Inequality In U.S. Is Scarily High, Rising (INFOGRAPHIC)

[cawacko]

Lol, deals? Is it like Costco, the more you buy the more you save?

Haha. I shouldn't have said deals I should have said free drinks. Now that I think about it I end up tipping them more because they give me the free drinks so it ends up costing about the same.

 

[Phantasmal]

total shocker

Lol, SF doesn't even need to be drunk, that's why he is shocked!

 

[Phantasmal]

At least I have the "drunken" part as an excuse. You're just an asshole.

You eat me


Freudian slip, lol, beat, beat me, lol

 

[tekkychick]

That is the problem with liberals like desh, they think throwing money at something solves the problem. It doesn't.

Actually, when you're making minimum wage, throwing money at them WILL help. It will get them a little breathing room.

Is it perfect? no. But it helps.

Maybe those CEOs who are earning 10s of millions of dollars can earn a little less so they can pay their lowest-wage employees a bit more.

 

[Cancel 2016.11]

Rana you need to edit that post!

 

[tekkychick]

yes... you think by raising it $1 or $2 it will somehow alleviate the problem. But the problem is not in what they earn, but in what they know.

And how are they supposed to learn more, working at minimum wage? they maybe have to work a couple jobs so they don't have time to go to school; they can't afford school.

Are you saying we should provide free college educations or vocational tech training to anyone making minimum wage? COOL!

 

[evince]

40. In the span of one week last year I turned 40 and got married.

how many times have you been married?

 

[tekkychick]

I find it's a lot cheaper to drink at home than in a bar; avoid the whole drunk driving problem, the getting kicked off water taxi problem, etc. too.

 

[evince]

yes... you think by raising it $1 or $2 it will somehow alleviate the problem. But the problem is not in what they earn, but in what they know.

yes it is what they earn.

ask them.


a person working a 40 hour week should be able to live modestly.


they should be compensated enough to survive.


otherwise your society isn't living up to a basic human standard

 

[Cancel 2016.2]

Actually, when you're making minimum wage, throwing money at them WILL help. It will get them a little breathing room.

Is it perfect? no. But it helps.

Maybe those CEOs who are earning 10s of millions of dollars can earn a little less so they can pay their lowest-wage employees a bit more.

No, it won't. Because the majority of those on minimum wage are not primary income earners. Nor are they typically at poverty levels. When you add in the fact that costs of goods/services will increase as a result, you are only providing a temporary stop gap for the few that are primary income earners and in turn are screwing over everyone with higher inflation.

 

[cawacko]

how many times have you been married?

First time. Had two long-term relationships prior where the girl wanted to get married but something didn't feel right to me so I decided to wait. As everything has played out I'm very happy I did.

 

[evince]

I find it's a lot cheaper to drink at home than in a bar; avoid the whole drunk driving problem, the getting kicked off water taxi problem, etc. too.

I rarely drink anymore.

I prefer pot.

you can get stoned and in a couple of hours drive fine.


no hang overs

 

[Cancel 2016.2]

yes it is what they earn.

No desh, it is not. It is the fact that they don't have the skill set to get a better paying job.

ask them.

who? the teenagers?

a person working a 40 hour week should be able to live modestly.

Not on minimum wage. Minimum wage is not designed for that. Minimum wage is designed for those with no skills.

they should be compensated enough to survive.
otherwise your society isn't living up to a basic human standard

That is pure nonsense. But I will humor you. What is 'enough to survive'? What do you think they should be able to afford on minimum wage?

 

[evince]

First time. Had two long-term relationships prior where the girl wanted to get married but something didn't feel right to me so I decided to wait. As everything has played out I'm very happy I did.

good for you.

 

[cawacko]

I find it's a lot cheaper to drink at home than in a bar; avoid the whole drunk driving problem, the getting kicked off water taxi problem, etc. too.

You're definitely right about the first part. It's weird though, I don't drink at home. For me I like the action and activity that goes on at a bar. I like being around people and I like talking to friends and even random strangers.

Being in SF I either walk or take a cab so driving is never a consideration for me.

 

[Annie]

Again, very few 'families' are headed by one minimum wage earner. Desh tried to shrug off all the safeguards there are for those few, not to mention the many more above minimum wage, without even checking out the link. Thus here's the info from the government:

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2011.htm

Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2011

In 2011, 73.9 million American workers age 16 and over were paid at hourly rates, representing 59.1 percent of all wage and salary workers.1 Among those paid by the hour, 1.7 million earned exactly the prevailing Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 2.2 million had wages below the minimum.2 Together, these 3.8 million workers with wages at or below the Federal minimum made up 5.2 percent of all hourly-paid workers. Tables 1 through 10 present data on a wide array of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for hourly-paid workers earning at or below the Federal minimum wage. The following are some highlights from the 2011 data.

* Minimum wage workers tend to be young. Although workers under age 25 represented only about one-fifth of hourly-paid workers, they made up about half of those paid the Federal minimum wage or less. Among employed teenagers paid by the hour, about 23 percent earned the minimum wage or less, compared with about 3 percent of workers age 25 and over. (See table 1 and table 7.)

* About 6 percent of women paid hourly rates had wages at or below the prevailing Federal minimum, compared with about 4 percent of men. (See table 1.)

* About 5 percent of White hourly-paid workers earned the Federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 6 percent of Blacks and about 3 percent of Asians. Among hourly-paid workers of Hispanic ethnicity, about 5 percent earned the minimum wage or less. (See table 1.)

* Among hourly-paid workers age 16 and over, about 11 percent of those who had less than a high school diploma earned the Federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 5 percent of those who had a high school diploma (with no college) and about 2 percent of college graduates. (See table 6.)

* Never-married workers, who tend to be young, were more likely than married workers to earn the Federal minimum wage or less (about 9 percent versus about 2 percent). (See table 8.)

* Part-time workers (persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week) were more likely than full-time workers to be paid the Federal minimum wage or less (about 13 percent versus about 2 percent). (See table 1 and table 9.)

* By major occupational group, the highest proportion of hourly-paid workers earning at or below the Federal minimum wage was in service occupations, at 13 percent. About 6 in 10 workers earning the minimum wage or less in 2011 were employed in service occupations, mostly in food preparation and serving related jobs. (See table 4.)

* The industry with the highest proportion of workers with hourly wages at or below the Federal minimum wage was leisure and hospitality (22 percent). About one-half of all workers paid at or below the Federal minimum wage were employed in this industry, primarily in restaurants and other food services. For many of these workers, tips and commissions supplement the hourly wages received. (See table 5.)

* The states with the highest proportions of hourly-paid workers earning at or below the Federal minimum wage were Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas (all between 8 and 10 percent). The states with the lowest percentage of workers earning at or below the Federal minimum wage were Oregon, California, Washington, and Alaska (all under 2 percent). It should be noted that some states have minimum wage laws establishing standards that exceed the Federal minimum wage. (See table 2 and table 3.)

* The proportion of hourly-paid workers earning the prevailing Federal minimum wage or less declined from 6.0 percent in 2010 to 5.2 percent in 2011. This remains well below the figure of 13.4 percent in 1979, when data were first collected on a regular basis. (See table 10.)

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These data on minimum wage earners are derived from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly nationwide survey of households. Data in this summary are 2011 annual averages.

1 Data are for wage and salary workers age 16 and over and refer to earnings on a person's sole or principal job. Hourly earnings for hourly-paid workers do not include overtime pay, commissions, or tips received. All self-employed persons are excluded whether or not their businesses are incorporated.

2 The presence of a sizable number of workers with wages below the Federal minimum does not necessarily indicate violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as there are exemptions to the minimum wage provisions of the law. The estimates of the numbers of minimum and subminimum wage workers presented in the accompanying tables pertain to workers paid at hourly rates; salaried and other non-hourly workers are excluded. As such, the actual number of workers with earnings at or below the prevailing Federal minimum is undoubtedly understated. Research has shown that a relatively small number and share of salaried workers and others not paid by the hour have earnings that, when translated into hourly rates, are at or below the minimum wage. However, BLS does not routinely estimate hourly earnings for non-hourly workers because of data concerns that arise in producing these estimates.

Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2011, Tables 1 - 10

 

[iolo]

Again, very few 'families' are headed by one minimum wage earner. Desh tried to shrug off all the safeguards there are for those few, not to mention the many more above minimum wage, without even checking out the link. Thus here's the info from the government:

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2011.htm

Rubbish. We have now enough for everyone to live well, this established by our own work, Only the greed of rich morons stands in the way.

 

[evince]

starving babies is normal.

you heard it from annie

 

[Cancel 2016.11]

starving babies is normal.

you heard it from annie

I don't think much of her posts or ideas, but she has nice hair. My hair has gotten so long, I think about cutting it into a similar style sometimes. Very striking.

 

[canceled.2021.1]

Actually, when you're making minimum wage, throwing money at them WILL help. It will get them a little breathing room.

Is it perfect? no. But it helps.

Maybe those CEOs who are earning 10s of millions of dollars can earn a little less so they can pay their lowest-wage employees a bit more.

It must make you feel very noble to call for a raise in their income to just barely below the 2013 poverty guidelines as I pointed out earlier. Your generosity and compassion is overflowing.

You say "Is it perfect,? no". Then why not propose something closer to perfect? Why only nibble around the edges? Could it be that you know deep down it is a failed policy? Or could it be that you guys really like this issue so you never really want to fix it, you just want to come back and complain about it ever other year or so.

And you could cut every CEOs job to $1 a year and it wouldn't scratch the surface. BTW, are you willing to take a $3/hour pay cut so some minimum wage person can get a raise?