Living Wage

[Tom Paine]

Thread split from here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...8&page=1&pp=20

Please use this thread for discussing the "Living Wage" issue. -Honor&Glory


Which is basically an increased minimum wage with a clause in it to keep it increasing in line with inflation!

[Richard the Lionheart]

Which is basically an increased minimum wage with a clause in it to keep it increasing in line with inflation!

Nah. The minimum wage is always too low no matter what. Even with that, employers still don't raise the minimum wage with inflation. It's rediculous.

So, my law would require that employers pay a living wage that is always adjusted based on inflation.

For example. The U.S. minimum wage is somewhere around $5/hr. A living wage would be around $15/hr.

[Fenris]

For example. The U.S. minimum wage is somewhere around $5/hr. A living wage would be around $15/hr.

Depends for who. A student living at paren'ts home? A monoparental mother?

[Richard the Lionheart]

Depends for who. A student living at paren'ts home? A monoparental mother?

It's the same for everyone. Of course, I'm talking about the people who have to live on their own, not a teenager living at his parent's house who really doesn't need the money to begin with.

[Seleukos]

Nah. The minimum wage is always too low no matter what. Even with that, employers still don't raise the minimum wage with inflation. It's rediculous.

So, my law would require that employers pay a living wage that is always adjusted based on inflation.

For example. The U.S. minimum wage is somewhere around $5/hr. A living wage would be around $15/hr.

If I made $15 an hour I wouldnt have to worry about a thing. I am in Washington and minimum is $7.63 and I am still trying hard to get by. I can only afford rent, gas, and food right now. We dont even have tv here. We cant afford it.

[Richard the Lionheart]

If I made $15 an hour I wouldnt have to worry about a thing. I am in Washington and minimum is $7.63 and I am still trying hard to get by. I can only afford rent, gas, and food right now. We dont even have tv here. We cant afford it.

Exactly. But even you guys have it better in Washington. In California, the minimum wage is $5.15 and the price of housing is just rediculously high. Same thing with gas.

[Lee1026]

Excuse me? 15 bucks a hour? It is possible to live off of far less then that.
It is possible to find lodgin at 500 a month or less. So let us just use 500 as hour figure. That would work out to 6000 a year, or 3 dollars an hour for a person that working 40 hours a week. Transportation would be cheap, because you can always bike to work. Food is also cheap. It is possible to eat for 80 cents a meal if you just eat canned food all day long. That works out to less then 2000 a year, or less then a buck per hour.

Hence, it is possible to live on 5 bucks an hour.

[Fenris]

Excuse me? 15 bucks a hour? It is possible to live off of far less then that.
It is possible to find lodgin at 500 a month or less. So let us just use 500 as hour figure. That would work out to 6000 a year, or 3 dollars an hour for a person that working 40 hours a week. Transportation would be cheap, because you can always bike to work. Food is also cheap. It is possible to eat for 80 cents a meal if you just eat canned food all day long. That works out to less then 2000 a year, or less then a buck per hour.

Hence, it is possible to live on 5 bucks an hour.

If you have nothing but the very strict minimum and you live close enough to go to work on bike. And if you don't have children, and you have to dress with sewed piece of cloth. And actually... it's possible to live with much less, you don't need an appartment after all? Many people can pull it.

[Richard the Lionheart]

Hence, it is possible to live on 5 bucks an hour.

It's not, trust me. I've taken enough Sociology courses to know. :wink:

The housing prices in general are too high in the U.S. compared to people's incomes, especially for the low-wage workers. You also have to count in the cost of food, gas, transportation, child-care, healthcare, etc.

[Fenris]

It's not, trust me. I've taken enough Sociology courses to know. :wink:

That's not an argument but I agree

[Last Roman]

Hence, it is possible to live on 5 bucks an hour.

nope. I know someone who works 2 jobs, whose kids don't live with her, uses her car only once or twice a week, only has basic health and car insurance, eats only 2 meals a day and still can barely pay the bills (and is often behind). 5 bucks is fine for a teenager living at home with their parents, not for a person who has a house and bills

[Sidmen]

Actually the minimum wage was a living wage for the group it was intended for, two parents with one child, for a long time. However, it has been left behind as of late (10 or more years) and is little more than a "pocket money" wage. $15 is a little high IMO, many jobs are not worth that ammount and normally would be avoided instead. The result of such a wage is that money will be devalued after a period of time, and there will be less job creation for that same period of time.

(If everyone has more money, everything will begin to cost more, making the whole law worthless) Truthfully, if I could only make one law (no infinite law making power-laws) I would probibly start a nation wide college fund, removing affirmative action and giving every student that meets a university's requirements a full scolarship. Creating a tax seperate from income taxes (like medicare is now) that funds this program.

[Lee1026]

The housing prices in general are too high in the U.S. compared to people's incomes, especially for the low-wage workers. You also have to count in the cost of food, gas, transportation, child-care, healthcare, etc.

Housing - 500 a month is the figure that I used. That is the housing cost in the bay area, one of the highest cost areas to live in the entire nation. That adds up to 6000 a year.
Food - Assuming that the person is capable of eating canned food all day long, then that would work out to 80 cents a meal, or 1200 a year.
Transportation - I brought a bike for 60 bucks. Assuming our poor dude have to replace it every year, it is still only 60 a year.
Child-care - the Husband works day shifts, the wife works night-shifts. No bady sitter required.
Healthcare- anyone that poor is covered by medicaid. My alternative solution is to open up more med schools, as the law of supply and demand would do its job in making health care much more affordable.

Anyway, it adds up to some 7260 dollars a year, or some 3.6 dollars per hour for a person working a 40 hour a week job. The five dollar figure already leave a huge amount left for other things.

[Tom Paine]

Food - Assuming that the person is capable of eating canned food all day long, then that would work out to 80 cents a meal, or 1200 a year.

a) You cannot healthily live on that; and b) for three people (man, woman, one child), is a 40c tin of food enough for a meal? Because that's what you are working it out to.

[Sidmen]

That person isn't living with the bare minimum, first of all she has a car. That means wasted money on insurance and gas (wether she drives it alot or not). Rid thoes expences and you'll see that she can make all her other payments on time and still have some money left over.

The target for the minimum wage was 2 parents with one kid.

Working 40 hr/week:

+21.5k/year
-7.2k (bare level housing including utilities)
-4k (bare minimum food)
______
10k for everything else

[Farnan]

The only problem with increasing the minimum wage is that it coincidently increases unemployment. As the cost of highering employees increases, businesses will reduce the amount of employees they hire.

[Lee1026]

a) You cannot healthily live on that; and b) for three people (man, woman, one child), is a 40c tin of food enough for a meal? Because that's what you are working it out to.

I have brought canned chill that is 800 calories for 80 cents each. I have also brought canned clam chowder for a even lower price.
Also, I was saying that it would cost 80 cents per adult person per meal, which means that there is 4800 calories per day for the family of 3. Which, assuming a little kid, is enough. Assuming that you need more, then add in 400 calorie Ramen noodles, which is 10 cents each.

[Sétanta]

Food - Assuming that the person is capable of eating canned food all day long, then that would work out to 80 cents a meal, or 1200 a year.

Not possible. Even McDonalds isn't that cheap.

[Tom Paine]

I have brought canned chill that is 800 calories for 80 cents each. I have also brought canned clam chowder for a even lower price.
Also, I was saying that it would cost 80 cents per adult person per meal, which means that there is 4800 calories per day for the family of 3. Which, assuming a little kid, is enough. Assuming that you need more, then add in 400 calorie Ramen noodles, which is 10 cents each.

So, you got that. Now survive the scurvy and so on from vitamin deficiencies, and other matters like that.

Carach, I was thinking of the physically unfit (I don't mean overweight, I mean asthmatic, and so on)

[Carach]

Carach, what about those who normally wouldn't even be let into the army under normal circumstances?

obviously theres other jobs they can fill elsewhere, its not 'unlimited' so to speak.

nutty people cant be allowed into the army of course heh