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talkpoliticsThis post got me thinking.
I am firmly in favor of:
A) A higher minimum wage in the whole US, and my home state of NY
B) Honesty in politics
While the OP I linked to is not exactly dishonest, it's not exactly honest either.
And this is not to put flak upon the poster there, but it's an example of political rhetoric that is used to leverage one side of a conversation, ignoring nuance.
the graphic in the linked to OP:
1) Doesn't seem to take into account state laws that raise min wage over fed laws
2) Doesn't take into account the vast difference in housing throughout a state
My objection is more with 2 than 1. 1 is easy to take care of, but 2 is not easy.
New York City is WAYYYY more expensive than Rochester or Buffalo, NY; or a large number of other places within the state I could name. Yet, this graphic gives us a number, presumably an average. But that average is way skewed. But how else should they do it? Give us on graphic for NYC and another for the rest of NY State? That wouldn't work either, because then you'd need to break it down for other cities and so on. So what do we do?
We must talk about things in the big picture without getting bogged down in details, otherwise we will have to talk for eons before we can understand what needs to be done. So while I agree that the min wage needs to go up, across the US, I have a problem with the info-graphics created to support that argument. They lack nuance, and as such, are deceiving. Even if they don't mean to be, and are honestly doing the best they can to compile and sort the data, the inevitability of misleading data is going to doom us all.
That said.
Happy saint patty's day.
Was I drunk when I wrote this? You decide.
I am firmly in favor of:
A) A higher minimum wage in the whole US, and my home state of NY
B) Honesty in politics
While the OP I linked to is not exactly dishonest, it's not exactly honest either.
And this is not to put flak upon the poster there, but it's an example of political rhetoric that is used to leverage one side of a conversation, ignoring nuance.
the graphic in the linked to OP:
1) Doesn't seem to take into account state laws that raise min wage over fed laws
2) Doesn't take into account the vast difference in housing throughout a state
My objection is more with 2 than 1. 1 is easy to take care of, but 2 is not easy.
New York City is WAYYYY more expensive than Rochester or Buffalo, NY; or a large number of other places within the state I could name. Yet, this graphic gives us a number, presumably an average. But that average is way skewed. But how else should they do it? Give us on graphic for NYC and another for the rest of NY State? That wouldn't work either, because then you'd need to break it down for other cities and so on. So what do we do?
We must talk about things in the big picture without getting bogged down in details, otherwise we will have to talk for eons before we can understand what needs to be done. So while I agree that the min wage needs to go up, across the US, I have a problem with the info-graphics created to support that argument. They lack nuance, and as such, are deceiving. Even if they don't mean to be, and are honestly doing the best they can to compile and sort the data, the inevitability of misleading data is going to doom us all.
That said.
Happy saint patty's day.
Was I drunk when I wrote this? You decide.
(no subject)
Date: 18/3/12 18:29 (UTC)You speak as if it's an option. If labor costs go up, you either bring in more money or cut expenses. Cutting expenses is immediate. Bringing in more money is a crap shoot -- if it wasn't, it would be easy to make money hand-over-fist for no reason whatsoever.
You speak as if every penny that a company has is already spoken for.
Wal-Mart could pay it's employees more, keep it's prices the same, if only they cut how much their CEO's make.
Also, if your provider of item X ups their price, what do you do? The increase in the cost of labor should be viewed the same way. Labor is just as valuable a commodity as the other items you need to run a business.
And yes, I have been a dishwasher. It was my first job outta college, actually. I get my BA and the next day I travel to Fire Island (resort island off Long Island) and worked as a dishwasher for a summer. The pay was 8/hour. It sucked.
(no subject)
Date: 18/3/12 18:37 (UTC)In small business (retail/food especially), the "CEO" is often times not even taking home a paycheck for years so that he can meet payroll and stay open.
Eight bucks an hour for washing dishes? Nice. Not happening in much of America, because most small business haven't reached their tipping point in sales (where making more money is really that, making more instead of costing more), and some never will. But if everyone closed shop that isn't at that paradigm yet, we'd probably have 75% less businesses open.
(no subject)
Date: 18/3/12 18:40 (UTC)The majority of minimum wage employers ARE big-box stores.
(no subject)
Date: 18/3/12 21:35 (UTC)I would have thought it would be manufacturing?
(no subject)
Date: 19/3/12 03:11 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 19/3/12 03:27 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/3/12 23:35 (UTC)