The thing about low-wage workers is that, unlike the wealthy, they spend much of their available money because they have to, often in their surrounding communities. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. Raising the minimum wage would, by and large, be an economic boon.
The irony of having a leader of our nation that values money above ALL else, and a discussion of our minimum wage that no one could subsit on! This subject always reminds me of Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" written in 1996, published in 2001. A journalist with a PhD in cell biology, she went undercover to work in several minimum wage jobs. I recommend this fascinating read--I never forgot it. The impossibility of surviving on a minumum wage makes it no surprize that Arkansas's governor advocates that young children be allowed to work full-time!
The poor are too poor to have the resources to protect their money. Therefore they have to spend most of it on daily living expenses. And if you have a checking account and your bank does you dirty in processing the checks you wrote on your anticipated paycheck by applying the debits first then the credit from your check even though each item was received the same day, you're in trouble before you know it.
The bank action puts you in the negative and exposes you to fees that now reduce your small balance by another $35. Then your landlord hits you with a $35 NSF fee and the parking ticket you paid to the city at the very last moment before your car became boot-eligible bounces generating another $35 NSF fee. That's $105 in fees which created that negative balance. Your bank charges a $5 daily overdraft fee while in the meantime you're cashing your checks at the currency exchange because if you deposit the check in your account now, they'll take the fees and you won't have enough to live on until the next check. You wouldn't even be able to get to work, so you persevere.
After 3 months of begging, borrowing, voluteering for extra duties, etc you finally got yourself in some type of financial order but upon checking with your bank, you find that you don't owe $450 in overdraft fees as anticipated. You owe closer to $1,500 because of interest and other penalties.
After briefly contemplating suicide you come up with an idea. You don't try this at the branch in your neighborhood because... well you know, but it might work in a more affluent neighborhood.
So you go to a north side branch, approach the branch manager and tell them the whole tale leaving nothing out, basically begging for mercy. And they take pity on you. They can smell your desperation as well as your intent. All you need in one fucking break PLEASE!!!!
This country conspires to punish people for the crime of not being born rich or failing to secure the correct combination of skills and luck to become rich. After all of the events you described, if the person in question has the unmitigated gall to get evicted from their apartment, because the fees from the landlord's NSF fee and back rent penalties are insurmountable, they're now homeless. Should they make the damnable mistake of living in the tent they used for camping trips in their local park, they'll be arrested; SCOTUS ruled that cities can enforce bans on public spaces. America: by the rich, of the rich and for the rich.
All true. I came close or rather actually was. A kind ex let me sleep on her couch in exchange for cooking, cleaning and when I finally found that awful warehouse job paying minimum wage (after having been successfully self-employed as a professional voice actor for over 12 years thus ineligible for unemployment), she only required a nominal rent until I got back on my feet. This was late 2009. I was squared away by early 2011. That was still far too long.
Buckle up. We're not ceding the controls of this vehicle yet, and you're not wrong that it'll continue from to swerve side to side, as our side and theirs wrestles for control of the wheel.
I’m concerned about the “no tax on tips” proposal. What would stop a lobbyist and others from being paid a low wage, but an enormous “tip” for their work. Thereby lowering their taxable income immensely?
Bucking the trend, Costco pays a living wage and gives benefits. Ever noticed how happy the employees are? They’ll jump to help you. I once made a snarky remark about Costco in the checkout line and the cashier and bagger immediately corrected me about how well they’re treated.
anyone remember the old series "30 Days" by Morgan Spurlock? his first episode was about how he and his then GF tried to live for 30 days on the federal minimum wage.
like his initial foray, "SuperSize Me", things did not go well.
What can I say about this issue that hasn't already been said? The government of the United States is increasingly attempting to oppress its people. We are not exceptional. An exceptional nation would make sure that its weakest were put first for housing and health. An exceptional nation would create equity around education so that all of its children have a chance to rise. An exceptional nation keeps itself honest, clean and strikes the pose of a leader because it is a leader.
We are a nation of dog eat dog, we have lost our sense of pride in being American, we have completely turned our worshipful eye toward the wealthy and not the holy. Our children are overweight and unhappy; our ability to love who we want is dwindling to who is appropriate; our men are confused, following fad after fad on what it means to be a man. We have more guns than people and turn a jaundiced eye away from the slaughter of our children by children in our schools. But most of all, we elected Donald Trump president.
When they talk of "good Germans" of WWII, they mean those who ignored the removal of their neighbors in the night, who went along to get along when they laws were suddenly changed by a crackpot's whim, who were led into another awful war only a generation after losing millions of young men. Who are those good Germans? Are we now the good Germans? Or are we (as I believe we will be known) the "stupid Americans?"
Sorry but this is how I feel today and most days these days.
facts not opinions. Valerie thanks for notice on book “Nickel and Dimed “ and Robert the info on early Presidents is a fact but needs
additional note only Jackson
never questioned slavery. The
others did change their minds.
Morally wrong! If history teaches us anything ..people can change better for it. Those that don’t leave a stain on history that can never be erased. Thanks!
In 1990, I made a $3/hour tipped wage delivering pizzas and, when not out on a run, doing prep work. This was later raised to $3.50. Which today would be $8.56--when the federal tipped wage is now only $2.13. Which is insane.
Minimum wage was $0.25 in 1938 and if kept up with inflation should be $8.33 in 2025. Federal minimum wage in 2025 is $7.25. The federal minimum wage should be $15.38 and adjusted for inflation every year. A $25 per hour adjusted each year for inflation will support one person in the U.S. Higher in high price areas. Citizens will just have to accept higher prices reflective of the minimum wage. An hourly wage that a single person can live independently on will encourage citizens to work. Universal single payer health insurance will allow citizens to work all jobs and live independently. The Trump administration has said, regarding higher tariffs, that people should not expect the things they buy to be cheap at the cost of lost jobs to lower wage countries. Well owners of capital should not expect paying a minimum wage that puts workers below the poverty line. The opposition should campaign on a higher minimum wage, affordable health insurance, and subsidized childcare. What the working class needs. We must stop the us versus them and make it us versus the plutocrats/oligarchs.
Bill, you took the long way to say: stop allowing the wealthy to divide the rest of us.
We are all human beings with our needs and wants. We want to love and protect our families and to live a good life. We want friends and community. We want our rights and freedom. Most of us want meaning in our lives. Many of us find meaning in our jobs. Slave wages for a shit job does not make for a happy populace. Actually sounds pretty third world to me.
The real problem here is that Judd is relying on data rather than people's preconceived notions about how lazy other people are by not pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps like the rugged individuals who never got help from anyone ever. You know, people like them, not "those" people.
Let's face it, the Oligarchy wants everything for nothing. In order to get everything, they take it from the rest of us. But as usual they are very short sighted for without the rest of us, there is no profit. If we can't afford to contribute to the economy, the economy will collapse.
It just boggles the brain that these idiots don't see the value in treating everyone with respect by treating them well: good wages and good healthcare. That goes a long way to creating a loyal workforce. We all win !
The company my husband worked for, for 27 yrs went bankrupt due to a bad decision by the president of the company. Imagine that. We moved from IL to TN in 2003, in 2004, the company was folding. We vacationed in AR for decades, so decided to look there for a job. Our daughter is disabled, I've been her caregiver since birth. My husband had 27 yrs experience with the company that was going bankrupt. 27 yrs experience didn't matter in AR. He'd still be a low-level employee, making minimum wage. His 27 yrs impressed the woman at the job center, not the companies. I can't remember all the factories, I remember these 2. I don't know if they're still in business, one was Ranger boats, the other was the Flexsteel plant. I can't imagine working for either company at minimum wage. Then again, it's AR.
The thing about low-wage workers is that, unlike the wealthy, they spend much of their available money because they have to, often in their surrounding communities. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. Raising the minimum wage would, by and large, be an economic boon.
Indeed Joe. Agreed!
The irony of having a leader of our nation that values money above ALL else, and a discussion of our minimum wage that no one could subsit on! This subject always reminds me of Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" written in 1996, published in 2001. A journalist with a PhD in cell biology, she went undercover to work in several minimum wage jobs. I recommend this fascinating read--I never forgot it. The impossibility of surviving on a minumum wage makes it no surprize that Arkansas's governor advocates that young children be allowed to work full-time!
And Valerie, if you recall, that book is all about women and children because those are the most affected by poverty's ugly reach.
That is an amazing book. Unfortunately, Ms. Ehrenreich passed before it could have been updated.
The poor are too poor to have the resources to protect their money. Therefore they have to spend most of it on daily living expenses. And if you have a checking account and your bank does you dirty in processing the checks you wrote on your anticipated paycheck by applying the debits first then the credit from your check even though each item was received the same day, you're in trouble before you know it.
The bank action puts you in the negative and exposes you to fees that now reduce your small balance by another $35. Then your landlord hits you with a $35 NSF fee and the parking ticket you paid to the city at the very last moment before your car became boot-eligible bounces generating another $35 NSF fee. That's $105 in fees which created that negative balance. Your bank charges a $5 daily overdraft fee while in the meantime you're cashing your checks at the currency exchange because if you deposit the check in your account now, they'll take the fees and you won't have enough to live on until the next check. You wouldn't even be able to get to work, so you persevere.
After 3 months of begging, borrowing, voluteering for extra duties, etc you finally got yourself in some type of financial order but upon checking with your bank, you find that you don't owe $450 in overdraft fees as anticipated. You owe closer to $1,500 because of interest and other penalties.
After briefly contemplating suicide you come up with an idea. You don't try this at the branch in your neighborhood because... well you know, but it might work in a more affluent neighborhood.
So you go to a north side branch, approach the branch manager and tell them the whole tale leaving nothing out, basically begging for mercy. And they take pity on you. They can smell your desperation as well as your intent. All you need in one fucking break PLEASE!!!!
Ask me how I know these things.
It's expensive to be poor.
Exactly. when you're poor life seems like a series of blows aimed at your nether regions everytime your attention is elsewhere.
This country conspires to punish people for the crime of not being born rich or failing to secure the correct combination of skills and luck to become rich. After all of the events you described, if the person in question has the unmitigated gall to get evicted from their apartment, because the fees from the landlord's NSF fee and back rent penalties are insurmountable, they're now homeless. Should they make the damnable mistake of living in the tent they used for camping trips in their local park, they'll be arrested; SCOTUS ruled that cities can enforce bans on public spaces. America: by the rich, of the rich and for the rich.
All true. I came close or rather actually was. A kind ex let me sleep on her couch in exchange for cooking, cleaning and when I finally found that awful warehouse job paying minimum wage (after having been successfully self-employed as a professional voice actor for over 12 years thus ineligible for unemployment), she only required a nominal rent until I got back on my feet. This was late 2009. I was squared away by early 2011. That was still far too long.
I'm sorry you went through this and I'm glad you're successfully on the other side of it.
Thanks mister. We both been through some hard times and it appears that the hard times are not over yet, dammit!
Buckle up. We're not ceding the controls of this vehicle yet, and you're not wrong that it'll continue from to swerve side to side, as our side and theirs wrestles for control of the wheel.
I'm not ceding control of this vehicle EVER!!!
I’m concerned about the “no tax on tips” proposal. What would stop a lobbyist and others from being paid a low wage, but an enormous “tip” for their work. Thereby lowering their taxable income immensely?
I immediately thought of that and wondered if somehow borrowing against unrealized assets could somehow be shoehorned into the proposal as well.
Yes, I can envision it opening that, and a lot of other potential loopholes.
Bucking the trend, Costco pays a living wage and gives benefits. Ever noticed how happy the employees are? They’ll jump to help you. I once made a snarky remark about Costco in the checkout line and the cashier and bagger immediately corrected me about how well they’re treated.
Agreed! And the CEO makes a reasonable, not inflated and bloated salary. A great company I am happy to support.
The accompanying photo reminds me that George Washington was an extremely cruel owner of hundreds of slaves.
That made me research the other white men — all white men — immortalized on our currency.
From Jefferson on the two dollar bill on up to Franklin on the 100, with the exception of Lincoln, all were slaveholders.
A good graphic for this article!
anyone remember the old series "30 Days" by Morgan Spurlock? his first episode was about how he and his then GF tried to live for 30 days on the federal minimum wage.
like his initial foray, "SuperSize Me", things did not go well.
What can I say about this issue that hasn't already been said? The government of the United States is increasingly attempting to oppress its people. We are not exceptional. An exceptional nation would make sure that its weakest were put first for housing and health. An exceptional nation would create equity around education so that all of its children have a chance to rise. An exceptional nation keeps itself honest, clean and strikes the pose of a leader because it is a leader.
We are a nation of dog eat dog, we have lost our sense of pride in being American, we have completely turned our worshipful eye toward the wealthy and not the holy. Our children are overweight and unhappy; our ability to love who we want is dwindling to who is appropriate; our men are confused, following fad after fad on what it means to be a man. We have more guns than people and turn a jaundiced eye away from the slaughter of our children by children in our schools. But most of all, we elected Donald Trump president.
When they talk of "good Germans" of WWII, they mean those who ignored the removal of their neighbors in the night, who went along to get along when they laws were suddenly changed by a crackpot's whim, who were led into another awful war only a generation after losing millions of young men. Who are those good Germans? Are we now the good Germans? Or are we (as I believe we will be known) the "stupid Americans?"
Sorry but this is how I feel today and most days these days.
Judd, Great reporting!….
facts not opinions. Valerie thanks for notice on book “Nickel and Dimed “ and Robert the info on early Presidents is a fact but needs
additional note only Jackson
never questioned slavery. The
others did change their minds.
Morally wrong! If history teaches us anything ..people can change better for it. Those that don’t leave a stain on history that can never be erased. Thanks!
In 1990, I made a $3/hour tipped wage delivering pizzas and, when not out on a run, doing prep work. This was later raised to $3.50. Which today would be $8.56--when the federal tipped wage is now only $2.13. Which is insane.
This is precisely as trump, his corporate billionaire backers and his maga congressional sycophants, would have it.
Minimum wage was $0.25 in 1938 and if kept up with inflation should be $8.33 in 2025. Federal minimum wage in 2025 is $7.25. The federal minimum wage should be $15.38 and adjusted for inflation every year. A $25 per hour adjusted each year for inflation will support one person in the U.S. Higher in high price areas. Citizens will just have to accept higher prices reflective of the minimum wage. An hourly wage that a single person can live independently on will encourage citizens to work. Universal single payer health insurance will allow citizens to work all jobs and live independently. The Trump administration has said, regarding higher tariffs, that people should not expect the things they buy to be cheap at the cost of lost jobs to lower wage countries. Well owners of capital should not expect paying a minimum wage that puts workers below the poverty line. The opposition should campaign on a higher minimum wage, affordable health insurance, and subsidized childcare. What the working class needs. We must stop the us versus them and make it us versus the plutocrats/oligarchs.
Bill, you took the long way to say: stop allowing the wealthy to divide the rest of us.
We are all human beings with our needs and wants. We want to love and protect our families and to live a good life. We want friends and community. We want our rights and freedom. Most of us want meaning in our lives. Many of us find meaning in our jobs. Slave wages for a shit job does not make for a happy populace. Actually sounds pretty third world to me.
The real problem here is that Judd is relying on data rather than people's preconceived notions about how lazy other people are by not pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps like the rugged individuals who never got help from anyone ever. You know, people like them, not "those" people.
Let's face it, the Oligarchy wants everything for nothing. In order to get everything, they take it from the rest of us. But as usual they are very short sighted for without the rest of us, there is no profit. If we can't afford to contribute to the economy, the economy will collapse.
It just boggles the brain that these idiots don't see the value in treating everyone with respect by treating them well: good wages and good healthcare. That goes a long way to creating a loyal workforce. We all win !
Truly appalling...they will do anything to keep people poor so they cannot rise above this
To work most efficiently, meaning fat cats filling their pockets with ever last penny, capitalism requires subjugating poor people.
Well, duh, but do we have to line up for the abuse? And if we are old or infirm, can we have a chair while we wait?
The company my husband worked for, for 27 yrs went bankrupt due to a bad decision by the president of the company. Imagine that. We moved from IL to TN in 2003, in 2004, the company was folding. We vacationed in AR for decades, so decided to look there for a job. Our daughter is disabled, I've been her caregiver since birth. My husband had 27 yrs experience with the company that was going bankrupt. 27 yrs experience didn't matter in AR. He'd still be a low-level employee, making minimum wage. His 27 yrs impressed the woman at the job center, not the companies. I can't remember all the factories, I remember these 2. I don't know if they're still in business, one was Ranger boats, the other was the Flexsteel plant. I can't imagine working for either company at minimum wage. Then again, it's AR.