In my life, I’ve worked very hard to become less judgmental, and I have had great success. But lately I’ve been seeing this photo show up in my feed
and to those of you who have Liked or Shared it, I want to say this: I am judging you.
I am judging you because you’re sharing propaganda about an issue you don’t even understand. LITERALLY NO ONE, not even those who are on strike themselves, thinks fast food workers should be paid more than soldiers.
But some of us think that LITERALLY EVERYONE deserves a living wage. And if you comment that minimum wage is a living wage, I will judge you so hard, my head will probably ‘splode.
And if you truly believe that raising the minimum wage and paying soldiers more are mutually exclusive prospects, that lifting the bottom doesn’t in turn bring up the middle, I don’t. even. know. where. the hell. to begin.
People know and understand so very, very little about basic economic realities. I included a question about the fast-food workers and the minimum wage on my final exam and it was amazing the ignorance demonstrated by some of my students. One of them referred to a strike as a “day off.” One talked about how the minimum wage had increased dramatically in the last 10 years. Several suggested that it would lead to hyperinflation or that McDonald’s would have to increase the price of their food in order to pay higher wages (apparently they missed the class on the law of supply and demand.) And, of course, underlying much of this is the myth that living in poverty is a choice, and that everyone could get a good, high-paying job if they just decided to do so.
Yes, supply and demand… Increase the price of a product (labor), reduce the demand (jobs) for said product. Yes, McDonalds maybe be able to pay $15 dollars an hour and keep their products at a price point their customers may be willing to spend. But to offset the loss, they may to choose to slow the growth of new franchises in order to keep existing businesses more profitable (less new jobs). Additionally, many small business may go out of business because they can not absorb the higher cost (lost jobs). So while even if those workers would like to continue to work at those jobs, for that pay, the state will not allow it. All the while, the higher price for labor will spark more people willing to work. You end up with more workers and less jobs. Government intervention into the free market disrupts the economic forces of supply and demand. Wouldn’t a better solution be for people to make themselves more valuable to an employer so that the added productivity they bring to a business increases the amount the employer is willing to pay for their services?? The amount of money an employer pays to an employee isn’t proportional to what they “deserve”, it’s proportional to what they are worth to the business.
So you’re saying all people don’t deserve a living wage? If so, I’m done listening to you.
When you buy something do you pay what the seller deserves or what it’s worth to you? You probably don’t spend $500 on a pare of handmade shoes. You probably spend $100 for some shoes made by workers being paid only a few dollars an hour, because that what a pare of shoes is worth to you. Labor is no different. Everyone in this country has the opprotunity to increase their skills and make themselves more valuable to an employer… To move beyond their social class. (No it is not easy, but this liberty is not universal across the world now and was most certainly not the mainstream 300 years ago.). No one should be living off of minimum wage and if they are (for the most part) that is due to choices they have made, ie, not working hard in high school to earn a scholarship, not making use of public libraries to learn new skills (my mom taught herself shorthand to land a job as a secretary), not seeking extra responsibilities at work to learn new skills to advance within a company, or not making use of apprenticeships to learn a new trade. Encouraging people to be more productive will do a lot more for this country than forcing employers to pay a premium for minimal value labor. For those of you that hate large corporations I find it odd that you would support measures that would wipe out their small business competitors. Please, we could argue back and forth on this till we are blue in the face. How about we read some actual books written by those that have studied these topics for decades. Adam Smith and Milton Friedman can make the point much better than me.
“Everyone in this country has the opprotunity to increase their skills and make themselves more valuable to an employer… To move beyond their social class.” False.
Mr. Ford–he of automobile fame– disproved Julia’s point resoundingly. He paid his workers 3x the going wage over the loud objections of virtually everyone in his social class. What happened was that his workers *spent* their money, creating a demand for all kinds of goods, thereby benefiting the entire economy.
And those soldiers? They may get paid less than a living wage (but I don’t know that the allegation made in the advertisement is true), BUT they get housing and food they don’t have to pay for out of whatever pay they get, fabulous healthcare benefits for themselves and their dependents, educational benefits, and opportunities for advancement. All these, when factored into their “pay,” certainly bring the total well above minimum wage.
And furthermore, if McDonald’s does have to provide food at “prices people will pay,” maybe they’ll keep the prices down by decreasing their darn serving sizes. Then we might get a teeny tiny handle on the obesity epidemic. Sorry, ranting.
Sorry Ames, please take the “and” in front of “furthermore” out. I know better than that.