Labor Pains In Colorado

Why any bedrooms at all? Why not just have the whole family sleep on the couch? Hell, why even have a bathroom when you could just walk to the gas station and use the shitter there and splash some water on your face to clean up.

Go to a temp agency and find a job for someone with a sporadic work history (thank you layoffs!!), no college (HS dropout perhaps) and no tangible skills and you will find PLENTY of jobs at or barely above minimum wage.

In researching min. wage, I have found that Federal min. wage means dick and states don't necessarily have to follow it. For example: the Federal minimum wage is $7.25, while the minimum wage in GA is a paltry $5.15. Live on that. Sauce

Why would you assume there wasn't? Are families not important enough to consider when calculating living cost that you should only factor in people with no children? It is easier to measure based on at least a 1 child household (which itself is rather rare) which raises the bar for single people with no children, don't you think?

Ahh, right. Because small children should get a job, right?? A worker with no children has just as much disposable income as one with as few as one child? Financially (strictly financially speaking) children are a black hole for income. The only ROI for money spent on children is their well-being and potentially how they will turn out.Secondly, if we ARE considering the income of every member of the family and there ARE children but only, say, one worker, then every child takes away from the income and is a negative integer.

I've been lucky to get jobs that make well over minimum wage, but for some reason or another been in situations where it's not enough (I have a history of poor poor financial decisions, but am clearing that up as of late). Every time it comes up where my significant other at the time should look for a job, we've found that she would have to make substantially more than minimum wage in order to even cover the cost of child care. That's not even factoring in the idea of sending your small child (toddler, infant) to a sitter while both parents work all the time just to get by. Of course, if you absolutely have to do that, then by all means do it. I, personally, would prefer to be strapped for cash than dump my kids off at daycare where they get bounced around (and I have done exactly that).Moreover, I find it disgusting that other people feel they have the ability to dictate what is good for someone else or what other people should be able to afford. There is a saying that is something like "don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes".

I'm going to go ahead and assume you have no family of your own or if you do, you've been fortunate enough to have substantial employment... News flash: there are poor people in the world who are either single PARENT families or have situations that negate the spouse getting a job.See my message 22.Edited by hooah212002, : No reason given.Edited by hooah212002, : No reason given.

I've already explained why that is not always the case. If you aren't going to address anything other than one sentence of my replies, there is no further reason to have this discussion.

They have stopped. Which is why single parent households are rampant.

Companies are more important than people, right? Americans shouldn't expect a living wage so long as they get a wage. Forgive me if I think America is a first world country.

Oh, you mean they prevent companies from being able to pay American workers shit wages.....as if that is a bad thing?Why do you hate American workers so much? Why do you love your corporate overlords more than your fellow man?

That's also assuming they have a family member who will watch the children for free or for a very reasonable cost, what with them both working constantly just to not be on the streets. Sure, they could get jobs that have precisely opposite work hours, but how, exactly, easy is that?I love how everyone gets up in arms about how easy it is to be poor and how there is such a hatred towards the lower class, yet it's the "other guys" at the opposite end of the income spectrum that decide our economy.

I wonder how many of you are well-off white males that live in nice neighborhoods. I'm going to guess all of you. Now, how many of you know someone living at or near poverty? If the answer is "not me", what makes you a judge of how easy it is to be there? Do you have ANY idea what it is like to get OUT of poverty? For most, it is a life long struggle. For many lower income areas, it is near impossible to better yourself. People that grow up in poverty don't have the options that even lower-middle class have. Now factor in the racism that is still rampant and the difficulty to get a good education, and you can see why. Many poverty stricken areas do not have jobs available that make much more than minimum wage, so it's not about "how bad do you want to better yourself", it's about how we treat the lowest members of our society and what options are available to them. Go to one of these neighborhoods and tell me how many banks you see. Now, tell me how many payday loan places do you see.It's easy to sit back in your easy chair in middle america being a white dude with a decent job and you've never had much trouble with money, but there are PLENTY of people out there who struggle just to get themselves or their children fed and clothed.So sure, let's abolish minimum wage and abolish social safety nets so we further hamper those that need it most.

You sure must spend a lot of time at the library then, what with how often you post on the internet, because I certainly hope you aren't going to tell me you do it while you are at work.... i don't mean to sound condescending or rude, but could you point me to where you provided an alternative? It seems as though all you've said is to just get rid of minimum wage. If you've already addressed it and I missed it, I apologize and ask that you point out the message.But let's, for the sake of argument, see what happens with no minimum wage (it could already be argued that there really isn't, as I've already pointed out that not all states have the same min. wage). What stops businesses from paying a mere pittance? All it takes, I imagine, is for one business to start paying a little less, then all the other businesses in the area do the same until the local "minimum wage" is like $4/hr.. What are people with no viable means of transportation to do? With unions on the decline and the state of our public transit, what are the underpriviledged to do when the only job they can get doesn't even pay rent because the employer doesn't offer benefits because he realizes that if he hires "part-time" employees, he doesn't have to provide benefits? He can get the same work done by 2 people working 20 hour weeks cheaper than he did by having 1 employee working a 40 hour week.I sincerely cannot see how minimum wage is a bad thing.

The first line of this reads as follows: Does sufficient housing not constitute living (going back to RAZD's link about ability to afford housing on mimimum wage)? How, exactly, would this system be implemeted? Is it just as the link states: "Eligibility is typically determined by citizenship, a means test and either availability for the labour market or a willingness to perform community services"?If, as you say, it is based on needs, who determines who needs what? So the minimum would be fine for a single person, but once that person has children, they're fucked? How easy is it for a single parent to a) go back to school or b) learn a new trade that produces a viable income? I am a single parent and I'll tell you right now: it ain't goddamed easy.I'll end by saying I still don't quite understand the system that you are suggesting and it sounds an awful lot like socialism (which I don't think is a bad thing, just saying).