The Cruelty of the $15 Minimum Wage

Income is not the determiner of poverty, expenditure is. We live in the First World.

 

No when resources are pooled, and not when considered against a future lifetime of far lower costs.

 

Do you know what government Union pensions are? That's where your tax dollars are going

 

The cost of college has been outpacing wage growth for decades. College is unattainable for those unwilling to contribute to the student debt crisis.
https://www.valuepenguin.com/student-loans/average-cost-of-college

 

Nope. Work on you comprehension skills. Thank you.

 

You’re looking to dig pretty deep considering you won’t even name the country you’re from.

 

Tax dollars go to fund many programs and projects. What percentage of California tax dollars pay government pensions?

 

Initial cost is a high hurdle for most. Savings after a large investment don’t always play a role.
Why do you advocate forcing the poor from their homes and cities?

 

So a dollar a day, to be hyperbolic, would not be the wages of one living in poverty?

 

They shouldn't work for an employer. They should provide their services directly the consumers and keep 100% of their labor value.

 

They should sell their labor value directly to consumers, and then they would be able to keep 100% of the proceeds.

 

Already addressed.

 

You talked about people making minimum wage. I'm talking about them abandoning working for someone else and working for themselves. That way they keep 100% of their labor value.

 

Agreed.

Buy whole staples in bulk. Rice, beans, and oil. These will provide all the macros one needs to thrive. Buy sprout seeds in bulk and produce healthy radish, mustard, clover, alfalfa, mung bean, and lentil sprouts. These will provide all the fresh greens one needs to survive and thrive. Buy a cheap multi vitamin/mineral. These are insurance.

Form cooperatives with their neighbors to share childcare duties. It takes a village.

Shop at thrift stores and Salvation Army for gently used clothing.

Rent the smallest possible living space, and, where possible, double, triple, or quadruple up with other families.

Don't buy fast food, prepared food, Netflix, iPhones, alcohol, cigarettes, or anything else that isn't necessary.

Identify the next goal towards improving their human capital and work on that to the exclusion of leisure activities so they can improve their living standards as quickly as possible.

 

Not at all. Check the cost of a solid STEM degree (medicine, for example), against the lifetime income it produces. Still a bargain.

Unless you think kids are so stupid that they don't realise an Arts degree will be impossible to pay off (since it rarely secures well paid work), then you have to accept that they've choosen the poverty which will result. Your call. Are you saying they're that stupid? Or will you own that it's a choice?

 

I'm reading between the lines. And the implication is clear.

 

Nice obfuscation, but I'd like to know where your money went .. please. If you don't want to reveal your own pecadillos, then give me an overview of a generic life. Because I know people who've done the same as you (sometimes three minimum wage jobs), who ended up wealthy.

 

Initial cost can easily be achieved when resources are pooled, and all discretional spending is halted for a few years. Anyone can do it, if they really want to.

Again with the 'force'. No one is forced to do anything, that's been my point all along remember. I'm the one saying it's all a matter of choice - whereas you're trying to tell us that people are forced to stay in expensive cities, forced to take useless degrees, and forced to waste all their money on fast food and starbucks.

No one is forced to stay in cities they can't afford, and no one is forced to leave them. This is all about choice.

 

Brilliant post, LS. Couldn't possibly agree more - with every single point. That's how it's done. That's the only way it's done, when you're on a low income.

And it's all CHOICES.

 

So long as there remains a viable alternative to buying their products, that remains true. While their is always an alternative to fast food, not so much with cars, computers, medicine, etc. While these things are not as much subject to the inflation and monopolization associated with minimum wage hikes, they're not exempted either.

 

Who, in the first world, earns a dollar a day?

 

All but medicine can be recycled. Second, third, fourth-hand etc. No need to ever buy new.

 

Agree on cars, not on computers. I drive old cars because they're easier to fix myself (and already lost their 'new' value to someone else's poor investment).

I also build my own computers. I have several sitting out in my shop, not because they don't 'work' (they run fine) but they're too far outdated to interface with anything in common use . The software thats compatible with their hardware is no longer supported. In simple terms, they cant be made to understand the language most other computers are using now.

 

Agree on cars. We've never yet bought new, in our entire lives. We always give that privilege to people who like to throw away thousands the minute they drive that shiny new car out of the showroom.

As for computers, we build ours also - from used components, with minor tweaking and upgrades here and there - enough to do what we need to do plus a little extra for gaming.

We have the same phones for years, also. Mine is too old for a multitude of apps, has scratches all over the glass, and I have to search around for batteries (on the rare occassions I need one). But it makes and recieves phone calls, takes bad photos, sends texts messages, and lets me watch stupid YT vids when I'm stuck somewhere without a good book. More than enough

 

I have bought three cars new since 71 but have had many many used cars. A Mazda RX 3 rotary in 71 because my mother would not cosign for a Triumph Spitfire. A 2006 Mazda RX8 rotary just because. Drove it 31K in over 11 years and traded it in for a Mazda 3 hatchback for more utility.

Currently have 4 cars, 3 usable. The Mazda 3, a 2008 FJ Cruiser (used) and a 2008 Prius (used). The one sitting is a 1993 Jeep Cherokee.

OK, I have never had only one car throughout my lifetime.