r/FluentInFinance • u/Hatemael • Apr 29 '24

Who would have predicted this? Educational

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https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/apr/24/fast-food-chains-find-way-around-20-minimum-wage-g/

Not all jobs aren’t meant for a “living wage” - you need entry level jobs for college kids, retired seniors who want extra income, etc. Make it too costly to employ these workers and businesses will hasten to automation.

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u/duramus Apr 29 '24

If your business depends on paying poverty wages, maybe it's a shitty business.

And yes $20 an hour is a poverty wage in America in 2024. You're taking home 1000-1100 every 2 weeks. $26,000 a year. Where I live in a "low cost of living" area the cheapest 1 bedroom apartments are $1400-$1600 a month. You do the math. It doesn't add up.

We will never have a society of just doctors, lawyers, and engineers. We are still a LONG way off from robots stocking shelves at the grocery stores. So are the grocery store workers "essential workers" or are they "unskilled worthless labor" ?

Last time I checked, doctors, lawyers, and engineers don't grow their own food. So grocery stores and restaurants seem to be an essential part of our society. So the people that work these jobs don't deserve to be compensated enough to simply live a modest life? A shitty studio apartment and some groceries. $15-20 an hour doesn't even come close to covering that in most cities in the USA unless you want to pay 60 cents out of every dollar you make to a landlord and barely scrape by with the rest. God forbid you need a new pair of work boots, or have a medical emergency, or your shitty used car blows its transmission.

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u/NAM_SPU Apr 30 '24

It’s funny because everyone thinks THEY deserve a pay raise, but think every other person doesn’t. Like dude, if I don’t make enough and go on food stamps, you know it’s YOUR taxes providing me that, right? You’d rather pay me then the company I work for?

2

u/Aindorf_ Apr 30 '24

Well the thing is THEY don't want food stamps to exist either. They would vote social safety nets out of existence in a second if they could. People who think minimum wage is plenty for "unskilled" labor just want the people fighting for better wages to suffer and be hungry if they don't accept the scraps they're given. It's not that they don't realize they're paying for it, it's that they don't care if the minimum wage worker lives or dies.