I love the "through no fault of their own" like they have no control over what happens in their lives. It is like the "rich" forced them to raise a family.
It is irrelevant that they are trying to raise a family on that income. What someone is paid is not determined by the size of their family. That kind of thinking has no basis in rational economic thought. What someone is paid is directly proportional to how easy it is to replace that person.
The reason McDonald's or any other business pays $7.25/hr is because that is what the market will bear. As I posted before, there is a McDonalds in North Dakota that is paying $15/hour. Why? Is the owner that magnanimous? No. It is because that is what the market will bear.
The oil boom (thanks to President Bush) has caused unemployment to drop to 3% and there are plenty of good paying jobs. People don't need to take McDonald's jobs. In order to compete for labor, McDonalds has to pay a competitive rate.
Whether or not someone is trying to raise a family is not the employers concern or problem and should factor ZERO into the wage someone earns.
Here is a thought, now I am just riffing here so bear with me. But, if one cannot afford to have a family, maybe they should wait until they can. I know it is crazy right? Who would ever think of such a thing?
Ever think of how many people already had families started when the decent paying jobs went bye bye? Or when the financial sector collapsed?
You see, I don't think you conservatives understand how large scale economics work. A business owner is only going to make money if...
A. He has someone to do the job for him(besides the self employed, of course)
B. He has customers to purchase his goods or services.
Are you with me so far?
What do you think will happen if a large segment of our population who are employees of other businesses lost their jobs because the owner decided to get greedy and move their operations to a place where they can get labor for pennies on the dollar?
That puts a HUGE burden on the economy. Fewer people with disposable incomes, more people struggling just to make it through the week with food...or the month without getting their utilities turned off.
Then in turn....those same businesses kept their profits in those places...never to return to the United States, the place where those profits were made?
That's called EXTRACTION. And it happens....trillions of dollars every year. These big multi-national comglomerates are extracting the wealth from this country on a large scale.
So....you have more and more people working for less than it costs to live here, and more and more of the profits leaving the country.
So..if the workforce is struggling....eventually, there won't be money to buy those goods and services. You can get a 50" flat screen down to $200 and if it comes down to a flat screen or feeding your family, it isn't going to matter how cheap you make it.
This has nothing to do with "what the market will bear" it has to do with greed at the top and their power to write their own rules through the rigged political system that relies on massive campaign donations to get elected.
