Minimum Wage Increase (US)
I really hope this passes. The current minimum wage of $5.15/hour
isn't enough to survive on; and definitely not enough to support
anybody else. So not only do these minimum wage earners live in
horrible conditions, but they also live alone because nobody can
love someone that doesn't have a good income. Jeez! It's like
$800/month. Ridiculous.
Oh, and as someone who earns an hourly wage, I also think that
every hourly worker should get the same increase.. If a minimum wage
burger flipper at Taco John's gets a $2.10/hour increase, so should I.
Salary workers, of course, stay the same. I doubt that many people
on salary earn less than $30k/year. That's upper-middle class, man!
We work just as hard as you; we deserve equality! Quit holding us down!
I know nothing of economics, but if giving every hourly worker a $2/hour
increase somehow weakens the dollar or has no impact whatsoever
because everybody (except salary workers) is still making, relatively,
the same amount of cash.. yeah, I don't think that should happen, either.
Just sayin'.
http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=5217553&nav=0RbQ
If any publishers should happen to read this economic insight and would
like to publish it, please do so under the title The Ethicist Manifesto
Irish politics and society
>>Also, In Ireland, it's legal (and done a lot), to pay under 18 year olds a lot
less than the min wage!
Let's tell the world about our crazy laws!!! May be just a little off topic, but ye
might find it entertaining - I do, but then it hurts, as you'll see...
In Ireland, there are a number of rates which can be classed as "minimum."
You are not "legally" allowed to work under the age of 16, (child labour laws),
but when you do begin working you are at present entitled to €5.36. This is the
low rate. Ireland has a really high cost of living, and inflation and borrowing are
massive, so this isn't a lot of money.
When you turn 18, you get voting rights, and are essentially "emancipated," at
which point you get a raise to a minimum of €6.12 for your "first" full year of
work, despite the fact that you could have been working for the last 2 years.
In your "second" full year, you go up to €6.89. After working for 2 full years
while being over the age of 18, you are finally entitled to the real minimum wage
of €7.65 - still not a lot, but minimum isn't supposed to be.
So as you can see, they don't count your work if you're under 18, it's like you
don't matter because you're a child essentially, but when you become 18,
an adult by irish law, they say that you are an "inexperienced" worker, and you
have to work your way up to minimum wage. No employer is legally obligated
to pay you minimum until you are at least 20. It should be noted that no other
rights are awarded at this age (for example we are allowed drink alcohol at the
age of 18 as well).
The reason? Cheap work. We have quite a large young population in Ireland,
who themselves are breeding like rabbits - the teenage pregnancy rates are
almost akin to 2nd world countries. This keeps spitting out young workers,
and the cycle continues, so why not exploit this fact? Pay them pittance, so they
can get dead end jobs and keep employers wage overhead down!
The last paragraph is my observation, but all the figures are correct, and the
teen pregnancy rate is statistically high for an EU country. But wait - there's
more!!!
1. In Ireland, you can get a provisional licence (driving permit) at the age of
17, and until a few years ago you neither had to have had driving lessons, nor
take any test that shows you know the rules of the road (these have since
been fixed, but still...) You can get up to three of these, allowing you to drive
for nearly 10 years I think (not sure of the details there). The first permit says
that you must have a fully licenced driver in the car with you at all times, for the
second one you don't, and for the third one you must be accompanied again.
Why? If you drive a car into a brick wall, there's very little an experienced driver
can do to stop you!
2. In Ireland, you can apply to get your full drivers licence, fail the test, and go
outside and drive home. I don't believe there's a cap on the number of times
you can fail, as I know a person who failed 3 times, and passed the 4th.
3. In Ireland, we don't have real laws against human trafficking - people get
away with it all the time - no prosecutions.
4. In Ireland, our government wanted to intoduce an electronic voting system
which cost €50m, but it didn't work due to a number of design flaws, no
paper trail etc, and at the moment, the machines are costing something like €2m
to keep in storage each year.
5. In Ireland, you don't go to the public hospitals unless you have a death wish,
or a really strong desire to sleep on a chair for a really long time (up to a week
in a few cases) while you wait to be treated.
6. In Dublin, the Irish capital, the average price of a house (we tend to buy
property as opposed to leasing. We don't live in apartments either) was
€200,000 five years ago. Today it's over €400,000.
There are many more double standards and stupidities, and I could keep going,
but it's getting too long now. I don't want to sound anti-patriotic, because I
really love my home land (there are good things about it I promise), but are
all countries this "stupid?" We are one of the strongest economies in the world,
but also one of the most inequal...
