Read this article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16549922/

It's a long one....

Ok I got news for people that make minimum wage...APPLY YOURSELF...life is not easy things don't just get handed to you and usually things do NOT fix themselves....

You know it is sad but seriously.....You cant feel sorry for people that don't give it 100% ok so say there is maybe some that do... What we should do in this country is come up with some sort of guidance counselor for adults...You know like a Army Recruitment office only for continuing education...sure you can go to xyz college and ask them for help applying but maybe you need help finding out where to go what to do...Or maybe it isn't just for say college but for say getting certified or licensed...

A place where it would be easy and comfortable for people and lets NOT staff it with shrinks, arts majors, etc....Get Architects, Engineers, MBAs to staff it not some head shrink that is gonna give you a hug and say it will all be fine...

You want to help people you need to be tough but you need to show them the path and that is the bottom line....

Like someone in the article said, where do the democrats think the money is going to come from????

However alternately I know where we could get some money in the style of Huey Long...let's take it from the CEOs

Donkey

The rules of Capitalism are that for someone to go up, someone else (usually several people) must go down. Its like a Scale. The rightwing likes this fantasy that anybody can 'make it'. Thats only partly true. Anybody can make, but not EVERYBODY who tries is going to. Thats the detail they don't like to advertise. The more people that 'make it' the more difficult it becomes for those on the bottom to follow in his path. Thats the big 'negative' about capitalism. Capitalism is the best system we've got, but thats not to say its a good system.

Now I am not a far-leftist who thinks people shouldn' t become uber-rich or super successful, but we are in a situation now where the gap between rich and poor has now surpassed the gap during the 1920s. All the analysis shows that the Middle Class is dissappearing. The lower class is larger, and the upper class is in permanent bliss.

Its becoming like Feudalism. You have 1000 serfs for every Lord. That isn't fair nor is it good for the country at large. The French and Russian Revolutions started started because those few on top refused to share anything with the many at the bottom.

You can deny it, but there is something serious wrong when this year the Goldman Sachs CEO makes $58 Million as a Christmas Bonus when thousands of others who work long hours and have trouble paying the rent. The real reason why CEO's don't like increasing the minimum wage is GREED. Simply put they would rather keep it in their own pockets than share it.

I'll tell one think the Europeans have that we Americans desperately need; A living wage. That is to say a minimum wage that you can actually live on. Its not much, but it did does pay the rent, power, and groceries. It was enough to survive on, but not its designed so you don't have enough to fully enjoy life (meaning it encourges you to improve yourself).

Maybe you would like to check the facts and dispute the .5 million people today in the US that actually earn minimum wage...

How about the fact that this will hurt people on subsidized living because now guess what they will be making too much...

Or the people that it will force to lay off in order to make up for the change...

How about how now everyone else is going to want a raise otherwise you are giving entitlement....

How about the fact that I work a ridiculous amount of hours and I get penalized in taxes on my over time.... yeah real ****in fair....

I should just be a lazy bum and get on welfare...I mean I have paid plenty into it....

Let's also realize that the true problem is not minimum wage...

Let's look at CEOs ever expanding slaries (most of which has only begun since the mid 90s)....

Let's look at the congress and senate what they get paid and how long they get it paid for...

Much more bigger issues then raising the minimum wage....

All this is is good PR...period

And finally tell me where do you think this money is going to come from to make up for the raise in minimum wage...and then let's compare that to the rest of the world...

Carry on

-edit

Oh and one could look at your scale and say hey people are born and people die...one could say you could cycle up the ladder for some newbie will be right behind you as you advance....

Let's also not forget the minimum wage is more going to effect small business...Walmart loves the idea....

And guess what those CEOs are going to keep the money and just past the cost on to the consumer....

Greed is the root of all evil not money...

In today's debt ridden society, what would we consider a living wage mmarsh? I firmly believe that many lower income families are over extending themsleves in debt to have such novelties as big screen TVs and such. I made a comment in Erie to my mom that the poorest neighborhoods have the most sat dishes. I knew this since I delivered pizzas there.

As for CEO's, the problem just is not with them. I believe there are a handful of colleges that pay thier presidents more the Mr. Bush.

With all that said, I am in favor of the minimum wage increase. It was long overdue.

My only thought is that of all the jobs I worked in my life, all of them have paid over the minimum wage. I guess get an education, make the right decisions and find the right job and you will not have to worry about making small change.

Also living within your means. This is something that Americans learned during the Depression but forgot during the post WWII boom. I fell for it. I got upside down and was homeless living in my truck for awhile, not because my job didn't pay enough but because I was spending what I didn't have. I had a job paying triple the minimum wage but just didn't control my spending plain and simple.

This is a political band-aid not a solution.

Originally Posted by bulldogg

This is a political band-aid not a solution.

Exactly this is nothing but "PR"

It is no solution to any problems all it will do is give an excuse for everyone to raise the price on goods and services whether this truly affects them or not....

It's a feel good law like the 1934 National Firearms Act or the 18th Amendment. It will solve nothing. Folks today spend money before they have it and get into debt.

I strongly believe in safety nets for the poor or those who through no fault of their own fall on hard times - benefits to help them get started in life or to recover from ill-health or retrenchment. In other words during emergencies.

What I deplore is the "welfare" mentality that everyone who has worked hard and pays taxes owes lazy people their living. I also agree with the above observations that post-Baby Boomer generations want all their white goods, new cars, new plasma gizzmos, straight away on credit and then suffer later when it's pay up time and want the rest of society to come to their rescue.

In many Western countries, we need to talk more about the work ethic. Still, I don't oppose a minimum wage rate that is adjusted upward now and again to take inflation into account.

I agree with everything in that post

Increasing minimum wage doesn't solve a single problem for the lower income. All it does is lower the value of the dollar. Why you ask? Because when
minimum wage goes up, everyone elses rate goes up too. So the prise of good go up. Because the economy of supply and demand take effect and it drops the value of the dollar.