Now the Tea Party dominated Republicans want to enslave children! Yet they have the audacity to say that violent insurrection is needed against those who oppose them!!! (page 3)

sammielee24

A living wage in the US does not equal a living wage in China.

---------

Never said it did.

A living wage is whatever the amount is that is necessary for one to provide for oneself in the area of housing, food, utilities, medical and transportation.

If that wage is 2 bucks in one country and 20 in another, than that is the going rate...a country can then factor in the exchange rates, taxes, subsidies, market and so on in order to come up with a labor pool that is paid equally across the globe. Bear in mind I said - labor. That way when a corporation cries that labor costs are the reason for leaving one country, that argument is eliminated and one can focus on the real issues as to why a company stays or goes. Those can be addressed outside the labor issue and man can stop being devalued. sammies

darthfader

Berengaria: "So an unskilled worker who breaks his back 8 hours a day for 30 years doesn't deserve a living wage? Gotcha. Most of America's workers are "unskilled". How does lowering minimum wages keep the economy rolling when it's 2/3 consumer spending?"

I think that anyone who works in the SAME unskilled position who gains no advanced knowledge (and exercises it) of their occupational domain deserves "minimum wage".

In my previous example a "can stacker" at the local super market gets paid minimum wage lets say that's $7.50 an hour. He does so well at can stacking that they promote him to back room stacking which requires the use of a pallet jack - he gets a $1.50 raise. He learns over time how to use a fork lift and then get a $3.00 hour raise. After some time, he learns the paperwork so well that heperforms inventory management and orders new stock. He gets another $2.50.

My point being -- anyone working the SAME job for 30 years deserves no more that a cost of living adjustment.

sammielee24

Do you think the US should be the one to impose this on the world? Or the UN?

----------------------

Neither.

Every single country if it cared about the people would band together and demand it for all their citizens. They don't. They won't. People are expendable to leaders...always have been...always will be. sammies

sammielee24

If the principal that undocumented workers are increasing unemployment for American workers is true, so must child labor at a lower wage be also.

------

It's logic.

The same group want to abolish Medicare and raise the Social Security age to 70 or more. Older workers suffer at an extremely high rate from unemployment at every downturn...despite their level of education. You will in fact have older workers trying to find jobs in those motels where the kids are being put to work. A longer period of time expected in the work force, increasing technology, outsourcing, illegal workers and now if you add in children - it's just one more factor in the equation. It's logic. sammies

sammielee24

My point being -- anyone working the SAME job for 30 years deserves no more that a cost of living adjustmen

----

Skilled or unskilled. Doesn't matter. Everyone deserves a living wage. To pay otherwise means you are devaluing the life of a human being..if you expect a person to work 8 hours a day, their wage should be enough for them to live on - regardless of the category of the work being done. The incentive for 4 vacations a year, a Bentley, a mansion - they can increase through education - but a person should be able to work at a job and be able to afford the rent. You get their life - their back - in exchange for paper that allows them to pay for shelter and food. If they cannot pay for shelter and food - basic shelter, food, heat, water, transportation, medical - from the paper you give them after a full day of work and years of service, then you have devalued them as a human being.

I know people today with college education and years of experience in management jobs that haven't worked for years after being laid off. Nobody wants the long term unemployed. They certainly don't want older workers. They tried to get those minimum wage jobs and one finally succeeded - she managed to get work at a resort hotel as a cleaner and was lucky to get that - so she's back to a minimum wage job at age 52, her savings all gone and having endured a forced move. She didn't stay in the same job for years. She was continually educated and paid her own way.

So it isn't a matter of the same job for 30 years - you don't know how long anyone has had that job or what their circumstances are. Nor should you care. The bottom line is that when we pay people so little they cannot even afford to pay for a place to live - we have shown them how uncivilized and how much compassion or empathy we lack as a people.

I would rather a productive employee - regardless of their category or status, be able to afford to live in dignity on a living wage than I would suffer them to live in a car and crap in a public restroom because we refuse to recognize them as capable and able people, a vital part of a strong, healthy and vibrant society..because even though we say we care, we don't show it by paying them less than they need to live within 4 walls with running water. sammies

DaCheech

kurtbethel

It gets worse than that. There are some legislation in the pipeline that would make unpaid national service mandatory. Even if you do not think the feral government should be managing pay rates, certainly even the most die hard Republicans would not be able to defend unpaid conscripted labor for citizens not convicted of any crime. One wonders how much they are willing to grind the populace into poverty.

bluesapphire

Terra Incognita: I think someone who has been deleted and come back on the forum should try to get along better with other posters.
Please be civil and respectful of other posters. There are no need for the insults.

The most insulting poster on this thread has been Farkel.

I find it ironic that many of the people who back no intervention by the "nanny state" government back laws anti marijuana, anti gay rights, anti womens choice ....

darthfader

Sammie:

"" A living wage in the US does not equal a living wage in China." Never said it did. A living wage is whatever the amount is that is necessary for one to provide for oneself in the area of housing, food, utilities, medical and transportation. "

Sorry, you actually said "..a living wage should be instituted all over the world so the playing field is levelled."... I took that to mean income parity.

As long as labor is cheaper in China, there will be no parity. All other factors being the same, it will be cheaper to produce goods and ship them to the US from China.

It used to be that Information Technology labor was so cheap in India, companies could outsource jobs for %10 of the US rates. As those job flowed out, the Indian Market became saturated and their labor rates increased. It's no longer as profitable (and in some cases its not cheaper at all) to oursource jobs to India. The living wages in India havent changed that much in the past 10 years to make up for that effect. It was 90% pure supply and demand (capitalism)...

Terra Incognita

bluesapphire: "The most insulting poster on this thread has been Farkel."

Thank you.

Now the Tea Party dominated Republicans want to enslave children! Yet they have the audacity to say that violent insurrection is needed against those who oppose them!!!

Share this