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Originally Posted by willravel
We've already seen democracies fall, so we should probably steer clear of that. MagicToy, corruption could make it's way into every facet of government, business, religion, etc. It's ever present. The way that the good people in the world work is to do everything we can to make sure the greedy corrupt people are not given power. We do not simply stop functioning as a sociey because some people are asshats. Just because some people would work to corrupt a new system doesn't meant aht it would fail.
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I'm still going to go with the lessons of history regarding your concept.
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Practically everyone has not. Only a few of my friends at school had to take jobs in high school at all. I was a low income teenager living in a high income area. Most of my friends had brand new cars, whilc I worked my butt off selling cell phones in the mall just to afford an old Civic. Out of a graduating class of maybe 300, I was one a of a dozen or so that worked. Yes, people in minimum wage jobs can whine. I whined. I also worked my ass off for next to nothing. Guess what? I know that I had every right to whine, and so do most who make minimum wage. Who are you to condescend?
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Someone who came from a similar background. Someone who realizes that you don't improve the situation by tearing down the successful people, but by helping the ones who are willing to improve themselves. Someone who has seen a yearly influx of Canadians into my area, because these Canadians have a maximum income allowed by their government. I am forced to assume that their employees get an unpaid vacation for months every year, when their boss reaches the limit of what his business is allowed to earn.
Oh, and by the way, I am not condescending to you; in fact, I admire people with a history like the one you provided. Especially if they were, unlike you, surrounded by people who received the government dole. "Free" money from the government seems to be the biggest spirit/ambition killer of all.
I DON'T admire the people who blame everyone else for their own lack of initiative. On the other hand, I find your opinion that so many are incapable of helping themselves, well, condescending. You did it; why are so many others inferior to you?
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I can say without an ounce of sarcasm that I, as a manager at a cell phone booth for The Mobile Solution, worked harder than my distict manager, the West Coast Market Director, and the CEO of my company combined. I know this because I was friends with all of them. Did I make more? Hell no. Perservierence may have payed off back in the 1950s for young upstarts looking to climb the corporate ladder, but I didn't make any real money until I shoveled out a crapload of money to go to a private college.
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So do you recommend doing what you did, or would things have worked out better if you had just sat back and asked for another 50 cents per hour? Did the Marketing Director and CEO work "smarter" than you did? Did they spend years doing your job in order to learn the business?
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What would that prove? We live under the current system where there are little or no alternatives. Of course people have to take the crap jobs. They don't want to starve to death. Have you ever gone more than 3 days without food? I did.
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So have I. Well, technically, I had a jar of peanut butter. No sympathy points for you here.
Let's take your concept a little further. Next time you walk into a McDonald's, or some other "crap" job, take a look at the manager. Do they look like a rich college kid, or like someone who learned the business from the bottom for a few years, and then got promoted? I'd be willing to bet they make more than minimum wage, too. Of course, it's much easier to ask the government for more money than to pay dues like the manager did.
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Nope. What I' m saying is that I worked hard, then I was EXTREEMLY lucky in that I was eligible for multiple scholarships. Most people don't have access to that. My jobs would not have even been able to pay for my books. The singular reason that I live in a house that I own and a car that has been payed off is one thing: scholarships.
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Sounds like you didn't check out the military. Or grants. Or student loans. Or a great many other ways to pay for college, many of them provided by taxes and donations from greedy people.
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I need you to understand something. For some people it doesn't matter how hard you work, study and try. Some people are doomed to live in poverty for the rest of their lives. We, as members of the same society as these people, have a responsibility to them. If you were starving on the street, I would buy you food.
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That's where we differ. I believe if you work, study, and try, you will not remain in a minimum wage job. And if you were starving on the street, I'd try to get you a job. Buying food is a very short-term solution, even if it makes the buyer feel good and superior for a few days.
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Also, under your screen name and join date, doesn't your location say: "with my parents"? Dude, I really hope you're kidding.
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For the most part. "With" is a relative term. So is "location." Maybe I should have said "My parents are with me."
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Edit: I enjoyed your Ruch Limnough article, but do you have a link to the story anywhere else?
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Maybe this will help. It has a link to the original article in Time.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/dai..._so.guest.html
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Originally Posted by filtherton
Can i just say right now that none of the small businesses that i have worked for have ever paid minimum wage? They all paid more by at least a buck or two. Now can we please back off this broad brush generalization that raising the minimum wage will hurt small businesses?
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Well, since it's true, no. When a US small business competes with a conglomerate, or with a foreign company with lower labor costs, I don't see how anyone could think an increase in the minimum wage wouldn't harm the US company.