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

[policraticus]

And, fwiw, the 1% do not eat at Ruth's Chris.

[merig00]

Yeah I was expecting to see at least Capital Grille or something...

[paft]

They don't sell $44 steaks?

[policraticus]

Did I say that? They just sell fairly bourgeois food. Steak houses are where the 99% go to imagine they are in the 1%. You over pay for just about everything.

In DC the 1% are eating at The Inn at LIttle Washington, Citronelle or Komi. You won't find $11/hr line cooks there, I can tell you.

[merig00]

So your issue is that this man prepares $44 steaks but gets paid $11/hour or that he is getting paid $11/hour for his work period?

[paft]

My issue is that he's not being paid a living wage.

His job grilling $44 steaks simply illustrates the fallacy of the "job creators" myth.

[merig00]

Are you talking living wage according to person's need or some generic number one-fit-all style?

[paft]

I'm taking "living wage" as calculated by region.

If this country is going to dispense with government aid to the poor, then a living wage is going to have to be put in place that enables most people to survive. Otherwise, crime is going to go through the roof.

[yahvah]

I think I could agree with you on Reaganomics. We could just work to eliminate a really large portion of the income tax then we'd have torrential downpour economics.

[paft]

Most people are not driven into poverty by the income tax.

[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.

got something on this.

[rick_day]

Hmm...interesting discussion. I understand you feel sorry for this guy because he is not getting more pay. Would you feel as sorry if he made, say, $14 an hour? $16? Where is your personal comfort zone. If you were the boss, how much should that man make an hour

[paft]

My “comfort zone” would be a living wage, that is, a wage that would enable a fulltime worker to pay for basic necessities for himself and his family like food, clothing, shelter, medical care.

How much that would be would depend on what area he was living and working.

[rick_day]

I'm...not going to let you off that easy, if you don't mind

[anfalicious]

There should be no need for "second jobs". Your problem is that you're competing against other people who underpay, so you can't pay a living wage. This is why minimum wages need to be set in law and offenders prosecuted. If your workers can't pay rent, food bills, clothing sufficient for what you require them to work in, transport to work and support children on a 40 hour week, they're underpaid.