I do think $15 is way too high for someone flipping burgers at McDonalds, Toll collectors at bridges/subways, and other assorted unskilled positions.
To which I again ask, why?
Once again I'll quote FDR: 'By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.'
The minimum wage law does not state that it is only for those with college degrees, it applies to all workers. And if the intent of the minimum wage laws is to provide, not bare-bones subsistence, but a decent living, then the burger flipper at McDonalds should, if he works full time, be able to afford a decent living. That is what the minimum wage law is for.
When FDR said this, the average person worked 50-60 hours a week. I think we base way to much of this debate off a 40 hour work week. There's no reason why anyone can't work multiple jobs or overtime.
But that's the point, isn't it? 40 hours is full-time employment. If you are working a full-time job, shouldn't you be able to afford such things without having to work another job according to principle behind a minimum wage? Is that not the point of the thing?
That's cool. Do you know what FDR meant with "decent living"?
You get the general gist from that sentence. A decent living as opposed to a starvation wage.
Well, people across the U.S. have clearly taken up "$15 an hour" as a good signifier of a living wage. Would you consider $15 an hour a living wage?
It's a good place to start. What is very clear is that anyone who claims we don't have to increase the minimum wage does not understand what the minimum wage is for.
"In my Inaugural I laid down the simple proposition that nobody is going to starve in this country. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Once again I'll quote FDR: 'By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.'
The minimum wage law does not state that it is only for those with college degrees, it applies to all workers. And if the intent of the minimum wage laws is to provide, not bare-bones subsistence, but a decent living, then the burger flipper at McDonalds should, if he works full time, be able to afford a decent living. That is what the minimum wage law is for.
Living where?
Why? $15/hour x 40 hours/week x 52 weeks/year = $31,200/year. It doesn't seem ridiculous to me.
It's a good place to start. What is very clear is that anyone who claims we don't have to increase the minimum wage does not understand what the minimum wage is for.
Seems a good place to start.