<p>I think everyone over 18 should be paid a living wage, even the hard working people at the 7-11. I also think that when a society has too great a split between the wealthy and the poor that there are market reajustments that sometimes are not as polite as if they were done democratically. Look at the City of Light, see how it burns. </p>
<p>I am always taken back by people who think they are worth $1,000 an hour or a day but who think that other people aren’t worth $15 an hour or $100 a day. People who think they should get a tax reduction for the interest paid on their yacht but who object to tax dollars going to public schools or health care.</p>
<p>Open up a local paper and see the photo of the Fat Cat using $100,000 in tax dollars (aka incentives)to open up a new business that will employ seven or eight people (perhaps for a year or so). See how proud they are, how happy the local government official is to help them.</p>
<p>Compare that to a county that gets more families qualified for food stamps. We know that when people spend food stamps they create numerous grocery and food industry jobs…but where are the smiles…instead the Fat Cats meow…and complain about the “slackers” on the dole.</p>
<p>It is about greed and respect. People who respect other people don’t want them poor, sick. People who are greedy, justify taking too much by painting the poor as slackers who deserve that kind of treatment.</p>
<p>People earn respect. I respect anyone that works no matter what the salary. I also believe those that walk the correct path and earn an education are entitled to earn more than those who screw-off and then want everyone else to fix things for them. Sorry, but my wallet is closed. I worked too hard to get where I am.</p>
<p>If you ever tried to open a business you would know that most people put everything they have on the line and then some. The reality is that there are few government handouts to start a business. Where the *&$@^ do you get some of these ideas about business??</p>
<p>I imagine you are referring to me and my family- since I have been very honest about dropping out of high school- and my husband barely graduating from high school.
From your statements- it appears that since we did not “walk the correct path” then we are unworthy of earning a decent living- of being able to afford housing, no matter how hard we work- because we haven’t been able for whatever reason- to obtain an education.
So what does this say about the thousands of workers who did “earn an education” by which I am assuming that you mean a college degree- who are now working as baristas, as managers at Mcdonalds, as truck drivers, at any number of jobs where they are struggling to scratch out a living for themselves and their families.
Average national income is what- $45,000?
Should a family making the average income be able to afford a place to live without government assistance? should they be able to afford to buy groceries, take their kids to the doctor- to maybe even go to a movie everyonce in a while?
If the average home price is $310,000 but average income is $45,000 what percentage of income should families be allocating for housing?</p>
<p>I have actually owned two companies. My little construction company helped put me into and through Cornell. I had a varying number of employees. They were good workers, I took 10% off the top for my profit from each job and then paid everyone including myself the same wage per hour (don’t worry, I charged for time doing appraisals and paper work.) We all did quite well, I never had trouble finding good help. </p>
<p>I actually know something else about a business…my boss, on my first legal job (had working papers, no longer underage) expected me to earn my 2 cents per minute but would also notice when it was hot outside, so he would give me jobs to do in the walk in refrigerator. Sometimes his wife would bring me lunch… and at the end of the summer when the other boys had quit for their last long weekend. I stayed on and worked extra hours because I didn’t want to leave him stuck on a busy weekend. At the end of the weekend, he gave me my pay check and then he reached into the cash register and gave me 5 $20 bills. We were friends til the day he died. </p>
<p>Hard work, risk taking are important, but when we think that our risks, our work justify us taking so much that others go poor then incentives have turned to greed. The free market is an illusion used by some to justify these inequities in the world. You think poor people don’t work hard or take risks? I talked to a mother of one of my students, her parents died when she was 9 and she was put into a home (in Thailand) that used her as a full time servant so she was not allowed an education, she married a man who took her to the states and now she is trying to get her GED so she could work at a local hospital…very few people work harder than she does, or have put more on the line than she did and yet, when she works she gets paid below a living wage. </p>
<p>Less than 20% of the people in my state can afford a house or condo.</p>
<p>According to the census nearly 60% of CA lives in owner-occupied units.<br>
I used to ride the bus from a poor part of town and most of the school kids were jerks who probably will do nothing with their lives–at least nothing good. See, anecdotes don’t mean much.<br>
The number of successful poor immigrants to the US is enormous including my family.</p>
<p>“I also think that when a society has too great a split between the wealthy and the poor that there are market reajustments that sometimes are not as polite as if they were done democratically. Look at the City of Light, see how it burns.”</p>
<p>Is there really such a close correlation between France and The United States, Mr. B? My understanding has been that France has been set ablaze by a disaffected immigrant population (primarily of North and West African decent), and that their greivances are racial as well as economic. But what is the economic reality of the broad spectrum of French citizenry? Doesn’t France have government paid universal health care–one of the things we lack here in the U.S (is this free health care available to the immigrant population?)? How are taxes levied and used in France? Most U.S. conservatives refer to France as a “socialist state”. Certainly, they seem to be less captitalistic in their economic approach.</p>
<p>I spoke with a local insurance office worker and she said that the Wal-Mart people insisted on the cheapest policy for themselves…not a great deal for workers…but it is a start…so they can fool people into thinking they are addressing the problem.</p>
<p>The tax-free savings accounts are only good for people who have money to save and are in a tax bracket. It is doubtful that many hourly wage earners at Wal-Mart will see a big tax savings on their income. $9.50 an hour times 40 hours time 50 weeks will not see a big tax savings with the before tax savings program.</p>
<p>Poetsheart…God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, fire next time. Remember Watts?</p>
<p>I just had a huge headache with those child care/medical savings accounts on another thread</p>
<p>They don’t tell you that if you put $10,000 into your account and you only have $5,000 of expenses, the “extra” $ 5,000 goes to the company- and you not only dont have access to it anymore- you have to pay tax on it anyway.
You can try appealing- but the company makes the decision- funny who they find in favor of</p>
<p>wow, what a bevy of opinions about walmart, little ole walmart, my idol. I think my point has been made about how this company is being singled out. as another poster said, is McDonald’s, expected to pay their many many employees a decent wage? give them any kind of medical benefits at all? no, they don’t. and the impact that it would make if walmart increased salaries across the board, offered health insurance, (a question which I am still stumped by since I have a walmart employee currrently in my care, and their insurance is great), provided every benefit known. the impact would be that people less fortunate would not be able to eat as well, clothe their families as well, afford essentials as well because walmart would have to substantially raise their prices. then we might as well shop at whole foods, which I personally can’t afford. yes, some of the walmart’s around here are “disgusting” also, but many lower income people are shopping there and getting what they need. let’s talk about companies fooling people. my son came home from a major fast food company with a “health insurance plan”, for which he would have had to pay about a quarter of his paycheck monthly. Being in the business, I read the fine print. The plan covers 3 days in the hospital, to a maximum of $2500 per year. $2500 won’t even cover the time spent in an ER before being admitted for 3 days. This is the plan offered by many companies, believe it or not, and the people buying don’t realize what their “benefits” are, until I have to go in and tell them. To have this much of a conversation about walmart proves my point. and to not have this much of a conversation about Mcdonald’s, Arbys, Burger King, Subway, Kmart, Sears etc etc, is unfair. Even major hospitals who don’t offer good health care plans. why aren’t we attacking them?</p>
<p>Because Wal-Mart is the evil empire–and it might be run by conservatives.
Generally I find WM reasonably clean considering the heavy traffic. Much better than Kmarts were but not so nice as Target.</p>
<p>Next time you are in Wal-Mart, go to the center of the store and look for the fire exit signs…blocked by packages stacked too high ( a danger by itself)</p>
<p>I do expect fast food resturants to pay living wage…</p>
<p>“Poetsheart…God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, fire next time. Remember Watts?”</p>
<p>Mr. B, that off-hand reponse doesn’t even begin to answer my questions concerning the specific correlations between France and the U.S (as they pertain to this discussion). But it would appear that you aren’t really able to do so. Fair enough. But I do have other questions:</p>
<p>Amith1 indicates that $9.50 is the hourly wage paid the average WalMart employee. Can anyone confirm this? Though that’s considerably above minimum wage, it obviously won’t enable a single head-of-household to adequately support his/her family of four. The average WalMart job is a non-skilled, non-manufacturing position. In your opinion, how much per hour constitutes a “living wage”, and doesn’t that vary quite a bit from locality to locality? Obviously, a living wage in Greensboro, NC. would not equal one in San Francisco, CA. Name an hourly pay range, if you would be so kind: $15.00 per hour? $20.00? Is it realistic to expect Walmart, KMart, McDonalds, 7-Eleven, etc. to pay all its employees this living wage without commenserately raising the prices of all their goods and services to off-set this tremendous increase in the cost of doing business? How much more would a loaf of bread, pound of hamburger, or Big Mac cost the average consumer, including for those whom WalMart, Mickey D, 7-Eleven, ect. has now begun to pay this living wage? </p>
<p>Who wouldn’t agree in principle that every worker should be able to earn a living wage? But has this been standard practice in ANY recent Western civilization. Even in good old communist Cuba, the vast majority of people live in abject poverty. Take a look at the economy of North Korea. Think back on the stagnant and depressing Soviet system of employment and the economy it attempted to support. If you can lay out a logical and comprehensive plan that would enable every U.S. company to pay a living wage (plus adequate health benefits) to all its employees, without totally banrupting the American economy, and without compromising our ability to compete in the global economy, I’d be extremely interested in hearing it.</p>
<p>A wage is earned by how productive the job is. If it only contributes $10 an hour to the organization they can’t pay $11 an hour your enjoy your smiling face. Until everyone is willing to spend $5.50 on a Big Mac McD’s won’t be paying $15 an hour. Mr B’s economics are absurd.</p>
<p>A wage or salary is not a reflection of productivity…Look at the fat cats who screw up companies and still earn 200 times what they pay their hard working clerks. There should be a strata of salaries to reflect different talents and skills, but the strata should be compressed with no one earning 100 times their employee’s salaries or wages.</p>
<p>France is a reminder that when you force people to live in substandard housing while others live in opulence markets adjust.</p>
<p>Holman Jenkins’ editorial in the 11/9 Wall Street Journal points out that Wal Mart buys just 3.5% of China’s exports; that the wages, benefits and job security offered by WalMart are better than the mom-and-pop’s, and as good as or better than other large scale retailers. It is only in the union-dominated groceries–where workers have been making 50% more than other retail workers–that Wal Mart is driving out the competition with lower wages, benefits, and PRICES. (Most groceries and grocery workers do not come from China). In about 15 years, WalMart has becaome the nation’s largest food retailer by “using willing American workers to invade the turf of a high-cost domestic labor cartel.” </p>
<p>My view: “Dear WalMart, Thanks for being where I live. . .”
People like shopping at WalMart. People like working at WalMart. It is clean, friendly, and generally has the biggest variety and the lowest prices under one roof. WalMart has made rural areas much more livable by giving people 24/7 access to what they need without having to pay high prices or drive long distances to a bigger city like they used to. Besides food and clothes, I’ve gotten everything from oil changes and tires to eyeglasses and haircuts at WalMart. WalMart is one of the only stores that will go into rural areas… Would you believe that WalMart is considered a “good” job–clean, steady, indoors, safe-- in some places? You can argue with success, but most ordinary people will just keep on shopping at WalMart. Drive farther to pay more for the same products and less efficient service? Only a fool, a rich fool, would do that.</p>
<p>This will be available at Amazon next week (or, you could try finding it at your local mom/pop boutique book store, if you prefer.) If anyone is stumped trying to holiday shop for Mr. B—well, I think it would be perfect.</p>
<p>driver, I am touched by your considerate gift suggestion…if you do get it for me would you please get it in a unionized store that offers benefits…because there are no bargains in a non union shop.</p>
<p>regardless of whether the stores we shop at are unionized or whether they pay enough for their workers to support themselves-
something that I don’t hear being addressed is the pressure that a international or national chain can put on local businesses that are struggling to remain competitive with suppliers, with customers and who are trying to offer choice in their products.
People have said that the small hardware store doesn’t offer the selection that a large chain can and that is true- but I I also see chains controlling what is available- affecting book and music publishers, food producers and controlling choice.
I don’t want my choice controlled.
I don’t want the organic dairy that I buy my milk from forced to change their practices to what Walmart calls organic milk- I don’t want the dairy to have to sell the milk to a local distributor and buy it back so that their employees can deliver it.
<a href=“http://www.keepmilkpriceslow.org/news/news6122005.htm[/url]”>http://www.keepmilkpriceslow.org/news/news6122005.htm</a>
I like being able to buy local products that are produced in smaller quantities than a big box store is interested in.
*“In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from.”