by sammielee24 65 Replies latest jw friends
Minimum wage in the states is conditional to age in a limited sense. The statue allows a 'training wage' for minors and others in certain occupations.
all in all the wage rate is the wage rate... individual states may have some specifics but , again, they are of limited scope.
any of you savvy folks able to find and post any image of the Wage and Hour Poster that must be visible at your workplace?
~Hill
This is what ticks me off about Wal-Mart they are horrible competitor in fact the dont compete the shut down any competition or use local government to get an unfair edge over the competition. In fact when forced to compete fairly in Germany Wal Mart got their clocks cleaned and left.
Also about hiking minimum wage killing economies look to the rest of the free wold they have higher minimum wages and they are doing fine. In fact US companies typically fail in those markets do to the fact hey can't just by off the locals and do what they please like they do here in the US.
Perot's "giant sucking sound" was our work going oversees. The US needs to go back to an semi-isolationist,agraian stance or get back into the business of making STEEL and DURABLE GOODS. Our Economy is about to become 2 guys at McDonalds, selling insurance to each other unless we get it together
The export isue was addressed this past week on the news and according to one economist, the USA has reached the point of no return. It has boxed itself into a position where the use of tarrifs is no longer a real option. The US economy is fueled by consumerism now and not production - the service sector is 70% of the economy. That means that only 30% of the country is able to work outside those industries so unless that number is miraculously increased, you will see the whole country crumble as the standard of living is continually reduced and other countries see their standard of living rise.
I took this answer off the yahoo Q&A site and post it here, only because I think the summarization this person provides is easy to understand - What Gives Currency Its Value - sammieswife.
When the US became an independent country and started issuing its own currency, a dollar was worth about 0.75 ounces of silver, because that is exactly what it was: a silver dollar, which weighs about 0.75 ounces. Obviously, there were other denominations: a 50 cent piece made out of silver, a $5 gold piece, a $10 gold piece, a $20 dollar gold piece (which was one ounce of gold), etc.
In time, people started trusting the coins and the paper money which was issued by certain banks. The way the bank got you to take a piece of paper vs. silver and gold coins was to back the pieces of paper with gold or silver (gold and silver certificates). For example, if you had a paper note for 10 bucks and you found that no one would take it or that there was inflation going on at a fast rate and now the 10 bucks could not buy you as much, in theory, you had the option of taking the note back to the bank that issued the note and get a certain amount of gold or silver.
Trust grew in the paper system.
The Federal Reserve took over issuing the paper money in 1913 when the Federal Reserve banking system started then, and the notes were called Federal Reserve notes. Even then, the Federal Reserve had to back the notes with gold and silver, meaning, after a hundred years or so, Americans were still smart.
In the Great Depression, because of the run on banks, everyone started to ask for gold for their paper notes. FDR put a stop to this really fast, with the Gold Confiscation Act of April 5, 1933. He knew the dollar would be in even worse trouble if he continued to allow gold to be exchanged for pieces of paper.
Thanks to WWII, the US economy heated up like crazy and put an end to the Great Depression once and for all (yes, in the late Thirties the economy was getting a little bit better, but not much until the US got involved in WWII). Again, people's faith grew in paper money and since Americans were getting into their stupid phase, that is, they did not learn from the Great Depression what could happen to paper money in banks (that is, be worthless, a run on banks, etc.), moreover, they did not learn that the government could simply come in with a flick of pen and say that the paper money would no longer be backed by anything, even though right on the paper note it could say "Silver certificate," or "Gold certificate." Backed by the full faith of the US government and crap like that. And I back up my statement of "crap like that" because when the times got tuff, the US government backed out of their agreement with Americans.
As far as FDIC ins., etc. that is an unfunded program, that is, if there was a run on banks, there is not enough FDIC ins. money to pay out. Yes, as long as a bank failed every now and then, no problem. But, FDIC ins. is suppose to protect against a run on banks like in the early Thirties, which with no funding, there is no way FDIC ins. would protect you if there was another run on the banks. Of course, it happened in the Thirties, but can't possibly happen again. And why not, because our government is too responsible now unlike in the Thirties, really?
After WWII, there was the Brentton Woods Agreement, which tied all other currencies to the US dollar and tied the dollar to gold.
Again, as long as everything was fine, no problem, but in the Sixties due to heavy spending and printing of dollars by the US government, the dollar started to lose its value and foreigners started wanting gold vs. the paper dollars. Nixon simply came in with his pen and changed that, and said no more gold for those paper dollars.
Did anybody learn anything again, nope. After the inflation of the Seventies, everything stated to click again, and now for the first time since the beginning of the US, paper notes would not be backed by anything. Currencies all over the world would have their value set in the "open market," just like a stock.
Note: it took Americans about 175 years before they finally allowed the government to issue a coin over 5 cents that was not gold or silver. After 1933, no more gold coins would be minted and in 1964, no more silver coins would be minted.
In 1971, you would have no gold or silver coins and all the paper money would be backed by nothing. Oh, sorry, I guess one could say that the money would still be backed by the "full trust and faith of the US government."
I would like to point, this has only be tested for the last 36 years, meaning, for the first 200 years, the system worked and was tested several times, but that was when the government was limited on how much money they could mint and print. They could only mint in silver and gold, and could only print what they could back by silver and gold. This “new system” of money has only been tested for 36 years, and it has not yet been tested by something like a Civil War, World War, or Great Depression.
After almost 200 years the government had everyone where they wanted them, issuing paper money and clad coins.
No problem right, currencies would be traded on the currency market and that would determine the fair value of any given currency. If a government such as the US would print too many dollars, the dollar value would decline on the open market.
The question was asked, "How dose paper money get its value? Answer, the currency market determines the value of a dollar now.
Great, wrong. Unfortunately, governments control the currencies markets. China wants to keep its products cheap, no problem, just tie your currency to the dollar. Meaning, the dollar as never freely floated in the currency market with the Chinese currency. What about Japan’s Yen, freely traded with the dollar? No, Japan constantly buys dollars to support the dollar.
Before the Euro, no currency had enough liquidity to ever replace the dollar as the reserve currency. Meaning, that the US dollar was not the reserve currency because of its strength as much as it was because no other currency could compete with it. Even now with the Euro, the only competition for the dollar is a currency that is less than 10 years old, moreover, it is a currency that who knows what is going to happen to it, if one of the European countries involved starts to have serious problems with its economy. Even with all the uncertainty with Euros, more and more people are starting to use Euros as their reserve currency.
So we have the free market system setting the value of a US dollar except of course for numerous exceptions, where governments intervene to either strengthen or weaken their currencies.
Already many countries who have tied their currencies to the dollar are starting to have inflation and are being forced to not tie their currency to the dollar anymore, and I am sure the two countries who support the dollar the most: Japan and China, will eventually, be force to let their currencies freely trade, and then the dollar could collapse. Not be worth nothing or at the very least, a heck of a lot less then what it is worth now.
Just to back up that statement. Right now we are in the end of a business cycle. Normally, at the end of a business cycle the dollar is the strongest. For example, at the end of the last business cycle in 2001, the dollar index was at 120 (all time high for the dollar index is 160). Now, when everything is clicking in the US, stock market at all time high, end of the business cycle, where is the dollar index. Close to an all time low of 80.
Definitely, something is going on with the dollar, not to mention that just about everything is going up that is based in dollars. That is, inflation, or the other way to put it, the devaluation in the US dollar.
What gives a currency its value? Nothing anymore, money is paper backed by nothing.
This is what ticks me off about Wal-Mart they are horrible competitor in fact the dont compete the shut down any competition or use local government to get an unfair edge over the competition. In fact when forced to compete fairly in Germany Wal Mart got their clocks cleaned and left.
Also about hiking minimum wage killing economies look to the rest of the free wold they have higher minimum wages and they are doing fine. In fact US companies typically fail in those markets do to the fact hey can't just by off the locals and do what they please like they do here in the US
That statement always makes me chuckle as well. Countries around the world have higher wages and still do very well. In some countries there is no minimum wage and instead the living wage might be set by a collective group of unions and businesses. Other places use a percentage of the median income to determine what a minimum annual/weekly/hourly wage should be to live - so for example if the average median income per person to live in the USA were determined to be $25,000 a year, the minimum hourly wage would then be about $12.00 an hour. sammieswife.
The Bush economic policy is working. Where else is there so many thousands of homes being foreclosed and available with little or no money down. Home at bargain rates that people working for 8 bucks an hour can now grab one for themselves and one to rent out. 8 bucks is plenty. Just turn down the heat a bit this winter. Buy a bit less food-everyone can go on a diet for a while. At that wage, by the time you die, you will have earned almost a million dollars .
So stop complaining. The government tells you that life is good. So you must be wasting your hard earned cash on frivolity.
So stop complaining. The government tells you that life is good. So you must be wasting your hard earned cash on frivolity.
That is the assumption the right always throws out to put the blame on the lower class. That and the their claim welfare is out of control do to fraud, not need. I remember Rush used to hold welfare recipients driving Caddies as a sign of fraud. It's true that some on welfare drive Cadillacs very old run down and worthless Cadillacs they either paid cash for or are still making payments on.
