The US Politics |OT|

[Baalzamon]

Jumpin said:

jason1637 said:

I feel that the minimum wage should be increased but just not to $15. Maybe like $11 or $12. Fewer hours is a plus for some people but another effect of an increase would be loss of jobs.

I agree with lower minimum wage to no minimum wage to cover friend/family business type work for secondary income earners and teenagers. But the fact that household top-earners pay as little as 11 or 12 USD per hour should be distressingly problematic. It is a symptom of a broken economy. The key part of the solution would be strengthening the worker unions. There's also the technology boom to contend with, you don't want to halt the progress of automation, but at the same time, you don't want the profits to go to capitalist owners of automation.

I'm going to use an age old argument (not necessarily because I FULLY agree with it, but because I want to see how you respond).

A 2 person household working full time (2,080 hours per year), at $12/hour is making $49,920 per year. So are you suggesting this is indicative of a broken economy? Because if 2 earners, at the bare minimum wage, could earn more than the average income in the majority of countries (even developed ones), I'd argue we are FAR from a broken economy, but rather a VERY wealthy economy.

I live in a metropolitan area, and while it isn't California expensive, it is very possible to not only survive, but do perfectly fine on a $50k annual income. My best friend lives on less...and will soon be having a third kid, and does perfectly fine. Has a nice house, saves for retirement, is able to pay for medical issues as they come up, etc.