Trickle Down: "My Heart is Filled with Water"

[paft]

From CNN, 1/8/12A few miles north of the Georgia Avenue Food Cooperative, Andono's husband, Alan, 47, serves steaks to some of the targets of the Occupy movement: the 1% of Americans who have enjoyed nearly 60% of all gains in income over the last three decades

Comments

[omnot]

Australia does the "living wage" thing. Hrm... The $AU and the $US are near parity. Cost of living varies -- I think accommodation is relatively expensive here, and food prices are higher, too. Unemployment is around four percent.

http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Cook,_Restaurant/Hourly_Rate

That site shows hourly pay of between AU$13.82 and AU$21.51.

We don't customarily tip because the wait staff are also paid a living wage.

I wonder... abandon tipping in favour of mandating that all the restaurant staff get a living wage and... what? Food is a little more expensive, but that is offset at least a little by customers not having to tip. And any shortfall would be paid for by the customers living in an economy where people have actual disposable income, so buy more stuff, so provide more jobs, so ... oh wait. I am describing "trickle up" economics, now, aren't I?

[malakh_abaddon]

I like this idea.... A living wage... You do realize that most of the Americans here will tar and feather you for suggesting such a thing. God forbid profit is down, but people have more money to spend.

[omnot]

Lots of Americans dismiss the idea of a living wage in favour of the disastrous system they have. It boggles my mind that they would rather their country turn into a third world nation than actually examine the alternatives.

[mrbogey]

So should a short order cook have the same purchasing power as a network administrator?

A living wage just changes the wage floor and eventually resettles to where it's "barely" enough.

[omnot]

Right. Because instituting a minimum wage on which people can realistically live for working a humane number of hours a week *inevitably* leads to complete leveling of pay for all jobs.

Oh, wait! No it doesn't!

Australian network admin wage:

http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Network_Administrator,_IT/Hourly_Rate

Yes, a living wage changes the wage floor so that the minimum one can earn is _enough_ to live on. You say that like it's no improvement over the situation in the USA, but if you believe that, you are inadequately acquainted with reality.

[jerseycajun]

Were I to speak in this tone about another country's way of life, regardless of the issue, I would rightly and accurately be classified as an ugly American.

[omnot]

Ah, the American Way of Life. It's sacred, right? But, as Dr Phil would say; "How's that workin' for ya?"

I look at the way the USA conducts itself and I see smoking wreckage of hubris still trying to act like it's doing everything better than anyone else. I do not see any reason not to be frank about that. The Americans who agree with me will not take offence, and the ones who don't are free to be as offended as they like.

Sacred cows make the *best* burgers.

[jerseycajun]

As do the Americans who, in their own frank way, look down on and pass judgment on the French for being weak defensively, amongst other things. Tell me how your particular statement is different. Criticism is one thing, fine and dandy. Using terminology that implicitly passes judgement on what an entire culture wants or where it seems to you they 'want' to go, is another.

In fact, I detect much the same "when will they ever get with the program" sense of superiority from your prior remark as any ugly American I've encountered.

I haven't held up the American "way of life" as sacred, either. Like I said, criticism isn't condescension. Yes, we suffer from hubris, and in that regard we are hardly alone, save in the ability we have to sometimes show it outside our borders. I get a bit of a burr up my butt when noses start getting looked-down, and I shudder when one of my fellow countrymen do it to others as well.

[omnot]

Well, you are either one of the people who think that the USA is doing just great and does not need to look at world's best practice for health care, wage justice, health care or anything else, or you are not the kind of American I am expressing frustration at.

I think that the US is circling the drain, and I think that American arrogance (which *obviously* exists (hello! circling the drain!) strongly enough to overwhelm good sense, whether all Americans are possessed of it) has led to the current predicament.

What do you want from me? To prevaricate and say that I think that the USA is the Greatest Nation on Earth? Or to precede my snark with caveats and exclusions explaining that I am aware that there are a lot of Americans who are at least as frustrated as I am with the block-headed approach of so many of their compatriots?

I snark it as I see it. Cope or don't.

[jerseycajun]

"What do you want from me? To prevaricate and say that I think that the USA is the Greatest Nation on Earth?"

Absolutely not, and nothing I've said is reasonably able to be construed as such. I want nothing from you, per-say. I'm telling you what is appreciated and what is not, precisely that criticism is appreciated and condescension generally is not. Criticism is saying we a problem exists which could be handled better. Condescension is holding up your own against ours and making values judgements against an entire people, like this:

"It boggles my mind that they would rather their country turn into a third world nation than actually examine the alternatives"

and..

"...does not need to look at world's best practice for health care, wage justice, health care or anything else"I've tried my best to illustrate the difference between the two. You have chosen your words in much the same way as the American who would happily go to abroad and chide the Brits for having it all wrong on matters of self-defense and self-protection and

[whoasksfinds]

arrogance is a two way street. the manner in which you ridicule other countries is a symptom of your own. maybe you should learn to accept and appreciate the differences that exist between nations and people.

[omnot]

Oh dear god. Okay, teach me how to "accept and appreciate" a country which, despite its immense wealth and power, has such a poor healthcare system? Am I permitted to express exasperation at that, even contempt for the sorts of people who yell "YEEAAAH!" at the suggestion, by a politician, no less, that someone who cannot pay for health insurance should be left to die

[whoasksfinds]

Okay, teach me how to "accept and appreciate" a country which, despite its immense wealth and power, has such a poor healthcare system?

you are certainly entitled to your opinion. its not an opinion that most americans share though. maybe you should learn to accept and appreciate that.

Am I permitted to express exasperation at that, even contempt for the sorts of people who yell "YEEAAAH!" at the suggestion, by a politician, no less, that someone who cannot pay for health insurance should be left to die?

of course. but that's hardly a widespread view. getting your panties in a bunch about it seems to me like a huge waste of time.

Tell me how to "accept and appreciate" a country whose lack of regulation and oversight of finance markets led to the populace being ripped off without their knowledge or permission, led to one of the most spectacularly damaging and widespread economic meltdowns of all time and dragged half the world down with it?its easy. rather than focus entirely on the negatives, look at the bigger picture of the

[anfalicious]

Read below: "must be enough to support the wage earner in reasonable and frugal comfort

[gunslnger]

So let's do the math and see what that is. First, what's a family?