track to go to law school.

The problem with often called "impractical" majors isn't the majors themselves but more that you can't just stop with a bachelors.

Universities aren't trade schools.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

There are many jobs that simply require a college degree essentially as proof that you can reliably commit to doing the work. In that case, why not study something that interests you while seeking practical experience through internships?

Also its a matter that for many graduate programs, you can more or less study whatever you want as an undergrad. Many colleges don't really have "pre-law" or what have you. I knew many philosophy majors who were on track to go to law school.

The problem with often called "impractical" majors isn't the majors themselves but more that you can't just stop with a bachelors.

Universities aren't trade schools.

You make fair points, but I'm going to comment primarily on the bolded statement. What I assume your point is is that Universities aren't there to guarantee you a job after completion of a degree.

That's fine. Nothing is a guarantee in life. The problem I have, is the stress we put on children starting as early as 5 and 6 years old that they need to go to college for a good life. That's just plainly not true. And everyone from teachers to parents to daytime television grinds this into their heads and the private institutions of college, meanwhile, barely even have to put in a lick of advertisement for their money-making business (because that's what it is). They have plenty of customers with the belief that the only way to live comfortably/successfully/happily is to take out ungodly sums worth of loans and pay for their "education."

 

[Erzengel]

I do agree that college isn't for anyone, but parents shouldn't be allowing their children to go directionless either. If they have a skill or talent, it should be encouraged. Or other professions such as trade school civil service, military should be taught as viable alternatives.

 

[X-Ray]

Here's an article which gives you an insight on how it's working so far in Seattle, the 1st city to enact the $15/hr min. wage.

Frisco and L.A. hopped on this trend as well. I expect the entire state of California to do same by 2020, especially if San Diego gets on board as well. The state minimum wage is jumping from $9 to $10 by January 1, 2016. Then jumping to $13/hour by January 1, 2017.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Here's an article which gives you an insight on how it's working so far in Seattle, the 1st city to enact the $15/hr min. wage.

Frisco and L.A. hopped on this trend as well. I expect the entire state of California to do same by 2020, especially if San Diego gets on board as well. The state minimum wage is jumping from $9 to $10 by January 1, 2016. Then jumping to $13/hour by January 1, 2017.

Honestly, that article being Fox News leads me not to trust it in the slightest, but if any of that is true that's so sad.

Here's the one thing that makes me rest easy about minimum wage inflation:
[YT]7Pq-S557XQU[/YT]


That and the concept of UBI (unconditional basic income) level, we are already seeing experimentation with in Denmark... Some day we will just have to deal with the fact that work is no longer a human necessity. But today is not that day. :P

30-50 years from now however? Who knows?

 

[Greens]

That and the concept of UBI (unconditional basic income) level, we are already seeing experimentation with in Denmark... Some day we will just have to deal with the fact that work is no longer a human necessity. But today is not that day. :P

30-50 years from now however? Who knows?

I definitely think a concept like UBI is worth looking into, because we are running a race that we can't win. More and more jobs are done by robots and eventually, the amount of people will outweigh the amount of jobs. A fully automated, UBI-based society is still kind of a Utopian idea and would take hundreds of years to form but it's not 100% science fiction anymore.

 

[Matt Mortem]

I think $15 for the minimum wage is too high, for many of the reasons others have listed. I think that a $9 minimum wage would be a good place to start. I know it's impossible to live off of even $8 working full time and have any kind of decent quality of life. I was managing a Dollar store at $8.25 an hour and could not afford to move out of my parents place (this was quite a few years ago). $9 for the minimum wage, low skill jobs like fast food and cashier work is, like I said, a decent place to start when it comes to wage increases.

 

[spiderman2]

So, I've got a few questions about minimum wage and the whole thing with $15/hr, I didn't realize it was such a huge thing.

First of all, I've heard this mostly applies to McDonald's workers, but is this a movement to make the minimum wage $15/hr?

Secondly, when and how exactly did this thing begin? I just remembered from seeing a campaign commercial for governor cuomo about how it says he'll be pushing for this to happen.

I also spoke to a friend of mine recently about all this, and he says he's in support of it. He explains that for anyone who works full time, 40 hours, they deserve to live comfortably no matter what they're doing. $15 an hour for minimum wage should do just that.

And that brings me to my third question. There are some jobs out there that require a little more skill than say a fast food employee. I'm just a bank teller, which isn't anything spectacular, but but it does take a little more skill than working at a fast food chain - and it pays slightly more than minimum wage. So if minimum wage (if it's just minimum wage and not just wages for fast food workers, that is part of the first question) is raised, will the wages for all other jobs that already a little higher than minimum wage also rise? As well as salary and whatever other jobs you can obtain with a college degree & higher - will they be paid more as well?

And my fourth question - if this does get implemented and the answer to my third question is yes, then...wouldn't everything just become more expensive? And if that happens, wouldn't that at least partially defeat the purpose of raising minimum wage so high to $15 in the first place, making inflation go off the roof? If you ask me, that'd make things more convoluted, not fairer.

If the answer to the third question is no, and fast food workers pay would then outdo jobs that do take more skill...then why in the hell is this happening

Now I didn't make this thread to mock those who work in fast food - my first job ever was at Wendy's (I hated it but I did it) they're jobs that someone has to do - I have respect for plumbers, janitors, custodians, jobs that we need people to do and have. I made this thread to get clarity on the situation.

It is not just McDonald's it is for minimum rage to be $15 an hour. I live in CA and minimum is $9 an hour I think it is going up to $10 an hour come Jan. I don't see it going up to $15 a hour any time soon because that would be a increase of $6 an hour that is a lot. I think if it where to go up that much you would see a lot of places highering a lot less people and firering a lot of people to or greatly increasing there prices.

I agree that just over all people don't make enough. I make $9.60 an hour and make around $1300 a month working normally 40 hours a week and I am 26 still living at home because most 1 bed room apartments around where I live are $800/$1000 a month. That would only leve me around $300/$500 left for food, gas, car, phone ect. Just to make it by I would need to make a minima of like $12 a hour but I don't have a collage degree and most retail type of jobs are starting pay off $9/10 a hour and it is hard to find a job been looking for something new for like 3 years and nothing.

I am not sure about other jobs but I think it mostly just comes down to higher up people make way to much money. Going back to your friend if you work 40 hours a week you should make enough to pay for food, gas, rent ect. Now there is a difference between making enough money that you can go out and just buy any thing and live not having to be carefully with that you spend. I do think of course some jobs should make more. I have no problem for say athlects to make more money expectialy if you are NFL player because of the resick you are taking with your body but no body should be making no like $30 million a year or some actors or make that much for 1 movie or CEO's who make like 100 million a year. Big difference between making 40000 a year and 30 million a year. The gap should not be that big no matter what.

Yeah I do think inflation would go up big time but that goes back to that I think higher up people just make way to much. Higher up people could still make a lot of money even if they payied there employees more. The rate of inflation compared to the rise in pay is just really screwed up. Minimum rage is $9 a hour but I heard if it had went up at the same rate has minimum rage that minimum rage would be around $20 a hour. I really don't know how any body is going to beable to make it in say like 50 years if the rate of inflation keeps going up so much faster then the rate of rage increases. Its not even just minimum rage jobs to. My mom in the last few years with the increase in price that she has to pay for medical insurances and with some of the other changes she brings home like 30% less then she used to.

Also again the tuff thing is a lot of jobs are 9/10 a hour when it cost like at least $12 to make it and there are a lot of jobs that need collage or expecterince but how do you get the expecterince and with the cost of collage is it worth it? I don't know what I would go to collage for and I don't want to be one of these people that goes to collage and never really uses it and now I end up owning money for school. I mean if you go to school and then you get a job that makes more but only a little bit more but you now own money is it really worth making a little more if that little more might just be going back to school loans any way?

 

[spiderman2]

Some of the teachers I know teaching anywhere from middle school to high school are making 80k after like 8-10 years of teaching.

That sounds pretty high because I am always hearing about how teachers don't make much money and are under paid.

 

[Erzengel]

School teacher salaries are public in my state.

 

[cheungcheung]

I was able to pay off my Bachelor's Degree, 4-5 years after college. I know a Doctor who's 250k in debt because of school.

Ya but then they make that much in a year as a doctor lol...

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

Ya but then they make that much in a year as a doctor lol...

no they don't. I talked to someone who's currently in medical school and he said because of taxes, the 250K salary is reduced to 140K when it's all said and done after getting the M.D.

 

[chaseter]

Didn't Seattle start their minimum wage increase to $15? How's that going for them?

Cliff notes - not good.

 

[Thundercrack85]

While I'm all for raising the minimum wage, 15 dollars is rather unrealistic on a federal level. It's just not something that can suddenly happen. It's double the current federal minimum wage. Actually slightly more than that.

Seattle, and other major cities like it (San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, etc) are unusual in that they have an exceptionally high cost of living. It also didn't go from 7.25 to 15. It went from 11 to 15. Still a jump, it's not doubling it obviously

10 dollars on a federal level is much more realistic. Or increase it gradually every year at a certain rate to say 12.

As much as I hate the similar (but grossly exaggerated) Republican talking point, simply doubling the minimum wage in much of the country would put small businesses out of operation, and cause massive unemployment. That said, the minimum wage should definitely increase. But doubling overnight, just won't work.

 

[XtremelyBaneful]

While I'm all for raising the minimum wage, 15 dollars is rather unrealistic on a federal level. It's just not something that can suddenly happen. It's double the current federal minimum wage. Actually slightly more than that.

Seattle, and other major cities like it (San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, etc) are unusual in that they have an exceptionally high cost of living. It also didn't go from 7.25 to 15. It went from 11 to 15. Still a jump, it's not doubling it obviously

10 dollars on a federal level is much more realistic. Or increase it gradually every year at a certain rate to say 12.

As much as I hate the similar (but grossly exaggerated) Republican talking point, simply doubling the minimum wage in much of the country would put small businesses out of operation, and cause massive unemployment. That said, the minimum wage should definitely increase. But doubling overnight, just won't work.

I think the purpose behind it all is supposed to give full time minimum wage workers the ability to actually have a living. Do you think $12 an hour can achieve that?

 

[NHawk19]

the $15 an hour thing is also driving further automation for restaurants, so business can get more use out of fewer people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...f284ea-3f6f-11e5-8d45-d815146f81fa_story.html

I see touch screen ordering being the way of the future at most fast food joints. That way they can cut down on the number of cashiers. You already see it at plenty of places as it is.

People pushing for this change need to understand a response is being worked.

 

[Teelie]

Having a living wage is good. Most people really do not understand just how impossible it is to live off of the existing minimum wage. $10 an hour is not even enough in several areas. $15 might be too much but it sure as hell will raise the quality of life for people making less than half that and expected to survive.

 

[Teelie]

the $15 an hour thing is also driving further automation for restaurants, so business can get more use out of fewer people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...f284ea-3f6f-11e5-8d45-d815146f81fa_story.html

I see touch screen ordering being the way of the future at most fast food joints. That way they can cut down on the number of cashiers. You already see it at plenty of places as it is.

People pushing for this change need to understand a response is being worked.

All of this is so that the upper management and the corporate higher-ups don't have to lose a dime of their own money at the expense of everyone else below them.

Do you know how much the middle class has shrunk while the poor has grown and the upper class has mostly just gotten richer, with fewer people being rich?

 

[NHawk19]

Even if they raise it to $15 costs will go up and people will want it set at $30 and the cycle will continue. A minimum wage is just that though the minimum to be offered. It's for people looking to start working, or supplement existing income. It was never meant to be lived off of as a sole source of income.

If you're 42 and still making the minimum you've got some other things in your life you need to reflect on.

 

[Teelie]

That's a very ignorant assumption.

 

[NHawk19]

No that's history. The first minimum wage was $.25/ hour in 1938.

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth484/minwage.html

and it's always been below the poverty level. The graphs here even show the conversion to the "real wage" it comes in near $15,000 in current monetary values.

You can also see from the graphs where they raise it and the value declines over time until they raise it again. The pattern from 1988 on is very clear in the 1st graph.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I think the purpose behind it all is supposed to give full time minimum wage workers the ability to actually have a living. Do you think $12 an hour can achieve that?

I suppose it's all relevant. I know people who live on 7.25 now. It's a pretty miserable existence. You're not going to uplift the working poor with 12 dollars and hour. But it would improve their overall living standards.

The fundamental issues is that the minimum wage really isn't designed with living wage in mind. And perhaps that needs to change.

 

[Thundercrack85]

the $15 an hour thing is also driving further automation for restaurants, so business can get more use out of fewer people.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...f284ea-3f6f-11e5-8d45-d815146f81fa_story.html

I see touch screen ordering being the way of the future at most fast food joints. That way they can cut down on the number of cashiers. You already see it at plenty of places as it is.

People pushing for this change need to understand a response is being worked.

But who will buy this junk food if the poor people who buy it can no longer afford it on account of being replaced by robots?

This robot threat only really holds water if the companies intend to create robot consumers too.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Even if they raise it to $15 costs will go up and people will want it set at $30 and the cycle will continue. A minimum wage is just that though the minimum to be offered. It's for people looking to start working, or supplement existing income. It was never meant to be lived off of as a sole source of income.

If you're 42 and still making the minimum you've got some other things in your life you need to reflect on.

That's great and all, but it's hard to reflect when you're working two crappy jobs to support your family and live paycheck to paycheck.

You have to accept the fact that millions of people working minimum wage jobs are not high school kids.

What they also don't tell you is that millions are making just a dollar more than minimum wage.

 

[Teelie]

The ingrained assumption that this is always how it was and always how it should be is exactly why we're in a situation where so many people are not living with a higher minimum quality of life.

To use an extreme example of this mindset, we used to have slaves do our work for us, why not bring that back too? Or if that's too unfair we'll merely reintroduce indentured servitude. We move on for a reason. Sitting there citing examples of what it always has been and clearly has not been working are not a good defense of the status quo.