Friday, April 01, 2016

Cappy's Analysis on the $15/Hour Minimum Wage

Their fatness belies two facts:

1.  They aren't starving
2.  The reason they make so low a wage is because they're lazy, not underpaid.


20 comments:

Unknown said...

Worth 1000 words.

Unknown said...

Might not be starving now...

Cash Gorman said...

That's not entirely true. I know people 45+ on minimum wage who have two jobs, working 60 hours a week just to keep a roof over their head and the lights on. Many have been downsized from well paying industrial jobs that simply no longer exist and have taken any job they can get.

I know a half dozen who work for minimum wage at a kiosk store. The one in question pulls in over 1.3 million a year...nobody gets over 6 hours a shift, nobody is hired full time. Their total payroll for the week is less than $800.00. So what you have is two people selling $3000.00+ worth of product a day making less than $40.00 each. So, yeah I think there is a lot room for an increase in the minimum wage in some sectors.

Anonymous said...

The actual minimum wage in every state in the country is quite obviously $0.00/hr. Can't understand why folks don't understand this.

CA3 said...

I disagree with them being completely lazy. If they were truly lazy, they would simply enroll in welfare, commence breeding like rabbits, and just be done with the rat race. What these people are are poorly educated as to how the nations economy works, ignorant of what an increase to minimum wage would mean for their employment prospects at their current skill sets, and greedy. These people are preoccupied with fantasies of what they'll now be able to do with that additional few dollars an hour.

Absolutely none of them are doing the math to the increase in their income taxes. The ones receiving government subsidies aren't considering how their increased income will affect that. None of them are considering that their employers will possibly shutter their businesses or reduce their hours as the weeks leading up to the actual increase kicks in.

Say what you will about the dubious nature of mainstream media coverage in advanced countries, they didn't lie last year when they reported businesses closing and reducing workers hours in the weeks leading up to minimum wage increases in cities all over the country. Nor did they fail to report employees loosing the various other supports employers and the government offered them. I live right across the street from a welfare office building. I'm expecting to see the lines grow very soon, especially with working women.

Anonymous said...

I suspect nearly everyone in that photo will soon be replaced with automation, technology, and "self-service" kiosks. No need for an army of over-paid under-employables when the customer does their jobs for free. That trend started slowly decades ago with service stations and ATMs, I see it accelerating throughout the service industry. The writing's on the wall but no one in that crowd sees it, they're too busy fiddling with their sale fawns. Welcome to the 21st century.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I hate the state of New York

Anonymous said...

Neighboring states better prepare for the underclass migration as the economically marginal are forced out of these "elite" states. Stupid conservatives won't raise the minimum wage in response to keep them moving elsewhere. Evil beats stupid this time.

Anonymous said...

Nearly every one of them also has an iPhone

Anonymous said...

Their smiles will evaporate when they realize that the cost of their Chipotle burrito also rises to an unrealistic, outlandish figure.

sth_txs said...

"Stupid conservatives won't raise the minimum wage in response to keep them moving elsewhere. "

Really? Show me where minimum wage increases led to an increase in employment? Charts, graphs, data please. And in liberal metro areas and states.

Also, what companies have you started that pays a 'living' wage? Perhaps you and other liberals part of the problem.

I have to agree with the poster above. I see many older people working cashier and waitering jobs. I don't think they are lazy or causing problems for society. The higher paying jobs are simply not there, even if you have an education.

The core component that needs fixing is the money system. A free market commodity backed one would be of help to everyone.

Faithless Cynic said...

Another death blow for small business. I am sooo effing glad I will never hire an employee for my small business.

If you need anything from a mom n pop store, best to buy it now :-(

Enjoy that freaking decline.

Mark Matis said...

I hate to break this to you, Brett Caron, but the Big Craphole is not the same as the State of New York. Once you get away from the sewer, the rest is pretty damn fine. Of course, you do have Albany, but that is nothing more than a pustule that burst off from the City.

Unknown said...

Well... you don't know the whole story. Maybe they were starving so much they had to eat their family members.

heresolong said...

Nice try, Cash. The average minimum wage worker is a high school student or entry level worker, only works at minimum wage for less than six months before learning enough skills to move up, and isn't supporting anyone. Your anecdotal evidence doesn't prove anything. Workers make minimum wage because they aren't producing enough to earn more, regardless of your alleged examples. When the government decides how much a worker is worth, regardless of their productivity, the only thing that happens in real life is that businesses figure out ways to higher fewer workers because they can't afford to keep the ones they have. Case in point, fast food restaurants are looking into automating their production. Fewer low skilled workers gaining entry level experience, fewer young people learning how to do what it takes to keep and succeed at a job.

Joanne Jacobs said...

In California, most minimum-wage workers are poorly educated Mexican immigrants, who tend to work very hard, and young people living with parents. The rising minimum wage will destroy many entry-level jobs -- automation will accelerate -- making it hard for less-educated people to gain work experience.

Unknown said...

Little does Mark Matis know I live in upstate, not NYC like he assumes. Yes the scenery is beautiful, but the politics are scummy at best.

Mark Matis said...

The politics may indeed be scummy, as they are in EVERY state in the West. But the majority of the people are not. They may be "rustic". But by and large they are not "scummy".

The Big Craphole, on the other hand...

Tony Trucano said...

How much inflation do you anticipate?