Tiered minimum wage?

So under your "AA" plan, two job candidates come in. We'll use myself...3 degrees (one with full scholarship) and plenty of job experience. Then we have a young man from the city who couldn't afford to go to college but also didn't work hard enough or care enough to try for a scholarship to get some further education. He's been working a part-time, minimum wage job and spends the rest of his free time hanging out in mall parking lots with his friends instead of trying to improve himself.

So...the employer wants to hire the driven, educated, experienced person...but their government-enforced quota says he needs to hire another poor person to "help them out", so he must hire the lesser-qualified candidate.

At any rate, I was speaking of an over-all policy shift towards academic acceptance side of AA, not about meeting job quotas. kinda touched on that one too...

As much as I want to say f you buddy, I wont because in some ways you are right.

I didn't mean to make it sound as if I was dead broke or anything like that. My bills are paid, I owe no credit debt(other than 1 car payment) and I live pretty well considering where I live. I am not poor by any means but I do live paycheck to paycheck with liilte or none left over for savings.

It was our choice that my wife doesn't work fulltime so she would be home with our kids(where she and other mothers belong). When she did work we lived much better.

The point I was trying to get accross was this: My income hasn't increased near as much as the cost of living. Every year I get a 2-3% increase but it seasm my cost of living goes up 5-10%. I understand my kids play some part in that but they have nothing to do with raised taxes, increasing health care costs, and things of that nature.


Its wrong of you to judge me and my situation when you don't know all the facts. I have NEVER gone without a job. I have never applied for any kind of Goverment assistance whether it be unemployment, welfare or otherwise. I think I have done pretty good for myself considering the cards I have been dealt in life. I have never asked for help because I have the ablility and the drive to do it myself.
And maybe thats what I should have said to begin with.

Well I could understand if you wanted to tell me to f... off -- I knew those comments were somewhat "biting". Anyway, no, I don't know your whole situation. My response was based only on the information you gave (3 kids, you make 50k/year, wife works part time).

My main contention is that petitioning the government for a higher minimum wage is asking for government assistance.

The other things people often mention like, "I have X number of kids, so I can't afford to live on that" -- that doesn't wash with me. First off, you shouldn't be reproducing if the best you can do is minimum wage.

I also think people easily forget the risk that is involved with owning your own business, i.e., being an employer. It takes so much time, capital, hard work, and the possibility of failure is so much greater when you start a business. Add to that the responsibility of hiring people - the trust that's involved with those hirees -- it's a major headache. Then on of top all of that, a completely unrelated third party (the gov't) forces that person at the point of a gun to offer a minimum wage -- in some cases a wage that is much higher than the person is worth. When that happens, the employer's budget goes out of whack, and he either has to adjust his hiring down, or make up the cost for the higher wage into the price of the product or service he offers.

I could go on and on. The minimum wage is a socialist concept. Let the free market decide wages, and let individuals negotiate their own salary without interference from government.

The other things people often mention like, "I have X number of kids, so I can't afford to live on that" -- that doesn't wash with me. First off, you shouldn't be reproducing if the best you can do is minimum wage.


Amen brother!!!!

I agree with what you're saying but I think the intention of the idea was that if two candidiates are equally qualified then consideration should be given to the one that is living at or near the poverty, as far as AA is concerned.

That would be ideal, but that's not how the REAL AA works, despite being developed under that idea. It's just not something we could fairly enforce forever, so I don't think we should even start with it.

[quote=Beemnseven;270421]

My main contention is that petitioning the government for a higher minimum wage is asking for government assistance.


quote]
this is a ridiculous statement. at any place of employment, a standard raise, as long as the company does well, is expected, yearly. when is the last time you went without a raise? its been like 9 years that the minimum has been raised? any small business that doesn't do well usually doesn't last very long. and since the govt feels obligated to normally side with ownership on such labor issues, the minimum stays the same. why penalize the people that are willing to work these jobs? then you start getting into the illegal immigrant thing. i do not want people to get too comfortable in these jobs, but they should be able to survive, also

I could go on and on. The minimum wage is a socialist concept. Let the free market decide wages, and let individuals negotiate their own salary without interference from government.
if the govt wouldn't have interfered in the first place, employers would be willing to be honest with people, and negotiations. now every potential employer looks at situations like the air traffic contollers, and knows they have the govt's backing. maybe there ought to be a cap on the amount of profits anyone can make, that way the money is distributed more equally. and not some company C.E.O making 20 to 40 million a year, while the everyday joes that work for him make 40,000 a year. does that really seem fair to anyone?

When that happens, the employer's budget goes out of whack, and he either has to adjust his hiring down, or make up the cost for the higher wage into the price of the product or service he offers.

That's pretty much why outsourcing is so popular. The governement is hands off on the international market (relativley speaking), and that kind of min wage is unregulated.

I'm sensing a strong conservative vibe to your posts (which I have no problem with), and would like to ask you what ultimatley is the goal of an economy? Are you an advocate for the trickle down theory?

Are you trying to have psuedo slaves making a buck fifty and hour struggling to raise kids, only to have the cycle repeat itself? What do you think will happen to crime in the cities when the governent is "hands off" the buisness aspect of the economy? There are so many variables to be considered.

We need to work on increasing resources for social programs intended to provide the pathways for those who have the desire to get out of poverty throught hard work. Will there be poor people? of course... but there isn't enough being done at the moment.

You can't agree that the statis quo is acceptable... there needs to be alot more done socially both here, and over-seas.

I refuse to accept the abuse of the less fortunate at the cost of a bunch of rich guys. That's garbage.

I refuse to accept the abuse of the less fortunate at the cost of a bunch of rich guys. That's garbage.
for someone so young, this is a very bold statement. i agree. just like they say, the rich get richer.....

My main contention is that petitioning the government for a higher minimum wage is asking for government assistance.

...this is a ridiculous statement.

What's ridiculous about it? If someone calls for an increase in the federal minimum wage, which is a federal law, how is that NOT assistance from the government?

"...at any place of employment, a standard raise, as long as the company does well, is expected, yearly. when is the last time you went without a raise?"

A private employer has no legal obligation under the law to give anyone a raise. If the employees don't like their wages, or if their employer refuses to give them a raise, then they will seek other jobs -- and that employer will lose workers.

"why penalize the people that are willing to work these jobs? ... i do not want people to get too comfortable in these jobs, but they should be able to survive, also..."

If you think people should be able to survive, you have every right to give them all the money you want. But you have no right to force me or any employer to pay them higher than they are worth.

if the govt wouldn't have interfered in the first place, employers would be willing to be honest with people, and negotiations. now every potential employer looks at situations like the air traffic contollers, and knows they have the govt's backing. maybe there ought to be a cap on the amount of profits anyone can make, that way the money is distributed more equally. and not some company C.E.O making 20 to 40 million a year, while the everyday joes that work for him make 40,000 a year. does that really seem fair to anyone?

Money should be distributed equally?

Let me ask you this: Should a landscaper who cuts grass make as much as a brain surgeon?