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[WickedCobra03]

If places like McDonald's can't pay minimum wage then who can? Seems like this is more of an issue with minimum wage in general.

You can survive on minimum wage. But you need a minimum lifestyle. Can't be trying to support a family. If McDonald's is the only job they can get at the moment, then I feel for them. But the issue is not McDonald's, but the fact they cannot get a higher paying job and the reasons for that.

You cannot survive as an individual on minimum wage. If you want me to do the math, we can. But having a rent (1 bedroom), food, a cheap car, minimum utilities, general household supplies, insurance; a minimum wage job will not do. It is gross and these companies, CEO's, managers, ect... should be disgusted with themselves as human beings.

 

[leroidys]

Paying a McDonald's cashier $15 an hour would be insane.

Yes, but as the system stands, these people can only survive from generous government programs (food stamps, tax credits/exemptions, public transport, etc.).

Their wages are actually being heavily supplemented by the government. What it really boils down to is a huge corporate handout. Take away the subsidies, and you would see the dramatic return of labor unions, which is anathema to current corporate leadership.

Meh, if their wages go up, the cost of living will go up with it, it's all proportional, so it won't make a difference in the end.

Short answer : no.

 

[Dead Man]

Costco and home depot aren't selling dollar burgers.

Costco and Home Depot sell big ticket items.

McDonalds serves cheeseburgers.

What the hell am I reading here? What ridiculous replies.

 

[Rubbish King]

You cannot survive as an individual on minimum wage. If you want me to do the math, we can. But having a rent (1 bedroom), food, a cheap car, minimum utilities, general household supplies, insurance; a minimum wage job will not do. It is gross and these companies, CEO's, managers, ect... should be disgusted with themselves as human beings.

I wouldn't say a car is a necessity, if I'm honest I really can't see how you couldn't make live on minimum wage, just have to say goodbye to ALL luxuries such as having a social life, tv, a cell phone, Internet and computers included, it sucks but that's the reality of it

 

[YuriLowell]

I wouldn't say a car is a necessity

You must live in a city.

 

[Entropia]

I think the big problem isn't a "Living wage". Minimum wage should be a "living wage" if the person lives within their means. If they don't, than that's their own fault.

However, this means that other things need to be adjusted to ensure that a minimum wage can be lived off of. Particularly groceries and housing(apartments)

 

[Zhengi]

The problem with your thinking is that it does not work on a macro level. We need someone to work at McDonalds, robots aren't good enough to do the jobs yet and even then who would really trust a robot to make them their food?

I agree that someone has to work at McDonalds, but there just seems to be too many people who need those types of jobs nowadays. I know part of that is due to the recession, but I also think the failure in education has also put many people in poverty. If there is an excess of people willing to work at the minimum wage, then there is no way that businesses will want to pay that living wage.

Best way to accomplish this is to help people gain an education or skill and that requires a change in the education system, imo.

 

[SolarPowered]

Paying a McDonald's cashier $15 an hour would be insane.

The upper echelons of the earning brackets are way more "insane" than paying people a wage they can actually live on.

Meh, if their wages go up, the cost of living will go up with it, it's all proportional, so it won't make a difference in the end.

Eh, the cost of living has gone up way more than wages have if you ask the average person in the US. I don't know about the rest of the world.

 

[B-Dubs]

I wouldn't say a car is a necessity

In a lot of places it is. If you live in NYC then no you don't need a car, but there are very few cities in the US with a mass transit system as good as NYC. Most don't even come close, try getting around Long Island without a car.

I agree that someone has to work at McDonalds, but there just seems to be too many people who need those types of jobs nowadays. I know part of that is due to the recession, but I also think the failure in education has also put many people in poverty. If there is an excess of people willing to work at the minimum wage, then there is no way that businesses will want to pay that living wage.

Best way to accomplish this is to help people gain an education or skill and that requires a change in the education system, imo.

A better skill set for workers won't fix this problem on a macro level. You acknowledge this and then go right back into saying it will fix it. Does our educational system need reform, yes. Does our college system need reform, yes. The fact is though someone needs to work behind that counter and they should be able to live off of that job. I'm not saying they should be able to raise a family of four, but they shouldn't need a second job just to take care of themselves. We all need to admit someone needs to do the boring jobs, the menial jobs, the shit that makes society work. They should be properly compensated.

 

[cheststrongwell]

I wouldn't say a car is a necessity

In most of the country, yes it is.

 

[billy beane]

A lot of people who work in fast food are kids who only work there for spending cash. I mean it sucks for that 52 year old woman, but you can't expect much to come of this. The turn around in fast food employees is already quick and painless for these companies.

 

[LegatoB]

I wouldn't say a car is a necessity

In suburbia? Of course it is, don't play that way.

 

[remnant]

You cannot survive as an individual on minimum wage. If you want me to do the math, we can. But having a rent (1 bedroom), food, a cheap car, minimum utilities, general household supplies, insurance; a minimum wage job will not do. It is gross and these companies, CEO's, managers, ect... should be disgusted with themselves as human beings.

And how exactly would a CEO making less money help these people. If you don't have enough income you need to make more. Not pray that someone somewhere makes less.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

Free market? What free market? Do you mean China?


USA is a mixed market, I'm not exactly sure what country you are thinking of with this "free market"

What does it matter that the U.S. is a mixed economy in the realm of employment opportunities? Labor regulations and policies have very little to do with the overall free employment market, in which workers generally get paid what they are worth. That's why unskilled workers get paid little, whereas professional athletes/actors (as the other poster had brought up) get paid more.

Well if they hired you, it was because you had skill at something. They rejected the person who was unskilled.

Unskilled means you have no additional education or training over any other Average Joe off the street. Companies choose between different unskilled workers all the time to fill positions, it doesn't mean those people had any skills.

 

[Guevara]

If you/your family survive on minimum wage then you don't have health insurance or retirement or adequate savings, meaning the government is on the hook.

People without health insurance go to the emergency room and the local/state government ultimately pays the bill.

People without retirement end up "retiring" on disability, again paid out of the state tax base.

People without savings accounts end up in bankruptcy, often backstopped by federal government guarantees.​

When you don't pay people a living wage that can cover basic insurance, retirement, savings etc, your tax dollars subsidize that position. Companies that pay minimum wage are taking a handout from the American people.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

The upper echelons of the earning brackets are way more "insane" than paying people a wage they can actually live on.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

And it's not even two wrongs. A person who enters orders into a machine by hitting a few buttons and requires no working knowledge of the product they're selling should not make $15 an hour.

I'm not saying they shouldn't try to get more, but their goal is unrealistic.

 

[Rubbish King]

You must live in a city.

The opposite actually, I live in the countryside, having a cheap car will cost more than public transport in the long run, if it's cheap the fuel economy will likely suck, it will be high maintenance also including insurance, do you not have bus and trains which offer annual passes?

 

[Deified Data]

Minimum wage needs to keep up with inflation. It seems like the harder these people work, the less they make. Interesting piece on this on Young Turks last night: http://current.com/shows/the-young-turks/videos/mcdonalds-profits-are-up-130-percent-but-employees-still-make-less-than-8-an-hour

 

[Dead Man]

Two wrongs don't make a right.

And it's not even two wrongs. A person who enters orders into a machine by hitting a few buttons and requires no working knowledge of the product they're selling should not make $15 an hour.

I'm not saying they shouldn't try to get more, but their goal is unrealistic.

Paying a living wage for a job is unrealistic?

 

[TAJ]

You have to buy a membership to go to Costco, just to buy that hotdog that isn't a dollar.

It's $1.50, but it comes with a soda and free refills. And you don't need to show a card to buy it. Some of the food areas are still outside the stores, too.

 

[Rubbish King]

In suburbia? Of course it is, don't play that way.

Isn't suburbia More expensive to live in? I'm not a yank, don't know ow all the cultural gaps

 

[Zoe]

The problem with your thinking is that it does not work on a macro level. We need someone to work at McDonalds, robots aren't good enough to do the jobs yet and even then who would really trust a robot to make them their food?

The people working minimum wage jobs should be part-timers looking to pad their pockets like how it used to be.

 

[cheststrongwell]

The opposite actually, I live in the countryside, having a cheap car will cost more than public transport in the long run, if it's cheap the fuel economy will likely suck, it will be high maintenance also including insurance, do you not have bus and trains which offer annual passes?

A lot of places won't even hire you if you don't have a car.

 

[KingGondo]

And how exactly would a CEO making less money help these people. If you don't have enough income you need to make more. Not pray that someone somewhere makes less.

The point is that these companies can afford to pay their executives massive salaries, make profits hand-over-fist and pay out dividends to their shareholders--but they supposedly can't afford to pay their workers a living wage?

 

[Keru_Shiri]

A lot of these workers are actually skilled and educated, and quite capable of working better jobs, but the economy has left them with few options. I guess you could argue that $7.25/hour is better than $0, but it's hard to take comfort in that when the bills aren't getting paid regardless.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Paying a living wage for a job is unrealistic?

More than doubling their current wage is unrealistic, yes.

 

[YuriLowell]

The opposite actually, I live in the countryside, having a cheap car will cost more than public transport in the long run, if it's cheap the fuel economy will likely suck, it will be high maintenance also including insurance, do you not have bus and trains which offer annual passes?

I live in rural virginia and there is none of that to be had.

That said we have insanely low taxes on just about everything.

The point is that these companies can afford to pay their executives massive salaries, make profits hand-over-fist and pay out dividends to their shareholders--but they supposedly can't afford to pay their workers a living wage?

Its unskilled labor.

 

[AlimNassor]

More or less insane than paying someone millions of dollars a year to be a CEO or professional athlete/actor?

Except being a CEO is far, far, far harder then being a cashier at a Mcdonalds. Also being an Athlete/actor isn't so easy.

 

[WickedCobra03]

Isn't this only an assumption made in the article? What about other factors such as declining graduation rates?

While I do agree that there should be living wages, I also feel like if a person is stuck in a minimum wage job like at McDonalds, that person has to do something else to improve themselves so that they aren't stuck there. Whether that is through education or learning a new skill, no one is better suited to help that person. The opportunities and the resources to help them improve are there.

Okay, so say this person works on average 40-50 hours a week at McD's. A lot of times at these places, you don't have steady hours, or they are quite variable as far as scheduling goes. On top of that, you cannot afford to take even a couple hours a week off of that ~50 hours to dedicate to working on educating yourself, finding another job, ect.

 

[Zoe]

Isn't suburbia More expensive to live in? I'm not a yank, don't know ow all the cultural gaps

There are trade-offs. Suburbia + working out of downtown is the best.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

The point is that these companies can afford to pay their executives massive salaries, make profits hand-over-fist and pay out dividends to their shareholders--but they supposedly can't afford to pay their workers a living wage?

Unskilled workers are fungible. Executives who maximize profit are not.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Except being a CEO is far, far, far harder then being a cashier at a Mcdonalds. Also being an Athlete/actor isn't so easy.

Easy has nothing to do with it as far as athletes or actors go. Stadiums and movie theaters aren't filled with people wanting to see a cashiers, nor do they generate sales through endorsement deals or millions in advertising revenue.

 

[Bgamer90]

What is the average living wage in the US anyway? Talking the bare minimum here needed for rent, food and bills.

Depends on location.

Here in the Buffalo area, a single person would live pretty comfortably making $30,000/year. In other cities that wouldn't get you much at all.

 

[Zoe]

Okay, so say this person works on average 40-50 hours a week at McD's. A lot of times at these places, you don't have steady hours, or they are quite variable as far as scheduling goes. On top of that, you cannot afford to take even a couple hours a week off of that ~50 hours to dedicate to working on educating yourself, finding another job, ect.

I'm sure things have changed a bit in the past few years, but there used to be career paths for people working that much at fast food restaurants and grocery stores and such.

 

[Halvie]

Easy has nothing to do with it as far as athletes or actors go. Stadiums and movie theaters aren't filled with people wanting to see a cashiers, nor do they generate sales through endorsement deals or millions in advertising revenue.

bullshit

 

[Dead Man]

Seems to be an awful lot of 'Because that's what the market says' justification going on in here. I thought we had learned over the last 5 years that the market is not always correct.

 

[Jimothy]

A lot of people who work in fast food are kids who only work there for spending cash. I mean it sucks for that 52 year old woman, but you can't expect much to come of this. The turn around in fast food employees is already quick and painless for these companies.

Not in my experience. I personally saw 10 or so people that couldn't last more than a couple weeks at my last fast food job, and while they were there they fucked up so many orders that it probably cost the store a bunch of money. It takes a couple of months to really get the hang of something as easy as punching in things on a screen and making a burger, as ridiculous as that sounds.

 

[WickedCobra03]

Depends on location.

Here in the Buffalo area, a single person would live pretty comfortably making $30,000/year (or more). In other cities that wouldn't get you much at all.

You are talking about $15/hour now. And 30k a year is just passably getting by at this point with not a lot of expenses other than upkeep. You are not really able to save much money, and retirement is going to be bleak if at all even possible.

Anyone who can justify min. wage set at $7.25 is not making those wages.

 

[Escape Goat]

Screw this equal opportunity bullshit. I want equal outcome.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

bullshit

How is it bullshit?

Athletes and actors are valuable commodities for a number of reasons. Cashiers are not.

 

[jamesinclair]

Paying a McDonald's cashier $15 an hour would be insane.

In Manhattan?

You know that mcdonalds in Manhattan charges $2.39 for a large coke, even though they run "$1 any size drink" ads all the time?

 

[KingGondo]

Its unskilled labor.

If someone is willing to take a job in the dregs of society like working in the fast food industry to support themselves and their family, they should be able to reasonably expect their pay to cover necessities like food, shelter, transportation, and basic medical care.

Except being a CEO is far, far, far harder then being a cashier at a Mcdonalds. Also being an Athlete/actor isn't so easy.

Sure it is, but does that mean the McDonald's CEO should make 850 times what the average worker does (as he did in 2009... and I'm being extremely generous by estimating the average McDonald's gross take-home pay at $20,000/year)? Is his job really 850 times more important and difficult?

We have to get rid of this ruthless shark tank mentality and return it to a basic sense of fairness. In the richest country in the history of the world, if you're willing to work and reasonably apply yourself, you should not be left without enough money to cover the essentials needed to live.

 

[remnant]

The point is that these companies can afford to pay their executives massive salaries, make profits hand-over-fist and pay out dividends to their shareholders--but they supposedly can't afford to pay their workers a living wage?

Restaurants and fast food stores make razor thin margins. Doubling everyone wage will not help the franchise owners cut their checks.

 

[Halvie]

How is it bullshit?

Athletes and actors are valuable commodities for a number of reasons. Cashiers are not.

competitive cashiering is pretty popular in my town

 

[Dead Man]

Restaurants and fast food stores make razor thin margins. Doubling everyone wage will not help the franchise owners cut their checks.

Executive wages are also wages. If they cannot afford wages, everyone should take the hit, not just the people at the bottom of the pile.

 

[Zoe]

Executive wages are also wages. If they cannot afford wages, everyone should take the hit, not just the people at the bottom of the pile.

Would that even make a difference considering most places are franchised?

 

[kame-sennin]

Isn't this only an assumption made in the article?

No. Wall Street lobbies the government for free trade agreements, the government passes said agreements, corporations are then able to ship jobs to countries where workers make less than minimum wage, and the excess profits are sent back to corporations and Wall Street investors. That's where these people's jobs went, and their only recourse was to work at McDonalds.

 

[remnant]

Executive wages are also wages. If they cannot afford wages, everyone should take the hit, not just the people at the bottom of the pile.

Franchise owners are paying more for the labor in their store than the fee they pay to McDonalds corporate. Cutting executive wages won't do shit.

 

[LosDaddie]

WAit....did the Walmart workers strike on BF?

 

[KingGondo]

Restaurants and fast food stores make razor thin margins. Doubling everyone wage will not help the franchise owners cut their checks.

McDonald's made close to $5 billion in profits in 2010.

There has to be a way to get some of that money down to the people who do the grunt work.