I just realized something extremely funny
MvDonalds and Visa put out this gem of a budget this week in the attempt to claim that a person can totally live on $8.25/hr. Ignoring obvious issues (no utilites other than electricity in that $600/mo apartment, gas/car payment $150 -- suuure... In my area, if your apartment is that cheap, you're generally making at least a 20 mile round trip), they've effectively admitted that people making $12-14/hr in their full time jobs are barely making enough to survive on.
Think about that for a moment.
Simply by saying "Well, you get a second job somewhere in the current market" they've admitted that they do not pay a living wage, and worse, they could pay their employees half-again more, and said employees would still wouldn't be making enough to do more than scrape by.
So, even the people making half again more than the McWageSlave should be pounding the pavement for 2nd jobs, which further saturates the market with people actually willing to be underemployed. Given the continuing saga of corporations eager to hire those they won't have to give benefits to, it's got to make them happy the jobless have to be willing to take whatever is offered, because its better than nothing. But there's the conundrum, for every person working 2 (3, 4) jobs, that's likely to be 5 (10, 100) who applied while having none. There aren't enough jobs out there for everyone to have multiple.
I'm not going to claim to know the magic solution, but I think I can state that I'm a little tired of the poor being blamed for being jobless or in need of assistance when a single job cannot support a single individual, much less one with dependents. Never mind "illegals" taking away jobs -- ever person who has 2 or more by necessity has increased the pool of un- or under-employed. Driving down prices by driving down pay still results in people not being able to afford your goods. It's an inevitable downward spiral.
So I find it rather bitterly amusing that instead of paying living wages, McDonalds would rather advocate continuing the problem without apparently realizing it.
Think about that for a moment.
Simply by saying "Well, you get a second job somewhere in the current market" they've admitted that they do not pay a living wage, and worse, they could pay their employees half-again more, and said employees would still wouldn't be making enough to do more than scrape by.
So, even the people making half again more than the McWageSlave should be pounding the pavement for 2nd jobs, which further saturates the market with people actually willing to be underemployed. Given the continuing saga of corporations eager to hire those they won't have to give benefits to, it's got to make them happy the jobless have to be willing to take whatever is offered, because its better than nothing. But there's the conundrum, for every person working 2 (3, 4) jobs, that's likely to be 5 (10, 100) who applied while having none. There aren't enough jobs out there for everyone to have multiple.
I'm not going to claim to know the magic solution, but I think I can state that I'm a little tired of the poor being blamed for being jobless or in need of assistance when a single job cannot support a single individual, much less one with dependents. Never mind "illegals" taking away jobs -- ever person who has 2 or more by necessity has increased the pool of un- or under-employed. Driving down prices by driving down pay still results in people not being able to afford your goods. It's an inevitable downward spiral.
So I find it rather bitterly amusing that instead of paying living wages, McDonalds would rather advocate continuing the problem without apparently realizing it.