@shadowman said:
@Fred Foobar said:@Hitsuji said:
From my understanding the minimum wage is around USD$4.00 in most states and non existant in others.
From my understanding, the current federal minimum wage is USD$5.15/hr. Since the federal law overrides state laws, your claim that the minimum wage is nonexistent in certain states is bogus.
You are correct sir, with one clarification:
In cases where an employee is subject to both the state and federal
minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum
wages.
Federal minimum wage is $5.15/hr. Many states (like Washington where I live) have higher minimum wages. But the problem I have with most people who argue for a higher minimum wage is not the amount, but what level of comfort you expect a minimum wage to provide.
Lets take a look at some of Hitsuji's comments for example. "There is only one name for working at this rate, and thats 'SLAVERY'." No, slavery is working for no compensation. There are many fields where working for a few years at very low wages in order to learn a trade are common (and used to be very common many years ago). Even in the case where you are not actively learning new skills there are still those workers who are simply looking for a small amount of additional money. High school students needing to pay for gas, insurance, and some fun. Retirees who are as much bored as they need the money (Yes I understand some retirees do need the money).
This, and variants like it, are the ones I have the most trouble with. "I live in Ireland, Minimum wage here is €8.30, thats ~$10.77, and we
manage pretty well. The lowest paid persons can still life a
comfortable and meaningful life" What you're saying here is that every non-skilled menial little job should provide for a 'comfortable' standard of living. So every 16 year old high school student should be able to get a job and live comfortably, hell why not just quit school and work (this is a known outcome of raising the minimum wage by the way).
Finally, a federal minimum wage does not take into account the vast differences in cost of living in different areas. If I tried to live in downtown Seattle on minimum wage I'd have a really hard time of it (unless I resort to sucking up all the free government handouts), but in Savanna Georgia it wouldn't be to bad.
I would prefer to implement selective breeding for people who won't form reasonable arguements. Of course if I was implementing selective breeding I'd probably be much more consernded with the selection and breeding parts as it related to me ;)