Michael, Why is a woman with four kids in school still working an entry level job? Does she have a BA is philosophy and just can’t find a position now with the down economy? No let me guess, she does not have a high school diploma, she had four kids before she was 25 and can’t understand why she can’t find a job for 15 dollars an hour.
Yea, they can order their meals in the future off the automatic kiosks at the counter while the automatic burger maker assembles their meal in the automated kitchen too…
Yes, those minimum wage jobs to train folks for a more complex future job, moving up from making a single patty cheeseburger, all the way up to assembling a Big Mac, or whoah! maybe even across the road moving up to a Whopper with cheese!
There are older people who WERE planning ahead – until they were laid off, or their pensions were stripped by a private equity firm, or a banker screwed them out of their money, or Wall Street crashed and took their 401K down because they tried to do what they were told by the very people benefiting from their being screwed instead of serving their customers…your view of this is really quite over simplistic.Then there are mothers who cannot work a full time job, people fresh out of school who cannot find a job-You can’t talk about “working someplace until something better comes along” if nothing better is available. And it doesn’t look great on a resume, either, in which case it becomes a vicious cycle.And here’s how the minimum wage has been declining since 1968:http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth484/minwage.html
Tigger: I too worked many minimum wage jobs while in school, starting at age 12, to help support my family in between my dad’s work periods because of his repeated heart attacks that made him stop working or change jobs after periods of no income. I finished college, working to put myself through, and while G.I. Bill benefits helped, only covered less than have my costs. After getting degrees, my jobs for the government paid lower wages than available in the “private sector” for the same education, but they weren’t what I wanted to do, and required living in big cities, which I also didn’t want to (couldn’t actually) do. It was a “lifestyle” choice, in part a result of that same military service.
Notably: my employment built investment in a PENSION plan, plus we invested in “the market”, saved what we could while raising kids, and when I retired, our finances weren’t “rich” but enough certainly to survive in the market where we lived. In other areas, like NY, or San Francisco or Seattle, it would be just “scraping by”. Which, too many think of Social Security as a PENSION, which is is NOT! It is only enough to barely survive, and not starve, NOT live comfortably on. Those who do not invest additionally in their futures, are stuck. That’s both a social function of false assumptions, AND a belligerent refusal of folks, “lefties and righties” to lower their standards of immediate gratification (cars, homes, clothes, etc) and instead think “long term”.
The real “fight” over the ACA is also this same “ant vs grasshopper” view among the “young” to refuse to contribute while young, for what they will need at some point. It is, interestingly, mostly the “righties” who find INVESTING in health insurance, instead of spending the same amount at Starbucks every week, and “egregious government intrusion” in their lives.
-i’m with archimedes fast food & other minimum wage jobs are —> entry level positions…… but wait …. sense I retired on social security disability , according to some people’s reasoning … shouldn’t I be getting the same pension as a retired potus ?
Enoki over 10 years ago
Sure you can, and you can find another job… Maybe… I hear Amazon is hiring minimum wage workers for the season….
pirate227 over 10 years ago
Hmmm, not so happy meal…
archimedeslives over 10 years ago
Michael, Why is a woman with four kids in school still working an entry level job? Does she have a BA is philosophy and just can’t find a position now with the down economy? No let me guess, she does not have a high school diploma, she had four kids before she was 25 and can’t understand why she can’t find a job for 15 dollars an hour.
archimedes
Enoki over 10 years ago
Yea, they can order their meals in the future off the automatic kiosks at the counter while the automatic burger maker assembles their meal in the automated kitchen too…
wiatr over 10 years ago
Yea! You get a large comic when you press the drawing again!
Dtroutma over 10 years ago
Yes, those minimum wage jobs to train folks for a more complex future job, moving up from making a single patty cheeseburger, all the way up to assembling a Big Mac, or whoah! maybe even across the road moving up to a Whopper with cheese!
Motivemagus over 10 years ago
There are older people who WERE planning ahead – until they were laid off, or their pensions were stripped by a private equity firm, or a banker screwed them out of their money, or Wall Street crashed and took their 401K down because they tried to do what they were told by the very people benefiting from their being screwed instead of serving their customers…your view of this is really quite over simplistic.Then there are mothers who cannot work a full time job, people fresh out of school who cannot find a job-You can’t talk about “working someplace until something better comes along” if nothing better is available. And it doesn’t look great on a resume, either, in which case it becomes a vicious cycle.And here’s how the minimum wage has been declining since 1968:http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth484/minwage.html
Diane Lee Premium Member over 10 years ago
In a just society “Working Poor” would be an oxymoron.
Dtroutma over 10 years ago
Tigger: I too worked many minimum wage jobs while in school, starting at age 12, to help support my family in between my dad’s work periods because of his repeated heart attacks that made him stop working or change jobs after periods of no income. I finished college, working to put myself through, and while G.I. Bill benefits helped, only covered less than have my costs. After getting degrees, my jobs for the government paid lower wages than available in the “private sector” for the same education, but they weren’t what I wanted to do, and required living in big cities, which I also didn’t want to (couldn’t actually) do. It was a “lifestyle” choice, in part a result of that same military service.
Notably: my employment built investment in a PENSION plan, plus we invested in “the market”, saved what we could while raising kids, and when I retired, our finances weren’t “rich” but enough certainly to survive in the market where we lived. In other areas, like NY, or San Francisco or Seattle, it would be just “scraping by”. Which, too many think of Social Security as a PENSION, which is is NOT! It is only enough to barely survive, and not starve, NOT live comfortably on. Those who do not invest additionally in their futures, are stuck. That’s both a social function of false assumptions, AND a belligerent refusal of folks, “lefties and righties” to lower their standards of immediate gratification (cars, homes, clothes, etc) and instead think “long term”.
The real “fight” over the ACA is also this same “ant vs grasshopper” view among the “young” to refuse to contribute while young, for what they will need at some point. It is, interestingly, mostly the “righties” who find INVESTING in health insurance, instead of spending the same amount at Starbucks every week, and “egregious government intrusion” in their lives.
tmetz over 10 years ago
-i’m with archimedes fast food & other minimum wage jobs are —> entry level positions…… but wait …. sense I retired on social security disability , according to some people’s reasoning … shouldn’t I be getting the same pension as a retired potus ?