who makes just min. wage?

[NCAces]

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"You are so mean," you say? No, because anyone that wants to better themselves over the years and years and years they are working at Burger King can do so. They can take the GED, go to college, go to a trade school, etc. Failing to do so, they get zero sympathy from me.

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Many of the long-timers there were marginal people who probably had iq's just slightly above being retarded. I seriously doubt they could have gone to any kind of advanced school, or even obtained their GED's.

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This was my experience also when I worked in a cherry factory.

There is a sizeable portion of the workforce that makes just enough to pay for food and shelter and aren't blessed with the requisite talent or intelligence to progress up the pay scale.

Their work is hard and draining. Their housing is spartan at best, they have hardly any opportunity for recreation, and can't afford health insurance.

A lot of them are really nice people even.

Anyone who would fault a person with an IQ of 75 for failing to self educate is an [censored] in my book.

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Oh, please. I don't doubt that *some* of the people you are talking about have such low IQs that there may be little else that they can do. But I'm not buying that all, or even the majority of those you mention, couldn't find other work that paid more than minimum wage. Many are lazy, unmotivate, lack understanding that other opportunities exist (giving them the benefit of the doubt).

But to conclude that a sizable portion of our work force are people in this condition, and that I am an [censored], is a bunch of crap.

NCAces

[Dr. Strangelove]

Well let's see, according to the 2000 census the population was 281,421,906. Of that, 25.0 percent are younger than 18, and 12.4 percent are older than 65.

Subtracting those leaves ~176 million people of working age. If you call a standard deviation 16 points then I believe about 16% of this population should fall below the 84 point line. That would be 28 million people.

So yeah, there are *some*

[bkholdem]

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"You are so mean," you say? No, because anyone that wants to better themselves over the years and years and years they are working at Burger King can do so. They can take the GED, go to college, go to a trade school, etc. Failing to do so, they get zero sympathy from me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Many of the long-timers there were marginal people who probably had iq's just slightly above being retarded. I seriously doubt they could have gone to any kind of advanced school, or even obtained their GED's.

[/ QUOTE ]

This was my experience also when I worked in a cherry factory.

There is a sizeable portion of the workforce that makes just enough to pay for food and shelter and aren't blessed with the requisite talent or intelligence to progress up the pay scale.

Their work is hard and draining. Their housing is spartan at best, they have hardly any opportunity for recreation, and can't afford health insurance.

A lot of them are really nice people even.

Anyone who would fault a person with an IQ of 75 for failing to self educate is an [censored] in my book.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, please. I don't doubt that *some* of the people you are talking about have such low IQs that there may be little else that they can do. But I'm not buying that all, or even the majority of those you mention, couldn't find other work that paid more than minimum wage. Many are lazy, unmotivate, lack understanding that other opportunities exist (giving them the benefit of the doubt).


NCAces

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If they are lazy, wouldn't it be better for them to get a better job so they can enjoy vacations, etc?

[ElliotR]

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The reason that it is such a big deal for Democrats is that union wage scale is calculated from the minimum wage. So when Congress increases the minimum wage $0.50, for example, . . . they care about their Union cronies, whose pay goes up by many multiples of what the minimum wage went up

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What are you talking about? I've seen many, many union contracts and haven't ever seen this.

[lehighguy]

heI've had $7/hour jobs a retard could do. If they were teh kind of retard that showed up to work on time and didn't use drugs they would have been one of the best employess in the store.

That being said, some retards are probably so unproductive they don't even produce enough to justify thier min wage and probably go unemployed. Thanks for pushing them out of work and making them starve in the streets.

[tolbiny]

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Thanks to Government meddling, many waiters get minimum wage PLUS tips. W/O the min. wage many would not be paid hourly at all, tips only.

I earned min wage at 14. I earned less than min at 11. I'm stuck at poker this month. Where's my gov subsidy?

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Unless this is different in differnt sates, this is mostly untrue. Servers at every restaurant have a minimum wage of 2.11 an hour in Ohio and Massachusettes (that is every restaurant i have worked at).

EDIT: by mostly untrue, i meant the implication that they get the minimum wage of 5.15 an hour that has been discussed in previous threads.

[tolbiny]

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"You are so mean," you say? No, because anyone that wants to better themselves over the years and years and years they are working at Burger King can do so. They can take the GED, go to college, go to a trade school, etc. Failing to do so, they get zero sympathy from me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Many of the long-timers there were marginal people who probably had iq's just slightly above being retarded. I seriously doubt they could have gone to any kind of advanced school, or even obtained their GED's.

[/ QUOTE ]

This was my experience also when I worked in a cherry factory.

There is a sizeable portion of the workforce that makes just enough to pay for food and shelter and aren't blessed with the requisite talent or intelligence to progress up the pay scale.

Their work is hard and draining. Their housing is spartan at best, they have hardly any opportunity for recreation, and can't afford health insurance.

A lot of them are really nice people even.

Anyone who would fault a person with an IQ of 75 for failing to self educate is an [censored] in my book.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anecdotal small sample size. of the two of people i worked with in restaruants who were technically retarded one was an alcoholic who missed work regularly (employment laws in Mass made it difficult to fire him) and the other made 7$ an hour, and was a productive worker.

[Borodog]

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The reason that it is such a big deal for Democrats is that union wage scale is calculated from the minimum wage. So when Congress increases the minimum wage $0.50, for example, . . . they care about their Union cronies, whose pay goes up by many multiples of what the minimum wage went up

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What are you talking about? I've seen many, many union contracts and haven't ever seen this.

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I've been told this on several ocassions, but I can't find anything on google about it. So I concede the point until such time as I can confirm ot deny it.

[hmkpoker]

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Me, when I was on Jury Duty.

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Second Thought: Actually BELOW minimum wage. Leave it to the government to pay below their own so called minimum wage law. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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jury duty pay arent wages, you are not an employee of the court

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Right, it's just minimally-compensated small-degree slavery.

[Copernicus]

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The reason that it is such a big deal for Democrats is that union wage scale is calculated from the minimum wage. So when Congress increases the minimum wage $0.50, for example, . . . they care about their Union cronies, whose pay goes up by many multiples of what the minimum wage went up

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What are you talking about? I've seen many, many union contracts and haven't ever seen this.

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I've been told this on several ocassions, but I can't find anything on google about it. So I concede the point until such time as I can confirm ot deny it.

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There may actually be some out there, but the number of workers covered would be so miniscule thatthey wouldnt have any major economic effect. Some that dont: Electrical Workers, Culinary Workers, Grocers, Longshoremen,Security Guards.

The reason I doubt you will find any of significance: It would be one of the biggest bargaining blunders an employer/industry could make, and any labor negotiator who entered into such a contract would be fired. Companies will not turn over control of one of if not their most significant costs of doing business to an outside influence.